TV critics didn’t get to see “Fringe” until Fox screened it in the hotel last night — but somebody leaked it online weeks ago. Viral marketing? “It’s hard to believe, but we didn’t put it out there,” says executive producer Bryan Burk, adding that they hate to have anything seen before it’s finished. But as he details what’s different between the leaked version and what we saw, it mostly seems to boil down to temp music and some incomplete effects.

Burk (who works with J.J. Abrams and was an EP on “Lost”) is at one end of a row of five executive producers here for “Fringe,” with J.J. (who calls the leak infuriating) at the other end. I’d have put money on all the questions going to J.J., but actually all of the producers are jumping in to talk, and he’s generous in handing off some questions to others. J.J. is a big deal now, but we knew him when, way back when he was the kid producer who created “Felicity.” He’s looked just the same almost every time I’ve seen him: white shirt, untucked, sleeves rolled up; jeans; black-framed Buddy Holly-style glasses.

Somebody wonders why J.J. (who’s in post-production on his “Star Trek” movie, is coming back to TV.”I just love TV. It’s such a great medium. Such an amazing process. The draw for me to do it is that I can… It’s a thrill.” He even says it’s “so great to be here with you doing this.”

The actors are on satellite from New York, where “Fringe” is shooting. The pilot was done in Toronto, which required one recast: The cow featured in the pilot (don’t ask) had to be replaced with a different cow because the original wasn’t allowed to travel. The apparently discussed putting makeup on the new cow in case anybody noticed that the spots were slightly different, one of the other EPs volunteers.

The actors don’t get any questions, but somebody asks star Anna Torv what it’s like to be in a show where she kicks ass. “I get to wear flat shoes and run! I feel tough!” she says. “Tell them you come to the ass-kicking naturally,” her co-star, Jonathan Jackson, interjects. We all know he was Pacey on “Dawson’s Creek”; she’s mainly done Australian series — but in “Fringe,” I found her resemblance to Poppy Montgomery of “Without a Trace” uncanny. (Agree? That’s Torv above with Jackson (left)and John Noble, who plays Jackson’s eccentric scientist father.)
When the session ends, everybody rushes the stage to talk more to J.J. Clearly, he needs to be much taller; no part of him is visible. I say hello to Bryan Burk, whom I’ve known for a long time, then wander around the, er, fringe of the scrum for awhile before giving up and returning to my seat.