A New Day in the Old Town
Encyclopedia
"A New Day in the Old Town" is the season premiere and first episode of the second season
of the American science fiction
drama
television series
Fringe
, and the 21st episode overall. It was written by co-creator J.J. Abrams and screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman
, with Goldsman also directing. The episode followed the aftermath of Olivia's journey to the parallel universe
in the last season's finale
, while also introducing the idea of shapeshifter
s. It guest starred actors Luke Goss
, Ari Graynor
, Meghan Markle
, and Tegan Moss
.
It first aired on Fox
in the United States on September 17, 2009 to generally positive reviews. It was watched by an estimated 9.96 million viewers, and received a 2.43 ratings share among viewers 18–49.
collision with a SUV flees the scene to a nearby apartment building. He enters the building and attacks a random man, hooking up equipment to the man's inner mouth, which allows him to adopt his external appearance and shapeshift
. The crashed SUV is discovered to be Olivia
's (Anna Torv
), though she is not inside. Peter
(Joshua Jackson
) and Walter
(John Noble
) arrive and investigate the scene while being accosted by a new junior agent, Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle
), who wonders what they do for the FBI. After Walter searches through the SUV, he shuts the door and Olivia suddenly ejects through the windshield. She is rushed to the hospital and declared brain dead
. Peter and Broyles (Lance Reddick
) drink at a bar together in sorrow, and Broyles reveals the Fringe Division is being shut down because of their failure to provide "usable results". Suspicious and curious of Fringe Division, Jessup begins a personal investigation into their past activities.
After talking to Rachel about her sister, Peter visits Olivia, who is scheduled to be taken off life support
the following morning. However, Olivia suddenly wakes up, crying the Greek
phrase Einai kalytero anthropo apo ton patera toy. She does not remember getting injured, and incoherently tells Peter there is something they need to do, and their "lives may depend on it," but cannot remember who told her this, or why. Peter tries to enter the FBI building, but is denied until Jessup agrees to accompany him. She questions him about Fringe Division, and they begin investigating the driver who hit Olivia.
When they arrive at his apartment, they discover what appears to be the driver's body, but he has been dead longer than when the accident took place.
The shapeshifted man makes contact with his group via typewriter, and is told his mission to prevent a "meeting" was unsuccessful, as Olivia is still alive. He is told to interrogate her, and then kill her. Meanwhile, Peter introduces Jessup to their lab at Harvard, and upon performing an autopsy on the man found in the apartment, they find three holes in the roof of his mouth. Walter shows them archived footage of one of his 1970s experiments of a drugged up girl who says she sees shapechanging soldiers from an parallel universe
that can "look like any of us".
After being visited by her partner, Agent Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo
) and given a gun, Olivia is unsuccessfully questioned by the shapeshifter, who has adopted the appearance of a female nurse. The nurse attempts to kill Olivia, but is shot and flees from Jessup. Peter, Charlie, and Jessup follow her into nearby tunnels, but the nurse manages to kill Charlie and secretly shapeshift into him. Peter returns to Olivia, and tells her the Greek phrase means "be a better person than his father," and was told to him every night by his mother.
After being told by a panel of Senators that Fringe is not worth the human or fiscal cost, Broyles is given the transformation device by Peter so Broyles can justify Fringe Division remaining active. The final scene shows the shapeshifted Charlie disposing of the real agent's body.
to Vancouver
, as the American city's tax breaks had expired. Fox officially renewed Fringe for a second season on May 4, 2009, and in July announced the new season would premiere on September 23, behind a new episode of Bones
. Later reports indicated the episode would premiere on September 17.
In June 2009, Fox put out a casting call for several new characters for the second season. One of these, Lloyd Parr, was described as a guest star in "his 30's to early 50's, an average guy. We need a strong character actor who can play hyper-competent. Like someone in a John Frankenheimer movie". Actor Luke Goss
was cast in the role after episode writer Akiva Goldsman
personally called his house and asked him to join the show. On June 24, 2009, TV Guide
announced the casting of Meghan Markle
as "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior agent".
