“As we went along, I think we got a better handle on the balance of our characters and the plots and making sure that our plots were character-centric,” admitted executive producer Jeff Pinkner. “I think that we learned how to write for these actors, these characters over time, and I think we learned this in ‘Alias’ and ‘Lost.’ The shows that are really about the characters, the characters and the actors playing them start to meld a little bit more, and I think we’ve gotten better at that.”

Orci noted that one of the series’ biggest issue from the very beginning was figuring out the percentage of standalone episodes versus a larger serialization. “We’ve all read the research that says a regular viewer watches three episodes in a year, etcetera, etcetera, so you try to modulate,” he explained. “In the first season, we actually had to sort of plan around resetting the series once or twice and doing it around three- or four-week-long breaks. And that kind of exercise makes us, in Season Two, a little more flexible, a little bit more able to read the green. And I think, you know, the fact that we are closer than we were from New York is also helpful. We can all be up there a little bit more; we can communicate better with each other. I think we’re just a tighter ship this year.”

If you weren’t entirely sure whether or not that shot of the World Trade Center took place in the past or in an alternate universe, Pinker is glad to clarify. “We have decided that, though science acknowledges a multi-verse and an infinite number of universes, we are only going to tell a story about two: here and what we are referring to internally as ‘over there,'” he said. “But they are two versions of reality. It’s not time travel.” (Season 2 will predominantly take place here, he said, “but what’s happening over there is impacting what’s happening over here.”)

Pinkner admits that it’s a challenge to come up with the most succinct way to convey the show’s science to the average viewer.

“One of our co-producers, Brian Burk…we literally say that we try to write the show for his dog and for my dad (to comprehend),” he said, scoring a laugh. “Both his dog and my dad are really bright, but…how do you convey a parallel universe, which science has actually acknowledged or hypothesized for decades, and the idea that there’s literally a Doppelganger for each of us living in another universe where very similar, although different events are taking place?

“At the end of the season, when we made the choice that we were going to see our character, Olivia, cross over to the other side and meet William Bell, who we now know is over there, we tried to figure out what would be the most iconic symbol to represent this is very much like here but different. And we talked about using the World Trade Center as the visual representation of that, such an iconic thing that tragically is no longer here, and we immediately thought, ‘Okay, that’s perfect.’ That’s the end of ‘Planet of the Apes,’ when you’d see the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand, and then you know, ‘Oh, we landed back on Earth.’ And we struggled with whether it would be appropriate or disrespectful, but we thought that, ultimately, it’s an honest way to represent that there’s another version of Earth in New York where different choices were made and, therefore, different consequences.”

If you’re wondering, Leonard Nimoy will absolutely be back on the show as William Bell, and the option is available for him to appear “as much as he wants, truly,” according to Pinkner. “We’ve made an open invitation.” One has been filmed, and fellow executive producer J.H. Wyman says that there will be several more for sure.

Although it was cool to have Nimoy on the set, that’s talking in terms of general awesomeness rather than temperature. “It was 106 degrees outside,” said Pinkner, “and unlike Los Angeles or New York, the sound stages in Vancouver don’t have air-conditioning. It was 120-some degrees inside, and like a pro, he sat there all day. He never went back to his trailer, and did pages and pages and pages of dialogue and scenes with Anna.”

“Well, he’s from the planet Vulcan,” observed Joshua Jackson. “He’s after that kind of heat.”

“Sincerely, his wife told me that he practices biofeedback,” said Pinkner. “He just sort of, like, regulates his body temperature, which is very Spock-like.”

When I was working my way through the four-disc set of the series, which includes the first two seasons of the show, I made a comment about my current viewing on my Facebook page. Jeanne Jakle, TV critic of the San Antonio Express News (not to mention significant other of our own Ross Ruediger), responded by saying that it possessed “just enough sluttiness and sleaziness to offset the soapiness,” adding that “the British accents made it seem classier than ‘Sex and the City.’”

Now, I don’t know about you, but these two phrases alone would’ve been enough to make me want to check it out. Still, the more discerning viewer might prefer to have a bit more information about the series before diving headlong into “Mistresses,” and we here at Bullz-Eye live to serve.

