Shortly after posting my thoughts on Whedon's upcoming TV show, I got an email from a friend urging me to check out another show on the horizon: J.J. Abrams' "Fringe". I'd heard some vague rumblings about this project when the trailer came online but not following any of Abrams' other shows, I sort of wrote it off but when pushed, I figured I'd check it out and I'm happy I did. The show centers on a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientists in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena. Watching the trailer I'm reminded of "The X-Files" and of "Lost"...even though I've never seen an episode of it. Weird.

The other good thing is that it brings local guy Joshua Jackson back to TV and though I don't recognize the woman, I get the sense I've seen her somewhere else as well. For good measure, they also threw in Kirk Acevedo who was one of my favourite guys in the long running "Oz".

The trailer is pretty interesting and certainly has me curious about the show. Thoughts?

Since I'm already at it, also worth mentioning that Brit actor James D'Arcy has been cast as the lead in "Virtuality", a new show from BSG god Ronald D. Moore. Sources say the show is "set aboard the Phaeton, Earth's first starship, on a 10-year journey to explore a distant solar system. To help the crew endure the long trip, NASA equips the ship with advanced virtual reality modules, allowing them to assume adventurous identities and go anyplace they want."

I'm only mildly interested in this but I have to admit that the fact that Peter Berg is directing the pilot gives me great hope and has me more than a little curious. We'll see when that one comes around.


Finally, I'll leave you with some thoughts on the TV that has kept me mildly entertained the last two nights, A&E's "The Andromeda Strain". I had high hopes for the show which was produced by the Scott's but now that I've given them four hours of my time, I wish I'd just skipped it. Most of the special effects were TV budget, which is fine, the acting was actually better than I expected but the story was crap. It's been years since I've seen the film and I've never read the Chriton novel but I'm willing to bet they've taken their share of liberties with the story - also fine, as long as things still make some semblance of sense or that the audience can buy.

I thought things were getting odd with the ending of the first two hours but it only got worse in the 3rd and 4th hours and though I give them a little credit for incorporating some pretty wacky sci-fi ideas, it didn't work for me within the context of the show. I wasn't impressed.