"A New Day in the Old Town" was written by co-creator J. J. Abrams
and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman also directing. The producers considered screening the first part of the season premiere at Comic-Con
in San Diego, but ultimately decided against it because they thought the scene "ends in such an exciting way that we were afraid to let it out". As a promotion, Fox did send out a DVD "screener" package of the premiere to certain journalists, which included a copy of the New York Times article shown in the first season finale
as well as a piece of paper with a list of typed phrases. The paper was a copy of the instructions one of the shapeshifters received on the typewriter, which included phrases like "Mission Accomplished" and "Target Terminated". In the DVD special features, actor Joshua Jackson
explained the second season begins less than a day after the previous season's finale, "so the characters have only just barely had a chance to catch their breath from all the madness in the first season, and launch right back into the second one". Co-executive producer Jeff Pinkner
considered beginning the second season directly after first season's final scene between Olivia and William Bell, but changed his mind because he thought it would be more interesting to show how Olivia's disappearance and reappearance affected the Fringe team, as well as the rest of the season. The scene between Olivia and Bell is consequently not shown until the season's fourth episode, "Momentum Deferred
". The premiere began the "gun arc" storyline, which commenced with Olivia hurtling out of her SUV and being too weak to control her gun during her physical recovery, and ended with the killing of the shapeshifter posing as Charlie Francis in "Momentum Deferred".
The production team used new technology called a "breakway windshield," as well as air cannons to eject the stuntwoman, Melissa Stubbs, from the vehicle. Instead of using wires, they used pneumatic rams to push her; cables and pulleys made it similar to a "catapult
". The stuntwoman rehearsed with a helmet on, but took it off when the scene was ready to be shot. She wore a small backpad, a mouthguard
, and some kneepads, and used her elbows to break the windshield upon being ejected. Stubbs commented that shooting the scene "all went as planned, and was very anticlimactic" because of the lack of problems. Anna Torv later called the stunt "one of the most humbling experiences in my life". She elaborated, "I don’t do any of the stuff that’s dangerous. It actually led to one of the most humbling experiences in my life: the first episode in the second season when Olivia's vanished and suddenly she comes flying through the windshield. So Melissa Stubbs is the fantastic stuntwoman who did that. They put a rocket for her in the back of the car, and they had that breakaway glass for the windshield. She has nothing on extra, except maybe elbow pads. Then they shoot her out of this rocket, through the windshield, and she rolls on the ground and lands on her mark. The guy goes in. She's OK. Everybody claps. Then I have to go in, lay in the same position, so they can get a close-up of my eyes opening. That was kind of humbling."
and CSI
]." As the season premiere, "A New Day in the Old Town" was the first episode of the season to air in its new timeslot on Thursdays. In its initial broadcast in the United States, the episode was watched by an estimated 7.817 million viewers and earned a 3.0/8 rating for viewers 18–49. After time shifted viewing
was taken into account, Fringe increased to a 3.95 rating for the 18–49 demographic. It earned a 4.7/8 ratings share among all households, which caused it to be the series' worst rated episode yet. It was also more than 25 percent lower than its average audience from the first season. These lower ratings have been attributed to a lower-rated lead-in (Bones
, instead of the previous season's American Idol
and House
), and tough competition from CBS
's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
and NBC
's The Office. The rest of the season's ratings would continue to stay lower than the previous season, leading many to question Fox's decision to move the show in the first place.
and praised the further development of Anna Torv
's character Olivia; "With tonight's premiere, the writing feels tighter, the pace is fast but not so much so that the story begins to trip over itself - and if that's any indication of how the rest of the season shapes up, then Fox will have my full attention every Thursday from 9-10pm". Noel Murray from A.V. Club graded the episode an A-, writing that he enjoyed how the writers made the show "new-viewer-friendly without making existing fans too impatient". After receiving a DVD copy of the premiere in advance, IGN
's Ramsey Isler rated the episode 9.0/10, explaining "Everything that made season one special is still here: Walter's still crazy and obsessed with food, Peter's still a smart-ass, and Olivia...well, there's a lot going on with Olivia, as usual". Isler thought newcomer Meghan Markle was "cute, and spunky, but... not quite a good fit here", and praised the cliffhanger as "surprising in a special way". MTV
's Josh Wigler praised all the main actors' performances, and thought the episode gave the second season a "strong start".
