I finally got round to watching the show, and my first impression is... meh. The premise sounds good, but I don't particularly like any of the characters, or want to know about them. Yes i know it was the first episode, but they're just not that particularly likeable to me. Everyone's blacked out for 2.17mins... and we're about 45 minutes into the episode before they get round to reviewing the security tapes, the eyes that never sleep. And right at the beginning of the episode we have the "four hours earlier" flashback. In a show called FlashForward. Mildly annoying, because i dunno why they couldn't have done it in a straight forward manner- Start the day/episode normally, make it seem like just another detective/cop series, and then BAM! Right in the middle of the car chase, you hit em with your flashforward. That way, i'm marginally interested in whether Agent Whatshisface will ever make it back home and fix the garage door (he does, but at that point i don't care anymore, i just want to know what the flashforward was about). Also at the beginning of the episode we have the naughty babysitter, whose charge is sleeping... In the middle of the day... Because there's no school... And because she (the babysitter) does not have better things to do with her life on a weekday morning than to babysit some random kid.
Also what's with the stupid love notes by the main characters? It's not funny or clever, it's just odd. "I hope I never see you again"? That would elicit a major WTF from me, but i suppose they deserve each other because he whispers "I hate you too" to her. I dunno, i truly do not care about any of these people, i just want to know what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. You could replace the entire cast with the people from Firefly, and i'd still be ambivalent about it. Actually, I would be much more interested, because those characters have funny dialogue, or at least conversations that make you want to know more.
I like the premise, but i think it's seriously let down by the characters. If such a thing happened globally, people wouldn't be interested in finding out whodunnit, they'd be searching for meaning and dealing with the ramifications. Not one hour after zero hour the FBI guys are strutting about and taking charge and going on about "set up an interagency database... blah blah blah". No one calls their loved ones? No one wants to know if their nan is okay? Only the main character calls his wife, everybody else just keeps calm and carries on... The same main character who was just in a traffic collision and at the very least has a concussion but he's right as rain, naturally. If i was one of the guys in their meeting room, i'd be like "Stick your frickin' plan where the sun don't shine mate, i'm going to take the rest of the day off and see about me mates/family/dog/cat/rabbit". To put it simply, they're not behaving like real people. Sure you could say lots of other shows are guilty of the same thing, but either the premise is good enough that you ignore it, or the sfx are shiny enough that they distract you.
The only reason i'm going to keep watching is because of the Man in Black, who was randomly walking about a baseball stadium. I want to know more about him, for several reasons:
- What kind of stupid villain (hey, he's obviously the bad guy here) manages to execute his plan successfully, but is in a baseball stadium when it happens? To see the effect? I'd much rather be in a bank, or a shop, ready to rob the living daylights out of them
- Why would a villain want to cause the entire human population to not just black out, but experience future visions for 2.17mins? If you want to destroy the world, okay you're a misanthropist. We know your story. If you want to take over the world, okay you've got a huge power trip going on. We got your number too. But making everyone see the future for a little over 2mins... Yeah, you're either a weirdo or your plan failed. In either case, i want to know what sort of weirdo you are or what the original plan was if in fact it did fail. If it didn't fail then you're just a rubbish villain, and i won't bother with the show
Another immediate problem with the show is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy writ large. The main character sees a vision of himself drinking (he's a recovering alcoholic) and investigating the event. So what does he do? He goes ahead and investigates the event, even going so far as to put the notes on the wall in the same places they were in his vision. I'm just waiting for him to break out the schnapps and fall off the bandwagon. If it was me (and i hope, any rational individual), i'd quit the instant i saw where it was going. I can't investigate anything if i'm unemployed now can i? I might still end up drinking, but at least it wouldn't have been my own doing.
Let's hope this doesn't turn into another Lost (winner of the most retarded tv show in the history of mankind) or another Heroes (which got confused, distracted and eventually senile)