FlashForward

[on:]

This show is looking pretty good. The first ep airs tomorrow night in the US I think, but it's already available via other means.

Basically, everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes 17 seconds, and see's that amount of time 6 months into the future. The show is about everyone trying to piece together what they each saw, and working out why it happened. It has Harold from & Kumar, and Penny from LOST, plus other people too!

First Ep was quite good and i'll continue watching. Also, it gets automatic points for this:

[Reply #1 on:]

Where have I heard of that story before?

I'm not insulting the show, I'm really asking because it sounds oddly familiar...

[Reply #2 on:]

No Clue.

Whilst the first episode was a little silly in terms of how they came to the conclusion that they had flashed forward (His lines about, "It felt like a memory... but from the FUTURE!" was pretty hammy) I s'pose they had to set that up so they could get on with the show.

[Reply #3 on:]

So many 10-second promo spots over the year. This better be good.

I hope it doesn't end up with Lost-style backstories and overly-complex storylines & hidden clues. I hate that fucking show. "They're on the island, they're off the island, who can follow that shit?!"

[Reply #4 on:]

Mmm, I think the might try to take a few leaves out of the LOST book encyclopedia anthology, but i doubt it'll get as complex and confusing.

Since they only flashed 6 months forward, if it gets canned before the season is through, i'm guessing they can end it, and if not, then there will probably be another flash.

Ribbons, the first ep is out there, go watch. Mind you it's 4:3 and only 150mb for 44 mins.

[Reply #5 on:]

The ads do make me think of Lost. Partly because of Penny, partly because of the 'flash forward' aspect. But I'll probably try to watch it at some point.


Heh, everybody blacks out...it was probably when the island moved.

[Reply #6 on:]

Sounds kinda gimmicky but I'll watch it tonight.

[Reply #7 on:]

I watched a Webair download of it but it was crappy quality, but the first minute or so is trying so hard to be Lost I already distrust it.

Also, THAT GUY GOT SHOT IN ENEMY AT THE GATES, SRY HOLLYWOOD TRY AGAIN!

[Reply #8 on:]

I liked it, not as good as Lost, but what is. Weak characters, intriguing ending.

6/10 (I had 8 before but I just read a review that brought up some very good points that I agree with. It really was a jumbled mess of an episode)

[Reply #9 on:]

It gets points for having Jett Jackson in it.

Minus some for the randomness of Seth Macfarlane.

The more I watched it, the less Lostish it seemed.  I mean, they are already "solving" things.  That took Lost about 3 seasons.

I'll keep watching.

[Reply #10 on:]

Considering the rate at which they were progressing through just the pilot, well, that makes me think that they've got a lot of story in mind for this.

And the plot is, clearly, right now, the strong suit, so I'm probably going to stick with this. Hopefully I'll be caring about the characters a looooot within the next few episodes.

[Reply #11 on:]

This show is on tonight in the UK and I might watch it because everybody are talking about it

[Reply #12 on:]

Pilot was kinda lame but I did like the scene where we see a man walking around when everyone else was unconscious. Conspiracy! Otherwise... Yeah, not much to go off. I'd give it to the fifth episode to make a better judgment whether it's worth an hour (including ads) out of my fabulous life.

[Reply #13 on:]

My parents decided to watch this tonight, so I figured I'd try it, too--I thought it'd beat doing homework, at any rate. I didn't see the pilot last week, but I'm guessing that's not important since tonight's episode cut to everyone's flash-forward about, like, five times, and at this point the plot's not so convoluted that I won't be able to follow it without having seen the first episode.

Anyway, I'm not into serialized dramas or whatever you want to call this (a "Lost" wannabe is the first thing that came to my mind), but I thought it was pretty good in a guilty-pleasure sort of way. It's a crazy premise, and some of the characters are kind of cliches ("Oh, I'm a badass alcoholic cop and my wife is cheating on me, waaaaahhh"), but I think I like it. At the very least, it's not the worst thing on TV this season (for the record, as I type this, "Grey's Anatomy" is on in the background); methinks I'll watch it next week.

[Reply #14 on:]

Grey's has the goddess, Sandra Oh.

It's so stupid everybody's dreams are connected. How the hell will they explain this? WHO WAS THAT MAN WALKING AROUND?!

[Reply #15 on:]

This show is already starting to make my brain hurt a bit.

Like, his board only exists, because he's already seen it, that's how he's able to start making it, so why then, when april 29th rolls around, doesn't he know to expect the people coming in with guns... If he's already investigating the thing, he knows what date it is... and the being asleep thing for some people would be rubbish, if you know that that particular time was special, as if you could sleep....

I do like it though...

[Reply #16 on:]

I'm with chay--like Harold pointed out, Alcoholic Cop is already fulfilling a prophecy, in a way: he's wearing that bracelet his daughter gave him, and he's starting work on a bulletin board full of clues that will apparently perplex him just as much six months from now. Seems kind of pointless, and counterproductive (or at least useless) when compared to what Fell Asleep on the Crapper and his fellow FBI buddies are working on, which is trying to prevent another mass blackout or whatever.

No, I'm not learning the character's real names. Seriously, I was trying to focus on the exploding buildings and whatnot--I ccouldn't be bothered to figure out who's who.

Edit: Because I don't know the difference between two cinematic pot-heads.

[Reply #17 on:]

Kumar? Don't you mean Harold? Kumar's off at the White House, being a completely different ethnicity and whatnot.

