So I watched a bit of "Fringe" last night. (no spoilers)

After about five minutes I was totally sick of the smug, cooler-than-you guy who just can't be bothered to wipe the smirk off of his face. Also, the genius-gone-mad will be totally played out by the end of the third episode.

Can someone please tell me what distinguishes this series from any other X-Files knock-off, aside from the executive producer?

It intrigued me as the promos ran during House. Glad I skipped it!

:hi:

I will give it a chance,for now.

I identified with the mad scientist. He's what makes the thing watchable for me.

It is bubblegum for the brain. I like it better than Bridezillas or the various celeb reality shows on VH1 my wife loves.

Hell, any reality show is an automatic finalist in the "worst show ever" competition. But Fringe has pitched itself as smart and edgy, going so far as to call it Abrams' "masterpiece."

I expected more from it and got a lot less.

But hey--that's just me. Don't let me turn you guys off to it. If you enjoy it, and if it keeps yet another tv from tuning into some reality show, then I say bravo!

Just some of my problems with last night's episode:

The painful opening exposition that was so blatant and unrealistic as to be insulting.
If it's really necessary to get the audience up to speed on what happened in the first episode, and who all the characters are, just air the first episode again.

The seeming need to gross out the audience with gore effects.

*****spoiler here********











The techno-bullshit explanation about how they were able to recover the victim's final sights.
The "neural patterns" were "frozen" into the optic nerve by a large dose of muscle relaxant administered. Really?

At least when the X Files took it out, they attributed alien technology, biology, and sometimes spiritual causes to their Maguffins, all of which are more believable than a b.s. attribution of a known drug type and a magic camera.

The giant, possibly malevolent corporation seems like a tired device too.



I'll continue to watch in the hope that it improves because I like the actors and think they're decent and deserve better, but if the writing doesn't improve, all the Abrams-like plotline teases in the world won't keep me on board.

A lot of the writing and whatnot will kind of iron itself out over the course of the first few episodes. And for those two potentially very annoying characters they managed to get pretty good actors. I give it about a 50/50 coin toss as to whether it'll end up being interesting or derivative crap.