The J.J. Abrams web continues to grow.  The new Abrams pilot, Fringe, which will debut in the Fall on FOX has named a show runner: Jeff Pinkner.  This being the case, it's a little bit of a misnomer that Fringe is a J.J. Abrams show.  His clout brought it to fruition, and he obviously had a lot to do with the creation of the pilot, but once it gets up and running, it will be Jeff Pinkner at the helm.  Who is Jeff Pinkner?  Well, if you're a Lost fan, then you know Pinker's work.  He's been a producer on Lost for some time now, and has also written four episodes of the series.  Fringe is a sci-fi series, starring Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble.  The pilot has an exorbitant budget at $10 million, and it will be directed by Alex Graves.

Fringe, in a best case scenario, will become a new X-Files.  Jeff Pinkner has had a long relationship with J.J. Abrams. He wrote twelve episodes of Alias, while also serving as a producer on the series.  For Lost, he's written four very good episodes: The Glass Ballerina, Not in Portland, The Man From Tallahassee, and Catch-22.  I'd say that The Man From Tallahassee is one of my favorite all-time Lost episodes.  While it's impossible to know if Pinkner will be a great show runner, the J.J. Abrams lineage is a strong one.  Handing over the Lost reins to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof proved to be a wise move.  

Fringe is one of those series that will either take off immediately or crash and burn.  When a network drops ten million bones on a pilot, yes, the network has a lot of confidence in the product, but they also aren't going to be content with middling ratings.  You also have to consider that Fringe will be on FOX and FOX has a propensity for canceling shows very quickly.  Regardless, Fringe was already going to be one of the most highly anticipated new series of next season, and Jeff Pinker's involvement should only make fans more enticed.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)