I was unaware of the book, as I did not see it in my flashforward event.
Gotta laugh, however, at the classic TV approach to the plot: “scientific investigation of this world-changing event? Nah, too boring, people prefer to watch cops and doctors. Let’s make sure we have at least one of each.”
I liked it. Better yet, my husband watched the whole thing. There’s no better endorsement. I did not get caught up in Lost so I won’t make comparisons. I just hope the writing stays relatively tight. Anything is better than Parks and Recreation (with all due respect to any fans of that show).
Harborwolf, I knew there was something about creepy mystery guy! 
People looking for the next Lost may be disappointed. Sonya Walger (Penelope from Lost and Olivia from FlashForward says about the comparison:
Full article is here.
As for the number planes crashing, I don’t find that unlikely at all. I work at the airport here in Atlanta and at just about any point in the day we have 4 planes actively landing or taking off, 4 to 6 on final approach, another 4 to 6 on departure and who knows how many holding in the pattern.
Yeah, we’re also the busiest airport but there are a lot of airports. Assume 100 active airports in the US with an average of 8 flights taking off, landing, on approach or departure or holding at any time and you’re there.
That’s not even including general aviation flights or things like that helicopter we saw crashed into the side of the building.
As for changing the future or leaving notes for yourself, I think the future has to change. One of the characters said that people were already making decisions based on what they saw; that pretty much diverges the timeline there.
And they already have paradox loops going on; the one name the FBI agent has he only has because he saw the name in his flash. Hell, the board with all the info on it is only there and arranged the way it is because he saw it in his flash.
I saw that–as well as a bus with a big “Desperate Housewives” banner. The fact that they showed people in an OR with masks down under their chins and a thoracotomy size incision (gaping hole, in fact) used for the insertion of a chest tube did it in for the Hellpaso family. No mas.
I watched it and wavered between mild interest and “let’s see what else is on.” What kept me from tuning out was the idea that if people knew something about where they were going to be six months from now, that it could really change peoples’ behavior. If they can make me care about the characters then that aspect will really pull me into the show. Because I liked the characters, I suffered through a lot of really crappy episodes of Lost because I wanted to find out what happened to the people, not just because I wanted the mysteries explained.
I’ll watch it for a few weeks and see where it goes…
This, sadly, is something I was discussing with folks elseboard yesterday. Lost has made not only a whole lot of money, but ENDLESS internet buzz (ie- free publicity) due to it’s ‘never give significant answers’ nature. I fear a trend of this; shows that have catchy hooks, but no real plan, so they can go wherever they want without thought of a cohesive wrap-up. After all, in the American television industry, there isn’t often thought to the ‘end’, just endless re-upping from season to season. Not to get too much on a soap-box here, but to me it’s really encouraging sloppy writing habits, and it bugs the heck outa me.
I thought the crisis was underplayed, especially at the hospital. IRL the hospital staff would have been working on a 24-hour crisis basis for the next several days, and under battlefield-triage level conditions there should have been no way they could give the critically injured little boy such intensive care.
I think the “secret conspiracy” idea is stupid. Maybe if it had been just a blackout, then yeah I could see it: some secret research project developed and tested their neural inhibitor. But precognition? That takes it out of James Bond territory and into Left Behind territory.
So if this show is a hit how are they going to make it last for longer than one season? Is it going to be like MASH and make six months last ten years?
That being said, I liked the show. I will however kill a puppy if they leave me hanging.
I heard on a radio interview that the show will have a “Very Special Episode” on April 29th 2010 (It’s a Thur).
I think I’ll keep watching till then and see what happens. So at least they know that far. And if they know that far, then they must have some inclination of how to keep it going afterwards.
My worry is that it’ll turn into some ‘of-the-week’ type show. Where we ‘put right what once-will be set wrong’. But the alternative is that they basically build the big-board one week at a time.
I’m not sure I like either of those, but we’ll see what they do. I’m watching for now.
This is why I never even started watching Lost. Or Invasion, or a lot of other such episodic shows of recent years. I got taken in by Twin Peaks, but decided never again. I don’t trust American Shows to actually have a terminating story arc*.
Flash Forward, though, looks as it if actually might. Certainly they seem to have thought this out in a little more detail than most of these efforts. But I’m wary of being burned again.
*One of these days I’ll have to watch Babylon Five, which seems to be a rare case of this on an American non-premium-cable network.
One of the reasons I like Dollhouse (and really, any Joss Whedon-created show I’ve seen), is that they tend to build character events and behavior solidly and relatively logically on the basic premise, and do give answers to mysteries as the show progresses. Not answers to everything, but still.
