Ah, J.J. Abrams. The brain behind many legendary shows, from The X-Files to Lost to Alias, not to mention the viral marketing sensation Cloverfield, is at it again.

Until now, not many details had emerged about the new Fox series “Fringe.” But Sci-Fi Wire has recently had the chance to screen the entire pilot. They’ve also provided Fox’s official description of the show, which states:

When an international flight lands at Boston’s Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI special agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is called in to investigate,” the description read.

After her partner, special agent John Scott (Mark Valley), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), our generation’s Einstein. There’s only one catch: He’s been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), in to help.

Based on the pilot, SF Wire describes the show as a mixture of Lost, Alias, and The X-Files. It only makes sense that they’d use his three most popular shows to describe this newest effort, but will it ever be as successful? Let’s not forget his slightly less popular effort, Felicity. With Lost still on the air and the X-Files movie coming out so soon, they’ll have to stop themselves from being too derivative – does he have enough new ideas to fill out this series?

J.J. Abrams has a reputation for hinting at a lot, and not revealing too much. It’s hard to say how much more of this audiences will take – and I think it would be good if he started shortening his plotlines a bit so that new viewers wouldn’t feel intimidated about jumping in midstream. If he can force himself to be a little less epic, he might draw in an even wider fanbase.

Fringe will air on Fox during the fall 2008 season, and, along with Joss Whedon series Dollhouse, will contain limited commercial interruption. That alone should make you want to tune in! At least, that’s what Fox is hoping.

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