Image Credit: </em>Michael Desmond/ABC<em>FlashForward arrived on the scene last fall with lots of hopeful pre-release buzz that it could be the new Lost. The magical thinking failed. Blame it on the awful pilot, on ABC’s curious half-and-half release strategy, or the simple fact that people just don’t really want another Lost. For a whole host of reasons, ABC has officially canceled FlashForward.
FlashForward had its problems. There were some storylines which would have probably been eliminated if there had ever been one defining creative personality at the helm (I’m looking at you, Aaron the ex-soldier alcoholic with the secretly alive dead daughter being hunted by a government conspiracy!). But there was also a lot to love, and in the end this show was a fascinating gem. If Lost is the smartest kid in class who’s also a varsity basketball player, then FlashForward is the four-eyed chess prodigy who stutters when girls are around but secretly writes beautiful poetry about old videogames.
There were at least two genuinely original characters in the main cast: Christine Woods’ Janis Hawk, a badass lesbian FBI agent juggling her vision of a future pregnancy with her status as a double (or triple?) agent; and Dominic Monaghan’s Simon Campos, a scientist infused with a bizarre combination of manic narcissism and lacerating self-loathing (both pictured). (When Monaghan guested on Lost this season, some people noted that Sideways Charlie seemed a bit tougher and more cynical than the original model. That was all Simon.)
And forget about the main cast. Every week, FlashForward could introduce two or three fascinating new characters. The show was a feast for character actors: There was Shohreh Aghdashloo’s mysterious Nhadra, Yuko Takeuchi’s plucky Keiko, Ricky Jay’s grandiloquently evil Flosso, Gil Bellow’s born-again spiritualist, and James “Gaius Baltar” Callis’ Rain Man impression…FlashForward had a Dickensian ability to build a whole world on screen.
I don’t want to oversell it. The show’s main overarching plotline never quite congealed. Sonya Walger never had much to do. But I’ll miss the cast of characters, all of them struggling to defeat their greatest enemy: the future.
Will you miss FlashForward, PopWatchers? And to fans of the show, what’s your nomination for best episode? I’d go with the epic “The Gift,” in which we learned that the future could be changed, but I’m also partial to the Hong Kong episode, “A561984.” Maybe I’m just a helpless Shohreh Aghdashloo fan.
More ‘FlashForward’:
ABC cancels Romantically Challenged, Better Off Ted, Scrubs, and FlashForward
Yep, totally bummed…..I knew it was coming, but still held out hope…
Me too, Simon! I knew the ratings weren’t good, but I kept rooting for it. Its not perfect, I agree with the article on that…but I still found it very entertaining. Loved the character of Simon! And they did some very interesting things, too…like the first moment that the central “love triangle” was together, and the hubby couldn’t figure out if he was allowed to be angry and jealous (as his wife hadn’t done anything yet!) and the wife couldn’t figure out if she should feel guilty…
One thing that will make this show bad forever:
“Because I was LOADED OKAY!!!”
Oh, and another cool thing….they totally dealt with Macbeth-style free will arguments: if you “know” you’re going to do something in six months, can you go ahead and do it and claim you had no choice? How many people will fight such a fate? How many people are looking for an excuse not to try? I’m still waiting for Birnam Wood to come to Dunsinane Hill, but when it does, I’m sure Demetri will be there…
Ugh. Why do they always cancel the creative shows that take a risk and move outside the generic hospital-courtroom-CSI-cop mold? Actually, I should answer my own question: they never give these shows a chance. Either they get terrible timeslots (think NBC’s Kings) virtually no decent marketing (The Philanthropist), or, for serials like FlashForward and V that take time to build the story up (particularly for a complicated plot like FF), they pull them off air for a weird hiatus after just a few shows, as if people are actually going to remember everything a thousand years later when they come back…and now have different time slot competition. I remember hearing some bs from an ABC exec who claimed that little bits and pieces of V would make the show like ‘an event.’ Uh, that worked in the 80s, not these days. Lost’s Season 3 took a major hit when they did that 6-episode-then-thousand-year-hiatus stunt. Can they not learn?
This is such a shame–in spite of the flaws you mention (and I feel you were trying to hard to criticize it–come on, it’s SciFi–you have to suspend some disbelief, or at least 1/50 of the trust we put in Lost confusion), there were not only fascinating themes explored; there were just some great characters and terrific acting (I admit I was not a Joseph Fiennes fan prior to FF, but thought he was amazing in what could have been an overstated role).
I’m really disappointed in ABC for not even trying to deal with their mistakes (hello–they actually took the early shows of the season pt 2 off the site, so new viewers couldn’t even catch up–the kiss of death for a serial) or give it another chance. With all the crappily written shows out there, it’s a shame that another risk-taker has met its unfair ending. Shame, ABC.
