It’s been almost two full months since the last episode of FlashForward aired, and you know what? I haven’t really missed it. It’s unfortunate because going into the season, I thought FlashForward was going to be my favorite new show. It had a lot going for it: an interesting concept, a great cast, and some well-pedigreed writers and producers behind the scenes. The show certainly started strong, with one of the better pilots I can remember seeing.
In the time since that opening episode, however, I feel like the show has devolved into a muddled melodrama.
The first ten episodes certainly weren’t all bad. There were definitely some high moments, including one character taking fate and destiny into his own hands and Bryce’s surprising back story. The show is also rife with mystery and intrigue, perhaps too much so. It seemed to me that a new element of mystery was added at the end of nearly every episode, but nothing was ever tied together or built upon. Hopefully when the show returns in March it will begin to tie together some of the many loose ends that have been introduced.
Certainly some of the stories have begun to take shape and that has me encouraged. One of the other highlights of the first part of the season was the introduction of Simon, Dominic Monaghan’s character. We’ve already seen that he developed the plans for the towers that were built in Africa in the ’90s when a similar event to the blackout occurred. It seems like all the characters were just beginning to come together and connect the dots … and then the show was ripped off the air.
I’m sure that decision is not going to help the ratings, which were in a bit of a free fall since the first episode. I think at the end of the day the real problem was the melodramatic style that the show took. Far too often “dramatic” moments went too far, becoming almost laughably over the top. Still, I’m remaining optimistic that when the show returns some of these problems will be addressed and the glimmers of a great show that we saw become more regular.
What did you think of the first ten episodes? Have you missed FlashForward on your TV?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 21, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Haven’t missed it in the least. After the first two episodes, the show went to crap. It became all about Joseph Fiennes whining about how he might lose his wife and lying to her about drinking in his FF. Well maybe you end up losing your wife cause you do nothing but lie to her and act jealous of something she hasn’t done yet. It became repetitive and stupid. They haven’t bothered to give Sonya Walger anything remotely interesting to work with….if she’s not listening to her husband whine, she’s listening to Bryce whine.
They took a really interesting concept and made it as boring as possible.
Honestly, I forgot all about it. I don’t even know when, or if, it’s coming back. How sad.
I had the similar experience, which led me to writing this post.
Not missing it a bit. Looking forward to LOST.
Like most, I thought the show dropped off severely after the first couple episodes. I’ll probably watch the first season on Hulu just because I like the concept and most of the supporting characters, I just am not a fan of the lead guy. Like Caroline mentioned, how has he not seen that his moping and lying are pushing his wife away? He’s probably had the worst reaction to a glimpse of the future of any character, pretty much ever.
As a side note, as proof of how little I’m invested in the main guy, I have to refer to him as the main guy b/c I forgot his name
Okay, I’m going out on a limb all by myself and say that I, and the rest of my family, are really missing the show. I don’t disagree with the criticisms outlined in the article or from any comments, but they don’t bother me as much. Maybe it’s because I happen to have a family of complete scifi nerds, so we’re just more forgiving of a genre show than we might be of a show with a more ordinary premise.
Our philosophy is to support genre shows whenever we can because more often than not a scifi show with a few problems still beats another reality show, cop or medical procedural or lame sitcoms. It isn’t perfect, but it’s probably better than what would take its place should it get cancelled, and the more genre shows that get the axe, the less likely we are to see new ones get the green light.
I get where you’re coming from, and I’m a big genre show fan myself, and I think at the very least this is a great one-season premise. I just wish Joseph Fiennes’ character jumped off the building instead of Lee Thompson Young’s.
Thanks for doing your part to get more genre shows on TV
Same here. I watched every episode, and had high hopes for it based on the concept. But it started to be a chore to keep watching. There aren’t enough characters I care about, and Joseph Fiennes is possibly the least charismatic lead actor ever.
With “Burn Notice”, “White Collar”, and “Damages” back this week, I was just thinking this morning about the broadcast shows that I’m waiting to return, and I thought of “Lost” (counting the days now–12!), “Glee” (still months & months away) and “V” (which holds some mild interest). FF never even entered my mind.
So I read the book over Christmas and have to say the TV show is much better. The book mostly takes place at CERN and explores relationships between the main characters. The plot, mystery and intrigue on the TV show held my interest a lot more so I’ll be glad to see the show back.
After watching the first two episodes, i was disappointed because of all that potential the show could have had. the characters accepted way to fast that their “flashfowards” were actually the future. I remember one particular scene where mark benford was like “hey, you know what? it felt like it was the future” – and all of a sudden, everybody agreed and kept moving on (like “no big deal”).
Still, after a couple of episodes, the show focused more on the characters and how they actually suffer from knowing their personal faith, which made the whole show more interesting and relevant. so after the first 10 episodes, i will give it another try and see how this season will play out ;)