Heh, probably not the most stable of gigs. But congrats to him :) I expect to be caught up just in time. I'm looking forward to it.

sumogrip | May 18, 20:28 CET

A world of yes!

Jelly | May 18, 20:44 CET

This. Is. Good.

Tin Ear Tom | May 18, 20:54 CET

This is huge, great news. Fury is a much better fit for a serialized character-driven sci-fi drama than he ever was for 24, and Fringe needs a great writer like him to lift a staff of good ones to the next level. Fringe has come close to going off the rails for a good portion of its existence, and I suspect it's probably only got another year in it. I'm guessing it could now be their best.

MrArg | May 18, 20:58 CET

This IS very cool. More power to him.

blanetalk | May 18, 21:11 CET

Fringe has steadily been getting stronger, not coming close to going off the rails. (Fight! Fight!)

b!X | May 18, 21:13 CET

Hooray! Great guy I was lucky to meet in Sacramento in the distant past. This is his return to Fox since he was part of 24 staff, and even appeared in a small role. That guy can also sing...as any Dr. Horrible fan will tell you.

impalergeneral | May 18, 21:16 CET

What's the Fringe equivalent of mustard?

Simon | May 18, 21:19 CET

Amber.

b!X | May 18, 21:27 CET

Three cheers for this news. I'm currently ploughing through season two of Fringe, and I like it very much. Looking forward to eventually seeing what Mr. Fury can contribute to these worlds.

redders | May 18, 21:52 CET

Fringe walks on the rails very carefully. It sometimes loses balance, but as its gone along, it gains more and more confidence so I'm sticking with it till the end.

Jaymii | May 18, 22:14 CET

Congrats to him!

While I hope that the show finds a way to make it to Season 5, I think that at this point we fans should be prepared for this to be the final Season.

Risch22 | May 19, 00:27 CET

I seem to recall that when it first aired, Whedon fans on this site were keen, but then somewhat disappointed. (But, if I remember correctly, some of that disappointment might have been because people thought that Fox was treating Fringe better than Dollhouse.)

I take it from some of the comments on this thread that it gets better? If so, when would you say you will know if it's your thing or not? (e.g.The episode equivalent to The Man on the Street?)

Bluey | May 19, 01:13 CET

There isn't a "Man on the Street" episode. But generally the final episode of S1 is considered the moment Fringe first really took its intended direction.

b!X | May 19, 01:37 CET

And really the MOTS perspective isn't really reflective of anything anyway. For all the impact MOTS had (partly due to the comparatively weak/mixed impact the prior episodes had on people), it wasn't especially indicative of how powerful/crazy Dollhouse got later on anyway.

Overall S2 is when Fringe really starts settling in, but one wouldn't want to *start* with S2, IMHO.

b!X | May 19, 01:43 CET

Awesome to the power of 10!

Nebula1400 | May 19, 01:56 CET

Imo, 'Fringe' became better before it's 1st Season Winter break (which ended with Ep 10).

I had tuned in to the pilot very hopefully and found it lackluster. Then it seemed to become even worse over the next half dozen Episodes. Fortunately for me, I had nothing else to watch in that time slot and kept tuning in, so as to use the show as background noise while on my computer. Sometime between S1Ep 8-10 I suddenly realized that the writing had noticeably improved and started to actually watch it again.

I'm really glad that I stuck with it, and for me it joins a long list of shows that started slowly and then turned themselves around.

Risch22 | May 19, 02:31 CET

"Fringe" may not always connect with the ball, but it really feels like the creative team, along with the actors behind the show, have really been swinging for the fences for quite some time now. I'll take complex and ambitious over the usual weak tea any day. The production values are as good as anything currently on television. Plus some of my most cherished "WTF?" moments have been on "Fringe." Throw Mr. Fury into the mix, and it can only get even better.

"They got... the amber... OUUUTTTT!"

Tin Ear Tom | May 19, 03:40 CET

Hurrah!

I think I watched the first fifteen episodes in two days and discovered that I shouldn't eat anything while watching the eps. The series started a bit lukewarm, but it suddenly became mind-blowingly awesome. David Fury's a welcome addition for me. *hurrah again*

csi_spy | May 19, 04:14 CET

If it's stability you want, I think David Fury is much better off with Fringe than, say, José Molina is with Terra Nova (to use a Whedonverse example), but both will offer huge creative challenges to two of our favorite writers. I'm not a big fan of Lost World-type shows in the first place so Terra Nova will need exceptional writing to keep me watching. Hopefully José's hiring signals that we can look forward to Terra Nova becoming as engrossing and exciting as Fringe already is.

cabri | May 19, 04:48 CET

And cabri brings it full circle since Terra Nova is the show David Fury left last fall over "creative differences."

IrrationaliTV | May 19, 04:59 CET

Hah! I'd forgotten that! Maybe David can give José some tips on what not to write. ;)

cabri | May 19, 05:26 CET

Tim is on Terra Nova to right? Can't be a bad thing!