America has already endured its share of “Sex and the City” knockoffs, and the two with the highest profiles – “Cashmere Mafia” and “Lipstick Jungle” – have already been knocked off the air. In Britain, however, they’ve tried a different tactic, avoiding the lighthearted feel of Stateside series and staying almost entirely serious with their gaggle of gal-pals. There are four female characters in “Mistresses,” and although there are occasions where their storylines will leave you begging for a little humor, you can’t say that they don’t manage to remain enthralling as a result.

As a physician, Katie (Sarah Parish) is the closest thing the group has to a grown-up; too bad her idea of maturity involves sleeping with a married patient and, after he dies, finding her way into an affair with the man’s son. Trudi (Sharon Small) is a 9/11 widow who’s trying to raise her two children and considering stepping back into the world of dating, but she’s hesitant because she doesn’t want to fall in with someone who wants her solely for the sizable settlement she received after her husband’s death. Jessica (Shelley Conn) is a party girl and the queen of the one-night stands, which makes her the envy of the rest of the girls, but they’re a bit shocked when her flirtation with the same sex seems to be the love she never knew she was looking for. And lastly, there’s Siobhan (Orla Brady), the married one in the bunch. It almost goes without saying that she’s the unhappiest one of all, doesn’t it?

Just as the title of the series implies, there’s a fair amount of infidelity going on within “Mistresses,” though it’s different from character to character. Katie’s is the most obvious, of course, but the woman with whom Jessica is enthralled – Alex, played by Anna Torv (now best known for her role as Agent Olivia Dunham on “Fringe”) – is engaged to be married to another woman, and Siobhan seeks sexual gratification outside of her marriage when her husband’s desire to have a baby abruptly moves from overscheduled and unromantic coitus to a total lack of sex drive. And what of Trudi? Well, the problem here is that you can’t say too much about her situation without giving away the best (and, ultimately, the harshest) storyline of the season, so let’s just say that, yes, there’s cheating involved on her end as well.

If there’s a problem with the second season of the series, however, it’s that you can’t help but feel that either these are the unluckiest women in all of Britain when it comes to love, or they’re among the most foolish. It’s been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, but, wow, talk about having problems with short-term memory! Katie has further problems with a younger man and a married man, while Siobhan still can’t manage to get things right in her marriage. You can almost excuse Trudi for her issues, though, given what she’s been through in the past. The real exception here is Jessica, whose unexpected actions in the season premiere set up her surprising storyline, and whose shenanigans during the course of the subsequent episodes definitely keep you guessing.

“Mistresses” isn’t groundbreaking television, but, well, it’s like Jeanne said: it’s unabashedly a soap opera, but you get a healthy soupcon of sexiness, and the accents class it up enough to make you feel okay about watching it. All told, the first season is by far the better of the two, but by then, you care enough about the characters to stick around through the second as well.

Special Features: Although we receive no commentaries, we do get two features, one for each season of the show included in “Volume One.” The first is “The Making of ‘Mistresses,’” which offers a half-hour look into Season One, while the second, “Sex, Lies, and Infidelity,” takes the Mistresses and their significant others and gets their opinions on the topics addressed in the show as well as their thoughts on their characters at the end of Season Two. Both are top-notch, which is just as we’ve come to expect from BBC-produced bonus material.

* Buy “Mistresses: Volume 1.”

Creator S.J. Clarkson admitted that the name “Mistresses” actually wasn’t intended to be anything other than a working title, but it stuck because they couldn’t think of anything else that summed it up as much. “It’s a red-flag word, so it makes people sit up and take notice,” noted Clarkson, “but inevitably it was always about truthful performances and to try and — all the storylines, performances and the look of it needed to feel truthful, cinematic and grounded, I suppose, because I’ve actually directed ‘Footballer Wives’ as well. So I knew I didn’t want it to be like that. This was more in the vein of — you know, I don’t know, films we looked at for reference was ‘Three Colors: Blue’ and ‘Unfaithful’ and ‘L’Apartement,’ which is a French film. And we looked at a lot more films for reference for it, rather than sort of lighter television.”

Clarkson tried to show the reality of being a mistress, as opposed to the usual television exaggeration. “I don’t think it’s necessarily all stiletto-heeled secretaries hanging around in hotel bars,” Clarkson said. “It’s often you meet somebody, you have a connection, you fall in love, and suddenly you realize they’re with somebody else…and what do you do in that situation? You’re told, ‘Follow your heart.’ Or the fairytale is, you know, you love someone, fall in love, get married, have children, have a happy lifetime together…but what happens if the person you fall in love with is already married? I think that’s a real dilemma and a truthful dilemma for many women today.”

