I have to admit, I didn't have very high hopes for Fringe. The X-Filesishness (hey look, new word!) of it seemed like a bad idea even before the latest movie didn't so much as bomb as give a tiny little Derek “I've got the black lung pop” Zoolander cough and then shuffled quietly from the mortal coil. I haven't been a fan of Lost since the premiere of the second season when I said “really, that's it?” and promptly turned off the television and “The Godzilla Witch Project”, while ambitious, left me a little cold. I suppose its unfair to J.J. Abrams to judge his latest show by his most recent standards. Those standards being that I'll be too stupid to understand it and everyone but me will love it. I'll judge him by Alias standards. Are the cliffhangers cliffhangery enough? Are the outfits small enough to make a Hilton say “Hey now, that shows a little too much skin. I have standards you know!”

Hold on. No cliffhanger and the clothes look like something normal people would wear? Great! Another show I can't watch because of my status as the lowest common... waitaminnit...

I think this could be J.J. Abrams finest project to date (not counting Felicity, that Scott Foley is dreamy!). The show mixes action, drama and humor in a way that I haven't seen out of Abrams since the days of Marshall's tech ops briefings on Alias. The cast he's assembled has pretty much astounded me. I've always been a fan of Joshua Jackson. From his early days as the plucky young Duck to his six years as Pacy on Dawson's Creek where he got to make out with Katie Holmes before she was mindwiped by the mothership. He's always had a certain roughish charm about him and in Fringe his ability to switch from kind of skeevy douche to MENSA candidate on a dime is pretty cool to watch. His father is played by John Noble, you'll remember him as the guy who tried to burn Feromir alive. Now there is a douchey move. Cooking your own son on an open BBQ pit while midgets in funny helmets look on. Well he's still crazy and as the story opens he's spent the past 17 years in a mental institution. Family issues are fantastic. Especially if you can watch them in the most Jerry Springeresque manner possible. No Springer here thankfully, just a typically dysfunctional father son dynamic that always makes things interesting. The father is looking for redemption (or possibly some clay to eat) and the son is looking for a way out of his miserable life (or possibly into the lead characters pants).

Speaking of leading ladies, the main character here is played by Anna Tory, an Australian actress I've never heard of. She isn't a traditional leading lady and by that I mean she looks like someone you could actually know. She comes across a little cold but that could be part of her FBI character (or it could be a lack of acting skills, I'm not sure yet). Either way J.J. Seems to believe in her and who am I to argue with someone who understands what the hell is happening on Lost?