Kaan | May 19, 05:30 CET

Great, great news! Congrats to Mr. Fury!

cheryl | May 19, 05:30 CET

Tim is apparently helping out over at Terra Nova, yes.

b!X | May 19, 05:35 CET

It must feel like old times for Tim, consulting on every Fox show ever.

hacksaway | May 19, 05:44 CET

Well, that is basically Tim's job.

b!X | May 19, 05:50 CET

I wonder if he has a daily schedule: Monday = Terra Nova, Tuesday = Awake, Wednesday thru Friday = American Horror Story. Perhaps with the Cuddy drama he'll also be consulting on House? He could handle House on Saturday mornings... ;)

cabri | May 19, 07:12 CET

Double Post, sorry.

[ edited by bedukay on 2011-05-19 08:18 ]

bedukay | May 19, 07:13 CET

This is cool. I loved the episodes he wrote on Lost and I'm sure I loved the stuff he did on Buffy and Angel as well. I've never been able to bring myself to watch any episodes of 24 no matter how much affection I have for some of the contributing writers' other work as I was put off by the whole torturing hero thing but maybe I'm just being prejudicial.

Also, I thought Tim's job is getting shows cancelled by helping to make them misunderstood works of genius? 2 of my favorite relatively recent canceled shows have him listed in their credits: The Chicago Code and Terriers. *sob*

bedukay | May 19, 07:15 CET

Maybe I should give Fringe a second chance. Only ever watched the pilot.

eddy | May 19, 12:19 CET

I resisted Fringe until recently. Without having watched a complete episode, it looked like X-Files redux, which didn't appeal to me. But then I started netflixing the discs. By the end of season one, I was hooked. I think the main reason I stuck with it through the early eps was John Noble's character, Walter. It's a role that could have been simple comic relief but has instead turned out to be complex, fully realized and human, thanks to good writing and excellent acting. I'll echo the folks here in that Fringe doesn't entirely push its way beyond the monster-of-the-week template until late in season one. By season two, it's firing on all cylinders and a real thrill ride, with characters that are worth caring about. I'd recommend it to anyone who digs Buffy and Angel.

dorkenheimer | May 19, 17:32 CET

dorkenheimer makes a great point (and thank you, Whedonesque, for existing and therefore allowing me to type that sentence at some point in my life). If you've resisted Fringe or bailed early, stick with it just for John Noble alone. It's one of the best performances on TV in the last five years, and he ultimately might be your doorway into the show.

b!X | May 19, 19:48 CET

Definitely exciting news. I've been watching on DVD and Fringe does start slow, but becomes very awesome by the second season. There was goodness in season 1 though, the observers and plotlines involving Mr. Jones, in particular. And throughout we get Walter Bishop, who makes even the worst episodes watchable.

AnotherFireflyfan | May 19, 20:19 CET

Hah, throwdown! I was recently getting beat up by another Fringe fan for not being as ga ga over it as I would like to be. For me, yes, Walter is one of the best characters created in television in the last decade, and the central conceit that drives the various events of the series (which I won't go into for those who might be looking to get into it) is solid. There are many episodes that really knock it out of the park, and tend to mix up "case of the week" and "mythology" within the same hour quite well. The first two season finales are epic. But I've come to the unfortunate personal conclusion that the younger leads and their backstories, particularly hers, just aren't that interesting to me, and (spoilers!) the fact that they've gone from intrepid paranormal investigators to the Alpha and Omega for all the known worlds or whatnot just seems like too much importance to thrust on a couple of fairly thin characters. Without that character connection, some of the grander story arcs they've been weaving do in fact come close to jumping the rails, at least as far as this individual viewer goes. Now that (once again, spoilers!) they've added a pretty strong time travel element, I'm even more concerned as those just never turn out too well. That said, it's certainly the highest quality sci fi show on network television these days and I'll continue to watch it--especially now that Fury's on board.

MrArg | May 19, 20:40 CET

Fringe can reach exceptional highs and very dull lows. Fortunately season 3 contained more of the former than the latter. The overlying plot arc is gloriously daft but the acting is first class. They all deserve Emmys in my book.

Simon | May 19, 20:58 CET

Awesome! :D

I love Fringe, and adding David Fury to the mix makes it even better. Congratulations to him! May it be a long-lasting post.

nthdegree | May 19, 22:14 CET

Hi fellow whedonesquers, thanks very much for your comments re Fringe - might have to check it out. I particularly appreciate how the comments have avoided or pre-warned spoilers, it's very thoughtful of the posters who've seen the show.

I've listened to your recommendations on Babylon 5 (it was awesome even though I laughed at rather than with most of the first season) and The Vampire Diaries (the consensus here was that it got better from episodes 6 or 7 of Season 1, and I've just finished ep 7, and darn it was good, definitely a significant improvement, looking forward to finding out what happens next and if and how they sustain the momentum). So I'll listen to your recommendations in this case too, particularly given that David's now on board.

Re: first season being worth watching just for John Noble's acting, I am definitely keen on watching good acting, I didn't realize quite how much a single excellent actor could improve my enjoyment of a series until Chris Colfer's (Kurt's) performance in Glee. While the show itself can be a bit uneven (even for a fan of melodrama and singing like me), his nuanced acting always elevates a scene. (It probably helps that he gets given some of the more serious aspects of what constitutes a plot).

Bluey | May 20, 00:53 CET