http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41030 So, basically, they lifted the premise of a 2 minute and 17 second flash forward, and then completely stripped away the rest of the plot from the novel. I'm not entirely convinced this is a bad approach, if only because the ending of the novel was godawful. The review mentions the inherent problem with the flash only being six months ahead...where do we go from here? Outside of being an automatic reset button, I don't see any advantage to shortening the time line of events.
While I'm none too pleased about the way the novel's been hacked up, this part actually makes sense to me: this way the season builds up to the events seen in the first episode, like an internal countdown with--if done right--the associated suspense. And since they're changing so much from the novel already, I'm almost certain they'll modify the cause of the flash forward such that there will be a second event in the season finale. After all, if they kept to a timeframe of years, it would take forever to see the payoff and the entire premise of the show would be a one-time phenomenon; it makes sense to me that the flash forward should be a plot device used intermittently. Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Actually, that's a good point. They wouldn't even need to change the nature of the flash...IIRC, didn't the first glimpse into the future correspond with another flash forward at that point in time (something along the lines of they were able to inhabit their bodies in the future because their consciousnesses had flashed at that point)? Like you said, that would make for a more effective payoff.
Plus they secure themselves a complete story if the show gets cancelled, but leave enough hanging if they get renewed.