tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post2727873359624433729..comments2024-03-28T18:01:28.997-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: FlashForward, "White to Play": Apocalypse wackyAlan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-63599078375208407112009-10-07T13:29:14.940-04:002009-10-07T13:29:14.940-04:00Richard, you're right -- for anything like thi...Richard, you're right -- for anything like this to move forward there has to be that willing suspension of disbelief. However, except for that epic opening, it looks like the show runners stumbled over their set-up -- perhaps if they had shown even a little more chaos at the hospital, or more of a reaction from the Gov't, or things not getting back to normal so quickly ... a few extras here, another couple of lines there ... and I would have bought it all from the start.<br /><br />Jericho stumbled a bit as well in the "yeah, right" department early on, but quickly learned how to keep things moving along so you didn't have time to question the plot holes. Hopefully Flashforward will as wellJape77http://japenet.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-60729351469431224902009-10-07T12:24:12.157-04:002009-10-07T12:24:12.157-04:00Lost never interested me, so the main complaint wi...Lost never interested me, so the main complaint with Flash Forward, I appear to have dodged. I watched the first two tonight and enjoyed them enough to dvr the season. <br /><br />I agree with those up-thread that wonder at the low fallout. A few thousand people died on 9/11 and almost everyone I knew was impacted in some way - we knew someone, or we knew someone that knew someone - and we're in Florida. My husband's co-worker was on the phone with someone in the towers. There's no way the massive death scale they laid out in the opener wouldn't have immediate consequences for anyone on the planet. We're all too connected. Only one death consequence has been shown. I also get that it wouldn't advance the plot much and they are apparently scared of turning viewers away (hence the 'humor' which would certainly run me off if it continues) <br /><br />Fiennes brought me in, I know several other people that tuned in to see him and decided to stay for the show. I don't think he's too light for the role, it's a different style of acting. I'm ok with the pace, but I hope they'd up the chaos a bit.meoptanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-52008397809656853482009-10-06T19:08:19.306-04:002009-10-06T19:08:19.306-04:00I have to say that a realistic treatment of the fl...I have to say that a realistic treatment of the flashforward event <br />would be even more boring than what the show has shared with us! There would be no story --- only endless pain and death. These kind of objections would kill almost any science fiction film. They move the central problem from the mystery of the flashforward to coping with the disaster (see E.R.). The time paradox mentioned by some<br />is not a paradox like killing your grandfather. Time loops can exist even in general relativity (Godel showed this.). We don't need to account for the strange object in the museum of the future, unless we don't believe in space time at all!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09254178897558199472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-13611346082776682892009-10-06T17:36:10.194-04:002009-10-06T17:36:10.194-04:00Before I go on any plot/hole rant, I just want to ...Before I go on any plot/hole rant, I just want to say I'll be keeping the show on my tivo. (Being a huge time-travel buff, I'm at least curious as to see what solution the writers come up with.) My wife too said she wants to stick with it, and hopes they solve the mystery before the show gets cannned. That said ... <br /><br /><br /><i> A real event of this scale would cause so much more disruption and insanity than we see here. </i><br /><br />Absolutely -- and that was one of the biggest failings of the book as well. Forget the vision of the future: the fact that no one knows what caused the blackout, and if and when it would happen again, would probably cause a complete global economic breakdown. (Would YOU rush off to work, or anywhere, if you thought it would happen again? COULD you get to anywhere with the highways clogged with wrecks?)<br /><br />It's a nice touch you still see buildings burning in the long shots, and soldiers on the street corners, hinting that some sort of martial law has been established, but neither the book's author or the show's writers seem able to convey the depth of disaster this event would cause.<br /><br />While allusions to 9/11 are obvious, something like this would be more in line with an earthquake or tsunami, where everyone in a region is affected, and scarred, for months. In this case though, the region is the whole planet. (Sure, the property damage might not be as bad, but there's no doubt the insurance industry would implode in the weeks to follow).<br /><br />Ok, ok, I know its a TV show and the blackout is simply the muguffin to get the big existential mystery rolling ... so I'll let all the chaos slide as "this event was so weird that people are in denial." I still can't believe that every agency on the planet wasn't at defcon 1 after this.<br /><br />Beyond which, while the idea of setting up a web site IS a good idea -- and made perfect sense as an effective plot tool when the novel came out in the 1990s -- this is 2009: by the time our FBI characters would have gotten their own site up and running, Twitter, Facebook and 100,000 blogs would already be groaning under everyone's visions. Instead of aggregating a "mosaic" of 2010, the FBI's site would probably be buried under snarky "FBI FAIL!" postings.