Fringe

USA TodayRobert Bianco

You can see where it's going, and assuming Abrams doesn't let it get lost in its conspiracy, it should be fun to ride along.

Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn

With its paranormal occurrences, ever-autumn aesthetic, extraneous flashlight use at crime scenes, odd bursts of humor, and constant friction between faith and doubt, Fox's new sci-fi serial Fringe just might be a worthy successor--finally--to "The X-Files."

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Fringe invokes some of the sillier forms of television devices-- teleportation, psychokinesis, transmogrification and even bionic prostheses--but still manages to seem smart and stylish.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It has good characters and plenty of action. It keeps its science fiction accessible, not abstract. Maybe best of all, it has a great sense of humor.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

Although episodes are self-contained, each has a clue that points to the overall involvement of a shadowy, giant corporation, Massive Dynamics. Combine these elements with solid special effects and confident direction and you get some heavy-duty counterprogramming to ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

Mixing paranoia, bleak humor and post-9/11 exhaustion in a potent story-telling brew, it's one of the new television season's most promising dramas.

New York PostLinda Stasi

Lots of good action and lots of fun to boot.

NewsdayVerne Gay

I wanted to love Fringe, with its extraordinary pedigree and exotic, soulful Australian beauty Torv in the lead role, and splendid Noble in key support. Plus, Blair Brown's here, too, as a top exec at an evil corporation. But I just can't shake this word "derivative."

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Though the pilot has some flaws in it--mostly from a clash of tones--it still overdelivers on creativity, creepiness, fine acting and burgeoning character development.

Washington Post

With what appears to be an infinite number of deadly viruses out there, viewers can only hope the FBI can pinpoint them all.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

Fox's Fringe doesn't feel especially extreme or original. Well-acted and smoothly produced, yes, but not special.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

Fringe does a pretty nifty job of balancing the demands of the paranormal genre against the viewer’s need for some comic relief.

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

if you're the type of person who needs every little thing, or indeed any little thing, to make sense in a pilot, then you should probably watch Fringe in solitude, preferably with the door closed, so the rest of us can enjoy it for what it is--an uneven but promising jumble of horror, thriller and comedy that is not afraid to reference SpongeBob and "Altered States" in practically the same scene.

PopMattersCynthia Fuchs

The formula set in motion by the Fringe pilot is familiar. That’s not to say it’s not also devious and often delightful.

Slant MagazineMicah Towery

Fringe attempts something similar [to "Lost"] (with an opening scene involving a plane, no less) but can't quite match the primal thrill of vehicular destruction.

Chicago Sun-TimesMisha Davenport

I'm on the bubble with Fringe. The characters are all interesting and the acting is top notch, but the plot is essentially an update of "The X-Files" with the addition of terrorism and the office of Homeland Security.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The last half-hour of the pilot is by far the best part of Fringe; it’s full of twists, turns, action and suspense. And the first 20 minutes or so, in which a team of federal agents investigate a mysterious occurrence on a commercial airliner, is brisk and efficient, if (like much of Fringe) a little bombastic and overdirected. Aside from a cinematic dream sequence, the middle hour of Fringe is much more problematic.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

Fringe is just good enough to watch with or without the ads. But with Abrams, you expect more than "just good enough."

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

I just knew that there seemed to be a Duchovny-shaped hole in the universe "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams had designed for his new sci-fi show....Fortunately, things pick up considerably in the second half of tonight's two-hour premiere.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Nothing here really pops, even with Torv holding her own as the tough femme protagonist, the welcome presence of "The Wire's" Lance Reddick as her hostile boss and Noble exhibiting alternating strains of brilliance and psychosis.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

After the electrifying start, Fringe unfolds as an uneven, unwieldy piece of work that provides very few chills and thrills.

SalonHeather Havrilesky

Abrams, the quintessential American dreamer and overindulger, the ultimate boyish idiot-savant imaginator, just can't control himself. He can't exercise a little self-restraint.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Fringe has the feel of a chemistry-lab concoction, the forced amalgam of preexisting elements. It may not be hydrogen sulfide, which gives rotten eggs their smell, but it's mediocre science.

LA WeeklyRobert Abele

Fringe is a smorgasbord of a show, but one a little too synthetically engineered to allow you the chance to discover what it is

New York MagazineJohn Leonard

In the end, it turns out that Homeland Security so desperately needs Olivia on their side of the freak wars that they show her their top-secret Mulder-Scully-esque X-files and recruit both Bishops as her own mercenary team of pattern pods. And I am the queen of the Nile.