FlashForward Review

© Ron Tom/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

With Lost coming to an end this spring, ABC needs to find a show that will be able to replace Lost. ABC hopes that show is FlashForward. With promotion left and right and a bunch of hype it would sure seem like Flashforward could definitely be that show. FlashForward looks like ABC flagship new show and they seem to refuse to let the show fail. Having seen the entire pilot I sure hope it doesn’t fail. While I have to say that while Flashforward isn’t perfect yet, it is well on its way to taking over for Lost next season.

Plot

What would happen if everyone in the world blacked out for two minutes and seventeen second? Well if the picture above doesn’t give you a good picture, why don’t I just say that it is not a good thing. What would you then do if you saw a “flashforward” of the same moment in time six months in the future? If you didn’t like your “fate” would you try and change it? If you like your “fate” would you not fight against it even if it hurt other people? If you knew your future would that change your life? Finally who was behind the FlashForwards? These are just some of the many questions brought up in the FlashForward pilot.

Characters

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Mark Benford is the main character in Flash Forward. He has faced many demons in his past while he battled an addiction to alcohol. He eventually got sober just in time for the birth of his daughter, Charlie. Now Mark has the perfect life with his wife and daughter but that could all change as a result of the FlashForwards. As a FBI agent in Los Angeles and due to his own flashforward, Mark takes charge of  the investigation of the flashforwards.

As a main character he seems intriguing. While the character could use a little work, I think Mark will be a fine lead character. Most likely he is going to have the most intriguing storyline since he is the lead investigator the the flashforwards.

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Olivia Benford is probably the second lead character. She is Mark’s wife and the mother of Charlie. She is also a trauma surgeon who cares deeply for her patients. Overall her character appears likely to be an important character since I think she will be the character where we find out the most about what people outside the FBI think of the flashforwards.

Lost fans should recognize Sonya Walger as Penny from Lost. As a matter of fact I would actually say both characters are pretty similar. There are obviously differences but the personalities of the two characters seem very similar.

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Demetri Noh is probably the third most important character on the show. Demetri is Mark’s partner at the FBI. Demetri is a very good agent but is impatient and tends to jump to conclusions quickly. He is one of the youngest FBI agents in the office and Mark becomes his teacher on the job. Meanwhile outside the office Demetri is currently engaged to a lawyer by the name of Zoey.

Overall Demetri appears to be a very interesting character. He appears to be one of the characters that will bring humor to the show. Demetri is played by John Cho of the Harold and Kumar and Stark Trek (Captain Sulu) fame.

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Janis Hawk is another FBI agent. While the other agents are mostly field agents, Janis is more of your FBI tech agent. Think Chloe from 24 without as big of an ego. Outside the office Janis has trouble in the world of dating. Overall the character is a toss up at this point. She is not a bad character but she could use some more development. I think she is going to end up playing a pretty big role in FlashForward as the FBI tries to investigate the FlashForwards.

Stanford Wedeck is the director of the Los Angeles FBI office. He is a father and husband. He appears to be the typical boss character on a television show. He is a powerful man with a lot of powerful contacts but he is still down to Earth and has a sense of humor. At home he needs to deal with his children leaving home for college.

© Bob D'Amico/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Aaron Stark is a technician for the Los Angeles water and power department. Like Mike he is a recovering alcoholic who began drinking after finding out that his daughter Tracy was killed while serving in Afghanistan. He is now Mark’s sponsor and friend. While he only appears to be a secondary character to help flesh out Mark’s character, Aaron does have a very interesting potential storyline thanks to his FlashForward.

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Bryce Varley is one of Olivia’s surgical interns. His life was at a crossroads and he was about to make a life altering decision when the flashforwards occurred. His flashforward turns his life around and sets him on a new path in life. Overall his character at this point appears to be a secondary character. It is interesting though that none of his flashforward is shown in the first episode so that might lead to a potentially larger role.

