Tuesday, September 29, 2009

TV Review - Flashforward Series premiere


FlashForward Season Premiere Review

So from the initial outset I thought this show just looked like a show that was trying to take over for the Lost "what's inside the hatch" serial TV loving crowd.  However, the idea grew on me and I decided to watch the show.  Needless to say, I was very impressed.

The first portion of the show started out normal enough setting up each character of the ensemble cast and their backstories.  What got me hooked on this show was the scene where everyone blacked out.  Following each of these characters, the show was building to a mini climax, one of the characters was about to kill himself, two others were in a car chase, another was in surgery, and then...nothing.  The show blacked out and we are treated to a vision of the main character for about 30 seconds or so.

This drew me in and I was hooked for the whole show.  How would everyone find out the blackout happened to everyone?  How would the world react to such a disaster?  Where would the fingers get pointed?  What did people see?  It appears the best way to get me to watch a TV show is to have a bunch of unanswered questions in the first episode. 

The premise of the show sets up well from there.  Everyone realizes they saw a vision of the future, next, everyone has to wonder if it will come true.  Some people had a good vision and hope it does, others had a bad vision and hope it doesn't.  Does it matter anyway, is it something that can't be stopped?  Only time (and the next 22 episodes) will tell. 

The show did a very good job of setting up each character and setting the story line for much craziness to ensue this season for sure (also a nice touch, everyone's vision took place on April 29th, which is a Thursday, so this day the show is building towards will actually be the day the show airs, which I thought was cool).  The show looks to be made with very high quality and the writing is sharp and the acting is good.

However, the show was not without its detractions.  The show seemed in a rush to get to the point where it was at the end of the first episode.  The point of the show is why the blackout happened, not the blackout itself so it rushed to the point of the blackout and everyone seeemed to figure it out rather quickly. 

Also, with such a world catastrophe it would seem people would be trying to pick up the pieces before automatically talking about their "visions."  What was the estimated damage toll?  How many lives were lost?  How many countries would point fingers at other countries?  How easily could the entire world get up and running again after stopping for 2:17?  None of these questions were delved into at all.  Hopefully, the rest of the season will go into these in a little more detail. 

Part of the allure of this show would be how ordinary people deal with this extraordinary circumstance.  However, it seems nobody quite realized how extraordinary these events were and everybody was far too anxious to get back to their "normal" lives, even though everybody also seemed to accept that their "normal" lives as they knew it would be changed forever.

All in all, a few minor points that could have been fixed but I am definitely looking forward to the first season of this show and think it will definitely be worth my time.

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