http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39286

I really like the sound of the concept, but those producers.....Bad sign.

Televisionary has a review of the Pilot Script. Looks like it could be good.

Casting call for the series regulars.

Oh great ,not another Olivia. I liked it when no one on TV had my name, now there seems to be one every other show (Life, Supernatural, L&O:SVU, Fringe, etc.)

And if people blacked out for a couple minutes most planes wouldn't fall out of the sky because commercial airplanes use autopilot when in the air. Duh.

I'm looking forward to this. Could be good. Might even read the book.

yeah. But the casting seems interesting so far - Jack Davenport, John Cho, Joseph Fiennes, and Sonya Walger. I hope it turns out to be a good show. And doesn't fall into the post-Lost trap...

Wait, Jack Davenport is in this? As in that incredibly sexy Englishman who played my only favorite character apart from Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean? Ok, I wasn't considering watching this but now.....

The book sucked because Sawyer is a horrible writer (check out his Neanderthal trilogy… shudder), but he always comes up with really interesting concepts so I'm kinda looking forward to the TV show.

Removed.

Interesting interviews:

http://www.tvovermind.com/tv-news/flash-fo...ashforward/7107

variety also has bit on Dominic Monaghan joining, not sure there's anything there that isn't in the previous link though.

I'm excited about the show based on the cast -- as long as they let Jack Davenport use some kind of a British accent. I generally love his work, but his accent in Swingtown was painful at times.

There are plenty of Brits in the cast so I would assume Davenport would get to keep his accent. I hope so anyway. According to the clips they showed at Comic-Con, Davenport plays a shady character who works for Monaghan's equally shady character. They sound like the most interesting characters on the show so far. Anyway, I'm very excited for this concept and I look forward to seeing it. I'm intrigued by the idea of the whole world experiencing the same event at the same time and then working together (or not) to figure out what it all means.

And for anyone who isn't sure: ABC, Sept. 24 at 8pm.

I'm really looking forward to this, especially for John Cho and Sonya Walger. And Monaghan, even? Bonus!

What ElectricMonk said is pretty much what I was gonna drop in to say. The book was terrible, but I think it has potential in a different format and written by people who can, you know, write.

Joseph Fiennes, Jack Davenport and John Cho. That's enough to make me tune in, at least for the premiere. Also the concept looks really interesting. I just hope it's well done and, if it is, does well in the ratings so we can actually see where it goes.

The fact that it's on ABC worries me though, they have a horrid history of giving shows time to grow.

They've got the new version of Hikaru Sulu? Cool!

I just checked the book out of the library. I'll start reading it at lunch today, but key differences I've already noted just from reading the dust cover: Amount of time flashed forward is 20 years, not 6 months. The cause of the flashes is revealed to be a bunch of scientists using a particle accelerator to find an elusive subatomic particle, and it goes horribly awry, as such things are likely to.

It will be interesting to see if they keep the same cause in the show or not.

Flash Forward Promotional Pictures

I think its interesting that each one seems to hint how the character in question will deal with the Flash Forward during the course of the season.

This show is on my "must see" list. I like almost all of the people who have been cast and the premise sounds great. I have two concerns; the one mentioned above about ABC and its inability to stand behind a show that doesn't hit it out of the park on the very first episode (which I don't think is going to be an issue), and the fact that the flash forward is only April 2010. What are they going to do for the following seasons? Lost got messed up because it seems like they didn't have a plan beyond the first season (though it has come back beautifully), and Life on Mars got screwed up because they had to rush their ending. Even though I vowed to never try another ABC Drama, I'm going to give this one a try.

Then again, Lost always had a plan the only problem was that TPTB tried to dilute it until the writers said no more, it's been a heck of a rollercoaster ever since.

I'm already rooting for the pregnant girl to get pregnant in the end and for John Cho's character to be the father. I just have to watch this show.

Oh no really? I was excited to learn it's an adaptation and just requested the book from my library. The main change I think makes sense for a TV show. If they pace it like Lost and don't move forward in anything even beginning to resemble realtime I don't think it'll be an issue for future seasons.