TV Squad writer Jane Boursaw praised Olivia's entrance in the episode, calling it a "Nice set-up for the focal point of this episode... Really nice storyline to heave us face-first into the new season". She lauded the Charlie-shapeshifter plot twist, stating "The possibilities are endless with that storyline, and it'll be fun to see how it all plays out". SFScope
columnist Sarah Stegall praised Joshua Jackson and Lance Reddick's performances, giving Jackson "top honors" as he "once again shows us the fangs behind that cherubic smile". Stegall also noted the allusions to The X-Files
, which included an episode playing during the first shapeshifter's transformation, "Which is fine, as far as I'm concerned. If I can't have Mulder and Scully, I'll take Walter and Peter, and even Astrid and Charlie... I'm happy to see another show on TV that deals with the unknowable and the possibly fascinating, with an actual budget in hand. If this show started out as X-Files Light, it's developing some serious weight now." Writing for the Los Angeles Times
, critic Andrew Hanson heralded the return of the series, declaring "Fringe comes crashing headlong back onto television. That's not just a metaphor. Before we even fade in we have two cars smashing into each other. What a way to return: an accident in which one driver is nowhere to be found and the other flees into a nearby apartment, smooches his face and then uses a strange device to rearrange his appearance. That's my good old Fringe."
The Futon Critic rated "A New Day in the Old Town" the sixteenth best television episode of 2010, while website blogger io9
listed it as one of the "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to get into the show.
category at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
. They did not receive a nomination.
Fringe (Season 2)
The second season of the American science fiction television series Fringe commenced airing on the Fox network on September 17, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, and its showrunners...
of the American science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
, and the 21st episode overall. It was written by co-creator J.J. Abrams and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, with Goldsman also directing. The episode followed the aftermath of Olivia's journey to the parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
in the last season's finale
There's More Than One of Everything
"There's More Than One of Everything" is the finale of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The finale followed David Robert Jones' attempts to open a doorway to the parallel universe, while the Fringe team tries to stop him.The episode's story was...
, while also introducing the idea of shapeshifter
ShapeShifter
ShapeShifter is an Application Enhancer plugin for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that allows the user to make system-wide modifications to the appearance of the operating system's graphical interface by applying GUI skins through “injection” into running code and without modifying system files,...
s. It guest starred actors Luke Goss
Luke Goss
Luke Damon Goss is an English singer and actor. Since 1994, he has been married to backing singer Shirley Lewis, , and has one stepdaughter, Carli. In January 2007, he and wife Shirley moved permanently to Los Angeles, but still maintain a residence in London...
, Ari Graynor
Ari Graynor
Ariel Geltman Graynor, better known as Ari Graynor, is an American actress.-Life and career:Graynor was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was raised in a Jewish family and attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Trinity College, in Hartford,...
, Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle is an American fashion model, spokesmodel, and actress. She is formerly the model who held case #24 on the hit US television game show Deal or No Deal...
, and Tegan Moss
Tegan Moss
Tegan Moss is a Young Artist Award-nominated Canadian actress appearing in film and television.Moss was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has two brothers, Rory Moss, and actor Jesse Moss. Her given name is of Welsh origin, meaning "fair one" and pronounced TEG-ann...
.
It first aired on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on September 17, 2009 to generally positive reviews. It was watched by an estimated 9.96 million viewers, and received a 2.43 ratings share among viewers 18–49.
