Fringe

The fall season of television has started and with it comes a few new programs. Tonight is the series premiere of Fringe on Fox. Fringe, yet another high concept show from creative genius J.J. Abrams - but as entertaining as this show is, it has me wondering why he's recycling aspects from his previous series - most notably LOST.

Fringe begins with a plane, which is highly reminiscent of LOST - you think J.J.'s got a thing for planes?? Plenty of crazy things happened on planes in Alias, too, as Jennifer Garner's character took down nefarious people all around the globe. On this particular plane, we've got what appears to be a terrorist attack with a disgusting, fast acting, flesh melting biological agent (yes, that's right melting - as opposed to flesh eating). Not only that, as we come to find out later the perpetrator of the biological agent was an unwitting pawn as his insulin injection was laced with the mysterious substance. Don't freak out - I haven't revealed anything that will take away from what J.J. is best at - those masterfully creative twists and turns. He still maintains his grasp of the unexpected plot divergence, as well as recruiting a familiar face from...LOST, of course. Although, it also seems as though he's imported the music from LOST, too. I understand this is supposed to be an ominous sci-fi series, but does the music have to be as heavy-handed as it is in LOST - and sound nearly identical?

One of the most fun aspects of the show: Joshua Jackson (of Dawson's Creek fame) is one of the main characters - this makes me very happy. In the midst of all the weird, pseudo-science, government/corporate spy shenanigans - Joshua Jackson excels at his specialty - snarky, sarcastic, quick-witted humor...sigh...it's so good to have him back in prime time again.

Even though this premiere episode proves to be as quick to reel me in as LOST, I dream of a day when J.J. will create another angst driven show like "Felicity" that is void of the sci-fi conspiracy antics and CGI.