I think one of two things has to be true: either 1) the writers are mind-numbingly stupid, or 2) most people’s flash was of the “future that would have been” without the flashes, but a few (or maybe just the one) were of the “future that will be with the flashes”.
If all the flashes were supposed to be of the future that will be, then not only was no one shown acting on their foreknowledge, but most seemed to show the world was just fine (a seemingly ordinary business meeting, where one participant had flown across the world, with a very normal-looking city out the window).
Think about it: Millions of people have died or been seriously injured; millions of cars have been wrecked and now litter virtually every roadway; buildings all over have been seriously damaged; some significant portion of the world’s airplanes have been wrecked. What would all of that do to the world economy? There are now huge holes in the workforce, transportation routes are unusable, trillions of dollars in property damage, vast amounts of no-longer-available office space from which to run businesses . . . And six months later people are worried about a bird hitting a window, or waking up in their still immaculate huge house and seeing their new lover sitting in front of a cozy fire. In reality, we’d be in the biggest economic depression of all time, and the chaos and looting would most likely still be going on.
Yeah, that really bugged me, too. They had just showed the utter devastation on the roads, people mangled and bleeding all over, and then sometime later, one lone little boy is brought to the hospital. It was clearly set up so that doctor-wife could meet the kid’s dad, her future paramour. And that bodes very ill for the show; it indicates that the writers throw reality out the window for the expedient plot movement.
I’m so deliriously happy to see a real actor (Joseph Fiennes from Shakespeare in Love,) rather than a boy-toy or teen diva that I’m going to watch it just to stick it to the other shows.
I can see problems with the plot already, but by God if we can send the message “WE WANT GOOD ACTORS RATHER THAN PRETTY ONES” to the networks, it’s worth it.
While I enjoyed the pilot, you are exactly right on here—Six months after, the entire world would still be reeling.
I am not much of a Sci-Fi person, but if you think critically about how something like this would actually play out, the show wont hold up…
I will keep watching for now, but with a more critical eye, which might blow the whole deal out of the water.
Imho, if the ratings keep up, there’s going to be a new “flashforward” every season. 
Well, it is certainly partially Lost, but it’s shows that had a BIG MYSTERY that got canceled:
John Doe, Joan of Arcadia, Journeyman, and so forth.
At least Lost is still on.
Well, therein lies the problem when you have a story with time travel (this amounts to the same thing in a way). All sorts of paradoxes/goofy shit can crop up. To some extent you have to hang the sense of it and go with it. IIRC some notable physicist once opined that the best treatment he has ever seen of time travel done in a movie was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (and if you think about it he is right).
I think we also must assume the future they saw can be changed. The other tack, harder from a writing standpoint, is it all happens but they lack the context for the glimpse they saw. E.g. The bad guys coming to shoot him are really there to protect him and/or (also hard to write) no matter how hard you try to change the future whatever you do to “change” it is exactly what leads you to it anyway.
The last option would be most interesting. TV though so going with the future can be changed. Easier for them.
Meh…Defying Gravity didn’t even get halfway through the season and got canceled (or so I heard). Now that really sucks…absolutely nothing resolved. Should be against the law. If they start a series they must produce a wrap-up if it ever gets canceled show. 
Love this show already. Here’s my take on the flashes everyone saw:
They must be glimpses of the future as if the event hadn’t happened.
Since the world has already determined the flashforward date as being 4-29-10, at 10 pm PST, the world over would be on pins and needles waiting for those particular 2 minutes and 17 seconds to arrive. Therefore, people would be gathering together like on New Year’s Eve waiting for the big moment. Parties, televised events, general world-wide observation of the hour of destiny, and even attempts at communicating with your past self. None of this was evident. In fact, it was the opposite. People going about their mundane lives. What some people saw, while revealing and convenient, wasn’t predetermined exposition on their part.
So, how come we saw our protagonist, FBI agent Mark Benford, piecing together the the puzzle of the event? Perhaps looks are deceiving, and he happened to stumble upon the conspiracy, despite the event not taking place in this vision of his future. Perhaps, either way, he was bound to investigate it, and the shadowy people behind it.
If this is the case, the future can be changed.
I can’t think of anything that could conflict with this approach to the paradox, but I plan on watching it again to see if it holds up.
Also, I see another flashforward coming… maybe not yet, but it’s a way to keep the series rolling.
Hrmm… one tiny glitch in my theory is the fact that the wife wouldn’t have met the man she’s going to cheat on Mark with if the event didn’t happen.