The Strange World of Thomas P. Coombe

Flashforward: Nothing to Crow About

I have a three-episode test when it comes to serial dramas. That's how long they have to pull me in, and with tonight's episode, FlashForward failed the test.

I may check in on it again, but this is the last you'll see me write about it on the blog. Looking at my notes, it seemed like all I was doing was writing down complaints: Dull characters. Dull dialogue. A pretty much wasted cast. That eulogy Courtney B. Vance gives at the end was actually nicely done, but it was for a bunch of characters we never met (and who died off screen), so it lacked any emotional heft.

 Yeah, the scene at the end was pretty intriguing -- the dead crows, the weird tower -- but is that going to be how every episode plays out? Fifty-five minutes of boredom and a cool twist at the end? No thanks. Hopefully V will do a better job next month.

 Tom Coombe

FlashForward: Beware the Ides of March

  Two episodes in, and this one still hasn't moved past "just OK" for me.

 I really like the concept behind the show, and its ideas. I'm intrigued by the notion that these characters, having seen part of their futures, are now creating that very future by trying to live up to that vision. I like the idea, put forth early in this episode by Mark's AA sponsor, that this is a shared global experience. As I said in last week's post, that's something not a lot of shows have going for them.

Flashforward Series Premiere: I've Seen the Future Brother, It is Murder

I really want to like this one. It has the most intriguing premise I've heard in a long time, a pretty nifty cast, and started off with an action/disaster sequence better than what you'd see in most movies.

 But I have my worries. For example: too much of the dialogue was explaining things we already figured out -- or worse, things other characters have just said.