TVSquad

Right before a Kitchen Nightmares-themed lunch, FOX held the press conference for the new J.J. Abrams show, Fringe. On the panel were Abrams and fellow executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orici, Jeff Pinkner, and Bryan Burk, with stars Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, and John Noble appearing via satellite from New York.

The name The X-Files was brought up a number of times during the session, mainly because the show aims to tell a continuing story with a mythology, using scientific investigation methods and other plot points based in scientific fact. But, Abrams and company took pains to tell the gathered critics that, while the story of FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Torv) investigates the operations of the Massive Dynamic corporation will have an overall arc, there will be a "mystery of the week" to keep people who've just tuned in for the first time interested.

He realized that some of his previous shows (Alias, Lost) are a bit more complicated than that, which was brought home one day at Greg Grunberg's house.