Abrams Hopes for Fringe Season 5

Fringe Executive Producer J.J. Abrams tells TV Line that, "We remain hopeful that Fringe will be able to continue." This seems to indicate that Fox is at least willing to listen to the idea. Do not get your hopes up as Fox president Kevin Reilly (and one to make the decision) said that Fringe was losing the network money as it seems to find new rating lows each week. I think they only way Fox would renew the show is if the entire production costs are covered by Warner Bros. WB is the studio that makes the show might be willing to do that to hit that 100 episode milestone that will increase syndication possibilities worldwide. It seems show runner Jeff Pinkner is prepared for cancellation or renewal saying "Worst case scenario, if this were the last aired season of Fringe… we know what the end of this season is going to be and it can function as a series finale." The economics of TV today makes me think that syndication dollars are not enough to prevent cancellation.

JJ Abrams Talks Alcatraz

Today at the Television Critics Association’s press tour to promote Alcatraz, the series executive producer talks about the series that will debut on January 16th on Fox. He revealed little about the show except to say "this show was designed as episodic with an overarching large mythology we get to over time."

He also briefly commented on the changing of show runners halfway through filming, essentially dismissing it, "[Elizabeth Sarnoff] helped the pilot get to a place that was extraordinary. "She didn’t feel like she was the right person to run the show" after creative changes were made.

The impression I get is Fox demanded the show have a villain (escaped convict) of the week format with the serialized (aka mythology part) de-emphasized. The mythology will be the reveal of how and why the inmates of Alcatraz were allowed to jump forward in time (and hopefully explain how they adjust to a new era at a fast rate). My thinking is the show's format will not be much different than The Mentalist with its mystery of the week and the occasional "mythology" of the Red John serial killer. Or if need another example of a more sci-fi bent, go with the show that created the episodic with serialized mythology format - The X-Files. JJ Abrams sales pitch for the show to TV viewers can be found here.

Abrams' Bad Robot Released iPhone App

J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot has entered the iPhone app business with Action Movie FX. The free app comes with missile attack and car smash effects that can be added to a video shot from within the app. The profit comes from letting you buy additional effects at the cost of $.99 in packs of two. The current affects you can buy are chopper down/tornado action and airstrike/fire fight bundles. The app can be used on any camera enabled iOS device. More details can be found here, demo video below.

Abrams' Alcatraz Premiere Scheduled

After teasing a January premiere for JJ Abrams next television series, Fox has finally announced when the show will air. The pilot episode will are on Monday January 16th from 8-10pm. After that the show will start airing in its regular Mondays at 9PM time slot.

New Alcatraz Trailer

A new trailer for Alcatraz has debuted that hints a little bit more about the series which is executive produced by JJ Abrams. There still isn't a set date and time for the series debut but the trailer at least narrows it down to January.

Super 8's Star Trek Contest

Paramount is a new contest to promote the release of JJ Abrams' Super 8 on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow called "Super 8: Watch It & Walk-On" sweepstakes. Two lucky winners will get walk-on roles in Star Trek 2 that JJ Abrams is directing and begins principle photography in January. Usually "walk-on" tends to be literal as essentially an extra what will "walk" in the background of whatever scene be it a street or the bridge of the Enterprise to help sell the scene. To win, go to www.Super8Sweeps.com and answer the Super 8 trivia test. The contest runs from November 20th to December 4th and open only to US residents that are 18 and up in age.

JJ Abram's Alcatraz Showrunner Exit

It seems JJ Abrams' produced TV series Alcatraz has experienced a bit of a bump with the co-creator of show stepping down as executive producer. No reason has have been given nor any indication if it was her choice or Fox's. She will be replaced by Jennifer Johnson (Cold Case) and Daniel Pyne (Fracture). The series is expected to premiere sometime early 2012 but no date has been set.