CATEGORIES
Inside TV Main
TV News Daily (433)
Hot Topic (220)
TV Picks (327)
Features (164)
Best TV Shows Ever (10)
Top 20 (21)
Where Are They Now (32)
TV Schedules (9)
Shows to Know (59)
Celebrity Interviews (219)
The Show Girl (27)
Quizzes & Trivia (21)
Star Spotter (17)
TV Shows on DVD (21)
Video (154)
Polls (11)
Outside the Box (5)
HOT FEATURES
The Show Girl
DVR Divas Podcast
Drama Queens Podcast
Best TV Pilots
Our Ideas for CBS Video Games
When Reality Stars Attack ... Scripted Drama
Best 'SNL' Musical Performances
Unsung Sitcom Hotties
The Best BBC Shows You're Not Watching
Creepiest Children's TV Shows
Best TV Theme Songs - Vote

Celebrities

The Latest Gossip

The Latest Gossip

Jon & Kate plus some other people

Reality Blurred

On the Set: 11 Things to Know About 'Fringe'

When mega-producer J.J. Abrams got together with 'Alias' writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, they stirred together some of their favorite movies and TV shows -- everything from 'Real Genius' to 'Twin Peaks' to 'The Fly' -- to come up their new TV Franken-baby.

The sci-fi procedural is one of fall's most anticipated new shows, getting a prime (but pressure-filled) spot behind 'House' on Fox's lineup. "It's terrifying," Abrams said, then joked, "And if we don't well, it's 'House''s fault."

Get a sneak peek at the inner workings of 'Fringe' with these 11 juicy morsels of info gleaned from a tour of the set at New York's Silvercup Studios.

1. The producers used shows like 'CSI' as a model for 'Fringe.' "When 9 of the top shows are called 'Law & Order' and 'CSI,' you have to study them a little bit," Orci said. Horatio Caine, sensei to J.J. Abrams' grasshopper? Guess so.

2. One way 'Fringe' won't be like 'The X-Files': "We're not doing aliens," Orci laughed.

3. But conspiracies will abound. In fact, Orci is a big conspiracy theorist ... "to the detriment of his life," quipped fellow producer Jeff Pinkner. Hey, here's a story idea: Cigarette Smoking Man comes back from the dead!

4. Sure, 'Fringe' has science advisers. But the biggest story contributor just might be ... Wikipedia? The Internet has been the source of more than one storyline. "I literally don't know how we told stories without [it]," joked Kurtzman.

5. With his burgeoning film career, Abrams tends to love 'em and leave 'em when it comes to his shows. Will he abandon 'Fringe'? "You can't walk away from something that matters to you like that," he said. "[With 'Lost,'] it quickly became clear I wasn't necessary ... We will be as involved as the show needs us to be and that's really just going to be an evolution."

6. The crown princes of TV geekdom seem to seek each other out naturally. Joss Whedon's brother, Zack, is on the 'Fringe' writing staff. When Joss' 'Dollhouse' premieres in midseason, it'll be all Whedon, all the time on Fox.

7. Fear not, Pacey fans. Joshua Jackson's character, Peter, will have more to do than babysit his dad in future episodes. "There is something that happens fairly early on that compels him to stay," Abrams said. Plus, later this season, he'll be stealing Dawson's girlfriend.

8. The laboratory set in the first episode of 'Fringe' will look the same in subsequent weeks -- but it won't actually be the same. That's because the show shot its pilot in Toronto, and the lab was originally built in the basement of a church. When the production moved to New York, the set had to be meticulously copied.

9. Biggest diva on the set? The cow. Jasika Nicole, who plays lab assistant Astrid Farnsworth, noted that ramps were added to all the stairs because cows can't climb steps. (And you should've seen what else was in the bovine's contract.)

10. When it comes to the "'Fringe' Farmhouse," a wall of cages for animals, pigeons get the thumbs-up for being so well-behaved, Nicole said.

11. Ever wonder what actors are writing when their characters scribble furiously into notebooks? Most likely, it's a joke (probably the dirty kind). One piece of paper had a list of pizza toppings. And a post-it stuck on the office computer read: "Preliminary random testing strongly suggest that this show will be bigger than 'Betty' or 'The Love Boat.' Other notations cannot be repeated here.

Reader Comments (5)

Page 1 of 1

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to On The Set Fringe blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Advertisement

Star Spotter Galleries

WAGS on TV

Over the past couple of years, the fairer halves of football players ...

Famous October Birthdays

Famous October birthdays include John Krasinski, Kelly Ripa and ...

Famous September Birthdays

Charlie Sheen, Jimmy Fallon and Hilary Duff are celebrating their ...

Famous August Birthdays

Blake Lively, Andy Samberg and Hayden Panettiere are celebrating their ...

View More Galleries
.
Around the Web >>>