"Fringe" (with THAT scene) airing the week of 9/11 - does it really matter? And is it an inside job?

UPDATE: Just to correct myself, I see that New York City is hosting an event on 9/11 on voluntarism, and that Obama and McCain have both agreed to attend it, which renders it a "meaningful television commemoration" in my book.

Joel Brown in his review of Fox's "Fringe," debuting tonight (btw, mild spoilers ahead), is annoyed, perhaps even angry, to see that show creator J.J. Abrams had the unmitigated audacity to use as the series' opening scene a terror attack aboard a commercial airliner in which all the passengers die. (Above, Anna Torv's character is called in to investigate the aftermath.)

Why is Joel annoyed? Because the broadcast is airing two days before 9/11. "Was he just not thinking, or was he actually trying to invoke the terror of that day?" he writes.

A couple of responses come immediately to mind. First, J.J. Abrams very likely had no idea that Fox would premiere "Fringe" this early when he was signed to make the pilot last winter. Last season, for instance, the only series Fox premiered before 9/11 were returning reality series. The first new scripted show, "K-Ville," signed on Sept. 17.

But, you say, Fox knew the schedule. Yes, but this is the same network that chose to air the pilot of "24" one month after the 9/11 attacks with the opening scene left intact: a scene where a terrorist skydives out of an airliner moments before it explodes in mid-air. Of course, we later found out one of the co-producers of "24" was good buddies with a lot of people in the Bush Administration and that they get the military's help with the show, so maybe it was all part of that inside job we keep hearing about.

By contrast, the threat that forms the storyline for the first hour of "Fringe" is some kind of whacked-out virus being developed by a super-secret multinational corporation. A storyline from the 1970s -- oh, for the good old days. Watching the scene (more than once, I must admit), I never once made any connection to 9/11. Maybe that's because of where I live, which is to say, where most of America lives, off the East coast. Or maybe it's just that the show offers almost no cultural connectors to the present day, other than the obligatory spy-talk that infests the dialogue, that 9/11 is just a stretch here.

But the larger point, if there is one, is that 9/11 isn't an anniversary that stands out in a lot of people's minds anymore. This year, as was the case last year, no meaningful television commemoration of the anniversary of the attacks is on my radar.

Ironically, the ones making the most noise about that fateful day are the ones who are in denial about what actually happened, the "9/11 was an inside job" people that we all saw and heard during the convention. While watching an episode of "Fringe" may bring back some unexpectedly painful memories for some, hearing idiots continue to propagate this ridiculous and oft-refuted fantasy about 9/11 is beyond painful -- it's hideous. More hideous than the opening scene of "Fringe."

Related: My review of "Fringe" (spoiler free)

Audio: WBAL's Shari Elliker and I talked about "Fringe" and other TV items.