Flash Forward - season 1 (1 Viewer)

[ScottH]

This latest episode was beyond absurd.

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by Walter C

I thought the release of the 1st half of the season on DVD would help, but I guess not.

The list price ($30) was far too high if they wanted to use this as a promo tool for the rest of the season. It's only 10 episodes. It should have been $15 or less. Plus, who wants to own a half-season of a struggling show?

I really wanted to keep up with this show, but I think the network killed it from the start by scheduling it Thursday nights. There are just too many established, popular shows on Thursdays. My DVR is already fully booked with other shows, so the only times I've been able to watch FF is when the other shows are in repeats (and most of that time FF was on hiatus).

Brand new shows should not debut on Thursdays, the most competitive night of the week.

 

[NeilO]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

I really wanted to keep up with this show, but I think the network killed it from the start by scheduling it Thursday nights.

Thursday night hurt and the hiatus hurt even more. It just lost all momentum. I think ratings for this past episode were #6 at 8 PM.

In any case, it took us to March 15 this coming week. I do find it hard to believe that no one was with Demetri on March 14 when he was taken. Mark even mentioned earlier in the episode the possibility something happening before the 15th and he just dies on the 15th. That was a stupid plot device. I hope we figure out just what Dyson Frost is up to.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

Brand new shows should not debut on Thursdays, the most competitive night of the week.

I may be wrong but didn't it premiere to relatively high ratings? I think people gave it a shot and decided they didn't like it.

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by TravisR


I may be wrong but didn't it premiere to relatively high ratings? I think people gave it a shot and decided they didn't like it.

It premiered with a decent 12.5 million viewers, but dropped by nearly 2 million the following week and the "fall finale," on December 3, had only about 7 million viewers. I believe it also debuted in advance of a few regular series' premieres which is how I was able to view the first couple of episodes before my regular favorites returned.

The spring premiere on March 18 was watched by about 6.5 million and has dropped steadily since with only 5 million viewers for the last episode on April 15.

 

[DaveF]

I didn't like the reveal of the video Dyson left for Noh : it broke the rules. So far, people have only seen future events from their own perspective. The video implied that Dyson had seen events from outside his perspective, possibly from Noh's It rang false to me. (There are plausible explanations, that Dyson saw himself talking with people who told him about the FBI's trip to Somalia. But as a quick scene, it didn't feel organically integrated into the rules of the show.)

That said, it's been a good two more episodes for the show. Events are progressing rapidly, alliances are being revealed, and we're soon to see just how much the future can be changed with Noh's looming death. And we can see how it may be Benford's gun, but not (Mark) Benford, that does the shooting.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by DaveF

I didn't like the reveal of the video Dyson left for Noh : it broke the rules. So far, people have only seen future events from their own perspective. The video implied that Dyson had seen events from outside his perspective, possibly from Noh's It rang false to me. (There are plausible explanations, that Dyson saw himself talking with people who told him about the FBI's trip to Somalia. But as a quick scene, it didn't feel organically integrated into the rules of the show.)

That said, it's been a good two more episodes for the show. Events are progressing rapidly, alliances are being revealed, and we're soon to see just how much the future can be changed with Noh's looming death. And we can see how it may be Benford's gun, but not (Mark) Benford, that does the shooting.

First of all, let me give you props for a correct, albeit rarely-seen use of the colon

Second, we've already seen the future changed considerably, when Special Agent Al Gough killed himself. It's basically the same thing as Demetri living--it's just opposite. Both characters' fates involved other people (the wedding, the meeting between Gough and the Scotland Yard liason); Dimitri is just slightly more involved in the investigation, than Gough.

 

[Nelson Au]

Nice to see the use of the Bradbury Building in this episode. My favorite use was in The Outer Limits with fantastic cinematography in B&W.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Josh Dial

First of all, let me give you props for a correct, albeit rarely-seen use of the colon

Second, we've already seen the future changed considerably, when Special Agent Al Gough killed himself. It's basically the same thing as Demetri living--it's just opposite. Both characters' fates involved other people (the wedding, the meeting between Gough and the Scotland Yard liason); Dimitri is just slightly more involved in the investigation, than Gough.

Thanks. Even if my arguments are rubbish, they should at least be grammatically correct.

