• by Laurie Sullivan , August 31, 2009

Select cast members and producers of "Glee" and "Fringe" will tweet this week during the reruns, or "Tweet-Peats" of episodes. The 140-character-or-less messages will scroll across the TV screen. But Fox's push to bring Twitter to prime-time television this week could hit a snag.

Cast and crew will answer fan questions, discuss behind-the-scenes information and tweet about the upcoming season. "Fringe" will air at 9 p.m. Thursday, and "Glee" at 9 p.m. Friday.

Participants include "Fringe" exec producers Jeff Pinkner (@JPFringe) and J.H. Wyman (@JWFringe), as well as stars Joshua Jackson and John Noble. "Glee" cast members Lea Michele, Kevin McHale, Mark Salling, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley and Chris Colfer plan to tweet, according to Variety.

Multitasking in front of the TV has become a fact of life. Both eMarketer Analyst Paul Verna and Forrester Research Analyst Nate Elliott agree that people simultaneously watch television and go online.

Combining the two makes sense. Verna believes controlling the flow would provide a "calculated" method to monitor what gets on the tube. "I don't see a huge downside if they have a way to vet the question tweets before they air," he says.

Elliott believes the major challenge is finding a reason for people to care that Fox will run tweets during programming. "If they have the cast tweeting, then that's something fans might care about," he says. "Fox was smart in choosing 'Fringe,' which fits the twitter demographic well. It is the type of show that maps to the Twitter audience."

While the tendency to multitask could turn the strategy into a positive experience for viewers, Fox may have a few kinks to work out before really connecting TV with the online world. The biggest problem could become getting "Fringe" and "Glee" viewers who have only just heard about Twitter to use it.

A Forrester Research study of 4,766 people in the United States ages 18 to 88, conducted in May and released in July, suggests that three-quarters of U.S. online adults have heard of Twitter but never used it. Twitter users are more likely to tweet and follow others for personal purposes.

Forty-three percent of monthly Twitter users tweet at least weekly. Only 10% of U.S. online adults who were unfamiliar with Twitter before taking this survey expressed interest in using it in the future, according to Forrester.

Aside from the tweets during the repeats, Fox also is running a Complete the Pattern sweepstakes. One lucky person will win a trip to the set of "Fringe" in Vancouver, BC. The first-prize winner gets a high-definition home entertainment center. Five second-prize winners receive the first season, released on Blu-ray and DVD on Sept. 8.