I think you'll be okay. According to the producers, they have a plan for at least three to five seasons. There is definitely an answer for what happens after the flashforward date passes and beyond, and apparently, it will be something that will surprise you. Part of the fun is trying to guess what will happen in May and how the show will continue, but it will. Lost always had a plan but they got screwed up because the network insisted they stretch the story further than they intended to go to last more seasons. Life on Mars screwed up because their writers weren't talented enough to allow that show to reach its potential (and the viewers voted with their feet). I expect this show to have stronger writing and hopefully will be allowed to play out according to its natural lifespan, but at any rate, the producers aren't worried because with a planet full of flashforwards, that's potentially billions of stories you have to tell.

I think it's because the original Life on Mars was a more simplistic version of Lost who had only one character stuck within his own head and the american version couldn't compete with an audience used to an entire island of those.

Flash Forward should be alright because of its unique approach that - except for the Matt & Daphne's plot on Heroes - has never been done before.

A few things from the book that they might use in the TV series:

The experiment that causes the flash forward happens more than once before they figure it out. This could give them at least a season 2--also they warn people about it coming again, which cuts down on the disaster factor. Also, people who were dead by the flash get nothing--which could make for dramatic tension.

That said, most planes wouldn't fall, because of both autopilot and simple inertia. Unless a passed-out pilot pushed the throttle forward, most planes would keep heading in the direction they were going. The disasters would be near airports (collisions and landings) but maybe they cover that.

Just read TV Guide's fall preview issue. One thing they are keeping from the book is a character not having a flash at all (one of the scientists in the book, John Cho's character in the show), and that person being contacted by someone they don't know - and being told this person saw the character's obituary, so they are dead by the time of the flash forward. Since the scientist was able to change his fate and not be killed, I hope John Cho can do the same.

I've only read a brief summary of the book (yes, I've bought Cliff Notes in my time too) and it sounds like a fantastic idea with a horible execution. One thing they thankfully seem to be changing from the book is the notion that 'reality' doesn't exist unless someone's awake to observe it. In the book, all the recording devices go to snow/white noise because reality stopped while everyone was out and resumed when they woke up.

They picked a good character for the no flash storyline. As a typical lead you might say of course he's going to survive. But John Cho stars in a highly successful potential franchise film. It is possible he only commited to FF for a year because he may have to go make another Star Trek movie. So his fate really is up in the air and could go either way. On the flip side, I'm glad they didn't pick Dom for this since it's too reminiscent of what Charlie went through, so it's appropriate that Dom's character seems totally outside this experience the rest are having.

It's conceivable he can do both, though -when you consider Zachary Quinto didn't have to take that much time off Heroes to film the first one (it wasn't all that noticeable, really), and he had a big role in the first one. So hopefully John can do both - I want him on my TV screen for a while!

Actually, one of the reasons I like Simon is because former Charlie Pace's actor Dominic Monaghan does the part, somehow he seems like the right person for it because of the plot back on Lost. As a trivia note, it's also worth notice that Charlie died before the first flash forward there.

Of course, I totally forgot about Quinto so that's true.



Maybe if you're referring to the flashforward storytelling uberdevice of the show as opposed to Desmond's little personal flashforwards. That was Charlie's whole story in the end (forget that fact that there was the potential for many other more interesting stories for this character that were unrealised), that Desmond was seeing the future and it included Charlie's death. Flashforwards specifically prophesised his death for an entire season, so I'm not sure what you mean by Charlie dying before flashforwards began.

Early reports of Dom's involvement with FlashForward rumoured that he was again going to be the victim of a death prophecy so I breathe a big sigh of relief that they're not actually going there again. Seems Dom can't help playing the little lovable character that dies. I'm glad Simon seems completely different.

Then again, those flashforward weren't there as much as within Desmond's head, only after Charlie died is that the whole island began to jump forward - and backward - through time.

Flash Forward on the other hand begins when everybody on earth jumps forward 6 months in time.

Coming back to this question, here's a new interview with David Goyer in which he talks about his five year plan.

One problem I hope the show addresses (the book didn't):

If everyone on earth gets flash-forwarded to the same point, wouldn't any of them then know that since the flash forward is coming, they should, for those two minutes, look at/listen to information that would be useful to their earlier selves? For instance, make sure that day you have the winning lottery numbers in front of you for what is (in April) the previous September?