... I like this show. Lots. Like, wow, there's a lot here. And I want to see where it goes. And start caring about the characters more. Because at this point, I'm kinda ehhhh on the romantic drama between Mark and Olivia (I do know the characters' names!).

Also, I really hope John Cho doesn't die, because at this point he's my favourite.

[Reply #18 on:]

Keep in mind he may have to conveniently not be in the series anymore to shoot Star Trek 2...

[Reply #19 on:]

Kumar? Don't you mean Harold? Kumar's off at the White House, being a completely different ethnicity and whatnot.

Uh, yeah, that's what I meant. Six in the morning's a bit too early for me to be posting here, apparently.

[Reply #20 on:]

It seems a bit "Twelve Monkeys", as they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy... I like the fact that that cop is due to die on the Ides of March

[Reply #21 on:]

So like, what about the people that died during the blackout?  I find it very unlikely that they all saw nothing.  And from that, wouldn't the future have already changed its self since those people died?

[Reply #22 on:]

I assume those who died saw nothing in the same way that those who will die saw nothing.

[Reply #23 on:]

But how is that possible?  When Dr. Penny fell down, there was no way to predict which way her scalpel flew.  Or, some of them had to have been saved by other doctors.

[Reply #24 on:]

I don't know what's happening in this show, but I just saw Zoe out of Firefly, and Sawyer's ex from Lost... I kept forgetting to watch the encore screenings so I'm probably not going to get into this until the dvds or repeats...

[Reply #25 on:]

The little kid with the scar on his face at the end, i'm hoping he quickly grows up and gets played by Omar from the Wire.

Still enjoying it.

Also, Amy, what are you talking about...?

[Reply #26 on:]

I'm saying, what they saw couldn't possibly be the absolute future.  Not everyone who died in the mess could have seen nothing.  And when people did pass out, things could have happened that affected another persons future. 

IE.  When Dr. Olivia passed out, her scalpel could have gone flying and killed the dude she was operating on.  And for that matter, were people who were already knocked out/sleeping see anything? 

[Reply #27 on:]

I sorta get the point you are trying to make. For example, if the black out had not occurred, Bob would've been making a sandwich in 6 months time. However, Bob was on a plane when the blackout occurred, so it crashed and he died. Would he have seen the FF of him making a sandwich? If that is the point your trying to make.

If that is the case, then Bob would have seen nothing, because we know that the flashes aren't what people WOULD have seen had there been no FF. Main dude see's himself solving it, Nazi see's himself free because he gave info, Zoë see's herself with a new son cause the kids parents died in the Blackout.

I think all the flashforwards were what the world would/is likely to become the second after people woke up, whether or not people are able to actively change that is yet to be seen.

[Reply #28 on:]

Well, it makes you wonder too if knowing this brings your own destiny anyways.  Harold knows he is gonna die on a certain date.  Now, lets say he decides to stay at home and wear protective gear and lock himself in a room etc.  Then his house blows up.  Is being told he is going to die lead him to where he dies?  Or could he avoid it by living life as normal.  OR is he going to die no matter what he does.  Which seems impossible.

[Reply #29 on:]

honestly don't know what to make of this show. I thought the first episode was passable, not worth the hype it was given if I'm brutally honest. Second episode was a cracker, really enjoyed it. Monday's episode was utter bollocks except for the last ten or so minutes.

There are still enough little hooks in the plot to keep me watching, at least for the next couple of weeks though.

[Reply #30 on:]

Oh noes! Charlie is a bad guy!

[Reply #31 on:]

Show seems fine to me, the last episode's plot of "secure funding from congress" was as dull as hell though. Adding a acted president killed a lot of the realism that setting the show in real-time provided. No excuse, there's  plenty of obama lookalikes to go around.

It's now more of a "show set in an alternate universe" than "show set in alternate version of the present". Even Lost mentioned Bush getting re-elected... when your show is filled with weird stuff, it's important to have some grounding in reality.

I'm liking odd moments of the show, the black tower in somalia was brilliant.

I find the idea of not being able to prevent the flashforwards a little daft. Someone could easily travel to the other side of the planet well in advance, making it physically impossible for their flashforward to occur.

[Reply #32 on:]

I totally agree about the president thing. It would've been better if someone else in the white house was able to be black mailed and they just referred to the prez.

[Reply #33 on:]

If they made the president black, and then blackmailed him, it would turn into an insane racial issue.

[Reply #34 on:]

...why?

[Reply #35 on:]

Because (certain) American's see EVERYTHING as a racial issue.  If the show made the President black, and then he had an illegitimate child that he was hiding... it would start people saying "You are stereotyping black males, etc" and then Al Sharpton would come around and annoy the crap out of more people.

[Reply #36 on:]

Right right, so it's more the thing he would've done rather than the blackmailing itself.

Again, I do think having a fake prez ruined it a little bit and they could've had someone else in the white house, with a lot of pull being the one who is blackmailed, and then only reference the prez and not shown him.

[Reply #37 on:]

It is totally different in Lost as the president was not a character in the show. In a series like this where we have a fictional president involved in the events of the series his race is irrelevant... just like 24 having a black president when the wasn't one in real life.

[Reply #38 on:]

I keep watching the eps a week late. LAST weeks ep was good. It does seem to be getting somewhere, and when (not)Penny walked into the house to see hubby and future BF there i was all like "OH SNAP!".

I forget what the young black guy saw in his FF, he said something about going over a case in London, but then there was a flash of something else... What was that?

[Reply #39 on:]

... and then Al Sharpton would come around and annoy the crap out of more people.

There is absolutely nothing incorrect about this statement.