TV News: FBI Agent Added to Fringe, Fuller Leaves Heroes Again

- Former Deal or No Deal model Meghan Markle has joined the cast of Fringe as "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior FBI agent." Hmmm . . . possible love interest/eye candy for Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) during the show's second season? [Hollywood Reporter]

- Bryan Fuller has left Heroes again, citing time constraints since NBC has tapped him to write multiple pilots. Fuller was originally co-executive producer for the comic book action show, but left to work on Pushing Daisies. Fuller had returned to Heroes in 2008 as a consulting producer. He emphasizes that his departure is not due to creative differences with show creator Tim Kring. "We crated some really great arcs for the season that I'm excited to see come to fruition. I love that cast dearly and am sad to go, but the plate -- she was over-flowing," Fuller said. [TV Guide]

- Callum Blue (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) has been added to the cast of Smallville as a regular. Blue will be playing Phantom Zone villian Zod as the CW show enters its ninth season. [E! Online]

- Comedian Martin Lawrence's production company is developing several new series, including an animated comedy for Fox based on Lawrence's experiences growing up in the Washington, DC area. Lawrence is also working on a single-camera interracial family show for Starz and a multicamera family comedy that will probably be shopped to the networks. [Variety]

- Judy Reyes of Scrubs fame is pregnant with her first child and is due in November. Congratulations to her and boyfriend George Valencia! [TV Guide]

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Fox's Fall Sked to Start Early in September

Fox has announced its fall premiere dates and, in a surprise move, they will be airing their Wednesday, Thursday and Friday line-ups a week before the official start of the new TV season. Current premiere dates are:

• Sunday, September 12 - Cops, America's Most Wanted
• Wednesday, September 16 - So You Think You Can Dance, Glee
• Thursday, September 17 - Bones, Fringe
• Friday, September 18 - Brothers, Til Death, Dollhouse
• Monday, September 21 - House
• Sunday, September 27 - The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, American Dad
• Monday, September 28 - Lie to Me
• Saturday, November 7 - Wanda Sykes Show (late-night)

[Variety]

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TV News: Fringe Star Fired

Fringe fans learned that Kirk Acevedo, who plays FBI agent Charlie Francis on the show, was fired through an announcement on Acevedo's Facebook page. The FB post reads: "WELL BOYS AND GIRLS THEY DONE DID YER BOY WRONG! THEY FIRED ME OFF OF FRINGE,AND I'VE NEVER BEEN FIRED IN MY LIFE!!!!"

The news has since been confirmed by "industry insiders" although it does not seem that Fox has made an official announcement.

Too bad -- Charlie Francis' rapport with Olivia Dunham was excellent, and after the episode in which he almost died after being infected with a creature's progeny, I was looking forward to seeing how the character developed in season two. [Chicago TV Examiner]

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Living on the Fringe

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Tuesday's Fringe finale, "There's More Than One of Everything," along with general spoilers for the show's first season.

The finale for Fringe's freshman season included a guest appearance by Leonard Nimoy; breaches of the wall between our world and an alternate reality; and a couple of people whose bodies were cleanly, fatally and disgustingly severed when these breaches sealed around them. The most shocking moment of the episode though, was a brief look at a plain tombstone bearing the words "Peter Bishop, 1978-1985."

Peter Bishop is, of course, the character played by Joshua Jackson — a character who is a 30-year-old man who is very much alive, not a dead seven-year-old child.

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Early in the season, I thought the writers had given too much away when they had Peter's father, mad scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), tell Peter that he was special. While I haven't followed Fringe fanatically (I tend to watch the eps on Hulu when I have a moment), the bits and pieces we were given about Peter's childhood seemed to back up my earlier assumption. The story of Peter's severe illness as a child and his near death in an icy lake, coupled with his father's comment about Peter being special led me think that he'd been treated with the experimental drug cortexiphan in the same way Olivia had been dosed with it.

While cortexiphan treatment may still be a possibility, the tombstone and the episode title — "There's More Than One of Everything" — point to the Peter we know being an "import" from an alternate reality, possibly the same reality in which the mysterious William Bell (Nimoy) currently resides. The same reality to which Olivia was taken at the end of the finale. A reality in which the World Trade Center still stands tall in NYC, but the White House has been destroyed.

Over the course of the first 20 episodes Walter and Peter Bishop have slowly developed a father-son relationship (with Peter usually taking the paternal role), albeit one that's frequently contentious. Uncovering the hows and whys of Peter's story next season sets up a rollercoaster of a storyline.

During the first half of this season, I was waiting to see if Fringe would find its legs. The initial eps were okay for a new sci-fi show, but I kept waiting for the writers to show me something that didn't feel like it had been lifted from The X-Files. Right around mid-season, the show hit its stride and has been ratcheting up the stakes for its three main characters every week. Fringe has become addictive sci-fi television and fall's season two premiere can't come fast enough.

Watch the season one finale "There's More Than One of Everything":

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TV News: Fox Renews Fringe

Fox announced that they have renewed J.J. Abrams' paranormal thriller Fringe for a full 22-episode second season.

Fringe, starring thesps Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble, is the #1 rated new TV series among the adults 18-49. The first season finale, airing May 12, will feature none other than Leonard Nimoy guest starring as the mysterious Dr. William Bell. [Hollywood Reporter]

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