Flash Forward - season 1 (2 Viewers)

[Doug Miller]

Yep, Band Of Horses "The Funeral". Cool sounding song, I'm going to check out their other stuff. Found out last night that they're even local, I'd heard of them, but hadn't heard them until now. Good stuff!


Doug

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Can someone explain the ending?


Mark Benford was about to jump out a window of the FBI building

and then the second blackout occurred.


It seemed there was a flash-forward of his daughter in the

far future saying, "He's back!" which I thought meant her Father.


I take it that Olivia ends up with Lloyd?

 

[Joe_H]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein

Can someone explain the ending?


Mark Benford was about to jump out a window of the FBI building

and then the second blackout occurred.


It seemed there was a flash-forward of his daughter in the

far future saying, "He's back!" which I thought meant her Father.


I take it that Olivia ends up with Lloyd?

My assumption is that a bunch of guys wearing the "quantum entanglement" rings probably pulled him out of the building and abducted him before it blew up.

 

[NeilO]

There is a "review" of the finale at

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/05/28/2010-05-28_flashforward_series_finale_is_one_of_the_worst_in_television_history.html

I am amused that he says it is

one of the most incomprehensible finales in television history

I didn't think it was all that hard to understand, but as he does say

Quote:

The "FlashForward" creators started with a five-year story arc, and they apparently filmed Thursday night's season one finale with the expectation ABC would bring the show back at least for season two. By the time ABC tossed it overboard, the finale was already filmed, with a new cliffhanger obviously designed to give the second season a running start.

I wish they had been given the chance to reedit it or do something to wrap things up a bit more.


There is another review over at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/may/31/flashforward-the-end-finale


Looking at that review reminded me about one character thing about the finale that I thought was bizarre. Dem didn't put on the ring because he didn't get to see a flash forward the first time and wanted to do this time around. This seemed like a really bad idea. What if he doesn't see one for this flash forward? He's going to go through all the same angst this time around. To put the ring on and live life "normally" would seem to be a much better idea for him.

 

[Jeremiah]

Regarding Dem, I think he is past that. He didn't see his FF the first time but still lived so even if he doesn't see one again, he probably thinks he could cheat death one more time. Or, he figured he will be alive and didn't think about the chance of him being dead again.

 

[Nelson Au]

Well, I'm not surprised to see this Save FlashForward movement come up. They plan on showing up at ABC offices around the world to demonstrate. Should be interesting to see if this has any impact. It worked for Star Trek, but I'm not sure in this day and age, this kind of effort is given any notice anymore.


Here's their website,

http://www.preventtheblackout.com/

 

[ScottH]

Eh...not sure this a show that needs saving.

 

[Josh Dial]

While I liked this show, I don't think there's a way to save it, as Fiennes has been cast as Merlin in Starz's "Camelot," which, if it's even half as good as "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," will be awesome. Of course, I assume Mark would be "missing" in most of the next season, if it had happened.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au

Well, I'm not surprised to see this Save FlashForward movement come up. They plan on showing up at ABC offices around the world to demonstrate. Should be interesting to see if this has any impact. It worked for Star Trek, but I'm not sure in this day and age, this kind of effort is given any notice anymore.

There's a much more recent example of a save campaign working, given what happened with Jericho. Still, I think that was somewhat of a unique (and well organized) example. I liked the show, but I don't feel it needs saving.

 

[EricSchulz]

Has anyone here read the book? I am going out of town next week and will want to take something to read for my down-time. Just wondering if I should track this down. I seem to recall hearing alot that it's quite different from the show.

 

[ScottH]

Well, just based on the Amazon write-up it seems a lot different (and a lot better).


(I'll spoilerize, but it doesn't really give much away.)

What would you do if you got a glimpse of your own personal future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? In Flashforward, Nobel-hungry physicists conducting an unimaginably high-energy experiment accidentally induce a global consciousness shift. In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is, literally, out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; when the world reawakens, car wrecks, botched surgeries, falls, and other mishaps add up to massive death and destruction.


Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward (as it comes to be called) they experienced a vision of the future. The range of visions is astounding--those who would be asleep in the future saw psychedelic dream landscapes, while others saw nothing at all (presumably they'd be dead). But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). Soon, the physicists who caused the Flashforward are struggling to help the world decide whether the future is changeable--and whether the experiment is worth repeating. Robert J. Sawyer has captured a truly compelling idea with Flashforward, and he fully explores what such an event might mean to humanity. Fans will find this to be his best work to date, although the ending seems rushed after a detailed buildup. --Therese Littleton

 

[NeilO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricSchulz

Has anyone here read the book? I am going out of town next week and will want to take something to read for my down-time. Just wondering if I should track this down. I seem to recall hearing alot that it's quite different from the show.

I've read at least one other Robert J. Sawyer book and enjoyed that. I actually just started reading it this weekend. I've enjoyed it so far. There are some similarities and differences. The point of view characters - at least at the beginning - are not the FBI, but Lloyd Simcoe and his coworkers at CERN (not NLAP).

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Based on Charlie's 2nd flashforward, it sounds like the 2nd season would have moved the story more in the direction of the original novel. (Which I haven't read - yet. Just read a couple of on-line synopses.)


I actually think the series approach to the whole thing was (potentially) more interesting, and better suited to spreading the story out over a five year arc. (My guess from some of the other glimpses people had is that the 2nd flashforward took different people to different points in the furture.)

I don't think the "save the show" movement has a chance in hell. The Trek thing was virtually unique, the industry was different, ratings were different, comparing it to modern events would be apples and oranges. (And the Trek movement was largely organized by, and got much of its clout with the network from, industry pros like Harlan Ellison and The Committee. The idea that it was a purely grass-roots fan movement is mostly an urban legend.)

The shows that have been saved, including those that were only saved by going to basic cable from broadcast, have all been shows that were "on the bubble." They were getting decent ratings, but not great ones. Thus the networks had to decide if they were worth keeping given what they cost, what other shows in development might potentially do, etc.

A fan campaign can tip the balance to save a show when a network is deciding which of two marginal shows to cancel. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Everything else being equal, the show with the most vocal fans gets saved. (It is either that or flip a coin in these situations.)

Similarly a prestige show that is pulling marginal ratings for broadcast network programming might look good to a basic cable channel that can live with lower numbers. There are other factors that can influence the decision to keep or dump a show on the one hand, or pick up somebody else's discard on the other: The producing studio (if it is a corporate sibling, keeping a show alive long enough to make it in syndication might make sense), the budget, relatioship with show-runner, other shows you have from the same stable, all can affect what you do with a show that could go either way.


But a show that is drawing ratings on a broadcast network that would be borderline for basic cable is not going to be saved by any number of letters, fan protests or petitions. The network isn't going to keep it, and nobody else is going to pick it up. A pity, but that's the reality.

Regards,


Joe

 

[Terencey]

I think FlashForward had a great storyline and it could become one of those famous TV shows .

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm on the other side of the opinion spectrum.


I invested an entire season in this show hoping

there would be a payoff. Instead, the show just

mulled along week after week without going anywhere.

Its characters were dull, spewing out scientific mumbo

jumbo and going on uninteresting investigations.


Still have no idea what happened with the ending.


That show needed to be cancelled.

 

[Doug Smith]

You're my new hero Ronald.

 

[Joe_H]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein

Still have no idea what happened with the ending.

I still just don't get what was confusing to you about the ending. Yes, it was a cliffhanger, and they all had a flash forward that we have no resolution to (despite it being said in the past that if it went one season they'd have resolution). But how exactly do you have no idea what happened with the ending?

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Joe_H


But how exactly do you have no idea what happened with the ending?

Exactly. It was another flashforward. However, this time, it appeared that not everyone say the same date, but rather each person saw one of a handful of dates/times (or perhaps everyone saw a completely unique date/time, but it didn't look like it). Most notably, it seems that Charlie's vision was about 10 years into the future--she looked adult--and had a phone call about someone having been found. I think it's clear we were meant to think that someone was Mark.


I found the show interesting, but mostly by way of the premise itself, not the actual delivery. I wouldn't mind a series of novels by Robert Sawyer, beyond the book upon which the series was based. I would totally read them.

 

[EricSchulz]

Just got notification that the library has a copy of the book on hold for me...interested in seeing how it compares to what they did with the show.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Most notably, it seems that Charlie's vision was about 10 years into the future--she looked adult--and had a phone call about someone having been found. I think it's clear we were meant to think that someone was Mark.

That's kind of what I thought but it wasn't clear.