Flash Forward - season 1 (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

Seems like I recall the LOST producers recently admitting that they've just been making it up as they go (which they kind of had to since they did not know how many seasons they had to fill until they agreed upon a series end date with ABC part way through the third season).

They've definitely never said that they were making it up as they went along. They had to guess how much to reveal and not reveal in the first three seasons (before they knew how many years the show would last) but there's a big difference between that and having made it up as they go.

All that being said, I do think that the people behind Flashforward know where they're going with the season of their show. If only because there's no reason not to know that.

 

[Joe_H]

Originally Posted by Doug Smith

Please tell me that the Kangaroo escaped from a zoo. Otherwise it might be as bizarre as ... seeing a polar bear on a tropical island! This show is bizarre enough as it is.

... Considering that's the same reason that the polar bear was on a tropical island, that's a weird statement.

 

[Josh Dial]

I have a feeling I'm going to be referencing post #10 quite a bit in this thread

 

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

Quote:

In the feature article about the show in the recent EW, the producers said they plan to compress the 6-month flash forward window into just the first season. So by next May, the timeline of the show will have reached/passed the April 29, 2010, date (so the show is basically taking place in real time).

How they sustain the story/interest beyond that is unclear (probably some big government conspiracy thing, which is how these types of shows usually go).

I enjoyed the pilot, though I'm leery of getting wrapped up in another show of this type after suffering through three seasons of "Lost" spinning its wheels before I finally bailed out.

The whole issue of Dimitri Noh (John Cho) not having a vision because he may be dead within the next six months also doesn't seem likely. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will die within that same period, but there don't seem to be many (any?) others reporting they had no vision. So that particular explanation, and the false drama they tried to create about it in the pilot, seems to be a non-starter.

Well, this show is not about all those other people so their flash isn't relevant in this story.
I'm sure there were millions who didn't see anything during their blackout.

Also Lost and making it up as they go along, really , that's still coming up?
Were did you read that?
On a web discussion forum.

Besides so what if they were making it up as they went, they are making up a pretty darn good story so far.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Nevermind the whole entire-planet-passes-out-for-2-min-17-sec-and-everyone-sees-their-own-future thing...what the hell was Seth McFarlane doing there??

 

[TonyD]

He's an actor just like everyone else on the show.
As for the passing out part, science fiction, nor sure what you're questioning it for it's the premise of the show i think.

 

[DaveF]

Intriguing pilot. I'm excited too by the show's creators. It reminds me of "The Nine", which I also enjoyed. But that worries me since that show died without resolution.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

I thought is was merely "ok" for a premiere. Good setup. Interesting story. But the characters...I just did not get "hooked" into any of them. There was, for me, no standout characters that interested me. "Lost" had me interested in 2 or 3 people right away. Not so here. I will certainly keep watching, but it is just my observation.

Seth McFarlane...get off the set! The guy makes millions and MILLIONS of dollars and he has to hog a decent role that some other starving actor could have had? (Sorry...this is coming from the point of view of a struggling actor).

 

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by Scott McGillivray



Seth McFarlane...get off the set! The guy makes millions and MILLIONS of dollars and he has to hog a decent role that some other starving actor could have had? (Sorry...this is coming from the point of view of a struggling actor).

I'm not an actor but I can surely understand your point there.
This is the problem I have with Leno, plus he isn't funny.

 

[Nelson Au]

I'm no fan of MacFarlane, not do I hate him. I didn't even notice him. I looked this up out of curiosity, He's a buddy of Brannon Braga or the other creator of the show and is a fan of Family Guy. They invited him for the pilot as a lark and they hope he comes back for more.

So like in the real work world, it's who you know and the relationships you make that get you opportunities. I wish I knew that at my last job!

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

For a show like this (and LOST, Fringe, and Moore's Battlestar Galactica), you either trust the showrunners, or you don't.

I basically agree with your entire post, Josh, but have to pick a nit on this part: Moore's Galactica was a show that demonstrated all the pitfalls of not having a plan, and literally making it up as you go along. (The X-Files is another.) And of course you are right about the distinction between not having a plan and not knowing how many seasons/episodes you have to get to the end of your story. The former produces confusion, inconsistency and either disappointment or a mythology so convoluted that even the creators can no longer keep it straight. The latter produces tap-dancing and stalling - often in the form of interesting detours within the story, sometimes into dead-ends and or misfires.

Even a well-planned "arc" show operates under constraints that a novel, for instance, doesn't, and this can lead to missteps and inconsistencies that are beyond the control of the show-runners.

