FLASHFORWARD
October 22nd 2009 22:41
Category: Television
Before I had to have my operation to pin back the detached retina in my right eye I managed to catch the opening episode of this particular television series. Prior to it being aired on Seven nationwide here in Australia one of the local television guides was raving about the show, and I mean raving, using all manner of hyperbole to build up the show and its subsequent series. I have to admit the writer did a good job, a very good job as they caught my attention and I made an effort to attempt to catch that initial first episode and see what was going on and how things would all pan out.
Comparisons were made between Flashforward and Lost, the other television series aired on Seven that has had people raving apparently around water coolers for the last several years all over the country and beyond. Have to admit I don’t work where there are water coolers, much of the work I do do, when I do it at all is either in the confines of my home, my local watering hole which predominantly serves beverages of an amber kind or the odd waterside hostelry where I like to take a sample of the cleansing waters now and then. Water coolers are not found in any of these locales and thus I have managed to miss out on the conversation regarding Lost and its values to the mainstream Australian television audience. I also haven’t bothered to watch the show either as the entire premise just failed to grab me to begin with.
So consequently the idea of comparing these two shows to me is not something I was interested in, it just didn’t do anything for me but the actual notion of what was involved behind Flashforward is what essentially got me in. The hook that the creators were using to draw in the viewer and weave their magic sounded very interesting indeed and it was just that alone that I was intrigued, that I knew that the eternal emerald gaze of the Lantern would have to be cast upon the opening episode and reveal what the truth of this show was.
Imagine if you will the world as it currently stands, the US is the world’s predominant superpower, the Australian cricket team is incapable of winning the Ashes in the UK, the war on terrorism is still being waged in the mountains of Afghanistan and the alluvial plains of Iraq and the price of a schooner in the Catholic Men’s Club has remained at two dollars, paradise? Maybe or maybe not. Now imagine that for a moment one day in this world everyone suddenly and simultaneously black out for about three minutes or so. This is the premise that fuels this series, that for some unknown reason everyone on a particular day blacks out for a brief period, the phenomena is completely and totally global.
No doubt you’d be expecting vast load of carnage to happen, the death toll would likely be in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands or even millions. Although thinking about it would there really be a vast amount of carnage if everyone suddenly blacked out at one specific moment around the entire world? After all half of the world would technically be asleep already so would they even notice this sudden phenomena? Suspension of disbelief if a very important thing when watching the idiot box or going to the flicks, but it does need to be raised. In the span of a day half the world is asleep, that’s a generalisation I know, but it is something that the makers should have perhaps taken into account when weaving their story.
Apparently though the carnage is not just the only thing that this sudden global blackout has prompted, it seems that a vast number of people have actually had a vision of their lives six months down the track. A premonition that will lead to better and brighter things, a brave new world or a dystopian nightmare? And then there are those individuals who were completely and totally blacked out, they saw nothing all they knew was that for three or so minutes they’d fallen unconscious, the premise being that these people will die, they will not see out the six months. As I said earlier I was intrigued by this premise, the focus of the opening episode was predominantly aimed at this overarching storyline and the initial efforts of the FBI to begin an investigation into the matter, an investigation aptly titled Mosaic.
But even though the makers of Flashforward have come up with an unusual and intriguing premise they were already well in danger of just becoming an ordinary run of the mill soap opera with an unusual twist right from the get go. We have several clichéd characters moving through the story all of them just itching to tear up the landscape and let out some angst, the grieving ex alcoholic father, the ex alcoholic FBI agent who is in charge of the case, a precocious child who is the daughter of said FBI agent, a born again suicide victim who is a doctor that works in the same hospital as the agent’s wife you get the picture. Then to add some ‘spice’ to the mix we have the agent get into a situation where he falls of the wagon as well as one where his wife starts to cheat on him with another man. The series looks ready after the first episode to veer more into a slice of life hum drum routine and let the event that should be driving things fade from view.