It’s not hard to criticize it and ABC did give it a chance. The show was terrible. It’s that simple. I was really pulling for it though but there were too many flaw: writing, directing, acting, etc.
Too uneven of a start- was having a hard time suspending disbelief- don’t go to work the day of the flash forward then the bad guys wont shoot you, duh!- gave it a chance when it came back and its really picked up a lot since the hiatus and has filled a lot of the plot holes and I have enjoyed the second half of the season so I’m bummed- but with its premise it should have been a mini-series or something because I just could never figure out how they could sustain that plot for multiple seasons.
Agreed-there were WAY too many plotholes to keep me interested, like why build the board where you know you’re going to get shot? Why not ask your daughter who D. Gibbons is when she clearly knew something?
But the point that killed any interest in and respect for the show for me was that idiotic poker game over whether or not they’d reveal that they were the cause of the flash-forward. Really? Something so important comes down to a poker game? What a joke.
my problem was in the pilot, how everyone just believed that they mustve seen the future. it would take more than a few hours for people to really believe thats what happened.
The absolute kiss of death for this show was having everyone see the future on April 29…which happened to be a Thursday…which happened to be the night this show aired…and then not have the show’s timeline sync up with the actual calendar date. A ‘lost’ marketing opportunity, indeed.
I think they had a great idea and poor execution. I wanted them to find a way to make it appeal to the original samplers (14+ million viewers), but I think the story about the hero going off the wagon and his wife was with another man was off-putting. They played with details (fast and loose), but pretended to stick to the story line. For example, the flash forward was at night in L.A. and the double (triple) agent Hawk was having an ultrasound (at night?). The kids accepted each other as friends after a two minute flashforward?? The little boy did not even see the Mom (Sonya Walger)in the flash forward (just her photo on the frig) and he knew her name???
I agree simon. I will really miss this show. I too, knew it was coming, but it doesn’t really make it any easier. I will definitely miss watching the show and will miss actors Dominic Monaghan and Jack Davenport being on tv again.
I really wanted to fall in love with FF but I only fell in like. Still I’m sorry to see it go.
Agreed. Some eps were top notch, others ham-handed and terrible.
You hit the nail on the head. I love John Cho, and find Joseph Fienned and his close-together eyes very sexy, and sometimes the plot was like X Files meets Lost… but overall it was messy.
Ironically, know what would have saved it? IF THEY PLANNED FOR IT TO ONLY LAST ONE SEASON. The plot would have moved, the stakes higher (a la 1st season of 24).
This argument also goes for “V”, which should be balls-out terrifying but is hedging its bets to draw out the story…
AMEN. It should have been a one-season show with a defined ending. I hate it that we won’t see a wrap-up with the baddies caught and Keiko united with Bryce.
Same here. Turning more into love with the last few episodes. *sob
You said it…I wanted to fall in love too but I just liked it…I dvred the pilot- watched it with my best friend and her husband…then I didn’t watch another episode for months…not sure if it was b/c I was more interested in Bones, and was resigned to the episodes piling up on my dvr so I could better understand them as I watched them back to back?
I ended up watching the catch up episode they aired before the second half of the season premiered and then I’ve been watching ever since…usually the weekend after the episode aired. Its unfortunate this didn’t work out. :/
Totally agree. Wish it could have had more a chance to get us to the love stage.
Feel the same way–some interesting things, lots of dullness, never quite grabbed me
No eulogy for Better Off Ted?
I know, I’m sorry, we all hate the people who come onto stories about Show A to talk about Show B. But with EW’s well-deserved love for all things Arrested-Development-y, I would’ve expected a BoT eulogy before a FF eulogy.
I miss Better Off Ted. Did they even finish airing the second season? ABC officially sucks, and I’m pissed. Where else will I get my quirky comedy TV fix? (love you, modern family, but you’re no arrested development)
There was an earlier thread about Ted already started.
I pretty much felt the same way, it wasn’t great but I liked it. I’m about 5 episodes behind and now I have to decide if it’s even worth the time to watch them. I’m leaning toward no.
Lean towards yes. Some really amazing plot points have emerged in the last 5 eps.
But if I watch the 5 DVR’d episodes–because I also watch Survivor–and love them, then I’ll be pissed that it was cancelled. If I don’t invest the time it’s just, oh well.
