Okay, it’s rare that I’ll blog about a TV show (except LOST) and even rarer that I’ll do it on a day other than Friday. But I just got finished watching the new JJ Abrams show Fringe on Fox.

WOW. This is going to be a fabulous show!

Many, many years ago, I used to watch a little program called The X-Files—that is until they went the whole alien/FBI-conspiracy route (and changed the day and time when it aired). After that, I watched another little ditty known as Alias, which was my first exposure to JJ Abrams as a writer/director/producer. Then, along came LOST, and I was a confirmed JJ Abrams–TV series fan. (Yes, I specified TV series because I wasn’t overly impressed by his film Cloverfield.)

So it was with some excitement last night that I sat down and watched his newest series, Fringe.

From J.J. Abrams (Lost), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the team behind Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III, and Alias, comes a new series that will thrill, terrify and explore the blurring line between the possible and the impossible.

When an international flight lands at Boston’s Logan Airport with no signs of life, FBI Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (Anna Torv, veteran of several Australian TV programs) is called in to investigate as part of an inter-agency task force. After her partner, Special Agent JOHN SCOTT (Mark Valley, Boston Legal), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to DR. WALTER BISHOP (John Noble, Lord of the Rings), our generation’s Einstein. There’s only one catch: he’s been institutionalized for the last 17 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son PETER (Joshua Jackson, Dawson’s Creek) in to help.

When Olivia’s investigation leads to multi-billion dollar corporation Massive Dynamic and its manipulative corporate executive, NINA SHARP (Blair Brown, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd), our unlikely trio, along with Department of Homeland Security Agent PHILLIP BROYLES (Lance Reddick, LOST, The Wire) and FBI Agents CHARLIE FRANCIS (Kirk Acevedo, Band of Brothers) and ASTRID FARNSWORTH (Jasika Nicole), will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth. (From the Fox website)

Okay, so yes, it sounds weird, and it is somewhat—but in a really good way.

As a fan of both LOST and Alias, I can say that Fringe definitely has elements both of those shows share (and for my fellow Losties, some of the sound effects from the Island appear in Fringe, including the ticking/clacking sound that the room full of computer equipment in the hatch made). As someone who used to love X-Files, I love the off-the-wall, pseudo-scientific, fantasy/sci-fi nature of the cases our characters will be dealing with—so called “fringe science,” thus the name of the series.

One thing JJ Abrams’s TV series are known for is their tight writing, deep characterization, and plot-lines that have you hanging off the edge of your seat, holding on by your fingernails. This series looks like it will be no different.

What’s that? You say you missed the premiere episode? Well, Fox has you covered: they’re running it again this coming Sunday night (check your local listings).

One caveat: there is a little bit of grossness right at the beginning of the episode, so if you’re squeamish, cover your eyes and just peek through your fingers at the screen. It’s over pretty quickly, and no worse than what you’d see on CSI or ER.