FBI Dramas

Fox’s weird science FBI drama, Fringe, is on the uptake, and has a good chance at a new season, according to Fox’s Entertainment president, Kevin Reilly in an article at Sci-Fi Wire. Read more here about why the series is coming back, and check out this short snippet of the theme song from the show, which was written by the show’s creator, J.J. Abrams. At TV Week, he explains he came up with this beautiful song while getting ready for bed one night. Evidently, penning theme songs is an Abrams “pattern”.

This trend-setting series, in the tradition of The X-Files, has gained a loyal fan base and some pretty good ratings. According to Reilly, it has developed a “cult following”. Fringe returns on Tuesday, January 20 at 9:00 PM, with new episodes, and its first called Bound.

When Fringe debuted in September, it averaged 9 million viewers during its 90 minute premiere. Some attributed the less than stellar ratings to the fact that the debut episode was leaked on the Internet via BitTorrent. Also, because Fox began its new season early, its been said viewers were still waiting for regular Fall shows to begin at their normal time. (Honestly, after the WGA strike, I don’t know what’s normal anymore.) 

Since then, the series has increased in viewership, and in October 2008, it made it to the first place slot in the 18-49 demographic. Although critics still jab at this show as being another version of The X-Files (and even Lost?), it has been very well-received.

Notably, many fans are quite taken with actor John Noble’s portrayal of Dr. Walter Bishop, the former “fringe scientist”, and ex-mental patient, who aides FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in her quest to solve unexplained phenomena and the mysteries of “the pattern”. I will continue to watch the show, if for nothing else than the way it beautifully weaves the mysterious with the humanity in a world of extreme possibilities.

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