Since J and I canceled cable several months ago, we've been watching most of our movies and TV shows on Netflix and Hulu. Most of my favorite shows are over for the season (Desperate Housewives, The Office, Bones, to name a few), so I've been trying to find some new shows to get in to. While browsing Netflix, I came across FlashForward, a show that previously aired on ABC. I read the description and became intrigued, so I watched the first episode and needless to say, I was hooked. I continued watching until I found myself watching all 22 episodes within a week and a half.
Here's Wikipedia's description of the first episode:
The series opens on a seemingly ordinary day, October 6, 2009, which soon becomes extraordinary when at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time, as everyone in Los Angeles blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds. It soon becomes apparent the blackouts were worldwide, and were accompanied by a "flashforward" where each person saw what might be his or her life on April 29, 2010, roughly six months into the future. FBI Agent Mark Benford and a team of agents in Los Angeles begin gathering clues as to what might have happened as they struggle to come to terms with their own visions, or in Demetri Noh's case, a lack of one. Meanwhile, Mark's wife Olivia, and daughter Charlie, each have disturbing visions of the future with which they must cope. As the episode closes, FBI Agent Janis Hawk makes a startling discovery: an image from CCTV in Detroit of a man in black, walking through the stadium while everyone around him is unconscious.
The show was addictive, to say the least. I was really disappointed when I found out that the show was canceled after its first season due to low ratings. Really, ABC? You couldn't have moved the show to another night like you have for other shows? What especially sucks is that the season finale left on a cliff-hanger, so now we'll never know what happened to Mark, Demetri, Janis, Lloyd and Olivia, Bryce and Keiko, and everyone else (don't you hate it when that happens?).
FlashForward aired between 2009-2010, which is around the time ABC was airing the 5th season of Lost. I haven't invested too much time looking in to it, but I have to assume that's one of the reasons why FlashForward wasn't as successful as it had the potential to be. At the time, Lost was one of ABC's most popular shows, so I have to believe it outshined FlashForward at that time. It also aired on Thursday nights, and it seems to me like shows that air on Thursday nights tend to have lower ratings than those that air at the beginning of the week.
Here's an example. I love The Office, but every Thursday I would forget to watch it because I got distracted by the fact that the weekend was approaching, so I'd have to end up catching it on Hulu the following day. I can't imagine that I'm the only person who does that, so I have to believe that numerous factors played a role in Flashforward's low ratings, and not that it was a bad show, because it truly wasn't. It was nothing short of an addictive, captivating, and incredible show that was canceled far too soon.
The show had great potential, and ABC pulled the carpet right out from under it. I think, had the show been aired on a Monday night, it would have been very successful. I truly believe that the fact that this show followed Lost and was aired on a Thursday night led to its demise (oddly enough, two of the actors who played in Lost were actually in FlashForward, too). I feel like ABC should try to re-air the first season on a night at the beginning of the week and see how it goes, because I know this is a show most people could get in to.
Another show that ABC botched and later canceled was Ugly Betty. I loooved Ugly Betty and I think it could've turned out a lot better, but you can just tell that ABC was anxious to end the series and rushed the show's final season. It was a pretty big disappointment. I feel like the show could've turned out a lot better than it did had they taken their time, but they, for whatever reason, decided to half-ass it.
ABC really needs to get their act together.
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