Ronald D. Moore, the man behind the critically acclaimed “Battlestar Galactica,” is trying to catch that bolt of lightning in his bottle twice with a potentially new Fox series known as “Virtuality,” but questions are popping up more and more about where the story idea may have originated.

The second episode of the J.J. Abrams series picked up an 8.2 rating/13 share. It lost nearly 7 percent of the audience brought in by the season premiere of “House” on Fox, but it didn’t matter. The 8.2 was a 39 percent increase over the series premiere, and helped lead Fox to a Tuesday night win.

The Fox series earned a 3.5 rating/6 share according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research, off 12 percent from its previous series low in its second premiere last week. It even finished lower than its lead-out show “Prison Break,” which ticked a bit higher with a 3.6/5.

In the second-season premiere, John Connor defied his mother, Sarah, and his uncle, Derek Reese, by reactivating the cyborg Cameron, even though her programming had become unstable. Episode two introduced Leven Rambin as Riley, a girl from John’s high school. John again defied Sarah to develop a relationship with Riley.

Creator Joss Whedon had been busy directing two of the first three episodes of “Dollhouse,” which kept him out of the writers’ room. As a result, the studio, network and Whedon agreed that the show’s fourth script needed work. Whedon also requested the production reprieve to get ahead on the show’s next few scripts.

The series premiere of the Fox series struggled to get past NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” earning just a 5.9 rating/9 share according to Fast National Ratings from Nielsen Media Research. However, Fox once again dominated the key advertising demographic of adults 18 to 49 pulling in a 2.9 rating, followed closely by ABC with a 2.7, meaning that while total viewers may not have been out there for “Fringe,” the ones that matter to advertisers were.

Kathy Cox appeared on the third season premiere of Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” The Republican superintendent drew criticism for appearing on the show from some who said she had better things to do.

The decision to take a breather came after executive producer Howard Gordon expressed displeasure with the direction of the season seven’s final six episodes. The producers will take the time off to rethink the show’s ultimate direction and rewrite scripts. 20th Century Fox said the show should be back in production by Oct. 9.

Being derivative isn’t necessarily a condemnation in television, but given the auspices and hype, “Fringe” disappoints — mixing a bit of “The X-Files” here and a dollop of “Alias” there, flecks of deeply embedded conspiracies and imperiled humanity. The title should do a reasonably good job of describing the show’s audience.

Once you’re in the Jossverse, it’s hard to escape, Amy Acker has discovered. Not that you’d really want to. There are worse things than being associated with Joss Whedon, the writer-director-producer whose cultlike fanbase worships his creations, including the upcoming Fox SF series ‘Dollhouse’.