An easy-to-follow Abrams series?

The Television Critics Assn. Press Tour, the semiannual gathering of television journalists from around the country that began July 8, continues at the Beverly Hilton. We offer these dispatches.

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J.J. Abrams learned a lesson from “Alias.”

It hit him when he was at a friend’s house one day and an episode of the ABC spy vs. spy drama was on television. Abrams, the show’s executive producer, couldn’t follow what was going on.

“Literally, it was impenetrable,” he said.

So for his newest project, Fox’s mystery “Fringe,” the writer-producer took a different tack.

“We believe it is possible to do a show that has an overall story and endgame . . . but also a show that you don’t have to watch Episodes 1, 2 and 3 to tune into Episode 4,” Abrams said.

While “Alias” was a show “I so loved working on,” he added, “I can see how it was difficult.”

“This show is going to have a different paradigm,” Abrams promised. “We’re trying very diligently to do a show that doesn’t require the kind of insane, absolute dedication to a series.”

Continuing Abrams’ fascination with paranormal mysteries, “Fringe” stars Australian newcomer Anna Torv as an FBI agent who’s thrust into a web of perplexing scientific occurrences. She seeks to unravel the mysteries with the help of Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), an institutionalized but brilliant scientist, and his estranged son, played by Joshua Jackson.

The team will solve a mystery in each episode, even as they try to sort out the larger force behind the phenomena. Clues are sprinkled through the series in reoccurring images: a six-fingered hand, a leaf, smoke that reveals a secret pattern.

“It’s part of the code of the show,” Abrams said.

There are high expectations for the series, which comes from the makers of “Lost.”

-- Matea Gold