A novelist can come up with a new plot twist in chapter 12 and go back and rewrite the first 11 chapters to make everything consistent. But the showrunner of an "arc" show is publishing each "chapter" as he finishes it. It he (or she) comes up with a new idea there's a choice to be made - stick to the plan and maybe end up with a weaker story or go with the change and live with a contradiction or a dangling plot-line.

And a novelist doesn't have to worry about his characters getting sick, or hurt, or fed up or arrested. He doesn't have a living, breathing actor playing each one to life - an actor who might be a pain in the ass on the set, or create problems with other actors or demand too much more money or too much more screen time (always a problem on an ensemble show with a large cast.) Sometimes those actors quit and sometimes they have to be fired. Novelists never have to fire a character mid-book because he keeps showing up on the set drunk.

Later,

Joe

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino



I basically agree with your entire post, Josh, but have to pick a nit on this part: Moore's Galactica was a show that demonstrated all the pitfalls of not having a plan, and literally making it up as you go along. (The X-Files is another.)

I don't think BSG demonstrates that, in the least. The events of the final two seasons fit so well together that I simply refuse to believe they weren't planned (or sketched out loosely, at the very least). Additionally, around the finale of season 1 (Kobol's Last Gleaming), you can clearly see the big picture emerging. Moreover, basically everything beyond Razor (by which I mean the airing, not the time period takes place) is perfectly-mapped out--the Hybrid literally reveals the remaining plot to the finale.

As I stated in my post, people may believe what they wish about shows like LOST, BSG, and FlashForward, regarding the degrees of "planning," but to say any of those shows were "literally making it up as you go along" is just unbelievable. Was everything in BSG planned, right down to every detail (even important ones, such as the identities of the Cylons)? Of course not. However, I personally believe Moore et al knew the general direction of the show, and Moore himself may have truly had most decisions made, even if he didn't vocalize them.

Not everything has to be planned down to the trapdoors (though that notion is a good idea) JMS had for B5, for a show to be considered "planned." The powers than be can change things, react to casting decisions and disaster (like Triple A's [Mr. Eko] parents dying), early cancellations, strikes, et cetera, and still be "planned."

I'll also disagree with you on the initial mystery of LOST. I've claimed (and posted as such) from day one that the real plot of the show was the "two sides, one light, one dark," battle of (most likely) good and evil. Further, I don't think the "will they get off the island?" was every really touted on these boards as the main mystery. I'm currently rewatching the entire series (something I do every summer), and I re-read the threads as I go, and in the first few seasons' threads, it's quite clear that most of the members saw the island itself as the big mystery, with the Others taking second place.

In the end, I stand by my statement about trusting the showrunners, and include Moore's BSG. I think it's the best piece of military sci-fi ever (yes, better than B5, which is fighting words for you ).

 

[EricSchulz]

Can someone (briefly) explain what a "show-runner" does? I have seen the term before and curious as to what is different about it as opposed to being a writer.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Show-runner set the tone for the show, its arcs, its players, shepherds the writers to make sure things are on-track for the overall season. Since they can't write all the episodes themselves, they make sure the other writers include certain scenes that add to any overall subplots and threads for the show's season run. And they also write a few episodes as well if schedule permits.

 

[TravisR]

^ I believe most show runners also do a final polish on all the scripts and they do the final cut of the episode too (although the network can recut it if they want).

 

[Matt^Brown]

Well I always tell myself that I am not going to get hooked on a new show for fear it will get cancelled. I guess I am once again going against myself because I really liked the pilot and will be back again this week.

 

[NeilO]

I thought the pilot was a great start. I am glad to hear that they will go through the 6 months by the end of the season. I think it will be an interesting ride.

One of the main themes that the series has to come up with is whether what they saw will actually happen exactly as they saw it. I will be quite disappointed if that is the case. By having observed the events, they have to alter their fate somewhat, even if it is just getting a deja vu feeling when they appear to be happening.

 

[Josh Dial]

Well, the show definitely touched on that notion, Neil, with the conversation in the kitchen between Mark and Aaron. We see that clearly some people are going to want their flash forwards to come true (Aaron), while others (Mark) want to change them. That seems like an interesting plot to me.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Originally Posted by Scott McGillivray

I thought is was merely "ok" for a premiere. Good setup. Interesting story. But the characters...I just did not get "hooked" into any of them. There was, for me, no standout characters that interested me. "Lost" had me interested in 2 or 3 people right away. Not so here. I will certainly keep watching, but it is just my observation.

Pretty well my thoughts too.

 

[Joe_H]

It's driving me crazy, does anyone know who the actress was on the phone with Noh? The voice sounds so familiar and I can't place it.