<br /><br />Whoops, sorry -- you're right. I'm expecting too much. This is a TV show. On ABC. Never mind.Jape77http://japenet.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-87877860794231991352009-10-05T21:22:59.325-04:002009-10-05T21:22:59.325-04:00Oh and one more nitpicky note: that isn't Com...Oh and one more nitpicky note: that isn't <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tigers_opening_day2_2007.jpg" rel="nofollow">Comerica Park</a> in Detroit.BFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15264282750160516858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-881433664797377612009-10-05T20:39:35.790-04:002009-10-05T20:39:35.790-04:00Man, I hope they're right about Kobe's kne...Man, I hope they're right about Kobe's knee.BFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15264282750160516858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-7197246602221487822009-10-03T13:55:04.012-04:002009-10-03T13:55:04.012-04:00I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why...<i>I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why there was a baseball game going on in Detroit at (I believe) 10am on a Thursday in September? A crowded baseball game at that.</i><br /><br />As stated in the comments for the pilot (and elsewhere), it was about 1 pm local time in Detroit at the time of the blackout. And most baseball seasons go to the end of September; if the Tigers made it to the post-season, they'd be playing in October. In fact, the Tigers have a home game tomorrow. It starts at 1:05 pm.<br />(And on Thursday, Sept. 17, the Tigers lost to the Royals in Detroit, 9-2. It was a day game.)Paul Outlawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14223551781533342142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-52744963843245831912009-10-03T13:49:06.716-04:002009-10-03T13:49:06.716-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Paul Outlawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14223551781533342142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-30980293288261925642009-10-03T13:19:45.331-04:002009-10-03T13:19:45.331-04:00@tracheal infarction and Alex
I'll give it a ...@tracheal infarction and Alex<br /><br />I'll give it a few more episodes to explain it, but for me these are the kind of details that will tell me whether this is a show with a complex mythology that is worth exploring, or if just wants me to think it is. <br /><br />At least the timing of the ultrasound could be explained by timezones, and I don't recall if they explicitly said the cupcake shop was open (though why would she be behind the counter if it wasn't?- D. Gibbons' flashforward seemed more comical and dreamlike than most of the others we've seen)at the time of the flashforward.<br /><br />I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why there was a baseball game going on in Detroit at (I believe) 10am on a Thursday in September? A crowded baseball game at that.<br /> <br />Not to jump on the Lost comparison bandwagon (because it <i>is</i> too early) but these are the kind of details that would be explained on a tightly-detailed show like Lost, but not on a broadly plotted Lost clone.<br /><br />That said, I guess I'm into it enough that I will probably give it a lot of leeway, as long as it continues to be entertaining on some level.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-86804956722795199162009-10-03T02:14:43.637-04:002009-10-03T02:14:43.637-04:00YES! I couldn't believe the Homeland Security ...YES! I couldn't believe the Homeland Security woman didn't swoop in and take over the investigation. Every government on the planet would be turning over every rock in creation trying to find the answer to what happened--and how.<br /><br />More practically, my spouse and I are finding Shakespeare distinctly unlikeable. He's surly and paranoid despite his wife being open about what she saw and what's happeneding That Guy at every step. His behavior couldn't be better aimed at DRIVING her to another man if he tried.Gail Roarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03319224231319588636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-67483320731954427192009-10-03T01:46:17.649-04:002009-10-03T01:46:17.649-04:00So no-one else noticed the first appearance of Dom...So no-one else noticed the first appearance of Dominic Monaghan?Shanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-82402452372067331372009-10-03T01:41:22.604-04:002009-10-03T01:41:22.604-04:00I hope somebody stop saying "this is the new ...I hope somebody stop saying "this is the new Lost", when is more the new "Jericho".<br /><br />Lame.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-50778149176192441232009-10-03T01:26:43.321-04:002009-10-03T01:26:43.321-04:00While I agree that ideally this show should be giv...While I agree that ideally this show should be given some time to find its feet, there are a bunch of signals in this episode that don't give me much faith that it will get better: <br /><br />-The use of both "Ring around the Rosie" as a creepy children's chant, and a burned/broken doll as a disturbing image, are just really lazy, obvious choices.<br /><br />-I already care so little about the lead couple's marital problems. The world is (ostensibly) in chaos and we just met these people - who cares if they separate or not? Bigger fish!