Is Fringe the Next LOST?

Is Fringe the next LOST? It's the sort of question that would usually emerge from the creative shallow end of the pop-culture press. Anytime Bad Robot Productions or JJ Abrams blinks there is going to be some insinuation of the island-mystery phenom. None-the-less, the question in this particular instance, with this particular show, is entirely worth considering. Why?

As we pointed out in our review of the pilot of LOST, Fringe is a thinly veiled attempt to harness some of LOST's most successful story telling devices in a more forced and refined way. This isn't a criticism, and it definitely isn't anything new for Abrams and crew; nor did it begin with LOST per se, as any Alias fan would be happy to tell you.

Fringe is, of course, not an attempt to purposefully carbon copy the LOST formula, at least not blatantly. Coming from the same crew that created LOST, minus a Lindelof, it's just as fair to assume that it is a matter of style. Nobody even bothers to ask if the next Red Hot Chili Peppers song is going to sound like the rest, but we all secretly hope there will be another 'Give it away', 'Breaking the Girl', or 'Californication' in there somewhere.

So it is a very fair question: Is Fringe the next LOST? Or, does it at least wear the same brand of musk that drives the LOST crowd so crazy... that irresistible mixture of high-concept and high-art pheromones that will have audiences on the edge of their sofas when the game is on, and combing through freeze frames and wikis before the credits role. Here is a run-down of five areas that Fringe needs to score on and how it's making it so far.

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