MovieChat Forums > Flashforward (2009) Discussion > My thoughts on why this show couldn't st...

My thoughts on why this show couldn't stick

posted 13 years ago by jennadickes
1 reply | jump to latest

Spoilers ahead!
Flash Forward had a great premise, there was so much to work with. But I could tell from the pilot that it wouldn't live up to its potential because it lacked something very important - subtlety. Everything from the show's score to the acting were just so heavy handed. FF gets compared to Lost a lot and in this aspect, it could have taken some notes. Lost was successful in large part because the creators knew how to keep people hooked and suck them into the world of the island. They made it feel believable, made us feel like we didn't know what the hell was happening right along with the characters. (I'm not saying I wanted FF to be another Lost, which did have its flaws too, just pointing out what one show did right). FF on the other hand opened with this ridiculous car chase, complete with loud and unnecessary "suspense" music. The scene of chaos after the blackout felt forced and melodramatic. Then right after it we're thrust into this FBI drama. The very premise of FF meant that it had to be big, it dealt with a global catastrophe. I think they overshot and tried too hard to make it feel epic.

The sub-plot about having a blank FF vision and Dem's death was so beaten into our heads over and over, that by the time it came I frankly wanted him to just die already. Then amazingly they used that to go into a Final Destination plot. Just...no. Some of the acting was painful. I normally love Joseph Fiennes but he seemed to go more manic and cheesy in his acting as the show went on. Maybe it was just the dialogue though. I won't even get started on Dem's fiancé or any of the "villains".

The other flaw in the show goes hand-in-hand. The directors/editors were constantly insulting the intelligence of the audience. I understand the need to appeal to a wider demographic but they needed to realize that this show would only ever appeal to an audience who actually WANTS a cerebral experience. Instead, they threw in the same footage of a character's flash forward for every single revelation. As though we had forgotten that Mark is cradling a flask throughout his entire vision. I will give them some credit for going fairly in-depth into quantum physics later in the season, but at the same time it makes all the repetition seem even worse.

I really wanted to love this show. But every time I could feel myself really get into it, they would throw in someone/something like Flosso or repeat a line of dialogue for what felt like the dozenth time.

[–] crooky-3 13 years ago

Here's my assessment:

Story premise: 10/10 - There's no doubt the premise of the show was huge. This should could have been a new Lost in terms of popularity. I never watched Lost and didn't really go for shows like this on TV (usually figure movies are better) but this had a unique enough premise that it really drew me in.

Story execution (not looking at characters but simply progression of the story): 7/10 - There are certainly improvements that could have been made in this area, but overall I thought they did a solid job. I think the real issues were that some of the plot devices they used to move the story along were ridiculous, and just some things that were not very believable that were tired to character writing as much as story.

Character execution/writing for all except Mark Benford: 8/10: Overall pretty solid characters. No one liked Olivia but I think given Mark is the focal point of the show and his distrust of her runs up after the "unfaithful" flashfoward, we're not meant to. Otherwise there were maybe a few weak characters but almost everyone serves a purpose either for the main plot or to give some fullness to the flashforward and provoke some thought about what would happen if it DID happen. I think the worst non-Benford thing was Noh not just helping what's-her-face have a baby but telling his wife-to-be. I haven't seen the episode in a year plus, but that was just really bizarre. Al's suicide was a bit much too...his character didn't seem the type. Otherwise, I liked everything else enough though that I can't dock too much for those things.

Acting for all except Mark Benford: 8/10: Again, given Olivia's character to me was meant to be hated, I don't think SHE acted poorly, and I think everyone else major did pretty well. I especially liked the FBI head and Agent Noh (too lazy to look up their names).

Character execution/writing for Mark Benford: 2/10. His character was so poorly written that we were making fun of him week after week here. It's sad to think one thing could bring a show down, but I'm not sure that if his character was written better whether the show would still have been cancelled. Just completely beyond belief some of the crap he was coming up with based on practically NOTHING - AND being a superstar physically, etc. Give me a damn break.

Acting for Mark Benford: 3/10. I really don't recall what else I've seen Joseph Fiennes in before, so I can't really compare his performance in this to anything else, but his execution of some lines were just awful. I'm giving him a 3 instead of a 1 or a 2 because some of that falls on direction and writing, but his character just felt so damn fake and some of that is just his poor execution of emotions in different times, etc. It felt like a bad made-for-TV movie the way his character was written and how he acted.

Conclusion: If Mark Benford were say 5th or 6th most important character being as poorly written as he was, no big deal...show would have been a smashing success. But we're forced nearly every damn episode to see the bad character and bad acting that is Mark Benford ruining an otherwise wonderful show. Like smearing crap on a good work of art.

I disagree that the show had to be cerebral. I'm not sure it works as anything but an action show for the simple reason that there's only so much cerebral stuff they could look at for an entire TV series. A movie, maybe, but a whole series intending to be multiple seasons? Perhaps if it had a really strong primary character like Dexter, it could do that, but definitely not with Mark Benford, lol.

I really don't know how true the series was to the book - maybe it's the book that sucked and they just made the series as well as they could given their source material, but I just think minus Mark Benford, this was a 9/10 show and with him, it was 7/10 in my eyes, and probably 4-5/10 in most people's eyes.