THE TV COLUMN: FlashForward: Ever wonder where the time goes?
Posted: September 24, 2009 at 4:09 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK — We all love TV shows with juicy conspiracy theories.
As they used to say on The X-Files, "The truth is out there." Finding it is the fun of a good conspiracy series.
There's conspiracy behind the sometime-frustrating labyrinthine devilment of Lost, now prepping for its final season. And NBC's Heroes has the overriding conspiracy of "The Company," an outfit so sinister and so conspiratorial that it didn't even bother to fabricate a cool name.
Last season's Fox freshman hit Fringe has a dandy of a sci-fi conspiracy that even involves a parallel universe and Mr. Spock. I mean Leonard Nimoy.
So it is we applaud the arrival of the next promising mystery conspiracy series. FlashForward debuts at 7 p.m. today on ABC.
The cinematic, fast-paced pilot, "No More Good Days," should set the hook and reel you in.
Our adventure begins on the mean streets of Los Angeles. There is a car chase involving big black SUVs with tinted windows. Just another day in LA.
Our heroes, FBI agents Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh(John Cho) are in hot pursuit when - whammo - everything goes blank and people drop like flies. Everybody all over the world blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds.
As you might imagine, chaos ensues. Cars crash. Airplanes taking off and landing crash. Powerline workers get zapped. People on the verge of suicide have their plans interrupted. People die on operating tables.
Once the world wakes up, the FBI is on the case and before long we know that not only did the whole world black out, but while folks were in dreamland they all saw a vision of what they would be doing precisely six months into the future at 10 p.m. Pacific time, April 29, 2010.
This is the global "flashforward." For some, the vision gave hope. For others, it was disturbing. The really bad news - if you had no vision, can you assume you aren't around in six months?
One clue sets the series' tone. While she's reviewing a security tape taken during the blackout, an FBI agent discovers something that indicates all is not what it seems on the surface.
You'll wonder what it means and be on the edge of your seat until the next thrilling episode arrives. If future episodes have half the intensity of the pilot, then FlashForward is certain to be a hit.
Brothers, 7 p.m. Friday, Fox. Sitcoms starring black people are rare these days, so we should hope that Brothers succeeds.
The series features gaptoothed former pro football star Michael Strahan as a former pro football star who loses his money and moves back to Houston to help out his ailing dad (Carl Weathers).
Still giving him a hard time is his paraplegic brother (real-life paraplegic Daryl "Chill" Mitchell) and his mother, played by the seemingly ubiquitous CCH Pounder (ER, The Shield, Warehouse 13).
Granted, no wheels are reinvented here. This is fairly predictable family sitcom fare and not the next Seinfeld. But there are worse new sitcoms out there (anything with Kelsey Grammer) and at this hour on a Friday night your other broadcast choices are all dramas.
RETURNING SERIES
Some real fan favorites are returning today and Friday. Here are the times:
Today:
8 p.m. - CSI (CBS); Grey's Anatomy (ABC).
9 p.m. - The Mentalist(CBS).
Friday:
7 p.m. - Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Smallville (The CW); Law & Order (NBC).
8 p.m. - Medium (CBS); Dollhouse (Fox); Southland (NBC).
9 p.m. - Numb3rs (CBS).
Program note:
Watch Katherine Heigl (Izzie) while you can on Grey's. The word is she was given a five-episode leave of absence to go make a movie. That's a long time to be gone in the middle of the fall season.
Meanwhile, T.R. Knight (George got hit by bus) has left the show and Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) is seriously gravid in real life and due next month. So, there's her maternity leave in the cast mix.
To fill the void, three new doctors will be joining the staff: Nota Zehetner, Robert Baker and Jesse Williams.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
Weekend, Pages 34 on 09/24/2009
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