Mark Watches ‘Fringe’

Ok, time to make this official! I had wanted to experiment with “watching” a show for this site that unfolds in real time. So much of what I experience for these reviews is about shows or books that I missed out on. I think I’ve given people the appearance that, aside from LOST or The X-Files, I have never seen anything ever. I also like the idea that we could have a weekly meeting place to discuss a show as it is airing.

The idea popped into my head a few months ago, but things were too chaotic in the development of Mark Reads/Watches for me to figure out how to do it and then all the new shows debuted anyway.

And then I saw this.

I watched the first few episodes when the show debuted in 2008. I liked it. It was very The X-Files in nature. I was ok with that. But I simply lost track of it until Netflix put all of season one up for rental, and over the course of a week early this year, I caught up.

And then I stopped again. I really liked the end of season one and where the show’s mythology was heading, but I simply didn’t have the time (or the means, since I haven’t had cable in years) to follow along. Once I heard the show was moving to the Friday night death slot, I thought, “I better catch up now while it’s still on the air, before it’s gone.”

As of last night, I’ve gotten through to “White Tulip.” So I only have five episodes in season two, and then nine more for season three. Starting January 21, 2011, we will do liveblogs on Friday nights for the show (and yes, they will take into account the different time zones) and then my review of that episode will go up on Saturday morning.

I’d like to start this Friday by re-watching/reviewing past episodes before we start up again. It’ll give us four episodes (one each Friday) to all re-watch and enjoy before episode ten airs. Of course this is an absurd idea, but it would be really awesome if we could keep a steady stream of fans watching this show. I enjoy it a lot (and the episodes “Jacksonville”/”Peter” made me completely fall in love with it) and I don’t want it to be cancelled!

So, which episodes should we watch together? We can use the same voting method as I am using for Doctor Who. Please don’t spoil the remaining episodes I have left. I hope to finish them all by Sunday, so don’t pitch one of them and include a spoiler. (You are welcome to suggest them, though.)

Ok, discuss! Sound good? I hope we can all enjoy Fringe together!