Fringe

I'm not a big TV watcher. I (usually) catch House if I happen to be home on Monday or whatever day it's on since Fox seems determined to switch days every three months, but I'm not too fussed if I miss an episode or three. But I had to miss Fringe last night due to work and I spent a couple of hours sitting around clicking "refresh" and waiting for them to post the episode online so I could watch it.

I seriously think this is the best TV show I've ever seen. It's nominally science fiction, which puts it in my "preferred genre" area, but when the trailers started I wasn't impressed at all. I figured it was going to be another anti-science, anti-corporation "things man was not meant to know" hack job. I have since learned that this show is in the hands of people who would never do anything so obvious, if only from a desire to be unique and surprising.

I adore all of the characters. They are complex and fascinating, yet they remain like real people, getting temporarily knocked askew when shocking things happen but returning, like a gyroscope, to their center of gravity. This is how people rightly act, grounded by their principles into a powerful sense of self.

Anna Torv's character Olivia Dunham is, by far, my favorite. If I had a mental image of what I would like to be, myself, it would be Olivia Dunham. I think she should play Dagny in Atlas Shrugged, that's how much I love this character.

From a science fiction aspect, the show is popular fare at best--the science is bunk. But as a drama, Fringe is second to none.