Fox renews Fringe!

[pork3]

startrekwatcher wrote:

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I used to feel that way but after a slew of really disappointing crappy endings I've now moved into the camp thinking that a cancellation is a good thing for a tv show these days allowing it to avoid the weak endings so many shows have--The X-Files, LOST, nBSG, Heroes etc.

Oi, thanks for reminding me. Of those, the X-Files and nBSG probably have to rank as the worst final seasons for a show, primarily because TPTB had no fucking clue how to close all their loose ends.

1. nBSG
2. X-Files
3. Heroes
4. Lost

I wonder how others would rank them...

-Jamman

[Dark Gilligan]

pork3 wrote:

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Of those, the X-Files and nBSG probably have to rank as the worst final seasons for a show, primarily because TPTB had no fucking clue how to close all their loose ends.

1. nBSG
2. X-Files
3. Heroes
4. Lost

I wonder how others would rank them...

I never watched X-Files or Heroes, but I enjoyed the final runs of nBSG and Lost immensely. Both stayed true to the mythos that were set up in earlier seasons. Many people disagree with that, but the clues were there all along.

[startrekwatcher]

Dark Gilligan wrote:

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I never watched X-Files or Heroes, but I enjoyed the final runs of nBSG and Lost immensely. Both stayed true to the mythos that were set up in earlier seasons. Many people disagree with that, but the clues were there all along.

All that the final season of Lost proved was the writers were just stringing everybody along when they said early on that they had learned from other botched shows and were avoiding the problems associated with them. They ultimately revealed they had no idea how to pull everything together(Dharma, the voices, Claire's possession, Walt's importance, Aaron's supposed importance, the Smoke Monster, the Drawing on the Hatch, the purpose of the vaccination and the list could go on and on). All they had been doing is throwing everything into the mix plotwise with no idea how to pay them off and they were nothing more than cool plot devices or dangling plot threads. In the end it was just a hot mess that year where the characters just were moved around from camp site to camp site in order to drag out the show.

Same for BSG and its hokey notions of Love(only love can produce a hybrid child) which unfortunately found its way into shows like Fringe. Not to mention the pointless Baltar cult, the waste of Six as nothing more than a love plot device, the lame love triangle among Tighe/Ellen/Six, the cheap way out of the baby not being Tyrol's son, the meaning of the Opera House vision etc etc

[Jax]

Tom wrote:

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Well we still dont know Alcatraz's fate yet, but the odds are not very good right now.

There had been rumors that Fringe would air in the fall and then Alcatraz in midseason on friday for next season. However I doubt this since Alcatraz's numbers on monday were already low, at least Fringe was pulling in 1.9-2.0 demo before it was moved.

[RJDiogenes]

startrekwatcher wrote:

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I used to feel that way but after a slew of really disappointing crappy endings I've now moved into the camp thinking that a cancellation is a good thing for a tv show these days allowing it to avoid the weak endings so many shows have--The X-Files, LOST, nBSG, Heroes etc.

I'd much rather be left thinking that the writers had a plan but never got to carry it out because of cancellation rather than realizing that the writers actually had no idea what they were doing despite all the promises to the contrary.

That's also an advantage to episodic series. If there's no definite ending, then it's left to the viewer's imagination. One can imagine that the characters are still out there somewhere, still going on with their lives....

DS9 is the only series I can think of that actually had a solid final season and pulled together a series worth of pieces together in a smart satisfying way--where even if it was done on the fly it made sense ultimately in how it all came together.

It's already been said, but Babylon 5 really had the best ending of any drama series (Newhart had the best ending of any comedy series).

[Methos]

Babylon 5 had a fantastic ending episode, but their last season was definitely the weakest by a long shot...

M

[RJDiogenes]

Possibly. The pacing was thrown off by the expected cancellation at the end of season four. I still liked it, though. And the finale was filmed at the end season four in any case.

[Mr Light]

The final seasons of Farscape and Angel had a weak opening half, but a very strong and satisfying second half.

[JRoss]

The next one absolutely has to be the last season. They've kinda butchered the show. I still love it, but it's unrecognizable now from the show that hooked me.

[Procutus]

JRoss wrote:

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The next one absolutely has to be the last season. They've kinda butchered the show. I still love it, but it's unrecognizable now from the show that hooked me.

It's a totally different show now, that's for sure, but towards the latter half of this season, it at least began to feel a bit more like Fringe of old. But I DO miss the original versions of the characters (though Peter has remained the constant in this show - he's like the Desmond of Fringe!)



Although I'm not expecting it with only 13 eps next year, I wish they would touch upon what happened to Sam Weiss and where he went, and more about how the damn machine was built in the first place.

[stj]

^^^I'm sure LOVE had something to do with it.

I had barely been hanging in just to see how the show ended. I'm not a classy person, I'm afraid I'd probably watch a train wreck too. But the dispiriting news that we're going to be jerked around for fourteen or fifteen more hours finished me off. I skipped Fringe last night, in favor of Netflixing Enterprise.

[RandyS]

I've never seen this show, but heard good things. As some of you may know from my comments in other sections of the board, parallel universe stories are my favorite type of sci-fi stories, and the thought of an entire show devoted to that is interesting (I'm still disapointed that SLIDERS turned into shit as fast as it did).

Anyway, I almost bought the existing season sets of FRINGE last week, but held off because of the possibility of season three being the last, I figured it would only be a matter of time before a complete series set was released. Now I'm thinking if such a set is released, it'll be another year down the road.

So my question is this: are the current DVD sets worth getting, or should I just watch the show online, something I don't enjoy much, I'd rather see what I'm watching on my big screen, and I don't want to waste money on the individual sets if a complete series edition is released next year (and yeah, I know it's too soon for news of that, I'm just going on how past shows have been released).

So, FRINGE fans, tell me, is this show worth an investment, or should I wait for the big set we all know will (eventually) be released?

[Harvey]

^^
Although I haven't seen it, judging from what I've read, you might find the Canadian-South African co-production* Charlie Jade to be interesting.

*I think I got that right...

On the subject of Fringe on home video, have other Bad Robot series had extra features when they received a complete series release? That might be a good barometer if you should buy the season sets now, or wait for the complete series in a year or so.

[JRoss]

Honestly, I'd just get them now. I imagine that they can be found somewhat cheaply.

[startrekwatcher]

RandyS wrote:

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So, FRINGE fans, tell me, is this show worth an investment, or should I wait for the big set we all know will (eventually) be released?

Honestly I wouldn't spend good money on FRINGE--I watched it for free and ultimately I felt like it was a waste of time looking back. But if you want to check it out why not Netflix it