After a four-month hiatus, FlashForward makes its return to the ABC schedule tonight. When the show first premiered back in September, ABC thought they might have a new hit on their hands.
The first episode brought in over 12 million viewers, but saw a decline week after week. The decision was then made to pull the show from the schedule the first week in December. EW interviewed creator, David Goyer, back in December and he explained the lengthy hiatus.
[ We were going to be off for four or five weeks [through December and into January], then back on for two weeks, then off for two weeks because of the Olympics, then back on four weeks, off for two weeks again, back on three, off for two again… Our first 10 episodes had one preemption; our last 13-episode arc was going to have four. I just think when we saw that, the studio and the network and all the producers looked at each other and said, “This is crazy.” We’d rather bite the bullet, come back in March, and air all 13 episodes consecutively without preemptions.]
FlashForward is about what happens after a 137 second blackout takes place across the world. Joseph Fiennes plays Mark Benford, a FBI agent who is in charge of finding out who is behind the blackout that has changed everyone’s life. During the blackout, everyone has a vision of something that is to take place in their future lives. Most visions are in stark contrast to the current lives they are leading.
Lost alums, Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger, make up some of the addition cast. Film actor John Cho plays Fiennes partner, Demetri, who is experiencing something unlike everyone else affected by the blackout. He doesn’t have a vision and is told the reason is because he will be dead at that point in time. The fairly large cast of this show is diverse and extremely talented.
The show’s storylines can get confusing, but they’re definitely worth checking out. TV executives will be looking closely at the ratings to determine whether the show will come back in the fall. Tonight’s two-hour spring premiere is the first of back-to-back episodes that will go straight through to the season finale.
