ABC cancels 'Flash Forward'

[1001001]

I'm disappointed because I thought it was a decent show and certainly held my interest longer than say, Heroes. I'm sick of investing into shows that get cancelled without decent conclusions, though.

Me too.

I have the last 5 episodes stored on TiVo, specifically for this scenario. If they're not going to give it a proper ending, I'm not going to bother with the rest.

I agree with everyone who's said this kind of thing can be planned for one season, as a complete stand alone story. That might have been better.

Then again, there was Harper's Island, so.....

 

[Mr Light]

The 2009 episodes I didn't care for, but since coming back this year it's been a lot more interesting. I'd say its my favorite non-LOST-non-24 drama this year.

 

[Dream]

ABC really sucks with SciFi shows. Apparently, LOST being successful/good was a fluke.

 

[cubbie]

I'm disappointed because while not fabulous, was still enjoyable. I don't know if I'll watch the rest of the season if it doesn't end properly.

 

[Apophis]

The 2009 episodes I didn't care for, but since coming back this year it's been a lot more interesting. I'd say its my favorite non-LOST-non-24 drama this year.

Agreed. The second the focus switched to Simon, it got very interesting and really cool. And for some reason, as much as I like John Cho, I hated his character. And his bitchy wife. So, I liked the shift away from the leads that started this year.

 

[stj]

The premise, taken from the novel, that a flashforward to a future that would not occur would still somehow be relevant, was FlashForward's biggest problem. It's like a photograph blown up until you can seen the pores in a face. What a relatively short novel could glide over turned into a snag for a TV series.

That said, the execution started off quite good, until the rotating showrunners started amping up the melodrama at the expense of plot coherence. There is a narrative impetus building up here at the end as the pieces are being put together. But at the beginning, the feeling of a giant catastrophe was very striking. The scene where the children were playing Blackout, for instance, was eerie but believable as a human reaction to such outlandish events.

Making such a flawed person as Mark Benford the main protagonist was bold but seems more than anything else to have been the stumbling block for a wider audience. The show has now turned him into a selflessly noble hero sacrificing his marriage to save the world. Without any temptation to drink, of course. The new Benford is less interesting than the dithering alcoholic suspicious of his wife but wanting to keep her, afraid of his destiny but wanting to play the key role. But the new one is more comfortable viewing.

Being an ABC scifi show along with V invites comparisons, naturally. As it turns out, there is an easy one: The FBI office. The one in FlashForward actually bears some faint resemblance to the real world. Benford has a boss, goes to work, takes orders, reports, gets chewed out. Erica Evans on V does not. The difference nicely expresses the difference in the quality of the writing on FlashForward and V. FlashForward had at least three excellent episodes (the pilot, The Gift and Believe,) while V has had none.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

V has a more relatable basic plot than FlashForward which is why its ratings are better.

V - Evil aliens menace Earth; intrepid but badly outgunned band tries to stop them.

FlashForward - Everyone blacks out and hallucinates. Apparently this means they saw their (probable? possible? unlikely?) future. Apparently it's going to happen again.

See the difference? In V, the danger is obvious and in your face. In FlashForward, it's just too waffly and open to interpretation. There's no immediacy. It's just not the gut-reaction threat that a TV show needs in order to hang onto an audience.

Neither show is about the FBI which is why V's absurd depiction of the FBI doesn't matter.

Anyway, the boy who played the autistic kid is going to be the son in The Cape, for anyone who cares.

 

[diankra]

Problem is, FlashForward is based on a novel, and has a great concept for a novel or a mini-series, or even a single 22/24 episode season. Whichever way, it has an ending.
Do that well and maybe you can come up with a follow-up for season two. But trying to stretch it out so it could run for years is a good way of ensuring it ends after one, without even (from the sound of it) including the ending it could have had as a one-off.

 

[SG-17]

Oh well. With Heroes and FF gone, all I have left is SGU, Caprica, Doctor Who, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 (if that returns).

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm still three episodes behind, and will see the series through to the end, but the 85000th time they showed Olivia's flashback, I just wanted to throw something at the TV... and there were too many extraneous characters I just didn't care about. You can't be a police procedural, a sci-fi series, and a character drama all at the same time apparently.

 

[stj]

FlashForward Reformed alcoholic FBI agent is threatened with falling off the wagon and losing his wife and ending up being attacked by gunmen who might kill him. What does he do? Partner is threatened with death. What does he do?