“What we wanted to do (with ‘Mistresses’), I think, is reflect the kind of truthfulness and honesty that women have between each other,” said executive producer Douglas Rae. “Particularly at an age in their 30s, when their families may have moved to another city and the girls are becoming family in a way that, you know, has moved on from the ’50s and ’60s. So the girls themselves are a family and they share the stresses and strains of everyday life with each other. The series is not about promiscuity; it’s about how people can bond together and share secrets together.”

Just on a closing note, “Fringe” fans will recognize a familiar face within a few of the episodes: Anna Torv, who plays Alex in “Mistresses”…and who makes out with Shelly Conn, who plays Jessica. (Hey, now!) Torv’s US success came as no surprise to Conn, who only just got the opportunity to watch the “Fringe” pilot on her flight over from the UK.

“I’m just really impressed with her work and wish her all the success,” Conn said. “And, you know, we’ve kept in contact a little bit, so I’ll be e-mailing her very soon to tell her that I’m really impressed with her work. What it was like to be making out with her all the time…? Well, you know, I was very lucky in that she’s a very talented actress and she’s very sensitive. We were very…sort of just honest with each other, and that just allowed a sort of freedom which is essential. I mean, it is always strange to be making out with somebody who you don’t usually make out with, whether they’re male or female. So to me, that wasn’t an issue so much as it’s just, you know, odd if it’s not your regular partner.”

What a lovely and politically correct answer. And a disappointingly clean one, too.

* First off, I didn’t mention it in my original write-up about the series, but I really dig the way they set the location: with huge letters that look like they’re part of the scenery. It’s one of those accepted parts of a series that you wouldn’t think they could do anything particularly unique with, but damned if they didn’t.

* Like the pilot, the opening sequence is nice and harrowing, making it the perfect way to get you caught up in the episode right off the bat, and the decision to provide it with limited commercial interruptions – timed down to the second – was certainly appreciated as well. Also, the method of offering flashbacks to the pilot was a nice, unobtrusive way to giving first-timers just enough info to walk into this episode without feeling lost.

* The character of Dr. Walter Bishop continues to be fascinatingly eccentric, with his memories ebbing and flowing like the tide, but the reality is that John Noble’s performance in the role is enthralling to watch. His quiet, innocent delivery makes even the strangest lines work, and his sudden explosion of anger at one point is downright shocking.

* Thankfully, they have indeed attempted to downplay the Pacey-isms being delivered by Joshua Jackson. There are still a couple of moments where he throws out snappy lines which feel inappropriate, but the character of Peter is startling to feel more like a real guy caught up in a weird situation. (I can only presume that his aptitude at police work comes from years of watching procedurals on TV.)

* Okay, maybe Anna Torv is a little glum in her delivery, but I don’t really have a problem with her performance. I had to laugh when my wife made a comment about how she needed to get her roots done, but she accepted my argument (or pretended to, at least) that a real government agent wouldn’t be all that concerned about maintaining a glamorous look, anyway.

* Obviously, things don’t really kick into high gear until the last 15 minutes of the episode, but between the unfolding of the man-baby plot, Walter remembering where he parked his car, the tie-in to the case to Walter’s research, and Olivia trying to work out how much of her work over the past year was tainted by her traitorous partner, I remained thoroughly interested from beginning to end.

* All hail the cow!

As it happens, “Fringe” has the advantage of featuring a couple of other names which give it added credibility, particularly amongst sci-fi fans: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Fox has really been pushing the fact that the duo wrote the script for “Transformers,” but for some reason, they don’t mention that they were called upon by Zack Snyder to assist with the script for “Watchmen.” Funny, that. Probably more important than either of those credits, however, is their longstanding working relationship with Abrams, having done time with him on “Alias” as both writers and executive producers and writing the screenplays for both “Mission: Impossible III” and the new “Star Trek” film. The collaboration has worked out well in the past, so there’s every reason to be hopeful that…

Dammit! See what I mean? I almost fell into being optimistic about “Fringe” just because Abrams is involved. Granted, he was only a third of that particular equation, but even so, I don’t want to do that. Not again. I did it with “Six Degrees,” and 13 episodes later, I was left a bitter shell of a TV critic. I can’t handle that kind of heartbreak a second time…particularly not when “Fringe” reminds me so much of still another show that was canceled too soon: “Threshold.”