I realize that would create all kinds of paradoxes, and reading a friend's obituary might be more important, but if you know your past self is going to see something, wouldn't you choose what to see?

Just a thought.

I was under the impression the future can and will be changed, and they won't be able to change what the flashes showed their past selves. If they could that might trap them in an infinite loop anyway, the future changing the past changing the future etc.

In the book the second Flash Forward took place on a point so further in time that everyone was already dead by then - except for those involved on a weird project there - but on this show? Everything is possible.

Looking forward to seeing this. I've been wanting to read the book, my brothers roomate is friends with the author and has recommended it.

Apparently the author of the book is going to be writing one of the episodes this season. Source (contains small spoilers)

Thanks, I'd wondered why someone wouldn't try to plan their vision...but if what you see can't be changed, it opens up some possibilities (like that that was one possible future, or even that you can change the future, but it's difficult to change it much.)

I liked the book and I'm looking forward to the show.

Thanks for the link PaceJunkie, that's interesting.

Spoilery bits from Popular Mechanics.

This is what worries me. I loved Invasion, and I was really upset that they didn't give it a chance (which wasn't helped by the scheduling). I really hope this doesn't go the same way.

What hurts the most about shows like Invasion or Jericho is they were so close not to get cancelled, but I'm hopeful Flash Forward won't go that way.

Have any of you been playing around on the Mosaic Collective site? It's kind of like the DHARMA game site Lost put up that one summer, supposedly if you login and register you get puzzles to solve or something:Mosaic Site

Anyone been able to get the ads to work?
I feel awfully ridiculous holding an ad to a webcam.

I'm talking about the 3D ads
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111800812...mp;ref=bd_t%20v

I know there are some out there who have seen the entire pilot at one of the many promotional events they have held over the past week. Wanted to add that I was invited to screen the first 18 minutes of the pilot and it is incredible. You will not be disappointed.

I gotta concur with that. I've seen the whole of the pilot and it was really very good. Can't believe I've got to wait 2 whole weeks for the next episode!

This pilot did not do much for me, honestly.

Not only did i keep thinking of Lost, both in some minor details (the convict girl, the weird animal that shouldn't be here) and in the way it was written (the hero-that-wakes-up-in-the-middle-of-a-debris-field-filled-with-explosions-and-traumatized-victims; the suicidal dude that is now "reborn" and changed by that experience in a very Lockesque way; most of the human drama and the archetypal/clichéed characters), but i just wanted to fastforward through most of the last third of the ep. Quite frankly, the main thrust of the show - the identity of the unknown man, and the reasons behind the flashforward - isn't enough of a hook for me to endure not-that-compelling characters and their drama. Especially considering the team behind this show.

There was something about this in the book. I can't remember exactly who was discussing it, but I think it was towards the end. I'd have to look. I remember one character said that he/she would write down a list of pertinent information, and then spend those two minutes reciting it to a blank wall (to minimize distractions). IIRC, one person was basically arguing that the fact that no one had visions of yesterdays lotto numbers proved the future couldn't be changed. The other argued that maybe some people did, but were keeping quiet about it.

A good solid pilot all around. Not a lot of surprises if you'd watched promotional stuff, but suspenseful, with a strong cast all around. The only "omgwtf" moment was the kangaroo. And would it be possible for drama/sci fi series to NOT have a creepy child? And I was so glad they got to the practical route with the flashes and started checking with others they saw to see if their stories matched. I would have gotten so irritated if they had held out with the "mysterious secret" like visions.

And I laughed so hard when that guy's "meeting" in his vision was him on the can

Promo for "Flash Forward" began airing in Russia with words "soon" and "world preem". Here it's called something like "Recollect what will happen".

Yeah, I thought that was one of the cooler concepts in the book. I already sent it back to the library, so I can't see which character was going to do that. With the show having the flashforward only being 6 months into the future, it would have to really tank in the ratings for them to not have that happen. I mean, it's too obvious, not to mention that the concept is already out there from the book.