I don't mean to ignore the precedent set by Gough or the Somali. But we've only seen premature death prevent a future still weeks or months away. Seeing Noh's fate change in the opposite fashion moments before the date will be a new twist. It will be even more interesting as we see Benford self-fulfilling his future; and Noh working to fulfill the pregnancy vision, even as he fights against his own.

 

[Nelson Au]

Noh working to fulfill the pregnancy vision? I thought it was established in the last episode that he did indeed do that?

 

[DaveF]

Yes; it was established this episode that it worked. I was noting that there is this concurrent desire to fulfill and prevent the future, even by Noh himself. It's an interesting dynamic.

 

[EricSchulz]

Originally Posted by DaveF

Yes; it was established this episode that it worked. I was noting that there is this concurrent desire to fulfill and prevent the future, even by Noh himself. It's an interesting dynamic.

To the best of my knowledge, we only know that it "worked" because Janis said she is pregnant. How much can we now actually believe about her? Is her FF even true?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Yes; it was established this episode that it worked. I was noting that there is this concurrent desire to fulfill and prevent the future, even by Noh himself. It's an interesting dynamic.

In Dimitri's case I think it is more a matter of having a plan "B". His primary goal is not to end up dead. But since he is dead in the world where Janice is pregnant, it can't hurt to try to impregnate her, and leave some part of himself, some proof of his existance, behind.

Benford is actually in a more ambiguous position. His flash forward - and those associated with it - suggest that he is getting close to whoever is behind the Blackout and that Mosaic is important. He wants that outcome, he needs it. But he doesn't want to pay the price.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Walter C]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

The list price ($30) was far too high if they wanted to use this as a promo tool for the rest of the season. It's only 10 episodes. It should have been $15 or less. Plus, who wants to own a half-season of a struggling show?

I really wanted to keep up with this show, but I think the network killed it from the start by scheduling it Thursday nights. There are just too many established, popular shows on Thursdays. My DVR is already fully booked with other shows, so the only times I've been able to watch FF is when the other shows are in repeats (and most of that time FF was on hiatus).

Brand new shows should not debut on Thursdays, the most competitive night of the week.

I just thought new viewers would at least rent the DVDs, and then when caught up, would follow the show on ABC when it came back.

And I also agree, that Thursdays should not be the night to launch new shows.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricSchulz

To the best of my knowledge, we only know that it "worked" because Janis said she is pregnant. How much can we now actually believe about her? Is her FF even true?

To this point, I think everything she's said is true.

To pull back the curtain, I think that even the showrunner didn't know she was a mole until late in the plotting. It feels like a bolt-on. Why would her own people try to kill her if she is the best-placed mole they've got?

And her dialog, her actions, everything has clearly been that of a woman driven to have a child. That's beyond maintaining a fictional flash forward for sake of her cover story: this is a woman who saw a tremendous future and is working to actualize it.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Also, there is the point that we saw her having the ultrasound from her POV, making it unlikely that it is something she is lying about.

 

[NeilO]

Originally Posted by DaveF

To pull back the curtain, I think that even the showrunner didn't know she was a mole until late in the plotting. It feels like a bolt-on. Why would her own people try to kill her if she is the best-placed mole they've got?

I hope they explain that. It doesn't seem to make sense unless she was just deeper placed and whoever ordered that hit wasn't high enough in the organization to know.

One more thing about the last episode that bothered me - there was no follow-up with the guy on the motorcycle. I would have thought they would have mentioned something about how they attempted to ID the guy, or that the body was shipped away. Whoever it is would be some sort of clue.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by NeilO

I hope they explain that. It doesn't seem to make sense unless she was just deeper placed and whoever ordered that hit wasn't high enough in the organization to know.

There's also the possibility that Dyson Frost is the one who recruited Marcy and Janis (if I recall, Janis said something like a man contacted them and ask them if they wanted to change the world), and that he is at odds with the rest of the antagonists (wow, still no name for these folks--Simon Campos, Flosso, and the rest of the guys who were awake). Everything seems to point to him being on the same side as those guys, but it seems there's more to it than that.

 

[EricSchulz]

Wow...did the few left watching this abandon ship? Or was everyone watching Avatar Thursday night? Probably the most exciting episode so far, but now there are a LOT more questions to be answered.

 

[DaveF]

Good episode. My wife noted it was a brassy way to set your show up for a six-year run
Since I'm currently reading the Ender's Game series, I liked the flash to "Ansible Theory" on Frost's blackboard.