I am – Hercules!!

Somebody's seen ABC’s “Flash Forward” pilot, written and produced by Brannon Braga (creator of “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and David Goyer (writer-director of “Blade Trinity”), who previously collaborated on CBS’ “Threshold.” The series creators apparently took a couple liberties with the the sci-fi novel by Robert J. Sawyer, in which, thanks to a super-high-energy experiment gone wrong, everyone in the world experiences two minutes and 17 seconds of his or her own life 21 years in the future. In the pilot the cause of the flash-forward is apparently a mystery, and everyone flashes forward only six months. Those who have read the book can tell us whether or not there was a mysterious figure who did not black out during the flash. “Jeremy” speaks:

Just watched the pilot episode of Flash Forward thanks to taking part in an on-line survey and wanted to share some quick thoughts. The ABC show is based on a sci-fi novel of the same name, which I have not read, and is set to debut this fall. Quick recap (Spoilers): Show opens on scenes of destruction in downtown L.A. Cars are on fire, one dude was crushed in his car by another car on top. Someone runs by on fire, just general chaos. Story then flashes back to early that morning and introduces the main cast. We have the FBI agent (who I think is Joesph Fiennes, as IMBD does not list the cast yet) who is a recovering alcoholic, his wife the surgeon, and their precious little daughter. FBI agent’s partner is John Cho (Sulu!) who never comes off as a serious federal agent. There is another doctor who is contemplating suicide at a pier and the FBI agent’s AA sponsor who is grieving a daughter killed in Afghanistan. The show follows the characters through a usual day until everyone (in the world, as we find out) blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds. Scores die around the world because planes crash, cars crash, patients die in surgery, and so on. The remainder of the pilot is spent establishing this flash forward (they actually use the phrase as dialogue). More supporting characters are introduced, the only one I recognized being Courtney B. Vance from Law & Order. Characters convene and discover they all saw vision set six months in the future. This is the hook of the show, the over-all mystery of what caused the flash forward and why people’s lives changed. One character saw nothing, which may mean death, while others witnessed more mundane glimpses. The pilot ends with a mysterious figure that did not blackout and thus another layer of mystery is added. What I liked: The pilot wasted little time setting up the plot. The glimpses shown were interesting and gave good hooks to keep watching. Acting was fine, no stand-outs in either good or badness. What I disliked: Suffered from a little too much repeated exposition. There was annoying slow-motion shots of a character running through L.A. that made me laugh. Being that people only flashed six months in the future, it feels the show will either be rushed or drawn out too long. Final thoughts: I’ll watch the next episode in the Fall, but I’m not anxiously awaiting it. I would be much more interested in a mini-series. People will want to compare this to Lost and both pilots felt similar, though Lost was more polished and interesting. If you run this, call me Jeremy.

For five years, everybody’s looking for the next “Lost.” The only one who's found it so far is "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams, whose "Fringe" is the season's top-rated new series. NBC just greenlit to series the post-apocalyptic “Day One” and “Flash Forward” is said to be a lock for ABC’s fall schedule, to be announced 10 days in the future. Follow Herc on Twitter!

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