© Bob D'Amico/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Nicole Kirby is your typical nineteen year old. She babysits Charlie while going to college. She was friends with Tracy (Aaron’s daughter). While she tries to maintain her Christian values, she has a rebellious streak that sometimes gets her into trouble. At this point I think her character is most likely going to be used to show how the FlashForwards affect the younger generations.

© Craig Sjodin/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Mr. Unknown is what I am going to call Dominic Monaghan’s character since at this point almost no one knows for sure what character he is going to play. He doesn’t appear in the pilot but I have a good idea what role his character is going to play. I can’t tell anyone though since it involves the “surprise/cliffhanger” at the end of the pilot. If my guess is right I think Dominic Monaghan’s character will be very important to FlashForward. ABC is for some reason trying to keep his casting secret and I have heard his character is very “surprising and important” so I an definitely intrigued. Wouldn’t it be strange if somehow he is actually still playing Charlie Pace from Lost. I highly doubt it but you never know with the Lost universe. I guess we are all going to have to wait patiently since I don’t even know when his character is going to show up. Hopefully it is sooner rather than later.

Review

So far I have seen all the fall pilots from the CW and ABC (except for The Forgotten) and also the pilot of Community;  FlashForward is currently the best new fall show. V comes in as a close second but based on potential and originality, FlashForward gets the nod. Looking at the pilots that I haven’t seen yet I have to say that I will be hard pressed to find a better new fall show.

What I like about FlashForward is that for some reason it has a Lost vibe to it. I can’t put my finger on it but something about the pilot of FlashForward reminds me of Lost. It seems to have a similar style to Lost except it probably won’t be into the mythology quite as much as Lost. This is probably good for a larger fanbase that got Lost by watching Lost. Lost fans shouldn’t worry though since it appears that FlashForward will still have quite a few mysteries and unanswered questions.

Another thing I like is the potential for character development. FlashForward appears to be focussing on character development like Lost. Seeing the character today and in six months shows that some drastic changes are going to happen to some of these characters. It will be interesting to see how the FlashForwards lead to some of these characters changing.

Talking of the FlashForwards I think they are the best part of the show at this point. They bring up some serious questions since all the characters see them in different ways. Some characters dread their “futures” and want to change the future while others want things to happen the same as their visions since life couldn’t be any better for them. Then there is one character that has a quite funny FlashForward. It shows that while the show is pretty serious it can still have a sense of humor. What is interesting about the FlashForwards is that only bits and pieces are shown and you can tell that important pieces are missing. It’s like a huge puzzle trying to piece all the visions together in order to get a clearer picture. I think this is what is going to make FlashForward a great series since as the season progresses more and more of the visions will be shown which will lead to questions being answered and more questions being raised.

Quick Hits

• Some people have probably heard that Seth MacFarlane (creater of Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show) actually shows up in the pilot. He is actually a recurring character as a FBI agent. To tell you the truth when I heard of the role I thought it was sort of a stunt cast. After watching the pilot I have to admit that if you didn’t know what Seth MacFarlane looks like you probably wouldn’t even notice that it was him. He isn’t a great actor but he really isn’t that distracting even if you know what he looks like.

Final Thoughts

The pilot of FlashForward isn’t perfect (it is a little slow at points) but it showed all the makings of a great show. At this point it is the best new show of the fall and I doubt that is going to change. While some work needs to be done, I think FlashForward will do a great job filling in for Lost starting next year. Unless you hate character dramas, you should check out the pilot of FlashForward when it premieres on September 27th at 8/7 C on ABC.

Other Fall 2009 Reviews

This week I will be previewing all the new ABC fall shows except for Hank, V, and The Forgotten. These reviews should be coming pretty soon. Tomorrow I plan on reviewing The Middle which is a pretty good comedy.

Fall 2009 Reviews that you can check out include:

Modern Family (ABC)

Melrose Place (The CW)

White Collar (USA)