Plot
A mysterious man involved in a downtown ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
collision with a SUV flees the scene to a nearby apartment building. He enters the building and attacks a random man, hooking up equipment to the man's inner mouth, which allows him to adopt his external appearance and shapeshift
ShapeShifter
ShapeShifter is an Application Enhancer plugin for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that allows the user to make system-wide modifications to the appearance of the operating system's graphical interface by applying GUI skins through “injection” into running code and without modifying system files,...
. The crashed SUV is discovered to be Olivia
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
's (Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
), though she is not inside. Peter
Peter Bishop
Peter Bishop is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson.-Fictional character biography:...
(Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
) and Walter
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series Fringe. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate.-Arc:...
(John Noble
John Noble
John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
) arrive and investigate the scene while being accosted by a new junior agent, Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle is an American fashion model, spokesmodel, and actress. She is formerly the model who held case #24 on the hit US television game show Deal or No Deal...
), who wonders what they do for the FBI. After Walter searches through the SUV, he shuts the door and Olivia suddenly ejects through the windshield. She is rushed to the hospital and declared brain dead
Brain death
Brain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...
. Peter and Broyles (Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
) drink at a bar together in sorrow, and Broyles reveals the Fringe Division is being shut down because of their failure to provide "usable results". Suspicious and curious of Fringe Division, Jessup begins a personal investigation into their past activities.
After talking to Rachel about her sister, Peter visits Olivia, who is scheduled to be taken off life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
the following morning. However, Olivia suddenly wakes up, crying the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
phrase Einai kalytero anthropo apo ton patera toy. She does not remember getting injured, and incoherently tells Peter there is something they need to do, and their "lives may depend on it," but cannot remember who told her this, or why. Peter tries to enter the FBI building, but is denied until Jessup agrees to accompany him. She questions him about Fringe Division, and they begin investigating the driver who hit Olivia.
When they arrive at his apartment, they discover what appears to be the driver's body, but he has been dead longer than when the accident took place.
The shapeshifted man makes contact with his group via typewriter, and is told his mission to prevent a "meeting" was unsuccessful, as Olivia is still alive. He is told to interrogate her, and then kill her. Meanwhile, Peter introduces Jessup to their lab at Harvard, and upon performing an autopsy on the man found in the apartment, they find three holes in the roof of his mouth. Walter shows them archived footage of one of his 1970s experiments of a drugged up girl who says she sees shapechanging soldiers from an parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
that can "look like any of us".
After being visited by her partner, Agent Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....
) and given a gun, Olivia is unsuccessfully questioned by the shapeshifter, who has adopted the appearance of a female nurse. The nurse attempts to kill Olivia, but is shot and flees from Jessup. Peter, Charlie, and Jessup follow her into nearby tunnels, but the nurse manages to kill Charlie and secretly shapeshift into him. Peter returns to Olivia, and tells her the Greek phrase means "be a better person than his father," and was told to him every night by his mother.
After being told by a panel of Senators that Fringe is not worth the human or fiscal cost, Broyles is given the transformation device by Peter so Broyles can justify Fringe Division remaining active. The final scene shows the shapeshifted Charlie disposing of the real agent's body.
Production
In February 2009, Fox announced that if they renewed Fringe for a second season, they were moving the show's production from New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, as the American city's tax breaks had expired. Fox officially renewed Fringe for a second season on May 4, 2009, and in July announced the new season would premiere on September 23, behind a new episode of Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
. Later reports indicated the episode would premiere on September 17.
