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FlashForward cancelled, V renewed -- perfect!

By Tung Yin

ABC had two high-profile sci-fi series this past season, "FlashForward" and "V."  Both were serialized dramas with heavy pre-season promotion.  "FlashForward" was based very loosely on the novel of the same name by Canadian author Robert Sawyer and posits a world-wide "blackout" in which everyone loses consciousness at the exact same time for 2 minutes, 17 seconds, during which they experience a glimpse of their future in exactly six months.  Except for some people, who experienced no vision at all, suggesting that they're dead in six months.  The Los Angeles FBI office puts together a team to unravel the cause of the FlashForward and to determine if it can be altered.

"V" was a remake of the deliciously campy 1980s miniseries (and sequel and subsequent TV series) about first contact with the Visitors, technologically advanced aliens who bear amazing gifts to humans.  They look human, but in reality, they're lizard-like creatures.  And they want to strip the Earth of our water and resources.  And eat us.  For a teenage guy, nothing on free TV could ever have beaten the scene where a human teenager gives birth to a baby lizard-thing!

Anyway, I instructed my TiVo to record both series, and my wife and I have watched both, generally on the same night they air, but we've been waiting just for "FlashForward" to get non-renewed so the story can end, whereas we wanted "V" to come back.  That in fact is what ABC is doing (though "V"'s renewal is only for 13 episodes, not the usual 22.)  So the news is perfect for us.

Still, why did we have such different reactions to the shows?  "V" is not without flaws, and "FlashForward" had a terrific premise -- so terrific in fact that I bought the Sawyer book back in the fall and read it just to see one explanation of the flashforward.

It seems to me that "FlashForward" aimed VERY HIGH but didn't come close to hitting its target, whereas "V" aimed quite a bit lower and succeeded.  (Still waiting for the lizard baby, though.) Obviously, all things being equal, you'd want a show that aims high and succeeds, like "Lost," but those are few and far between.  A show that aims high and misses, but not by too much, is pretty good, but so too is a show that doesn't aim as high but nails it (like "Prison Break," seasons 1-2).

The problem for me with "FlashForward" is that it was so horrendously executed -- of the cast, the only ones who are remotely watchable are Dominic Monaghan (sometimes) and maybe John Cho. Everyone else is just bland or annoying, and not annoying in a good way (like Sawyer on "Lost").

I mean, if we put it in Olympic ice skating terms, "V" is the skater who avoids the seriously hard jumps and puts in a relatively flawless, safe routine.  It pales next to the "James Bond" routine by that South Korean skater, but it's still okay.  "FlashForward" is the skater who tries to do four triple-triple jumps and collapses into a bloody wreck in the middle of the rink.  I'll watch that (hey, I never claimed to have high taste), but it's not something I want to come back the next season.

Full post as published by The Yin Blog on May 16, 2010 (boomark / email).