Watching Lost

The ratings from last night have come in and for a show that  had the JJ Abrams factor, was highly anticipated and very much hyped, Fringe managed to get “only” get around 9,1 million viewers. All things considered, the number for Fringe was underwhelming. Maybe those leakages over the summer was the reason for it. But nevertheless, it did win against its key demographic, earning the highest among all other shows in that time period for 18-49 viewers.

Next week, ratings are expected to change as House serves as its worthy lead-in.

Did you watch Fringe last night? How was it for you? Was it all you expected it to be?

Here are some review excerpts from TV Critics:

LA Times

• And that’s where “Fringe” starts to really move. First of all, Noble, who played the power-mad Lord Denethor in “The Return of the King,” is just terrific as the modern-day Victor Frankenstein. With his rich rumble of a voice and uncanny ability to appear penetrating and childlike often within moments of each other, he’s clearly having the time of his life. And Abrams gives him plenty to work with: mind-melding, dream states, bubbling jewel-toned potions, treachery, murder and more secret labs. Heck, he even throws in a cow. And behind it all lurks, as it so often does, Corporate America, in the form of Massive Dynamic, an (evil?) company that has, apparently, co-opted many of Bishop’s out-there theories. Blair Brown plays executive Nina Sharp, and that makes “Fringe” worth watching right there.
  

Variety

• At first glance, it’s all a little too familiar, including an “Altered States” riff in which Torv strips down and enters a sensory-deprivation module. 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. To be fair, it’s hard to discern what to make of Jackson’s character just yet, but between the unrelenting lame wisecracks and his above-it-all demeanor, he seems to be attempting to channel Cary Grant from the 1940s and falling well short.

Salon

• On top of the plot of “Fringe,” which keeps us engrossed, of course, with foreboding music and a “Dawson’s Creek” love interest and a sneaking suspicion that one of the good guys is very, very bad (skin-deep devices that amount to pouring salt and sugar liberally over the whole mess), there are these symbols that flash on the screen before each commercial break. A leaf! A frog! A butterfly! What does it all mean?!! But having been down this thankless road with Abrams before, and knowing that Abrams himself probably hasn’t figured out what any of the symbols mean yet (Maybe he’ll leave that for a late-night bong session with friends. “Dude, dude! Butterflies … start as one thing, and then they transform into something else! Maybe that one denotes, you know, transformation!”), the symbols are just a pointless irritation. It’s sort of like going to the T.G.I. Friday’s Web site and, instead of getting Mapquest directions to your nearest chain, you get a scribbled treasure map littered with obscure signage that’s meant to suggest all kinds of deeper, more complex meanings — none of which you’ll ever fully understand, of course, so that the whole chafingly moronic experience can remain shrouded in eternal, deeply futile profundity.
  

NY Daily News

• For starters, it has a potential breakout star in Anna Torv, who plays FBI agent Olivia Dunham. 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. The cast includes a cow (”Jean”), who at one point joins several two-legged characters watching “SpongeBob.”