Fall's Best Bets, No. 2: Fringe

Find out why Fox's freaky new drama is such good TV

By Kristin Dos Santos Sep 19, 2008 12:05 AMTags
Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Anna Torv, FringeGeorge Holz/FOX

What do you get when you cross J.J. Abrams with a couple of his writerly BFFs (Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman), toss in a respected Lost-alum head writer (Jeff Pinkner) and then mix in two awesome Australians and one of the wisecrackingest cuties to grace television in recent years?

Um, a mutant four-eyed marsupial baby from outer space, of course...

Why to Watch: After just two episodes, Fringe already has some of the most whackadoodle storylines seen on TV in recent years, but through the combined power of string theory, mitochondrial DNA manipulation and pure imagination, it works.

And the actors are as remarkable as the plots: John Noble is both lovable and intriguing as an absent-minded professor who digs SpongeBob SquarePants and who has probably mislaid his notes that wrap up the Unified Theory and identify eight new flavors of quark. Anna Torv sparkles as the latest in a long line of strong, adorable Abramic ingenues—she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner and Evangeline Lilly. And last but not least: Josh Jackson as Peter Bishop is just delicious, hilarious and awesome.

Watch it, even if you have to peek through your fingers at the gross stuff, because it's absolutely worth slogging through the slime to get to the wonders behind the goo. (Next week, by the way, crazy Walter has to "handle a surgical drill to penetrate the skull and study brain activity of a mysterious man." Oh, and the supersekrit voodoo lab is invaded by Harvard kids who think they're supposed to take a class there. That's not going to go well at all...)

Airs: Tues., 9 p.m., Fox
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo