Mosaic Task Force

By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

BURBANK, Calif. — The FBI agent and his wife's apparent future lover just miss crossing paths in the hospital hallway. They don't meet, but what if they had?

Would it block his wife's path to infidelity? Or would it guarantee it?

The underlying question — can you change your future? — is at the heart of ABC's FlashForward (Sept. 24, 8 ET/PT), among the most-awaited new fall TV series, and one that some are calling the next Lost.

The premise centers on a two-minute, 17-second blackout that strikes the world's population, followed by crashes, deaths and other disasters that result from the global unconsciousness. During the blackout, almost everyone has a vision — a flash-forward — six months ahead, to April 29, 2010. 10 p.m. PT, to be exact. Some are welcome, and some, including the wife's vision of the lover, are not.

The task is to find out what happened and if the flash-forward prophecies will, or must, come to pass.

"We are the only species that thinks about the future," says executive producer David Goyer, whose writing credits include Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. "It's the blessing and curse of being human."

Joseph Fiennes, who plays FBI agent Mark Benford, centers a team assigned to solve the blackout that includes partner Demetri Noh (John Cho); colleague Janis Hawk (Christine Woods); and their boss, Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance). They and the other characters, including Benford's surgeon wife, Olivia (Sonya Walger), share their visions, but viewers see only bits and pieces at first, leaving twists and turns to be explored.

And "some people lie about their flash-forwards, so it's a little misdirection happening," Vance says. "It leaves the writers enormous latitude to tell stories."

Of fall's new shows, FlashForward most closely fits the definition of the serialized epic, a sweeping tale mixing action, suspense, mystery, romance and melodrama. "It's a buffet," executive producer Marc Guggenheim (Eli Stone) says. "To reach the widest audience possible, you need to have that spice. You have to have that wide variety."

The best current example of the big, bold serialized mystery: ABC hit Lost. Fox's 24 incorporates many of those elements, though each season is self-contained. Fox's paranormal Fringe tries to temper its serialized elements, mixing long-term story with shorter, weekly ones. And ABC launches a remake of alien-invasion serial V in November.

The challenging format tends to demand more dedication from viewers, who may not want to make the time commitment, especially when there is no guarantee a show will reach its conclusion. It includes many recent failures, some of them noble, such as The Nine and Jericho, and even critically acclaimed successes Lost and 24 have hit bumps. NBC's Heroes, which tries to balance serialization with stand-alone volumes, was a big early hit but has since slumped.

Quick answers to questions

Goyer and Guggenheim say they are making the show as they want to, but their customized format — many character stories that wrap up in one episode, quick answers to major questions and a simplified but not dumbed-down mythology — also may make it appeal to a broader audience and casual viewers. "It's not that kind of show where if you don't catch it at the beginning you'll be lost," Vance says.

At the same time, more devoted fans will be rewarded with numerous little clues and hidden references. "You'll come across the true genius that is David Goyer, which is these Easter eggs," Fiennes says. "There's so much information that you could certainly go crazy trying to work it all out."

As another viewing incentive, Goyer promises to resolve virtually all questions raised in the pilot by this season's end. "We made the commitment very early on to answer some big questions and have some reveals very early. The audience will be surprised at some of the cards we turn over that early."

ABC has an interest in series that are "something epic in scope but also really emotional," network executive vice president Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs says. Characters must be at the core, she says, whether the serialized program is Lost,Grey's Anatomyor FlashForward.

Goyer likes mixing large and small. "One of the things I like to do is take a big, broad subject matter and see if you can work it through this intimate prism with characters who humanize what would normally be what some would call an E-ticket ride. I think we were able to do that with the Batman movies, and I feel that's what we're doing here."

He and Guggenheim are Lost fans, citing the Emmy-winning hit's groundbreaking nature as one reason they thought ABC would be a good place for their series. ABC hopes Lost fans connect with FlashForward.

"Lost is ending this year and hopefully going out with a bang. There's an audience base that's going to be craving another nuanced experience, and it would be nice to win some of those audience members," Patmore-Gibbs says. But she and others point out large differences between Lost and FlashForward, which was inspired by Robert Sawyer's novel of the same name and in planning before Lost was created. (The TV series veers far from the book, producers say.)

"It's not like we're going to unearth layers and layers that are more sci-fi or layers and layers of mythology. So I think it's easier to access in some ways," Patmore-Gibbs says.

Walger, who has had a recurring role on Lost, considers it "a huge compliment being (mentioned) in the same breath as Lost. (But) I think the similarity begins and ends with big ensemble casts."

FlashForward has a large, diverse ensemble — 11 series regulars, including Lost's Dominic Monaghan, and guest stars from around the world — that opens the door to many individual stories, both professional and personal. To be a TV series rather than a movie, FlashForward had to be about more than blackouts and flash-forwards, says Cho, who also visited the future in this year's Star Trek film.

"We couldn't hang our hats on that big concept. It had to be about relationships and how it affected everyone's lives. That, to me, was the hook," he says.

On the largest soundstage on the Disney studios lot, one usually reserved for feature films, some character stories — and bits of police and medical drama — are intersecting at Olivia's hospital when Mark and his FBI colleagues arrive. She has just saved a series regular who was injured in an attack resulting from their investigation.

"Mark has this guilt, but at the same time he feels vindicated that the clues are paying off," Fiennes says.

The 'what-if?' element

Of FlashForward's many elements, those involved with the series say science fiction may be the least. It also happens to be a genre label that turns off some viewers who might otherwise give a series or movie a try.

The show's science-fiction component is limited to the blackout and flash-forwards, if that, the producers say, with Goyer suggesting the ultimate cause may not even be in the realm of that genre. He describes the look forward as a "what if?" rather than science fiction, akin to Scrooge's glimpse of the future in A Christmas Carol.

While FlashForward's characters see bits of the future, Goyer and Guggenheim know it all, as in how the series ends.

"In a post-Lost world, when you take a pilot to the networks, they ask, 'Do you have any idea where it goes?' " Goyer says. "As a viewer, I would feel frustrated if the show creators don't know where they're going."

They have plotted the series out, a difficult task when it isn't known how long it will run. Goyer says they have loosely planned it for five seasons, could tell it in three, if necessary, or could "accordion it out" to run longer than five. Besides the ending, they say they know how the penultimate season concludes.

"They have had a destination in mind the whole time, knowing how hard it is when you don't," Patmore-Gibbs says. She notes Lost has benefited from having a fixed ending point, though no one suggested FlashForward might follow a similar plan.

The series can expand on a character or story if it breaks out in a big way. In the pilot, Benford encounters a kangaroo on a downtown L.A. street after the blackout. "It was something intended as a grace note. I didn't expect it to get quite the response it has," Goyer says. He and Guggenheim have made sure the Australian interloper will return.

"We've altered stuff along the way, as we've refined and gotten a better handle on things," Guggenheim says. "Something happens in the 11th episode of the show that had been planned for Episode 18, or even later."

But what happens after Season 1's last episode? If FlashForward answers nearly all the questions in the pilot by the season's end, what will be left for next year?

"I hope people ask that," Goyer says. "In some ways, I can't wait to get there. It's going to be more exciting than Season 1."

Source: USA Today

Photos Uploaded By: Tv Spoilers Center

IGN TV: FlashForward has a pretty bold concept. What was your reaction to it initially?

Sonya Walger: Oh, I flipped for it. I thought it was just such an outstanding piece of writing. I rang my agents immediately and was like, "How do we make this happen? What do I have to do? I'll audition for anyone you need me to audition for. I will jump through any hoops. I just want to play this part."

IGN: How would you describe your character?

Walger: Olivia is a strong, complicated woman who's a working mother. She's a trauma surgeon and a loving wife. She's devoted to her work and trying to make time for her kid. Olivia's plate is full long before the flash forward happens I think.

IGN: [FlashForward Executive Producer] David Goyer has said he plays things pretty close to the vest as far as not telling you guys what's going to happen. Do you try to get him or the other writers to reveal anything?

Walger: Not really, unless I really need it – unless I feel like I can't play the scene without a particular piece of information. But otherwise, I'm very happy just to go with what I have. There's enough on the page – the scripts are so well written. There's plenty to play, without needing to pry more secrets out of them.

IGN: Now that you've filmed a few episodes, has it been interesting to see how they've begun to lay out these puzzle pieces, aiming towards the place we saw you in in your flash forward?

Walger: It's wonderful. It's so exciting. So exciting watching the show spread out in such unexpected ways. The ripple effect of these premonitions and where they take us is really wonderful.

IGN: You've said you really don't know what role you may or may not play in Lost this year. It being the final season, are you hoping to be able to give Penny some kind of closure?

Walger: Oh, I'd love to! I'd absolutely love to but I would fully understand if they can't work it out. So either way…

IGN: I wanted to ask you about the Lost episode, "The Constant." I know I'm not alone in thinking that's one of the very best episodes of the show. When you were filming it, did you know it was something special?

Walger: Oh, it was such a great script. It really was. And Jack Bender directed it so beautifully. But I had no idea that it would turn out as well as it did and no idea it would turn out to be an episode that people responded to so warmly. I'm delighted and honored to have an episode that gets singled out.

IGN: With Desmond and Penny, there aren't that many scenes featuring the two of you throughout the entire course of the series, and yet I think many fans would say that's among their favorite relationships on Lost. I assume that has to be very gratifying.

Walger: Sure! It's lovely. It's lovely to think that people are invested in that way in our characters. Because you say, it's not like we had a lot of screen time, but it's been fun!

IGN: On FlashForward, have you had any scenes with Dominic yet?

Walger: No, not yet.

IGN: On Lost, you were involved in another very memorable moment – Charlie's death – but I assume you didn't even shoot anything with Dominic [Monaghan] since Penny was only on the video screen.

Walger: No, I met him for the first time on FlashForward!

IGN: I assume that's another case where you hear from Lost fans about how meaningful that "Not Penny's boat" scene is to them.

Walger: Yeah, I've heard that a lot – about how important and seminal that scene was. It was lovely to meet him, but it was just like meeting any other actor. It was a nice introduction! [Laughs]

IGN: Having originally signed on just for a single episode guest appearance on Lost, has it been a strange ride, entering into this world with such a rabid fanbase and such a dense mythology? I'm guessing you are asked questions you would have no way of knowing the answer to.

Walger: Yeah, sure, but honestly it's been fine. I've been quite protected from the whole Lost phenomenon, because I'm not one of the core cast. So I haven't had to do the press junkets that they have. If I deal with questions, it's just from someone in the street, and it's always lovely to have people want to come up and talk about the work. So I've been pretty protected from the whole thing.

IGN: Are you getting prepared for the fact that FlashForward is likely to be one of those show that will have fans asking so many specific questions?

Walger: Listen, if we have an 18th of the success that Lost has, it will be a lovely thing. I won't complain! It will be great.

Source: IGN

Two new promo trailers.

Batman and Blade scripter David S. Goyer has a new TV show this fall. On Flash Forward, a global disaster causes everyone to see a vision of their lives on April 29. The premise is fantasy, but it was inspired by real life tragedy.


“I had this experience,” Goyer said. “I was in France immediately after 9/11. It's definitely baked into the DNA of this show. I never had this experience where there was this enormous outpouring of sympathy, A, for being American, which doesn't typically happen in Paris. I would be in these bistros, in these bars, and I would have complete strangers crying and coming up to me and hugging me and holding me and talking about where they were and what they were doing. What were they doing when 9/11 happened? I thought, obviously, it was horrendous, but it was also, for this one moment, for this brief period of time, this profoundly kind of connecting experience for a lot of the world. And so we were trying to also go in that direction with this. I mean, you will have people in our show, you could walk into a bar a total stranger. ‘What did you see?’ And these people might start talking to each other because everyone on this planet, 6.8 billion people, experienced it. And that's this, also, kind of wonderful thing that brings the whole world closer together.”

Some of the futures are not so pleasant. One man sees himself descend into alcoholism while his wife sees herself in love with another man. “Look, I think that one of the primary reasons why people come to drama is for conflict, and I think that lots of marriages in real life have lots of issues they deal with: responsibility, infidelity, A, B, and C. And to me, one of the interesting things about this is this show hopes to kind of traffic in the gamut of human experience.”

Once everybody realizes they all had visions of the same day, they get down to business right away of piecing together April 29. It doesn’t take even the entire first episode for the world to be on board with this high concept.

“I mean, look, that's the razor's edge that the show traffics in, but the thing that we say to the actors all the time, and we talk about this in episode 2, in episode 3, in episode 4, and onward. It's not like these characters were watching a movie. They had a sensory experience of what happened. So whatever they saw, if they were cold, if they were hot, whatever they heard, whatever they were emotionally feeling was real to them. So when Olivia comes back from that moment, she had genuine feelings of love for this other man, and yet she can't escape it. It was real. And the same for Joe when he's drinking. I mean, he's been sober for seven years, but he had that physiological feeling. I think that's the more interesting aspect of the show, honestly. I mean, I think that the kind of mayhem or the high jinks is cool, but what I'm hoping people will really tune in for is the kind of meat and potatoes of just how people are wrestling with all of these things and the gamut of human experience in John Cho.”

The big question week to week will be: can they change the future they saw? “That, again, is part of the heart and soul of the show and the debate and where I think a lot of the drama and suspense can be mined, is whether, if you saw your future, what would you do about it, and can you change it? And we've basically broken our series regulars down into three categories. A third of them fear the future, and they are trying to do everything they can to fight it. A third of them, their futures are aspirational, and they are trying to do everything they can to make it happen. And a third of them are kind of agnostic because they just don't understand what it means, and they are trying to figure it out. Now, maybe fighting it is what causes it to happen, or maybe trying to cause it is what causes it not to happen. I mean, that is sort of what the show is about.”

Source: CanMag

Another new trailer with a few new scenes.

Two brand new promo videos.

Cast members answer questions.

A bunch of strange new promo photos.

FBI agent Mark Benford is in the middle of a high speed car chase when all of the sudden, he blacks out and sees eerie and unfamiliar visions of himself in the future.

When he awakens on the street in a scene of mass confusion, he finds out the whole world went unconscious at the same time for two minutes and 17 seconds, and they all saw a glimpse of their own life six months from now.

What the visions mean and what people do with the knowledge of their own future becomes the driving force behind the new ABC show FlashForward, which premiers September 24, 2009.

"The premise of the show, I thought when I first heard it, was incredibly thought-provoking and imaginative," said Marc Guggenheim, executive producer for FlashForward along with David Goyer and Brannan Braga.

Starring Joseph Fiennes (The Escapist) as Mark Benford and John Cho (Star Trek) as his partner Demetri, FlashForward also has two alumni of the ABC show Lost in lead roles, with Dominic Monaghan as Simon and Sonya Walger as Mark's wife, Olivia.

Besides borrowing from Lost's cast, FlashForward's mystery-filled style is so similar to ABC's other serialized ensemble thriller that creators recognize it will invariably be compared to Lost. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, Guggenheim said.

"We’ve learned that we have to write the show in what we keep calling a 'post-Lost world,'” Guggenheim said. "We recognize that shows that come after Lost have to basically write for an audience that is really familiar with the clues and the conventions and mythologies that Lost perfected. So it’s kind of like learning to play basketball or joining the NBA once Michael Jordan has been in the game. He changed the game. Lost changed the game. So we’ve just come into the show knowing that the game is changed and we’ve written and produced the show accordingly."

However, the show's producers also emphasize that they do know where this series is going and how it will end – something that Lost viewers were beginning to question when that show's story seemed to be stretched out to fill more seasons.

"This show is different from LOST in that respect," Guggenheim said. "We plant a very firm and deep flag in the pilot that by the end of the season our characters will catch up to their futures. They’ll catch up to April 29, 2010. In fact, they’ll catch up to April 29, 2010, on April 29, 2010. So as a result, there’s no treading water. You’re not gonna see the six months of story be stretched out into six years of story.

"We ask a lot of questions, but you’ll start getting answers very, very, soon and very, very, quickly. So there’s this constant feeling as you go through the first season of payoff and a constant feeling of the plot is actually developing," he said. "You’ll get that huge payoff by the end of the first season."

Yet there is the potential for the series to stretch its finite story into an extra season or two. While Goyer has stated that it will take a minimum of three seasons to tell the complete story of FlashForward, he also left the door open for more seasons because there are potentially seven million people who experienced flashes of their future -- all with unique stories to tell.

"We don’t mean that there are billions of years of FlashForward. Neither David nor I want to overstay our welcome," Guggenheim said with a laugh. "It just means that unlike Lost, where there are a limited number of people on that island, and unlike Grey’s Anatomy, where there’s a limited number of people working at the hospital, every person on the planet had a flash forward, and all of those people have potential stories to tell."

One way that FlashForward is similar to Lost is that even small details from the pilot are clues to the bigger mystery – something that should attract fans who like paying attention to details.

"There’s meaning behind everything," Guggenheim said. "Nothing is put in the show randomly. There are 'Easter eggs' throughout the pilot and in pretty much all the episodes since the pilot. Everything has some sort of significance and everything has some sort of payoff. In some cases, you’ll get the payoff within the first 10 episodes. In other cases, you won’t get the payoff until the very last episode of the series. But everything that has been selected in the show is intentional and has had thought put behind it."

For example, Guggenheim confirmed there is an answer for why the world blacks out for exactly two minutes and 17 seconds. There's also meaning behind why April 29, 2010 is the date people see.

"There are answers to questions that you don’t even know are questions," he said. "[There are] things that are being laid in that you won’t even recognize the significance of until deeper into the seasons and deeper into the series."

Guggenheim credits this clue-weaving technique to the "comic geek cred" of the show's creators -- Goyer as a former comic book writer and co-creator of The Dark Knight, and Guggenheim as a current writer for Amazing Spider-Man and co-writer of the script for the upcoming Green Lantern film.

"Here’s the thing. David and I are both geeks. I mean, in all honesty, we both – we love comic books," said Guggenheim. "We love it when other people give that kind of attention to things. So one of the very first things David and I bonded about was our love of geek culture and those sorts of elements, whether it be a comic book, TV series, a movie, whatever. So we certainly brought that to the show. And that’s one of the many, many fun aspects of working on it."

Another similarity to Lost is the big-budget quality of the pilot's special effects and production.

"The effort honestly, is to make cinema-quality everything, from visual effects to the way it's shot, to the way it’s written, to the way it’s acted," Guggenheim said. "I think that this show really raises the bar in terms of how good a TV show can look.

"We’re constantly pushing the envelope and we’re constantly spending every dime that ABC gives us," the producer said. "And in some cases, a little bit more. But the goal really is to provide as close to cinema-like experience as possible."

But even with the big cinematic effects and strange underlying mysteries, the show is really about the struggle of average people to understand the visions they've been given of what will happen in their futures.

"It’s 100 percent a character-based show," Guggenheim said. "I mean, it’s basically a character drama. It’s set against this big scope. And yes, it has mystery elements to it, but at the end of the day, all the mystery elements are all about illuminating our characters and their specific problems.

"I think the TV shows nowadays, especially on broadcast television where you’re not going after such a niche audience as you are on cable, you have to be able to have a canvas big enough to tell that kind of size story that can go in all those different directions and can hit all those different types of notes," he said. "It’s just too competitive for viewers to do it otherwise."

Source:The Odi

Gabrielle Union joined the cast of ABC's upcoming sci-fi thriller series FlashForward after the pilot and told us that she'll play a criminal defense attorney engaged to Demetri Noh (John Cho). She said the pairing of her African-American character and Cho's Asian-American character was deliberate.

"The cultural differences with our families, not only blending families in the middle of a recession but blending families that come from different cultures and races and backgrounds, will definitely be explored," Union said in an exclusive interview last week in Pasadena, Calif. "And, I love John."


In the series, based on Robert J. Sawyer's SF novel, everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes 17 seconds, during which time each person has a glimpse of the future and their lives on a specific date: April 29, 2010. The show's characters, played by Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger and others, will spend the bulk of the first season figuring out what will come true and whether or not they can alter the predictions. Union said her scenes with Cho focus on their relationship.

"[I've shot] a lot of time with John," She continued. "We have a really good relationship. I'm so glad that they're showing two people of color with, like, a really ... loving and nurturing relationship. I haven't really seen that on TV, and certainly not in an interracial relationship, very loving and sweet in a genuine sort of way." (Major spoilers ahead!)

In the pilot episode, one flash forward saves a character from suicide. Others characters worry that their own futures include a relapse into alcoholism or an end to their marriages. Union's not telling what she sees.

"It's life-affirming, that's for sure," she teased.

Cho's character sees nothing in his flash forward, leading him to believe he doesn't make it to April 29. So far, this has not affected his relationship in early episodes, Union said.

"Well, he has not shared with me his flash forward, so ignorance is bliss at this point," Union said.

Union came to FlashForward because of her previous relationship with ABC: She starred on the short-lived Night Stalker and guested on Ugly Betty, so the network wanted to get back in the Gabrielle Union business.

"They've been incredibly supportive," Union said. "A lot of people give lip service to, 'We want to increase diversity,' and then you just never see any people of color. They actually really mean it. If one thing doesn't work out, they come up with more opportunities. So they're like, 'We want you back in the family,' and by chance, the next day, the Goyers [executive producers Jessika Borsiczky Goyer and David Goyer] called them and they were like, 'Do you think Gabrielle would ever be interested in returning to television?' They're like, 'Funny you should ask. We just talked to her about this.'"

Since FlashForward has a long-term mythology that the creators are guarding closely, it's one of those shows where even the actors don't get information beyond the script they are shooting. That creates a challenging work environment for Union.

"It's more hard that we are given very limited information, to the point where filming a scene, I think I have all the information I need," she said. "We do a take, and they're like, 'Oh, nobody told her.' Then they whisper it in your ear, and I'm like, 'Oh, OK, that changes everything.' So I'm literally getting information on a need-to-have basis. That's more challenging. Literally, they tell me on a need-to-know basis."

FlashForward premieres Sept. 24 on ABC.


Source: Scifi Wire

PASADENA, Calif. — ABC’s “Flash Forward,” a new serialized Thursday night drama, has been dubbed “the next ‘Lost,’” and there are similarities.

A large international cast tells an unfolding story that begins with a cataclysmic event: Everyone on the planet blanks out for a little more than two minutes. During that time the characters flash forward and see a few moments from t heir lives on a specific future date: 10 p.m. on April 29, 2010. Some like what they see in the future, others do not.

Is the future they see their destiny? Can they change the future? And why does a kangaroo — a stand-in for the “Lost” polar bear, perhaps? — hop down a Los Angeles street after everyone awakens? These are questions viewers will be left to wonder about after the pilot airs at 8 p.m. Sept. 24.

“By the end of the first season, most of the questions raised in the pilot … will be answered,” said executive producer David S. Goyer (”Threshold”). “The cause of why the blackout happened, that’s our background radiation mystery for the whole series.”

“Flash Forward” follows an FBI agent (Joseph Fiennes, “Shakespeare in Love”) and his partner (John Cho, “Star Trek”); the agent’s surgeon wife (Sonya Walger, “Lost”) and assorted other characters. “Lost” veteran Dominic Monaghan will have a role in “Flash Forward” beginning sometime in the first six episodes after the pilot. Details of his character, Simon, remain under wraps. He said the show is less mythology-driven than “Lost.”

Although there have been recent TV seasons with a plethora of serialized shows (”The Nine,” “Day Break,” etc.), this fall “Flash Forward” has that space largely to itself.

“We have only succeeded when we’ve been ambitious and taken chances and pushed the limits,” McPherson said, naming “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” as past high concept successes. He emphasized the importance of a portfolio approach that mixes big shows such as “Flash Forward” with smaller projects. “For me, there’s so much great drama out there, you have got to be ambitious. You have to break through the clutter.”

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Every so often, a new TV show comes along that's so eye-filling, so visually startling and so emotionally gripping that it feels like a tectonic shift may be about to occur in the popular culture.

ABC saved the best for last, unveiling its pilot episode of the secretive, big-budget futuristic thriller FlashForward, based on the novel by Canadian Robert J. Sawyer.

In an age when broadcast TV faces across-the-board cost-cutting and scaled-down ambitions, FlashForward represents a throwback to an earlier age. Not since the pilot episode of Lost has a single hour of network TV looked -- or felt -- more like a feature film.

FlashForward, about a two-minute, 17-second blackout that affects every person on Earth, is full of suspense and unanswered questions. Based on its initial screening, though, it's also full of genuine, human emotion.

FlashForward is more than just a futuristic What If' tale. In a notably buzz-free fall season, it's a reminder of just how powerful the medium of TV can be, how it can move a mass audience to tears, laughter and excitement by turns.

FlashForward is, quite simply, the most eye-filling, heart-wrenching pilot episode of a new network drama series since Lost -- and it gives us all hope that this may not be such a bad fall TV season after all.

Source: National Post

Upcoming ABC series FlashForward is about people who see the future. But there's no futurism in it. Robert Sawyer, author of the novel that inspired the series, said the show's producers felt they could sell science, but not the future.

Speaking to us at WorldCon science fiction convention in Montreal, Sawyer explained why the show (featuring John Cho, pictured here in a publicity shot for FlashForward) changes his novel in one significant way. The characters get a glimpse only six months into the future, rather than the two decades they get in the novel. Sawyer says executive producers David Goyer and Brannon Braga chose to do that for a few reasons:

One rationale is pure economics: you don't have to make the future world. But it's also about audience. For example, here's the difference between Battlestar Galactica and Lost. Lost gets 10 million viewers and Battlestar Galactica rarely tops 1 million, even if Battlestar Galactica is arguably a better show. And that's because as soon as audience sees robots and aliens, it dries up. They tune into other channels. Not showing the future on FastForward allows the audience to build.

Sawyer is a creative consultant and what he calls an "unofficial science consultant" on the ABC series. "I've been very impressed by how well-informed David [Goyer] is about science, and how important it is to him," Sawyer said. I asked whether the show would revolve around an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, the way the novel does, and he was mum on that point. But he did offer a hint: "They needed a science consultant for the show, so that tells you something about what's going to happen."

Mainly, though, Sawyer is happy with the writing on the show. He enthused:

I've seen most of the pilot and it's fabulous - it has the look of a motion picture. I don't expect the episode I write to be on the Hugo Awards ballot; I expect the pilot [written by Goyer and Braga] to be on the ballot.

What is Gabrielle Union [NBC's Life] playing on FlashForward?

Goyer: She plays the character Demetri's [John Cho] fiancee. She plays a criminal defense attorney. She's a very significant character. You'll see her five or six times in the first 13 episodes. She's got a pretty interesting story arc herself.

You have such a large ensemble, what is the role of guest stars on the show?

Goyer: Big. We have, I think, 11 series regulars, and already six or seven recurring characters. We have some really exciting guest stars that we've lined up that unfortunately we can't announce yet, but they're pretty cool.

Is there a rhythm to giving out reveals, peppering them out without giving too much away?

Goyer: Yeah, yeah, but I will say, I think some people assume that because we've said April 29th, we're just going to tread water until then. It will become abundantly clear within the first four episodes that's not what we're doing. We try to sit down and think "What would the audience expect or not expect?" and, again, as viewers, "What would we want to see?" I would be annoyed if a show like this just treaded water, so we make some very bold moves in the first few episodes.

The pilot balances present day and flashes-forward. What is the format going to be week to week?

Goyer: Look, it's an ensemble show. We are going to be telling a lot of sometimes an A, B, C and D story. Not every character will be in every episode, but the promise we made to the network is every episode you would at least see more of one of our cast member's flash-forward, and you would see a new character's flash-forward.

You say you have a three-year plan. You also had a three-year plan for Threshold. Are you still confident about thinking that far ahead?

Goyer: I like shows that are ambitious, so why not swing for the fences?

Do you have assurance for the viewers if they invest half a season, they'll at least find out how it's supposed to end?

Goyer: Well, they're certainly going to get a lot of answers by episode 13. I also know that Steve and the rest of the group at ABC have shown an enormous confidence in us and have extended an enormous amount of commitment to the show. So, look, if you're not going to try to be ambitious, what's the point? Yes, shows get canceled, and some of my favorite shows have been canceled, but I think that's like saying I had a bad date, and I'm never going to date again. You have to keep swinging for the fences. ...

How much action will there be week to week? The premiere is pretty epic.

Goyer: It's going to vary. Episode two has a lot of action. Episode four has a lot of action. There's a ton of action in 10, 11. It just varies. ...

You've done TV before. What is different about this experience?

Goyer: I'm personally having the most fun I've ever had in my life on a project. The concept of the show is very personal to me. It's allowing me to write about a lot of things that are important to me at this stage in my life, so it's interesting. One of the things I like to do best is take a big-scope kind of genre movie, but tell it in a really personal way. I think we were able to do that with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and in our own way that's what we're doing with FlashForward. I don't know, this is my most favorite things that I've ever worked on.

What are some of those themes?

Goyer: I think future responsibility, who we are: Is our destiny baked in from the time we're born, or can we change it? I had a couple of experiences in my own life where I think it seemed like I should've gone A and I went B, and I'm just really fascinated by the people that make choices that take them in an unexpected direction. I'm just fascinated by paradigm shifts, personal paradigm shifts. It's funny, I [worked] with Alex Proyas in Dark City and things like that. Do we have a choice in who we become, or is it predestined? ...

What's a big door you wish you'd gone through?

Goyer: I can give you an example of one door I didn't go through that I am happy [about]. I was all set up to be a homicide detective in Detroit instead of a screenwriter, and I'm really glad I'm not.

How many episodes will you write and direct?

Goyer: I directed the first two. If we go a full season, I'll probably end up directing about five. I'll probably end up writing about—I mean, I'm involved in all the episodes, but I don't know, seven or eight of them first season.

Source: SciFi Wire

Another new promo from ABC. There is a ton of new footage so check it out.

Thesp Keir O'Donnell ("Wedding Crashers") has joined the cast to the ABC drama "FlashForward." He joins an ensemble that already includes Joseph Fiennes, John Cho and Sonya Walger.

The thesp was most recently seen in "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and has just been added to the cast of "The Runaways," starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning.

Source: Variety

Brand new trailer features some new footage. There is also behind the scenes with one of the Writers David Goyer.