There was a lot of talk around the TCA Press Tour about how it’s almost disappointing to find that “Fringe” is, for all its inherent weirdness, a surprisingly penetrable show. At the time I was hearing such comments, however, I had yet to see the pilot. Now that I have, I understand what they were saying – the framework about government agents who explore the fringe sciences was easy enough to digest for “The X-Files” to become a hit (the 2008 film not withstanding) – but I can also imagine mainstream viewers dismissing the show because it’s so “out there.”

The stage-setting for “Fringe” begins with the entire crew and passenger manifest of an airliner dying under grisly circumstances while in mid-air, an event which, as you would expect, leads to a governmental investigation. FBI Special Agents Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and John Scott (Mark Valley) are called in to participate in the inter-agency task force, where Dunham immediately butts heads with Department of Homeland Security Agent Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick). In the midst of their investigation, Dunham and Scott are caught in an explosion while pursuing a suspect, and although Dunham survives mostly intact, Scott seems to have been infected by something not so far removed from whatever it is that took down the plane. Unfortunately, the only scientist who may possess the knowledge to save his life – Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) – has been institutionalized for many years; similarly, the only person who can authorize visitors for Dr. Bishop is his son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), whose experiences with his father over the years have been so awful that he has no immediate interest in ever seeing him again.

But you know how these things work: Dunham blackmails Peter, Peter begrudgingly agrees to go, and father and son are reunited. As you might expect, it’s far from a happy reunion. Dr. Bishop is, not to put a fine point on it, off his nut (his first words to Peter: “I thought you’d be fatter”), and Peter’s suffered through enough of his dad’s craziness over the years that even the blackmail is barely enough to keep him involved in the situation. But he stays, Dr. Bishop begins to investigate a possible method of saving Scott’s life, and so it goes from there.

“Fringe” is full of countless mysteries. Some are based in reality, courtesy of the wonderful world of governmental bureaucracy, but most spring forth from the events aboard that plane, including the introduction of a creepy corporate executive named Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), who’s like the older sister of Shirley Manson’s character over on “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” The character of Dr. Walter Bishop is unquestionably the most intriguing character on the show, however, described by Orci as “Frankenstein mixed with Albert Einstein” because of his unique scientific beliefs. Basically, he’s one of those guys who’s constantly walking the line between genius and insanity, and the only way to confirm that he’s talking the former rather than the latter is to take a step of faith and hope for the best. On the surface, science wouldn’t appear to be a great blend with faith, which may be why the show’s initial mythology seems so intriguing.

I don’t want to spoil too much of what goes on the middle of “Fringe,” but having offered the initial set-up, I’ll also clarify how it evolves into a series. Basically, Dunham survives the events of the events and, as a result, is invited by DHS Agent Broyles to join with him and begin investigating cases involving the fringe sciences, stuff that’s above top-secret. There are still 15 minutes left of the episode at this point, so we expect that she’s going to refuse (she does), and we know with 100% certainty that something’s going to happen to change her mind (it does). In the end, she does indeed agree to join with Broyles…and now that Dr. Bishop is acting comparatively normal, he’s being drafted to assist as well. Peter is royally freaked out by the events he’s witnessed, of course, and all of his instincts tell him to bail out, but when Dunham asks him to stay on to help stabilize his father’s moods, he agrees, anyway.

Welcome to “Fringe.”

I’m intrigued enough to give it a try, even if I think they might want to tone down Jackson’s highly Pacey-esque quips, which he spews constantly throughout the pilot. We get it: the guy’s got decent comedic delivery. Just don’t overdo it, okay? I don’t know if non-sci-fi fans will be as easily swayed into its camp, but the ensemble is strong (Kirk Escovedo plays one of Dunham’s fellow FBI agents, and I’ve yet to see him deliver anything less than a solid performance), the mysteries are intriguing, and if the episodes aren’t so mythology-driven that it becomes completely impenetrable to casual viewers, I think it’s got a shot.

But, then again, this is Fox, so it might be off the air next week.