Some of the following reviews contain mild spoilers.
FlashForward is set to premiere September 24, but several reporters have been lucky enough to see an advanced screening of the first episode. Here are some of their thoughts on what worked and what didn’t, starting with IGN:
The pilot itself has a very cinematic feel (and budget), and we were told by both Goyer and Guggenheim that it really plays best in large community viewings. Goyer also commented on all the speculations that he’s seeing on the web – from eager fans who like to postulate, just based on the premise alone, about what types of themes and stories lay ahead in the first season. “Some of the speculation is so f****** wrong that it’s awesome,” Goyer beamed. You could totally tell that he loved not only the enthusiasm and “buzz” around his show, but that he felt that he stood a good chance of laying out a few decent surprises for the fans that they wouldn’t see coming.
So yes, we’ve seen the pilot episode. We can tell you at this point that it was grand in scope, but uneven. While trying to be both an apocalyptic actioner and a tender character drama, it took a few missteps in handling both tones. Most of the “edge of your seat moments” were totally undercut by a bunch of the characters not reacting as if the Earth hadn’t just completely gone to s***. For our main characters, a simple phone call to their loved ones was enough to quell their heightened catastrophic anxiety. Then it was…back to work. The global meltdown, as a story, is enough meat and potatoes to fill up two or three episodes – and to fuel enough rage and chaos for any hungry TV viewer. But when this holocaustic storyline, which would take half a millennium to effectively clean up, is then mixed, and subsequently overshadowed by, the addition the “flash-forward” visions, it all becomes convoluted. And neither story is able to fully come across as a surprise or a revelation. Neither one has time to “sit” with us fully.
This isn’t to say that the mystery itself isn’t involving. Sure, not all of the characters “pop” at this point, and John Cho definitely out-shines Joseph Fiennes in the charisma department, but there’s definitely potential here. There’s tons of opportunity to flesh out that characters more, and, of course, who doesn’t love an absorbing global conspiracy? Goyer told us that the first season is structured into three acts and that the first seven episodes will “move the chess pieces onto the board.” And is it a sci-fi show? “Izzie sees a ghost. Is Grey’s Anatomy a sci-fi show?” asked Guggenheim. Guggenheim also went on to say that the possibilities for stories on a show like this are endless. Whereas other shows’ characters are dependent on their locations, “on this show, every single person on Earth is a potential character.” Guggenheim added that, despite the giant otherworldly themes on FlashForward, the character experiences will be much more relatable than on other shows – where it might not be so easy to imagine oneself as a doctor or a lawyer. Here, everyone’s experienced the same harrowing event.
Goyer went on to say that he and his writers had a big lead-in time on this project, and it’s really helped them map out all the intricacies of the series. “The covenant that you need to make with the audience is that these guys aren’t jerking you around,” he stated. “We will be adhering to some strict storytelling rules.” Goyer did say, however, that we certainly won’t learn all the rules from the pilot alone. When asked if the rumors of Dominic Monaghan joining the cast were true, Goyer simply stated that he couldn’t comment at this particular time. Goyer was, however, more open when asked about how Family Guy-guru Seth MacFarlane wound up getting a recurring role as an FBI agent. “Seth called me up. He’d read the script. He said ‘I f****** love this.’”
The Live Feed offer the following perspective on the FlashForward screening:
So, did they succeed? It’s certainly plays like a big show, and not just because of the screen Yes, it’s “Lost”-y in its mysterious tone, global scope, multiple interlocking storylines, quick-cut action sequences, some uneven performances, a distinctive score and a whacked-out central premise: Everyone on Earth blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which the collective conscious of mankind jumps forward 6 months. Via vivid dreams, everyone in the expansive cast–which includes Joseph Fiennes, an excellent John Cho, Sonya Walger (yes, Penny from “Lost”) and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane(!) as an FBI agent–is left with memories of events that won’t happen for six months. Or will they? The clock is ticking, the minds are reeling, and the fatalism debate has already begun–even without John Locke to guide us to the Orchid.
Scifi Wire add the following:
It’s not Lost, though it has elements of that show: a high-concept sci-fi premise, told intimately through the lives (present and future) of about 10 main characters, as well as a deep, abiding mystery that will be unraveled over the course of the first season and subsequent seasons right up to the last minute.
It’s not The X-Files, though it has an FBI agent (Joseph Fiennes) at its heart and a procedural element to its storylines, with potential criminals and other bad guys and creepy weirdness here and there.
It’s not ER, Fringe, Heroes or any other hit drama, though it shares elements with all of those shows, including a main character who’s a surgeon, weird science and people who may or may not have access to strange visions.
No, it’s that rare thing in television: something completely new. And, at least judging by the big-screen Blu-ray version we saw, it will look absolutely gorgeous, not to say epic, for a TV show.
“There have been comparisons to Lost, … [that the show is] a Lost replacement,” executive producer David S. Goyer told an audience on Wednesday. “[But] it was written as a spec and originally was even anticipated to be an HBO show. So it wasn’t written at all for ABC or to be a Lost replacement. And I think the comparisons are accurate in that we also have a very large cast and are telling a very big, cinematic, ambitious story, but I think once you see the pilot … that’s where the similarities end.”
Digital Spy focus on the casting of Seth MacFarlane:
Seth MacFarlane will recur on FlashForward, it has been announced.
The Family Guy creator recently appeared in the pilot for ABC’s new drama, and executive producers David Goyer and Marc Guggenheim have confirmed that he has a recurring role on the series.
Goyer said that MacFarlane asked if there was a part for him on the show, before they cast him as an FBI agent.
“Seth called me up. He said ‘I f**king love this script,” Goyer revealed.
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