Mosaic, the investigation into what has happened and why it happened, is I predict something that as the series unfolds will simply fade into a blurry haze of the kind one sees after having too much to drink or getting caught in a torrential downpour and having your glasses fog over. Take your pick, either way it will only be used to emphasise some dreary slice of life event rather than actually powering along the narrative. Still I don’t think people will worry too much but frankly if you take the time to create such a premise then it should be given the respect and priority it deserves, there is the possibility that if nothing is revealed, or too little revealed over time, then the series could end up being a monumental flop. Something that will end up getting relegated from its current prime time slot to the dreaded ungodly hour zone amidst adverts for phone sex lines and male impotence cures. Frankly my humble opinion is that Flashforward is more flash in the pan than a great epic drama of any genre…
Comparisons were made between Flashforward and Lost, the other television series aired on Seven that has had people raving apparently around water coolers for the last several years all over the country and beyond. Have to admit I don’t work where there are water coolers, much of the work I do do, when I do it at all is either in the confines of my home, my local watering hole which predominantly serves beverages of an amber kind or the odd waterside hostelry where I like to take a sample of the cleansing waters now and then. Water coolers are not found in any of these locales and thus I have managed to miss out on the conversation regarding Lost and its values to the mainstream Australian television audience. I also haven’t bothered to watch the show either as the entire premise just failed to grab me to begin with.
No doubt you’d be expecting vast load of carnage to happen, the death toll would likely be in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands or even millions. Although thinking about it would there really be a vast amount of carnage if everyone suddenly blacked out at one specific moment around the entire world? After all half of the world would technically be asleep already so would they even notice this sudden phenomena? Suspension of disbelief if a very important thing when watching the idiot box or going to the flicks, but it does need to be raised. In the span of a day half the world is asleep, that’s a generalisation I know, but it is something that the makers should have perhaps taken into account when weaving their story.
Apparently though the carnage is not just the only thing that this sudden global blackout has prompted, it seems that a vast number of people have actually had a vision of their lives six months down the track. A premonition that will lead to better and brighter things, a brave new world or a dystopian nightmare? And then there are those individuals who were completely and totally blacked out, they saw nothing all they knew was that for three or so minutes they’d fallen unconscious, the premise being that these people will die, they will not see out the six months. As I said earlier I was intrigued by this premise, the focus of the opening episode was predominantly aimed at this overarching storyline and the initial efforts of the FBI to begin an investigation into the matter, an investigation aptly titled Mosaic.
But even though the makers of Flashforward have come up with an unusual and intriguing premise they were already well in danger of just becoming an ordinary run of the mill soap opera with an unusual twist right from the get go. We have several clichéd characters moving through the story all of them just itching to tear up the landscape and let out some angst, the grieving ex alcoholic father, the ex alcoholic FBI agent who is in charge of the case, a precocious child who is the daughter of said FBI agent, a born again suicide victim who is a doctor that works in the same hospital as the agent’s wife you get the picture. Then to add some ‘spice’ to the mix we have the agent get into a situation where he falls of the wagon as well as one where his wife starts to cheat on him with another man. The series looks ready after the first episode to veer more into a slice of life hum drum routine and let the event that should be driving things fade from view.
Mosaic, the investigation into what has happened and why it happened, is I predict something that as the series unfolds will simply fade into a blurry haze of the kind one sees after having too much to drink or getting caught in a torrential downpour and having your glasses fog over. Take your pick, either way it will only be used to emphasise some dreary slice of life event rather than actually powering along the narrative. Still I don’t think people will worry too much but frankly if you take the time to create such a premise then it should be given the respect and priority it deserves, there is the possibility that if nothing is revealed, or too little revealed over time, then the series could end up being a monumental flop. Something that will end up getting relegated from its current prime time slot to the dreaded ungodly hour zone amidst adverts for phone sex lines and male impotence cures. Frankly my humble opinion is that Flashforward is more flash in the pan than a great epic drama of any genre…
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