New fantasy drama series 'Fringe' and 'True Blood' come from star producers

by Mark Dawidziak/Plain Dealer Television Critic

Friday September 05, 2008, 12:51 PM

Fox's "Fringe" and HBO's "True Blood" are two of the most eagerly anticipated new shows of the fall season, and pedigree is doing its share to build the buzz. Each is a fantasy drama from a writer-director-executive producer who has found fame and acclaim on television and the movie screen.

Alan Ball, the fellow pumping humor and horror into "True Blood," was the Oscar-winning writer of "American Beauty" and the Emmy-winning director-producer behind HBO's "Six Feet Under." "Fringe" co-creator J.J. Abrams, who scored a box-office hit as the director of "Mission: Impossible III," won Emmys as a director and producer on his ABC series, "Lost."

Fantasy meets pedigree. As bloodlines go in this realm, you're staring at royalty.

While both of these flights of fantasy soar pretty high, only one hits the paranormal afterburners and achieves a consistently spectacular otherworldly orbit. That's "Fringe," which gets a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WJW Channel 8.

We haven't yet seen all the new shows, but it will take something mighty special to steal the title of best new drama from "Fringe."

First up, though, at 9 p.m. Sunday, is HBO's "True Blood," Ball's uneven series realization of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. We meet telepathic Sookie, a Louisiana waitress played by Oscar-winner Anna Paquin, in Sunday's stylish opener. We immediately like her.

She soon meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a 173-year-old vampire hoping to settle down in her backwoods hometown. She immediately likes him.

Settle down? Yes, the idea is that a synthetic blood has been developed, meaning vampires no longer need to be predators. Many, like Bill, are hoping to overcome centuries of human prejudice to become responsible citizens and neighbors. Yeah, good luck with that.

Although loaded with winning performances and often screamingly funny, "True Blood" is a rich brew watered down with labored and familiar moments. There are more laugh-out-loud moments than you can shake a stake at, but too much of this dark shadowy world has a feel of "been there, drank that."

Supernatural beings in general, and vampires in particular, tend to work monstrously well as metaphors. You don't need to try too hard. But Ball often does push too strenuously and obviously, dropping the metaphoric messages in like a pine box thrown from a castle window into a freshly dug grave.

Also familiar, but grippingly so, is the eerie "Fringe." Anna Trov stars as Olivia Dunham, an FBI special agent called in to investigate the baffling case of a flight that landed safely at Boston's Logan Airport. What's the problem? It landed with no signs of life on board.

The ideal person to help is Walter Bishop (John Noble), a brilliant scientist who could have given Einstein more than hair-styling tips. What's the problem? Walter has been institutionalized for 17 years. His estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), is brought in to help.

FBI agents? A vast and complex mystery? A gross-out or two? A possible conspiracy? A slow build to unsettling revelations? Any comparison with "The X-Files" is intended and embraced.