dominicmonaghan

CTV and ABC are promoting their new apocalyptic drama, 'Flash Forward', as the new 'Lost'. Starring Joseph Fiennes from 'Shakespeare in Love', John Cho ('Harold and Kumar', 'Star Trek') and Brian F. O'Byrne ('Million Dollar Baby'), there is certainly no dearth of star power. And the premise - an unexplained, cataclysmic event causes the Earth's entire population to pass out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds - isn't bad either. But there's something about the show that's lacking.

Dominic Monaghan is returning to ABC.

The 'Lost' alum will join Joseph Fiennes and others in the new drama series 'FlashForward,' about people who experience visions six months into the future.

Also in the news today: Ian Somerhalder says he's returning to 'Lost,' while the Octomom lands a big payday.

See more of today's top TV headlines after the jump.

Even though the flashes forward in the series only takes us as far as April 29, 2010, the creators of ABC's FlashForward say there is a plan beyond that. They hoofed it to San Diego to get the buzz train rolling, and brought along "secret" cast addition Dominic Monaghan (Lost) to up the excitement.

At first glance, I can't help but be reminded of Prison Break on FOX. It started off great, with a great serialized premise. The first season as we ratcheted toward that break out was intense and pretty good stuff. But then they were out and FOX renewed the show. Now what? What came next was hit-or-miss television for three more seasons.

Hopefully, producers David Goyer and Marc Guggenheim have thoroughly thought this through. They indicated that the final episode of the first season would be April 30, 2010; the "aftermath." I'm guessing that will tie in to whatever caused the flashes in the first place. Maybe, like Lost, it will organically reinvent itself each year.

The Internet has been all atwitter since Dominic Monaghan, aka the dearly departed Charlie Pace on Lost, showed up in a new ABC promo. In it, Dominic/Charlie is playing Foosball with current and upcoming ABC stars, including Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy and Courteney Cox from the upcoming Cougar Town. Jason Hughes theorizes that this could very well mean that Monaghan is returning to Lost next season.

This of course, is not out of the realm of possibility: death, after all, rarely means goodbye on Lost. On the other hand, it's not unheard of for stars who have exited the island to find themselves on other ABC shows (see: Harold Perrineau on The Unusuals). So which is it? Well, that crafty cad Michael Ausiello thinks he has the answer. See what spoilers ABC execs shared with him after the jump.

(S02E12) "The cell is mightier than the sword, or the very large knife." -- Chuck

There were some funny bits in this episode of Chuck. There were also some good bits of plot development. Still, for what was being promoted as a spotlight show, including the novelty of 3-D, it's hard for me to sing the praises of tonight's episode. It just left a lot to be desired. What it did leave me with is a headache.

Before getting into the particulars, let's get the 3-D thing out of the way. It was terrible. Joel wrote about this a few days ago, and he was right. The 3-D glasses were cumbersome and lame. They also seemed too dark because instead of the effects popping, they just seemed murky and dim. I give NBC credit for trying to think outside the box, but 3-D is not the answer for how to make TV viewing more exciting. Compared to high-def, 3-D is not awesome, just annoying.

Here at TV Squad, we often bemoan the quick cancellation of a show that deserves a chance to evolve. We've chronicled the demise of a fan favorite like Moonlight, and empathized with our readers. There have been times when we've agreed that networks spend so much time and talent developing a show that it seems a down-right shame when the plug is pulled after a half-dozen episodes.

So, knowing all that, we have to acknowledge when a network does something right. NBC is bending over backwards to see to it that Chuck becomes a ratings hit, to go along with its already established and growing fan base. Creator Josh Schwartz expressed his thanks to NBC for the post- Super Bowl Chuck episode. The Super Bowl is Sunday, February 1.

"They were doing this big promotion inside of the Super Bowl and handing out 150 million 3-D glasses, so we are the beneficiaries of that. ...Chuck seemed like the best fit for that type of thing."

On the last episode of Lost, we learned that the Island won't let people die. Well, some people. Michael, for instance. And we can assume the Oceanic Six--Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Aaron--experienced the same inability to die as Michael.

