Is ABC’s Flashforward going to be the new Lost? Everyone seems to be asking this question, but they mean it in the good way. Yet, when I ask this question, it is with great trepidation.

As a writer of speculative fiction, as well as a fan, I can appreciate a great premise. Like the shiny new Joseph Fiennes show, Lost started out with a bang, and was compulsively watchable…at first.

Within a few seasons, it had meandered so far away from any central theme or coherent plotline that I only continued watching it for comedic value. Lost sucked a legion of fans into a byzantine labyrinth of clues and complexity, promising that it would all make sense in the end, only to continually let viewers down with long delays and laughable plot twists.

Flashforward is supposedly based upon a novel of the same name by Robert J. Sawyer, so presumably the writers actually have an end in mind. A blueprint, if you will. And I find that comforting. But then I saw a kangaroo on my screen hopping past a very serious looking FBI agent while an annoying voice over told me that this might just be an important clue and instead of being intrigued, I winced because this isn’t a game I want to play!

If Lost was the devlishly handsome ex-boyfriend who cheated on you, Flashforward looks enough like him to make you wary. But maybe he’s a grown-up version that you could actually take home to meet the family. Let’s hope!

Tags: ABC's Flashforward, ABC's Lost, speculative fiction

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 7:35 am and is filed under Television, speculative fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.