The latest show to catch my eye is the new American drama, from ABC (shown on FIVE in the UK) Flash Forward. The basics of the story are that everyone on the planet blacks out for 2 mintues and some odd seconds at the same time, and during this time most (not quite all, or so we have been led to believe at this point) people saw flashes of some future event roughly six months in the future. Everything is in chaos when they wake up, as you'd suspect and people are wondering what now? Why did this happen? Can those that saw great futures ensure they happen, and can those that had not so great futures stop them? Flash Forward has all the elements that generally catch my eye in a tv show: an intriguing and mysterious hook with a seemingly sci-fi twist, attractive actors, great cinematography, and decent writing. Plus, the very famous Jett Jackson, of course. The questions is: haven't I seen this all before?
Perhaps it is precisely because I love these kind of shows that it is getting harder to for me to feel like I am seeing something new. Don't get me wrong, I think the pilot was pretty strong and the acting pretty good. All those British actors (three by my count) pretty much nailed their American accents, and I'll take Joseph Fiennes (Ralph's younger brother) any day. But much of the pilot felt familiar. From the opening scene focusing on a man's face, to a seemingly random but endlessly repeated number (the amount of time people were under), to the use of flashes, I felt the show was trying a little to hard to be the next Lost. Add a hobbit in the mix, and it's practically the same show.
Obviously, I am exaggerating. In fact, I can't fault the show for using flashes as it is the underlying premise for the show, a premise that from the second I heard about it I knew I wanted to watch . And better it try and emulate Lost than something of a lesser quality, like According to Jim. Even with its familiarity, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable experience. One of the major critiques that I had was that the audience is supposed to buy that in six months, not only is the relationship of the two main characters going to fail, but that she is going to let another man move into the house. (I'm not using the character names yet as I haven't seen enough episodes to remember them. So to me they are: Shakespeare and Penny are going to separate, and Penny is going to let Steve move in. Don't worry, as the series moves on, that will change.) But, I'm willing to give the show time to explain that better.
I suspect one of the biggest questions surrounding the show will be its sustainability of the pilot and premise. How will they keep the story moving but not get is six months in the future too quickly? (Are they going to emulate Lost once more in making a whole season be just a few weeks?) Can they keep up the mystery and suspense ? Do the writers and producers have a plan? I've been burned so many times by tv shows, that at this point I'm just going to go with the flow. That didn't work so well for Alias. It's worked out so far with Lost, and since Flash Forward so desperately wants to be Lost, then I'll trust there is a direction, at least for now.
I don't want to be too harsh on Flash Forward, as I really did enjoy the pilot. I suspect that within a few episodes there will be more differences between Flash Forward and Lost than there are similarities. And, if the similarities are good writing, good acting, and a great mystery, all with a helping of sci-fi, then I know I will be a Flash Forward fan for the long haul.