But a lot of people have died. Some of them are missed and some of them... not so much. And there will be a lot more deaths over the final two seasons of the series, which returns with a new episode tonight. It seemed like a good time to look back on some of the island's most notorious deaths. And the strange manners in which characters died:

(S04E01) In honor of the Lost season premiere, we're doing a live chat during the 9pm ET airing of the episode. Watch the show and share your thoughts with Lost fans in real time! The full review follows after the jump. In "The Beginning of the End," the 815 survivors' feelings about being rescued were influenced by Charlie's message.

You can still join the chat by following this link. You can also check out AOL TV's coverage of Lost .

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Now that I've pointed out some of the disappointments of Season Three, it's time to give the show its due praise. This season, Lost returned to its Season One glory, and it was a joy to experience. Loyal fans were rewarded with serious answers, killer performances, and one of the biggest game-changers ever. Let's get to it!

Answers, Answers, Answers: If there was one thing I couldn't complain about in my Lost letdowns post, it was a lack of answers. We got plenty of answers to questions that were raised in all three seasons of the show. We learned how Locke ended up in his wheelchair, one of the most intriguing questions of Season One (certainly more so than the origin of Jack's tattoos). Fans' theories about Claire's real father were confirmed. A piece of the DHARMA Initiative's history was revealed, and we even got a look at Jacob. As if that wasn't enough, we learned the identity of the original Sawyer--and so did James "Sawyer" Ford. Thank you, Lost writers!!

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Paula Abdul says she's finally found her purpose. I hope she has a backup plan.
  
• I like Dominic Monaghan, because he had a really hard time saying goodbye to his chameleon.
  
• It's always something: Matt Lauer is catching major heat for not wearing his seat belt.
  

The video's embedded below (we'll have the downloadable files soon). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

I had waited until "Greatest Hits" aired to post another death pool update because I thought we would learn what had happened to Locke. I could not have been more wrong. Ben mentioned Locke's "accident" briefly, but our favorite bald man failed to make an appearance. The highly anticipated Charlie death didn't even happen! Death pool participants don't have long to wait, however. Something tells me that this week's Others-815ers showdown will have some major casualties.

ABC has posted the last Lost audio podcast for Season Three. As usual, hosts Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse rehashed "Greatest Hits," provided teasers for the show's season finale, and answered fan questions. Among the highlights:

• The finale will answer viewers' questions about the mysterious woman Charlie encountered in "Greatest Hits." We will also learn if Juliet was lying when she said that there had been a flood in the Looking Glass station.
• The Looking Glass station was included in Kelvin's blast door map, but not by name.
• Many fans have wondered why Desmond and Charlie didn't simply cut the cable that led to the Looking Glass station. It is possible that the cable is not the station's only source of power, and it may not even function as a power source.

DarkUFO, a Lost fansite, has found another instance of backwards speech in last week's episode. "Catch-22," a Desmond-centric episode, featured several of Desmond's psychic flashes. One of these flashes includes a message when you play the scene in reverse. The video clip (sound only) is available after the jump.

Backwards messages have popped up in Lost episodes before. Recently, "Not in Portland" had a scene that contained backwards speech (the Karl brainwashing video). An episode in Season Two is also rumored to include a backwards message from Walt. The backwards message from this episode actually uses dialogue from a later scene. As far as I know, this hasn't been done before. What gives?

Charlie cheated death yet again! Of all the possible Charlie death scenarios so far, the arrow in the neck is my favorite. If he keeps this up, Charlie will risk being compared to Kenny from South Park. I have more news from last week's update about a certain guest star, but I will save that for after the jump.

Chris Wyant, April, and ts are still in the top spots. Alex, bbf203, BlackViking, darciedyan, Ed W., Gregory Capobianco, Holli, Hubba, jks, Kat, Kenneth Chong, Kristi Parry, Lauren, Michael, PlusDrew, Priscilla, RedStarRevolution, and Tracy are close behind. For a complete list of death pool standings, please refer to the post for Week Eight.

Stop reading if you want to avoid potential spoilers for "D.O.C."