In June 2009, Fox put out a casting call for several new characters for the second season. One of these, Lloyd Parr, was described as a guest star in "his 30's to early 50's, an average guy. We need a strong character actor who can play hyper-competent. Like someone in a John Frankenheimer movie". Actor Luke Goss
Luke Goss
Luke Damon Goss is an English singer and actor. Since 1994, he has been married to backing singer Shirley Lewis, , and has one stepdaughter, Carli. In January 2007, he and wife Shirley moved permanently to Los Angeles, but still maintain a residence in London...
was cast in the role after episode writer Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
personally called his house and asked him to join the show. On June 24, 2009, TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
announced the casting of Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle is an American fashion model, spokesmodel, and actress. She is formerly the model who held case #24 on the hit US television game show Deal or No Deal...
as "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior agent".
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with Goldsman also directing. The producers considered screening the first part of the season premiere at Comic-Con
Comic-Con
Comic-Con, Comic Con or ComiCon may refer to any of the following Comic book conventions, none of them affiliated to any other:*San Diego Comic-Con International, annual fan convention in San Diego held since 1970, also known as Comic-Con or San Diego Comic-Con*Dallas Comic Con, annual fan...
in San Diego, but ultimately decided against it because they thought the scene "ends in such an exciting way that we were afraid to let it out". As a promotion, Fox did send out a DVD "screener" package of the premiere to certain journalists, which included a copy of the New York Times article shown in the first season finale
There's More Than One of Everything
"There's More Than One of Everything" is the finale of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The finale followed David Robert Jones' attempts to open a doorway to the parallel universe, while the Fringe team tries to stop him.The episode's story was...
as well as a piece of paper with a list of typed phrases. The paper was a copy of the instructions one of the shapeshifters received on the typewriter, which included phrases like "Mission Accomplished" and "Target Terminated". In the DVD special features, actor Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
explained the second season begins less than a day after the previous season's finale, "so the characters have only just barely had a chance to catch their breath from all the madness in the first season, and launch right back into the second one". Co-executive producer Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
considered beginning the second season directly after first season's final scene between Olivia and William Bell, but changed his mind because he thought it would be more interesting to show how Olivia's disappearance and reappearance affected the Fringe team, as well as the rest of the season. The scene between Olivia and Bell is consequently not shown until the season's fourth episode, "Momentum Deferred
Momentum Deferred
"Momentum Deferred" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. Screenwriters Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller wrote the episode, and co-executive producer Joe Chappelle directed it...
". The premiere began the "gun arc" storyline, which commenced with Olivia hurtling out of her SUV and being too weak to control her gun during her physical recovery, and ended with the killing of the shapeshifter posing as Charlie Francis in "Momentum Deferred".
The production team used new technology called a "breakway windshield," as well as air cannons to eject the stuntwoman, Melissa Stubbs, from the vehicle. Instead of using wires, they used pneumatic rams to push her; cables and pulleys made it similar to a "catapult
Catapult
A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
". The stuntwoman rehearsed with a helmet on, but took it off when the scene was ready to be shot. She wore a small backpad, a mouthguard
Mouthguard
A mouthguard is a protective device for the mouth that covers the teeth and gums to prevent and reduce injury to the teeth, arches, lips and gums...
, and some kneepads, and used her elbows to break the windshield upon being ejected. Stubbs commented that shooting the scene "all went as planned, and was very anticlimactic" because of the lack of problems. Anna Torv later called the stunt "one of the most humbling experiences in my life". She elaborated, "I don’t do any of the stuff that’s dangerous. It actually led to one of the most humbling experiences in my life: the first episode in the second season when Olivia's vanished and suddenly she comes flying through the windshield. So Melissa Stubbs is the fantastic stuntwoman who did that. They put a rocket for her in the back of the car, and they had that breakaway glass for the windshield. She has nothing on extra, except maybe elbow pads. Then they shoot her out of this rocket, through the windshield, and she rolls on the ground and lands on her mark. The guy goes in. She's OK. Everybody claps. Then I have to go in, lay in the same position, so they can get a close-up of my eyes opening. That was kind of humbling."
