13 Years Later, This Remains the Most Perfect Sci-Fi Show of All Time

2 weeks ago 10

Olivia and Broyles glaring ahead in Fringe

Published Aug 6, 2026, 6:58 PM EDT

Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

Network television is often quite hit-or-miss when it comes to genre shows. Science fiction and fantasy don't always thrive on the Big Four networks, but that doesn't mean there aren't gems out there worth giving the time of day. In fact, there is no better time to binge 100 episodes of your next sci-fi addiction than the present. If you’re looking for a five-season series that actually sticks the landing while maintaining a consistent quality throughout, look no further than Fringe.

'Fringe' Was One of Network Television's Most Innovative Sci-Fi Procedurals

From the beginning, Fringe never shied away from being a network-style law enforcement procedural. The twist, of course, was that it was still undoubtedly a science fiction series to the core, as FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) found herself partnered up with a mad scientist, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), and his estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson). Together, the trio found themselves uncovering and observing some of the most bizarre (and yet, surprisingly, somewhat grounded) phenomena across New England — at least until the show expanded its mythology to include parallel universes and alternate timelines. Taking some basic "spooky cop" cues from The X-Files, Fringe wasted no time paving its own way forward. Though the series took some time to get off the ground, it wasn't long before the program became a bona fide hit, exploring innovative storytelling techniques akin to shows like Lost.

Perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise, though, since J.J. Abrams co-created the series alongside Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Overseen by Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman, Fringe is one of those shows you just can’t get enough of — and it doesn't have a bad episode either. With a brilliant cast — one that also includes Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole, and the late Lance Riddick as Phillip Broyles — and plotlines that leaned into comic book-inspired concepts but without the capes, tights, or convoluted mythology, each season was more thrilling and complex than the last. What could easily have been limited to FBI-sanctioned cases involving unexplained occurrences (not unlike its network predecessor) was quickly unshackled from the usual network television trappings. Sure, it still ran as a procedural, but the plotlines got progressively more serialized throughout the 100-episode run, keeping each new thread and episodic case fresh by utilizing actual pseudo-scientific concepts and theories as the basis for each new investigation into "the Pattern" — and all that spawned from it.

'Fringe' Is Arguably the Last Great Sci-Fi Procedural on Network TV

Fringe always knew how to keep audience attention. Every time a new reveal or major character development was underway, the series found clever ways to bypass said information by way of alternate universe doppelgängers, adjustments to the timeline, or memory erasures that complicated things for some time. But despite those narrative frustrations, Olivia, Peter, and Walter always kept our full attention. The dynamics between the members of the Fringe Division team alone are enough to warrant a Fringe rewatch, but the way that the series continued to push the envelope and challenge the audience's perception of what the show should be (thus keeping the Fox procedural from ever becoming stale) was as innovative as it was creatively engaging.

In many respects, Fringe was the “last great sci-fi procedural” to make its way to network television, and certainly the most intelligent to air on Fox (or any of the Big Four networks) in the last two decades. What could easily have been just a retread of past sci-fi procedurals with a mythology as complicated as Lost broke out of the mold by inventing a whole world worth exploring on its own merits. Seriously, this could have simply been the next X-Files, but instead elevated itself beyond anything Mulder and Scully ever saw. It never spawned any sequels, spin-offs, or revivals, but was completely self-contained and sufficient. Perhaps that's partly why it's so rewatchable. Well, that and that we love watching Olivia and Peter fall for each other again and again.

Fringe never pulled the same tricks twice, and even when alterations to the timeline or jumps to a parallel world meant the return of familiar faces, they always came back in a way we could never fully expect. Few shows could get Leonard Nimoy out of retirement, but Fringe never failed to bring him back for more. That originality is hard to find on television these days, and since most big networks like Fox tend to stray from genre shows (even Evil moved from CBS to Paramount+ by its second season), Fringe was an outlier that actually got to complete its run, with an ending that truly works for what the show had spent years setting up. If you're in the mood for some sci-fi-flavored comfort television, look no further than this Fox triumph that ought to be inducted into the TV Hall of Fame.