Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Fringe on Fox

J.J. Abrams’ new series, Fringe, (which will air Tuesdays, 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox) starts in much the same manner as his previous hit show, Lost, with the survivors of a mysterious airplane crash.  This time, Abrams dips into the well of “mid-air calamity” and pulls out a steaming bucket of oozing flesh.  (If J.J. Abrams doesn’t already have a fear of flying, then he seems intent on giving the audience one.)  For excessive violence and gore, the series debut of Fringe has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.

In the opening scene, an unknown chemical weapon decimates the passengers and crew of an international flight.  As soon as someone comes in contact with an infected person, he or she suffers instant, extreme, liquefactive necrosis.  The passengers scream as their flesh drips off the bone and green vomit streams out of their mouths.  Panicked, the co-pilot peeks out of the cockpit into the chaotic cabin; when he turns to face the pilot, his lower jaw dangles from stringy sinews.  Once the plane has landed, Homeland Security agents investigate the fuselage while wearing heavy-duty hazmat suits.  There are no survivors; all the passengers have been reduced to skeletal remains.  During the course of the ensuing investigation, Agent Olivia Dunham witnesses her partner and lover, agent John Scott, become horribly disfigured in a chemical blast.  His body is charred and covered in gooey translucent tissue.

Repellently, this debut aired at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday September 9^th…meaning that the goriest parts of the program occurred within the episode’s first twenty minutes: perfect timing for children watching during the Family Hour, and conveniently situated right after dinner.  Shows often begin with provocative teasers to hook the viewer into watching; but Fox should have been more sensitive about what it airs during the Family Hour.

Clearly, no expense was spared on this lush, stylish, 10-million dollar pilot; but the PTC urges Fox, and all the broadcast networks, to spare families the high-priced gross-out factor when airing shows at the beginning of prime time.

For excessive violence and gore, the series debut of Fringe has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.