Observers Are Here Blog for fans of J.J. Abrams’ show Fringe

It’s that time of year: The networks are looking ahead to January and their midseason schedules, but some fall shows will have to be canceled to make room for the new stuff. Here’s our list of 13 at-risk shows, many of which have posted significant ratings declines. Others are expensive to produce, a little long in the tooth, or just aren’t performing as well as their timeslot competition — or even other shows on their own networks. Read about the issues each faces and then weigh in on which deserve to stay — or go.

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#1 – Brothers (Fridays at 8/7c, Fox)
Issues: This family sitcom hasn’t connected with an audience, nor has its timeslot-mate, ‘Til Death.

#2 – Cold Case (Sundays at 10/9c, CBS)
Issues: Show sources say that this is the final season of Cold Case. It’s losing to Brothers & Sisters regularly.

#3 – Dollhouse (Fridays at 9/8c, Fox)
Issues: Fox yanked the show from its November lineup. Executive producer Joss Whedon has hinted that the party’s over after Fox burns off the rest of the show’s 13-episode run in December.

#4 – Eastwick (Wednesdays at 10/9c, ABC)
Issues: Is nobody watching TV at 10 p.m. anymore? Not only are Leno’s ratings tanking, so are those of his competition.

#5 – The Forgotten (Tuesdays at 10/9c, ABC)
Issues: Its title may have become its destiny. Even star Christian Slater couldn’t bring eyeballs to the Jerry Bruckheimer drama.

#6 – Fringe (Thursdays at 9/8c, Fox)
Issues: It’s been consistently fourth in its extremely competitively timeslot (opposite Grey’s Anatomy, The Office and 30 Rock, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Supernatural), despite actually posting gains for Fox on Thursday nights over last season. But the relatively healthy Tuesday audience it used to have is shrinking.

#7 – Gary Unmarried (Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c, CBS)
Issues: Its ratings are decent, but nowhere near those of CBS’ top sitcoms.
(Editor’s note: Since publication, we’ve received word that Gossip Girl is safe.)

#8 – Hank (Wednesdays at 8/7c, ABC)
Issues: ABC has announced pickups for Modern Family, The Middle and Cougar Town (the rest of its Wednesday-night comedy block), and Hank’s absence from that list speaks volumes.

#9 – Law & Order (Fridays at 8, NBC)
Issues: It’s losing to Ghost Whisperer, and it’s been on the air for 20 years, which is about 140 in TV years. If it completes this season, it will tie Gunsmoke as the longest-running drama in history. NBC wouldn’t pull the plug before that achievement, would it?

#10 – Melrose Place (Tuesdays at 9/8c, CW)
Issues: Yes, the CW has ordered 18 episodes for this season. Two cast members have been fired, and producers say they plan to change direction from the new Melrose Place’s dark murder mystery. Will it be enough?

#11 – New Adventures of Old Christine (Wednesdays at 8/7c, CBS)
Issues: See above for Gary Unmarried.

#12 – Three Rivers (Sundays at 9, CBS)
Issues: Critics hated it, despite their ongoing love affair with star Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight). And it’s getting clobbered by Desperate Housewives.

#13 – ‘Til Death (Fridays at 8:30, Fox)
Issues: It’s never been a ratings barn-burner, and its pairing with Brothers hasn’t helped.

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CANCELED/NOT RETURNING (most recent first)
Trauma (Oct. 28, , after its 13-episode run)
Southland (Oct. 8, )
The Beautiful Life: TBL (Sept. 25, )

PICKED UP FOR FULL SEASON
Community (Oct. 23, )
Mercy (Oct. 23, )
Parks and Recreation (Oct. 23, )
Melrose Place (Oct. 21, , 18 episodes)
The Vampire Diaries (Oct. 21, )
Castle (Oct. 20, )
FlashForward (Oct. 12, )
Cougar Town (Oct. 8, )
The Middle (Oct. 8, )
Modern Family (Oct. 8, )
The Good Wife (Oct. 7, )
NCIS: Los Angeles (Oct. 7, )
One Tree Hill (Sept. 23, )
Glee (Sept. 21, )

I might have jumped the gun in saying good-bye to Charlie this week.  According to Jeff Pinkner, we haven’t seen the last of him.  This article is from Wednesday, but there is still some interesting bits.  The following in an interview by TV Guide:

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In the season premiere, Peter says, “We’re done reacting. From now on, we call the shots.” What does this mean for the structure of the show going forward?
Joel Wyman: That line is really important. We view last season as a prologue. This season focuses on the actualization of our characters and delves into their lives. Basically, Peter is going to move to the forefront, he’s going to get out there and try to find some answers. Olivia is going to go through her journey of recovery. Walter is going to be investigating his emancipation.

Will it still feel like a crime procedural or something else?
Jeff Pinkner: The show is still going to feel very much like it did last year. But when we met Peter, he was here reluctantly and he knew he could jump at any time. Over the course of the season, he became committed to his father and Olivia, developed feelings for both of them in different ways. He starts to realize that some of these cases affect him personally, that he’s involved in this world in a way that he can’t quite understand.

What are the lessons from Season 1?
Pinkner: In Season 1, our characters were still coming together. They were learning about each other and this world they live in. Olivia was learning about her childhood. All three of the characters were finding their sea legs.
Wyman: We discovered that the cases are intriguing and fun, and it’s great to freak people out, but people definitely want to get to know our characters more. They want to understand what they’re going through on a personal level.