V Aliens threaten Earth with universal health care, green energy and peace. Hero priest is not threatened unless he persists in resisting this dastardly plot. What does he do? Heroine FBI agent is threatened with son getting girlfirend. What does she do?

The physical jeopardy is in FlashForward. But Mark was a genuine flawed protagonist. Demetri isn't a supercool badass either. I don't get how anyone can relate to Jack's and Erica's dilemmas, however.

V had Lost for a lead in. Erica and Jack are very conventional but physically attractive heroes. I think that explains why V has ratings.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Problem is, FlashForward is based on a novel, and has a great concept for a novel or a mini-series, or even a single 22/24 episode season. Whichever way, it has an ending.
Do that well and maybe you can come up with a follow-up for season two. But trying to stretch it out so it could run for years is a good way of ensuring it ends after one, without even (from the sound of it) including the ending it could have had as a one-off.

Yeah, exactly. Even reading the novel, I could tell that it would be hard to adapt into a series, so much so that everything about the novel is completely different in the series. The location, for example, is just one of them, with it set around CERN in the novel, but in LA in the series. And then the amount of time they jumped into the future. I personally think it would have been far more interesting having the series set at CERN, but I guess it would have been a problem shooting there. I'm just getting rather tired of seeing NY or LA all the time. Feels too contemporary, no offense to anyone. It kind of sounds like they wrote themselves into a corner.

 

[RobertScorpio]

V has a more relatable basic plot than FlashForward which is why its ratings are better.

V - Evil aliens menace Earth; intrepid but badly outgunned band tries to stop them.

FlashForward - Everyone blacks out and hallucinates. Apparently this means they saw their (probable? possible? unlikely?) future. Apparently it's going to happen again.

See the difference? In V, the danger is obvious and in your face. In FlashForward, it's just too waffly and open to interpretation. There's no immediacy. It's just not the gut-reaction threat that a TV show needs in order to hang onto an audience.

Neither show is about the FBI which is why V's absurd depiction of the FBI doesn't matter.

Anyway, the boy who played the autistic kid is going to be the son in The Cape, for anyone who cares.

The reason why FLASHFORWARD failed is because there was no clear cut good guy. This trend in modern tv to have characters will all kinds of shades of gray may be more 'realistic', but it does not always mean ratings..NUBSG..FIREFLY..proved this too..

Rob

 

[Hober Mallow]

Actually, the show hasn't been canceled. It's being retooled with a new cast and a significant shift in tone.

I dunno if it'll work. What do you all think?

 

[RJDiogenes]

Oh well. With Heroes and FF gone, all I have left is SGU, Caprica, Doctor Who, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 (if that returns).

Warehouse 13 returns in July, along with Eureka.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I gave up around 4 or 5 episodes into the series. Just lost interest. Might play catch up sometime soon.

 

[1001001]

Oh well. With Heroes and FF gone, all I have left is SGU, Caprica, Doctor Who, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 (if that returns).

That's pretty much my Season Pass list.

With the addition of V.

 

[Trekker4747]

ABC really sucks with SciFi shows. Apparently, LOST being successful/good was a fluke.

Keep in mind, Lost didn't really dive into heavier Sci-Fi stuff until like the fourth season.

 

[SG-17]

Well Lost is J.J. Abrams. Most of his shows seem pretty successful. I haven't heard of Fringe getting bad ratings.

 

[Marten]

Problem is, FlashForward is based on a novel, and has a great concept for a novel or a mini-series, or even a single 22/24 episode season. Whichever way, it has an ending.
Do that well and maybe you can come up with a follow-up for season two. But trying to stretch it out so it could run for years is a good way of ensuring it ends after one, without even (from the sound of it) including the ending it could have had as a one-off.

Yeah, exactly. Even reading the novel, I could tell that it would be hard to adapt into a series, so much so that everything about the novel is completely different in the series. The location, for example, is just one of them, with it set around CERN in the novel, but in LA in the series. And then the amount of time they jumped into the future. I personally think it would have been far more interesting having the series set at CERN, but I guess it would have been a problem shooting there. I'm just getting rather tired of seeing NY or LA all the time. Feels too contemporary, no offense to anyone. It kind of sounds like they wrote themselves into a corner.

CERN does not look as cool as it sounds, it looks more like an industry complex than the center of the world's accelarator research.