Ratings
In May 2010, Fox announced Fringe would be moving from Tuesdays to Thursdays for the second season. Fox's entertainment president, Kevin Reilly, explained the move, "The door is more open on this night than it has been in a long time. Fringe is a real alternative to both [Grey'sGrey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
and CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
]." As the season premiere, "A New Day in the Old Town" was the first episode of the season to air in its new timeslot on Thursdays. In its initial broadcast in the United States, the episode was watched by an estimated 7.817 million viewers and earned a 3.0/8 rating for viewers 18–49. After time shifted viewing
Time shifting
Time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a time more convenient to the consumer. Typically, this refers to TV programming but can also refer to radio shows via podcasts....
was taken into account, Fringe increased to a 3.95 rating for the 18–49 demographic. It earned a 4.7/8 ratings share among all households, which caused it to be the series' worst rated episode yet. It was also more than 25 percent lower than its average audience from the first season. These lower ratings have been attributed to a lower-rated lead-in (Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, instead of the previous season's American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
and House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
), and tough competition from CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Office. The rest of the season's ratings would continue to stay lower than the previous season, leading many to question Fox's decision to move the show in the first place.
Reviews
Critical reviews of the episode were generally positive. Hilary Rothing from UGO Networks enjoyed the perceived parallels to The WireThe Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
and praised the further development of Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
's character Olivia; "With tonight's premiere, the writing feels tighter, the pace is fast but not so much so that the story begins to trip over itself - and if that's any indication of how the rest of the season shapes up, then Fox will have my full attention every Thursday from 9-10pm". Noel Murray from A.V. Club graded the episode an A-, writing that he enjoyed how the writers made the show "new-viewer-friendly without making existing fans too impatient". After receiving a DVD copy of the premiere in advance, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Ramsey Isler rated the episode 9.0/10, explaining "Everything that made season one special is still here: Walter's still crazy and obsessed with food, Peter's still a smart-ass, and Olivia...well, there's a lot going on with Olivia, as usual". Isler thought newcomer Meghan Markle was "cute, and spunky, but... not quite a good fit here", and praised the cliffhanger as "surprising in a special way". MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Josh Wigler praised all the main actors' performances, and thought the episode gave the second season a "strong start".
TV Squad writer Jane Boursaw praised Olivia's entrance in the episode, calling it a "Nice set-up for the focal point of this episode... Really nice storyline to heave us face-first into the new season". She lauded the Charlie-shapeshifter plot twist, stating "The possibilities are endless with that storyline, and it'll be fun to see how it all plays out". SFScope
SFScope
SFScope is an online trade journal devoted to entertainment news concerning speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was founded by Ian Randal Strock in early 2007....
columnist Sarah Stegall praised Joshua Jackson and Lance Reddick's performances, giving Jackson "top honors" as he "once again shows us the fangs behind that cherubic smile". Stegall also noted the allusions to The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, which included an episode playing during the first shapeshifter's transformation, "Which is fine, as far as I'm concerned. If I can't have Mulder and Scully, I'll take Walter and Peter, and even Astrid and Charlie... I'm happy to see another show on TV that deals with the unknowable and the possibly fascinating, with an actual budget in hand. If this show started out as X-Files Light, it's developing some serious weight now." Writing for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, critic Andrew Hanson heralded the return of the series, declaring "Fringe comes crashing headlong back onto television. That's not just a metaphor. Before we even fade in we have two cars smashing into each other. What a way to return: an accident in which one driver is nowhere to be found and the other flees into a nearby apartment, smooches his face and then uses a strange device to rearrange his appearance. That's my good old Fringe."
The Futon Critic rated "A New Day in the Old Town" the sixteenth best television episode of 2010, while website blogger io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
listed it as one of the "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to get into the show.
Awards and nominations
Writers J.J. Abrams and Akiva Goldsman submitted "A New Day in the Old Town" for consideration in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama SeriesPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is awarded to one television episode each year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Often regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual episode of television, the nominees and winners often reflect outstanding achievement in...
category at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
. They did not receive a nomination.
External links
- "A New Day in the Old Town" at FoxFox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...