I got the point where I didn’t care that Dee Gibbons was a bad man. Unlike you, I loved the pilot but the rest of the series degenerated into a soap opera. I wanted action and adventure, not lovelorn tales of will-she-or-won’t-she cheat on me.
exactly !!!! ACTION AND ADVENTURE. I would add DRAMA to it, because strong characters (whether good or bad) are something that makes people invest in characters. This show didn’t have enough characters to care for, and there was little chemistry between the significant others and friends.
i agree–i thought the pilot was excellent. they did unfortunately drag out the olivia-lloyd-mark drama too much, and had mark moving out almost randomly. keeping up the tension was great, but that was a bit much too soapish. but other than that, i felt like there was plenty of excitement and action and intrigue. i wonder had they showed all the episodes together if we would have felt differently. i’m thinking the momentum would have built up and nothing would have gotten stale; we wouldn’t have been so critical of single episodes as some are being. when it’s all together in a serial, you see it as more of a chapter in a big picture and the effect is really nice…like the difference between watching a show once a week and on consecutive dvds. wish someone had thought of that at ABC in the beginning. seems like a no-brainer!
I still don’t understand why Mark moved out. I agree about the pilot though–thought it was one of the better pilots I’ve seen!!
Flashforward got so much better when it returned from its hiatus. I’d say the best episodes were:
1. The Garden of Forking Paths
2. The Gift
3. Revelation Zero
4. Better Angels
5. Course Correction
I completely agree that it got better after the hiatus. Once we got the reveal that Janice might be a double or triple agent, things started moving quickly, and Demetri’s storyline is also getting good. I also have watched V all along, but it’s getting worse, not better, and I’m disappointed that V is renewed instead of FlashForward, because I think FF has some interesting story left to tell.
Excuse me WHAT!!! “V” is still on the air!?! WTF! “Flashforward” is 10X better than that *@&%!
I hope Agent Noh’s actor submitted his name for an Emmy for the Garden of Forking Paths. That performance was spot on!
AMEN!
True, but Janis was a believable character in every episode no matter what they asked of her. She’s the main reason I kept tuning in.
Bummer.
I’m a little disappointed. I never watched but since they so politely released it on DVD so quickly, I thought I might start netflixing it after Lost ends.
Not that characters need to be likeable in a show like this, but I frankly couldn’t care less about what happened to any one of them. Interest characters, like Ricky Jay, are killed off after two or three episode, while mopes like Aaron and the young cancer doctor were given way too much screen time. It also doesn’t help that the two leads (Walger and Fiennes) had no chemistry.
I agree about the lack of chemistry between the two leads (and Fiennes’s total lack of charisma) – I actually wanted Olivia and Lloyd to get together.
Speaking of Lloyd, funny how he and several of the other actors from the sadly short-lived “Swingtown” had quickly landed on other shows.
I know the lack of chemistry between Fiennes and Walker killed their relationship for me. I never cared about them as a couple, so I didn’t care whether they were going to break up or not. So, right from the get go I wasn’t invested in a key storyline. The only reason I kept watching was because I wanted to see if John Cho’s Dimitri was going to die. I am a little disappointed that the show is going off the air, because I really came to enjoy Dimitri and his relationship with Zoey/Gabrielle Union.
I know! Seeing underrated actors like Cho, Union, Michael Ealy, Dominic and even before they killed “Jett Jackson” (LOL, yes Lee Thompson Young), was the reason I kept watching, since I’m a sucker for still rising starred actors. Can they all be in a new show together? LOL. Seriously though, the pilot got me hooked, and I’m real sad to see it go.
I hate to see this happen but the story could work as a one-of season. Have to wait for the end. There are a lot of talented actors available now.
It started out strong but spiraled downward. Lots of surprisngly poor acting from a talented cast.
I’m totally bummed! I knew it would never be as good as lost but I was just starting to get into teh characters.. I think it’s a way better show then V, if this is cancelled then V is doomed.
V was already renewed.
V has already been renewed for a second season.
And to me, the network really made a terrible mistake.
Yup, big mistake. Oh well, theres still Fringe.
I agree with Vince. With LOST ending and now Flash Forward being cancelled, Fringe is probably the best show on TV. That and maybe Lie to Me when it comes back on.
Yes, they should have cancelled V and not flashforward.
Truly bummed. I felt this was the one great new drama this season. I hope the writers have an opportunity to resolve some of the plot, or than another network gives serious consideration to picking it up.
Tried to hard to be the next Lost when the truth is there will never be another Lost. The show was ok but ABC really killed it with that long hiatus, you just can’t do that with highly serialized show like this.
I absolutely LOVED the pilot myself. Unfortunately it wasn’t able to maintain that level of suspense for long, and I just lost interest after awhile.
Seriously. Awful pilot? I think not. I’m really going to miss this show. Especially w/ Lost and 24 departing. Flash Forward was my hope for a future TV-love. Sadly, now my heart is broken again.
I’m with you here. The pilot was great then it was up and down until the hiatus. After the hiatus the show was much better. Last Thursday’s episode was really good.
But now that it’s canceled, what’s the point?
I thought the pilot was pretty awful myself. It was far too hamhanded at trying to create ongoing mysteries.