And haelohm….WTF does American Idol gotta do with parallel universes ? LMFAO. Where does that even come in when talkin about Fringe in the first place ?

Just stick with the subject on hand people.

@Richard Steven Hack re: Fringe “jumping the shark” next year… even if it goes the way of Sliders with that whole parallel universe concept, only darker, Sliders lasted 5 seasons (although they should have really stopped after the 4th) compared to the X-Files’ 9 seasons and 2 movies. So I’m sure Fringe has got a lot of life in it yet. I’m hopeful it’ll be on TV for another few years yet considering how long 24, House, Bones, etc. have been going for on the Fox network.

I watch American Idol faithfuly and still “understand the basic concept of a parallel universe” and Fringe is my second favorite show after Bones, so please stop being such a conceded bigot and just let people watch the tv shows they like to watch. As for Bones, 24 and House, they are not “dying.” Bones, if in the right time slot (Wed. at gets great numbers that are improving on previous seasons. House might be in a lull buts its definitely going nowhere, and 24, in its SEVENTH season, is doing great!

You’re funny.

Never expected Nina Sharp to go down, though. That was a surprise.

And Olivia Dunham is no more bland than Dana Scully. In fact, she’s considerably less so. She’s much spunkier and more rebellious than Scully, as tonight’s episode showed. Also, remember, Anderson didn’t have her acting chops at the start of X-Files, either. She grew into that role. And quite frankly, Anna Torv is significantly prettier than Gillian Anderson. She’s just not darkly mysterious like Anderson was in her role.

I just pray they don’t jump the shark with whatever season 2 brings to the table in terms of the overall mythology.

As for pairing it with something, I don’t see why Fox couldn’t allow Fringe to stand on it’s own? After all, House does, Bones does, Lie To Me has done – so why not see just how strong it is in the Fall schedule, given that it’s guaranteed a full season and there’s going to be a break over Xmas/New Year anyway. What have Fox got to lose? Fringe could very well be the “new” X-Files.

Fringe is a hit. Deal with it.”

Tomas is absolutely right. For example, Harper’s Island followed CSI and it still tanked. Losing 2 million viewers from week to week. Fringe has not done that.

I am very picky about the scripted dramas that I watch. It’s rare that I ever enjoy procedural dramas because most standalone episodic series tend to lack depth. The only ones I consistently watch are Law and Order SVU and Criminal Intent. The rest are garbage.

X-Files is one of the shows that I loved. It’s up there in my all-time favorites, but even I admit that Fringe is the superior show. The X-Files spent a lot of time giving us meaningless monster-of-the-week episodes before finally developing a mythology–but the conspiracy element of the show was so vast and shapeless that when they began mixing procedure with mythology the show felt unstructured. That said, I still enjoyed it, but Fringe has much more direction and purpose behind it and it handles serial elements with respect and keeps the integrity of mythology.

I don’t understand why people hate Fringe so much. I’ve rarely seen anyone indifferent to the show–either they like Fringe or they HATE Fringe and think it’s garbage. What’s worse is all these predictions of failure should the show ever be stripped of its American Idol lead-in. I think most of that are haters projecting their contempt for the show. After a solid season, Fringe brings in consistent viewers and built an incredible fan base.

Face it: Nine-million people don’t watch Fringe every week because they forget to change the channel after American Idol. Here’s a news flash — when people dislike a show, THEY STOP WATCHING IT. For the haters out there, if Fringe were lead in by a show you loved and watched every week, but you don’t care for Fringe, would you still watch Fringe after your show ends? Seriously.

Fringe is a hit. Deal with it.

As for people who drone on inferring that much of FRINGES ratings are due to carryover of American Idol viewers, thats not likely. Idol is brain-dead TV – watch people sing…and sing.. and sing… watch Simon COW massage his nipples, Paula look drunk and those other judges… Boooooooooooring. FRINGE. Lead-in’s matter more if the two shows are similar such as if you had 2 crime dramas back to back. Are HEROES fans blaming their lower ratings the last 2 seasons on its lead in, the mediocre CHUCK? A few might, but most realize HEROES problems stem from the finale of Season 1 and the awful Season 2.

Fact remains, FRINGE has a season 2 and its a welcome relief it wont be replace with some inane Idol copy, a game show or boring reality show. FRINGE isnt perfect, but its improving as it fleshes out the details of the impending war.

Back in the early ’70′s, I used to hang with journalist John A. Keel, the model for the Richard Gere character in the movie “The Mothman Prophecies”, based on one of Keel’s books. Keel was discounting aliens as the answer for UFOs way back in the late ’60′s and through the ’70′s. So it’s nice to see TV finally catching up…thirty years later…with a fresh take on paranormal phenomena.

As long as Abrams doesn’t screw up in season two and beyond, and the overall story arc continues to make some sense, I think Fringe may end up better than the X-Files.

While I think X-Files can be said to be better than Fringe, Fringe is still a pretty good show.

Having it picked up for another season means two of the shows I watch are renewed – the other is Leverage. The other two, TSCC and Dollhouse, are doomed.

It was paired with House early this season and did fine.