<br /><br />-I don't even have words for how unimpressed I was by the mouth-to-mouth with urinal water. <br /><br />I might give it another few eps but, I dunno, life is short.<br /><br />Great line from the Anonymous commenter above:<br />"Dump the loser, Penny, and go shag Lord Norrington." Ha!Holly Martinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-50475435988973465562009-10-02T22:29:58.490-04:002009-10-02T22:29:58.490-04:00It’s not that I wanted the TV show to follow Sawye...It’s not that I wanted the TV show to follow Sawyer’s book exactly, but the changes aren’t completely effective. You’ve hit a lot of the nail-heads as to why. (And truthfully I've forgotten the details of the book because I too can't recall why, in the flashforward, none of the people are aware it is That Moment.)<br /><br />But the Awake Guy video was chilling (perhaps more so because I live in Detroit, where the scene was set). I hope it doesn’t turn into another anticlimactic letdown - what I’m going to call the Polar Bears in Paradise effect.<br /><br />Also a bit creepy - the little girl’s “D. Gibbons is a bad man.” But then, that’s a Lostian trait too - a bang ending that makes you want to come back, even if you’re frustrated or bored. (Although I finally gave up on Lost.)<br /><br />I think I know what both the girl and the boy saw during their blackout. (btw Her other FF reference, “I dreamed there were no more good days,” had originally made me think she was seriously ill. But evidently that‘s not the case.)amyp3https://www.blogger.com/profile/15749860471251983915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-23853736828200247892009-10-02T21:29:21.913-04:002009-10-02T21:29:21.913-04:00CJ-
The blackout happened at 11:00am Pacific, Cha...CJ-<br /><br />The blackout happened at 11:00am Pacific, Charlie was in her room while the sitter was getting it on down stairs. Everyone's flash takes place at 10:00pm.<br /><br />I'm surprised there isn't some discussion of "Ring Around the Rosie" seeing as the nursery rhyme was featured twice in the episode and has it's origins in the Bubonic Plague.David Znoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-11914003429586417912009-10-02T20:48:18.492-04:002009-10-02T20:48:18.492-04:00A couple things;
The show has been far too slowly...A couple things;<br /><br />The show has been far too slowly paced this far, in that I don't really care what happens to the family. We already know what happens anyway so why focus a half hour on that? I want to know more about what is going on with the f'n blackout.<br /><br />There hasn't been enough drama for any comic relief.<br /><br />The did go from 0-60 in like 2 seconds when they moved into that warehouse. Then went from 60-0 when they went back to Penny and that other guy. Move the story forward.ryan_the_temphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00764031056418022866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-16087199896903362522009-10-02T20:21:05.243-04:002009-10-02T20:21:05.243-04:00Reading Robert Sawyer's novel (that this serie...Reading Robert Sawyer's novel (that this series is based on) would iron out some issues for many of the contributors above. For instance,<br />this future need not come to pass for us. We live in the quantum many worlds multiverse. I don't really think there are logical problems yet,<br />just that the show is not very good or stimulating.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09254178897558199472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-13087362515106820732009-10-02T20:13:20.272-04:002009-10-02T20:13:20.272-04:00So did the blackout happen at 10 o'clock at ni...So did the blackout happen at 10 o'clock at night, as Shakespeare reminds us when his kid should have been at home with mom, or was it "11 a.m. Pacific Daylight time" as discussed in the office briefing?CJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-46160257231099315242009-10-02T17:08:49.516-04:002009-10-02T17:08:49.516-04:00I'll give it one more episode and then I think...I'll give it one more episode and then I think I'm out. Like others here, I hate the unrealistic portrait of what life would be like after an event of this magnitude. Where's the civil unrest? <br /><br />The scene at the hospital was really annoying. The hospital is insanely busy and yet Olivia never dons her hospital garb and starts working. It was like she was visiting on a day off.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175078350124180695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-76044502073942982022009-10-02T15:07:00.525-04:002009-10-02T15:07:00.525-04:00Guggenheim is a hack. Goyer could have picked a to...Guggenheim is a hack. Goyer could have picked a ton of great showrunners to work with -- and instead he went with a comic book guy who had gotten where he was by kissing upwards to Greg Berlanti. If Goyer and ABC are smart -- they'll bring someone new in there pronto, or just promote Pretzwich and Yorkin (who did the Riches for FX, a sensibility which could be useful here) to the top spot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-7764339542679974552009-10-02T14:42:06.460-04:002009-10-02T14:42:06.460-04:00The big, huge, logic hole is that the visions are ...The big, huge, logic hole is that the visions are of a future subsequent to the blackouts, since Benford is investigating it. So everyone in the world at 10pm April 29th should know that the Flashforward is about to happen. So why doesn't anyone try to send messages back to himself, why are they seemingly oblivious to being observed by their earlier selves, when they should remember doing so?