How much longer will “Charlie” be around?
Pinkner: “Charlie” will be around for at least [one more episode].
Wyman: That’s not to say he won’t come back. Don’t forget — there’s a parallel-universe Charlie too. We’ve seen him already.
Pinkner: Actually, I just left a set where [Kirk Acevedo] was filming. [Editor's Note: They were producing Episodes 8 and 9 at the time of our interview.]

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Read the rest of this interview by clicking below…

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Here are all of the most recent updates on the upcoming Season 2 of Fringe.

Episode Titles and Synopsis:

Season 2, Episode 1 “ A New Day in the Old Town“

The first episode has to do with a shapeshifter who continually molds his face, somehow.

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Season 2, Episode 2 “Night of Desirable Objects“

One source indicates this episode Involves a series of bizarre disappearances.  Another source claims it is about a mole-man living under a town, pulling people underground and eating them.

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Season 2, Episode 3 “Fracture“

Unexplained bombs put innocent lives on the line and FBI agents in a race against time.

Season 2, Episode 4 “This is the Night Mail“

A psychic, a killer and a new villain.

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Season 2, Episode 5 “   “

A brilliant scientist who has dedicated his life to his work is driven by his desire for his work to be his legacy.  He is tragically afflicted with a deep seeded addiction that he has successfully hidden from the world and even himself.  A modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

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Season 2, Episode 6 “Earthling“

A man is wanted in Russia for stealing his brother and fleeing to America with him.  Fearing the Russian Government was experimenting on his brother, he brought his brother to the U.S. five years ago.  They have been off the grid ever since.

We will meet Diane, who is Broyles’ ex-wife.

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Season 2, Episode 7 “Of Human Action“

We will meet McKenna, who is the Director of the FBI and a former colleague of Broyles.

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Season 2, Episode 8 “August“

Casting Call:  [STRANGER] Caucasian. 30’s-50’s, male, shaved head (or willing to shave). A bit generic looking man who pops up quite a bit- Guest Star.

Is this a casting call for a new Observer?

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The latest from TV Guide:

Any Fringe scoop? — Lizbeth
MICKEY: Right off the bat in the first episode, one character’s alliances will be questioned, and the answer will be heartbreaking for fans of the show. (Unrelated: Did you hear that The Observer showed up at Fox’s fall preview party last week? Honestly, I’m glad there’s photographic evidence because at the time, I just thought I was having the gin spins.)

Don’t forget to take the poll relating to this newest information.

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Fringe executive producers and writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci spoke to IESB about season 2 and a little about alternate universe storyline.

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We had all thought that FBI agent Charlie was leaving us…but recent promo photos and this set photo make it quite obvious that we haven’t seen the last of Charlie.

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The Observer, on the other hand, might be a different story.  Di has informed me that Michael Cerveris has announced on his Facebook page that he won’t be around next season.  I had my doubt’s, but then I remembered a photo of an apparent appearance made by the Observer at the TCA party in Pasadena, California on Thursday night.  It wasn’t Michael Cerveris, so I wasn’t sure what to think, but now it is starting to make sense.  He’s possibly the new Observer…whoever he is.

Thanks to Michael O’Neill at Flickr.com for these photographs of upcoming filming of Season 2 of Fringe.

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Top five Fringe Season 2 Spoilers from TV Addict:

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Fox gave journalists a taste of what Fringe‘s parallel dimension is like at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in the form of a fictional newspaper called The New York News, similar to the New York Post glimpsed on the table in William Bell’s office in the season-one finale.

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The front page, dated May 12, ( which helps with my time line), features stories about the Obamas moving into the new White House—in this dimension, the original White House, not the World Trade Center, was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001— former president John F. Kennedy will address the United Nations, and 1986 draft pick Len Bias hasn’t died of a drug overdose but rather becomes the NBA MVP. And inside, we learn that Star Trek is still the number-one movie for the weekend of May 8 (and was presumably still written by Fringe co-creators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman).

That tantalizing glimpse of the parallel universe teases what viewers can expect when Fox’s sci-fi series returns in the fall, but Orci says the parallel universe will differ from our own only when it’s significant.

Spoilers ahead!

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This is what FOX FLASH had to say about Season 2:

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Last season’s No. 1 new series among Adults 18-49, FRINGE returns for a second thrilling season and will continue to explore the unexplained phenomena and terrifying occurrences linked throughout the world – known simply as “The Pattern” – in pursuit of a larger, more shocking truth.

Set in Boston, the FBI’s Fringe Division formed when Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (Anna Torv) enlisted the help of institutionalized “fringe” scientist WALTER BISHOP (John Noble) and his son, PETER (Joshua Jackson), to save her partner and lover from a mind-bending death. Through unconventional and unorthodox methods, the FRINGE team imagines and tests  the impossibilities while investigating unbelievable events, macabre crimes and mystifying cases involving teleportation, reanimation, genetic mutation, precognition, artificial intelligence and other fantastical theories. When the unimaginable happens, it’s their job to stop it.

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Here’s the latest of what I have found on upcoming season 2 of Fringe.

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Season 2, Episode 1 “ A Day in the Old Town“

Head over to SpoilerTV for the episode’s casting call.

The first episode has to do with a shapeshifter who continually molds his face, somehow…

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Jo found this website – zazzle.com – that is selling all kinds of Fringe paraphernalia.  I don’t think any of it is official, but I thought it was worth posting about.  It’s a great site…you can create and sell your own products right on line.  To get more details and/or order, just click the image of the item that you like.

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T-shirts – come in a variety of sizes and colors

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