Abrams Producing Medical Comedy

JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are trading in their Fringe drama hats for medical scrubs for Fox. It was announced today that the Star Trek team are producing a new medical comedy pilot for the network.

From TrekMovie:

News on the new show comes from THR, which reports that JJ will produce the pilot, written by Mike Markowitz (Becker, Duckman). So far the only details on the half hour show is that it is a "medical comedy" developed for FOX via Abrams Bad Robot deal with Warner Brothers Television. As is the last year of ABC’s (formerly NBC’s) Scrubs, that market is wide open. This would be Abrams first comedy TV show, but not his first time with the genre. He wrote and/or produced a few comedies back in the 90s, including Gone Fishin’, The Suburbans, and The Pallbearer, and he also recently produced the comedy Morning Glory starring Harrison Ford, which is in post-production. The new medical comedy for FOX will be added to the growing list of film and TV projects Abrams has going on. In addition to the next Star Trek movie, Abrams has around half a dozen other films development.

In addition, below is a brief interview with the man as he discusses viral marketing. The Fiesta Movement campaign is one such example. I don't know the details, just that G4's Allison Haislip is involved with it.

Nimoy Returns to Fringe

TV Guide is reporting that Leonard Nimoy's reprisal of William Bell for Fringe will occur on the October 8th episode of the show.

Fringe (and Star Trek) fans can circle October 8 on their calendars. That’s the night Leonard Nimoy makes his highly anticipated return to Fox’s hit drama. An eerie procedure will allow Olivia to flashback to her season-finale alternate-reality encounter with Leonard’s William Bell to obtain a “further understanding of what Bell and Walter Bishop hoped to accomplish when they experimented on her as a child,” says executive producer Jeff Pinkner. During the same episode, viewers will also meet another woman (played by Theresa Russell) who was also experimented on by Bishop. And Olivia will be floored when she spies a new cold-blooded antagonist (played by “Valkyrie” vet Thomas Kretschmann). When his character’s secret is revealed, it will be an image you won’t soon forget.

Wizard Talks Fringe with Torv, Abrams

Fringe star and knockout Anna Torv talks about the upcoming season of the show starts September 17th at 9:00pm in the States in the current issue of Wizard Magazine. The October issue (on news stands now) also briefly talks to show creator/executive producer/writer/director J.J. Abrams who provides his usual non-answer answers to any attempt to get secrets about the show. Above and below are the related pages from Wizard issue and snippets from the interviews.

Anna Torv

When did you learn [Peter Bishop was from an alternate reality]?
We should've guessed it. We certainly knew there was something not right about that. But we didn't for sure really until the episode with the gravestone.

How was it filming your one scene with Leonard Nimoy, who played notorious scientist William Bell in the season finale?
Well, it was fast and furious. It was the last scene of the last episode of our last day in New York, but he was so beautiful and gentle. Actually, I think I have a scene coming up soon with him, potentially the rest of the scene that we shot for the last episode.

Do you have a lot of "I can't believe I'm doing this" moments on set?
Yeah. On a regular basis. Like today - we're doing night shoots at the moment [for] the second episode, but I'm about to go in a tunnel and get goop all over myself. I can't tell [you why] or I'll give away the story.

What can we expect from this season?
I think last year was very much about understanding and realizing that there is an enemy - for want of a better word - and I think that this season is kind of about preparing a little. I think that the Fringe team [is] definitely going to be a little more sure-footed, a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more proactive, whereas last season I think they were very, very reactionary.

I read that you keep your American accent on set even when you're not shooting a scene. Is that correct?
No, I'm always dropping in and out. It's funny how your ear changes when you're living in a country. When you first arrive, the differences are really dramatic and your accent's actually better, and then it starts to meld and you can't hear the differences as clearly. But I always get angry because I think if people don't know I'm Australian, they don't hear anything; they just hear me speaking American and accept it. But when people do know I'm Australian they start to listen out and then they'll be all, "Oh, see her accent's terrible!" [Laughs]

J.J. Abrams

What can we expect from the season premiere, which you are writing correct?
I co-wrote the premiere with Akiva Goldsman, and he directed it. One of the cool things about this premiere is how many balls are up in the air at one time. There's a lot going on. It's cool because the moment that propels the story forward is actually in the final episode [of season one]. But it's somewhat cryptic, somewhat hidden. It'll become clear when you see the premiere what it was, and it's great. It's a mystery that centers around of our main characters. It's personal. It's, I think, a very creepy and cool and weird premiere, and I think Akiva did an excellent job directing.

Will we see the other Walter who lost his son at some point?
I'd rather not talk about specifics in that regard, but it sure is a cool idea, isn't it?

Will Peter find out his origin this season do you think?
I would say that it's, of course, something that we're working on figuring out when and how and if he learns the history of his father and himself. It is one of those things that we are toying with.

Fringe Season 1 Next Week

Next week, September 8th, the first season of Fringe will debut on DVD and Blu-ray with 6 hours of extras including deleted scenes, gag reel, production diary and behind the scenes footage. Three of the episodes will have commentaries from the writers and producers of the show. If you plan to order from Amazon, feel free to use the links below.

Order Fringe Season 1 from Amazon: 5-Disc Blu-ray | 7-Disc DVD

DVD Details:
- Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe featurette - The creators of the show discuss how the series unfolded and the qualities that make it so unique
- Behind the Real Science of Fringe featurette - From teleportation to re-animation, Fringe incorporates recent discoveries in science. Consulting experts and scientists who are the authorities in their field address the areas of science which are the inspiration for the show.
- A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe (on select episodes) - An in-depth exploration of how select episodes came to be made: from the frozen far reaches of shooting the pilot in Toronto, to the weekly challenges of bringing episodes to air
- The Casting of Fringe - The story, as told by producers and cast, of how Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble and others came to be cast in the series.
Fringe Visual Effects featurette - Goes deep into the creation of the shared dream state with some of the biggest VFX shots of the show.
- Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes
- Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
- Fringe: Deciphering the Scene
- Roberto Orci Production Diary
- Gene the Cow montage
- Three Full-Length Commentaries from writers/producers, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner

Additional Blu-ray Bonus Features:
- "Pattern Analysis" – featuring expert commentary on selected scenes
BD-Live enabled with exclusive commentary by JJ Abrams

Fringe "Tweet-Peats" Thursday

In an interseting use of Twitter, Fox is planning a "tweet-peat" of the show this Thursday at 9PM according to Variety. The plan is to have cast and producers log into twitter and comment on the show while using the hash tag #fringe. The "tweets would then be simultaneously telecast in the lower-third scroll on Fox. ...Participants include "Fringe" exec producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman, as well as stars Joshua Jackson and John Noble."

Clicking the links I found for three of the four particpants, they all say "Check back this Thursday for the FRINGE Tweet-peat! To participate, follow @FRINGEonFOX." While your adding the others, feel free to add my twitter account. This "tweet-peat" will also occur if the repeat of the pilot episode of Glee.