"Fringe" first look: Unboxing the Press Kit

My mail today contained a press kit from Fox publicity to promote the upcoming thriller "Fringe," from J.J. Abrams. Since it seems you can't have too much information about either of the new Fox shows on the Internet, I've decided to devote an entire blog post to what I found when I opened up the press kit.

It's in the form of an FBI case file manila clippy folder, which as press kits go is beyond cliche. But this is the first one I've gotten that comes with an audio recorder containing the voice of Lance Reddick, who plays a by-the-book FBI investigator (a TV character that is also beyond cliche).

The first thing that fell out of the kit was a letter from Abrams, who acknowledges that many TV critics -- including yours truly -- watched "Fringe" two months ago when it got onto BitTorrent. But, much like the two way-too-similar incidents involving Bono and unreleased U2 tracks, the leak has only helped build buzz for "Fringe."

The letter opens, "We're so thrilled that you liked the pilot of FRINGE, which you more than likely downloaded illegally." Actually, I doubt it, and I'd like to see someone like EFF challenge this in court someday so we can be done with this cloak-and-dagger nonsense.

Anyway, moving on, the letter -- signed by producers Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci -- describes the show as "a procedural, (but) we wanted to add what many procedurals lack: character. And we wanted to dream up three characters who couldn't be more different and then hand them insane problems to solve."

Lance Reddick's character is not one of those oil-water-vinegar characters, however. Imagine Lt. Daniels on "The Wire" getting a lobotomy and you're pretty close to his character on "Fringe." Nonetheless, it is his voice on the memo recorder and here is what it contains (I suppose I should post "spoiler alert" or something, but hey, you've already read this far):

Download fringe-audio.mp3 (1:30)

And here is what you see when you open the manila folder:

Some cryptic materials relating to Reddick's voice memo: a picture of the kid, a picture of tsunami wreckage, and a sheet of paper with a post-it attached reading, "Patient woke from coma writing numbers....coordinates!" No, I didn't see old footage of Hitler in the screener, though it would have fit in perfectly. And of course, a finished and perfectly legal copy of the first episode DVD, which, if I decide I like it enough, I'll include as part of "Watch the Pilots with Aaron" on Sept. 4. Remember, you must enter for free passes, and the deadline is Friday.

I am not sure that the press kit does justice to the show. First of all, there's no mention of these three characters, the ones the producers have hinged the whole series on. (Did Reddick's agent demand top billing on the press kit?) Second, as I see it "Fringe" is indeed, a show about character -- so why put out a bunch of malarkey before critics that remind people of all those other mindlessly procedural conspiraseries?

Make a memo of that.

P.S. All the materials in the press kit use the date 9-9-08, which is when "Fringe" premieres on Fox.

Comments

[Dennis]

Did the press kit come with the Playboy too?

[Sadly, Dennis, you were not the first to notice my deliberate product placement. Julio Garcia will be getting a lovely prize. But I missed my shot. I was trying to layer the press kit so all you saw was part of the logo and the headline: BEAUTY AND THE GEEK WINNER NAKED.--AB]