<br /><br />Why don't I hold up a paper with tomorrow's lottery numbers, share prices; and so on. And then everyone trying to change the future would really scramble things -- these kind of feedback time loops were hinted at by the Terminator series, people coming back from different futures because actions had changed history. Sending information back into the past creates the same kind of paradoxes.<br /><br />-- Alan (another Alan)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-5040911297488355342009-10-02T14:19:18.961-04:002009-10-02T14:19:18.961-04:00I'll give it another week, but I agree with ot...I'll give it another week, but I agree with others that there has been too much repetition and recap, especially with Mark & Olivia's flash-forward.<br /><br />Also -- and this is just a personal, nitpicky thing -- but as someone who used to work at DOJ (of which the FBI is a part), it really grates to see the investigation handled so unrealistically. FBI HQ and Main Justice would be intimately supervising the Mosaic Unit's operations, no field office would be running its own show, no one would have had <i>any</i> downtime for weeks, and you sure as hell wouldn't have some Deputy Secretary from Homeland Security -- a completely separate agency, for goodness' sake -- in our heroes' chain of command.<br /><br />Yeah, I know it's a TV show about a completely fanciful event. Still. . . .Farragut Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-38127012067837518232009-10-02T13:47:26.884-04:002009-10-02T13:47:26.884-04:00@Robin -
Hmm ... I'm not sure that's true...@Robin -<br /><br />Hmm ... I'm not sure that's true. One more person seems to have seen/heard the same thing. I also remember Mark asking his boss (who'd earier said he was having a meeting) and therefore in the same general vicinity as Mark's vision of being hunted - if his boss could maybe remember seeing something.<br /><br />That's when his boss actually amended his earlier story of being in a meeting and told him he was in the crapper. <br /><br />Hmm .... maybe I need to watch again tonight at 8 ....Archienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-52557103782422507312009-10-02T13:20:48.263-04:002009-10-02T13:20:48.263-04:00Tom said: Is anyone else wondering why there are b...Tom said: <i>Is anyone else wondering why there are basically only three FBI agents investigating a global catastrophe?</i> <br /><br />I am. I'm also wondering why Lynn Whitfield's character wasn't able to tell them that Homeland Security had already begun an investigation. Because they would have, wouldn't they? And maybe...Oh, I don't know... they would be coordinating with the FBI? I thought that these guys were investigating under orders from their superiors.<br /><br />Despite that less-than-minor hole in the story, I like this show. Seeing a building go up in flames helped a lot.<br /><br /> My biggest complaint is that Olivia's and Mark's visions have created so much family angst. The family angst in Jericho's first season bugged me,and it's bugging me with this show. And, yeah, it's way too talky. Focus on Charlie's vision, and I don't mean how it affects them as a family. It's already obvious she knows more than anyone else. I'm OK with "a child shall lead the way" if it makes the show better. Amp up the tension. And blow up more buildings.Maurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17301288188119355801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-82123019856244503102009-10-02T12:40:25.198-04:002009-10-02T12:40:25.198-04:00John Cho should keep his fingers crossed that he r...John Cho should keep his fingers crossed that he really does get killed and off this silly, silly show by April. This isn't Lost, it's the anit-Lost. To do a point-by-point dissection of how this show is annoyingly and boringly the complete opposite of Lost would take an hour an a half. <br /><br />Fiennes is boring as an actor in this (so drudgingly earnest and disconnected), but he doesn't get much help from a character written to be naive, stupid, AND obtuse, as well as a total jerk. Having Sonya Walger in this thing only points up just how not-Lost this show is. At this point, my thinking is, "Dump the loser, Penny, and go shag Lord Norrington."<br /><br />When I say not-Lost, I don't mean anything about not being a good supernatural drama, but rather not being coherent storytelling with with developed (or developing) characters. There is nothing compelling here, which is really hard to do when your main plot point is such an unusual and interesting and devastating event.<br /><br />Yeah, I should have just turned the thing off, but the show last night was so jaw dropingly awful that I could not look away. It was a horrific car wreck, I was a rubbernecker. No way we find out how this ends, because no way enough people stick with something this silly long enough for them to make it to another season.<br /><br />Too bad, too, because I was dying to like this show.<br /><br />By the way, the head of the FBI's field office won't share his vision because he was pooping and then saved a man's life? Are you $)#@&^$-in kidding me? Beavis is charge of the FBI field office?<br /><br />Heh-heh, pooping. Heh-heh, urinal mouth. Heh-heh.<br /><br />Someone please kill me before I watch this show again next week.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com