flash forward

Fans of Lost got a sneak peek at ABC's upcoming sci-fi drama Flash Forward during last night's season finale. The show is based on a Robert J. Sawyer novel where everyone is knocked unconscious for a few minutes and sees a vision of the future. The show has a great cast, including Joseph Fiennes, Courtney B. Vance, and Star Trek's John Cho, and an intriguing premise.



ABC's new promo tells us ... well, nothing really, other than the basic plot of the show. We do get a glimpse of what looks like Joseph Fiennes running around in a post-apocalyptic city, which I'm guessing is part of his "flash forward."

ABC is adding some star power to its new Lost-style drama Flash Forward. Joseph Fiennes and John Cho are in negotiations to join the cast.

Fiennes played the title character in Shakespeare in Love and still has a bit of a movie career, so seeing him on television does seem a bit like slumming. On the other hand, while Cho has had memorable movie roles such as Harold in the Harold and Kumar franchise as well as Sulu in the upcoming Star Trek movie, he has had a recurring television role on Ugly Betty. A co-starring television role for him doesn't seem that much a stretch.

Despite this potential good casting, I am ambivalent with regards to Flash Forward. With regards to its creators, David Goyer has had more misses than hits in terms of his movies and Brandon Braga was one of the responsible parties for Star Trek: Enterprise (and co-writer of the utter crap series finale. Something I will never forgive him for). I would give the series a shot when it eventually gets to television but don't have high hopes

When exactly did we start lusting after sci-fi mystery shows with such a vengeance? That's the question I'm asking myself after reading the news about ABC's Flash Forward, a drama pilot starring Courtney B. Vance (pictured) and Jack Davenport.

The show is based on Robert J. Sawyer's sci-fi novel and follows the chaos that ensues after everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Oh, and everyone has a mysterious vision of the future that changes their lives forever.

See, I'm the perfect viewer for this show, because I'm already formulating ideas about what might have caused the chaos (aliens in a time-warp) and what the vision of the future means (aliens cross-breeding with humans). I love these kinds of weird-mystery shows where you have to figure out what's going on and what it all means.

As if it wasn't obvious from the last moments of the Desperate Housewives season finale... You may remember Susan kissing another man during the show's highly anticipated flash forward. And James Denton told People that Mike and Susan are definitely split up. However, we're not losing James Denton from ABC's hit show altogether. "I'm not sure exactly in what capacity. Marc Cherry is being a little cagey. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. But I will certainly be on the show. It's a relief to me, trust me," the 45-year-old actor told People. What's with that last bit about the new storyline being a "relief"?

One thing you have to say about the powers that be at Desperate Housewives, they're really great with casting. Great looking guys, beautiful women, quirky character actors; we've seen them all on Wisteria Lane and usually they leave a lasting impression.

The latest name to check in to Desperate Housewives is Neal McDonough. He'll be appearing in the new season and Hollywood Reporter is wondering how he'd do with Nicolette Sheridan's character, Edie Britt. Is that wondering or playing matchmaker? How do we know that Marc Cherry isn't setting him up as a mystery man from Bree's past? Cherry is nothing if not inventive, so good luck trying to anticipate his plotlines!

William H. Macy is set to star in the TNT series Family Man.

This is the third TNT project Macy has been involved with, having already co-written (with writing partner Steven Schachter) the Emmy-winning Door to Door and The Wool Cap.

Family Man, which Macy also wrote with Schachter, focuses on the life of a man who gives to charity but also steals from major corporations. According to Variety, the series is told in "flash forward" fashion in which we see Macy imprisoned in the future. Sounds like kind of a modern take on the Robin Hood story to me.

There's no word yet on when the series will air.