How to Fix 'FlashForward'

ABC may have given 'FlashForward' a vote of confidence this week by ordering an ample 25-episode first season, but many viewers and critics are less than enchanted by the show touted as the next 'Lost.'

After months of high expectations before the sci-fi drama even premiered, some would-be fans are so disappointed with the show's perceived shortcomings -- characters that are hard to empathize with, plots that hardly advance from week to week, and a brilliant premise betrayed by poor execution -- that they're comparing it to 'Heroes' instead of 'Lost.' But it's not too late! Perhaps 'FlashForward' can be fixed if the writers and producers follow these six suggestions:

1. Strengthen the characters
The show's character development is weak, as New Jersey Star-Ledger TV critic Alan Sepinwall and others have complained. There are an awful lot of them, and it's hard to care about them when they disappear for episodes at a time, or when their personal dilemmas are less than compelling. Right now, the one with the most interesting arc is Demetri (John Cho), who's racing to prevent his own murder; paradoxically, that twist could make him the first of the principals to be written out of the show. We need to learn more about who these characters are and how they got that way in order to care about the futures they've glimpsed.

2. Move the plot along faster
After four weeks, the show isn't much closer to answering the big questions posed in the premiere: What caused everyone on the planet to black out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds? Why did everyone see what they'll be doing exactly six months later? Are the flashforwards accurate predictions or hallucinations? Every episode so far, as Mike Murphy, a TV critic at California's Press Democrat, notes, has been 55 minutes of not much, followed by a tantalizing revelation. Maybe the plot will finally kick into gear after the last night's revelation (spoiler alert!) that the blackout had a human cause, and the conspirators include Lloyd (Jack Davenport) and apparent evil mastermind Simon ('Lost''s Dominic Monaghan, finally making his long-awaited appearance). But if the characters keep getting distracted with red herrings and wild dead-crow chases, viewers will lose interest in a flash.

3. Sharpen the dialogue
When the characters open their mouths, ridiculous things come out. Some of it is so cheesy that the show is threatening to turn into camp, says Houston Press critic Daniel Carlson. There's too much exposition, with people explaining things that the audience already knows. (We don't need to be told how bizarre it is to see a kangaroo hopping down the street.) Either have the actors say things that are smart, insightful or revealing about their characters, or else ...

4. Show, don't tell
Some of 'FlashForward''s best moments have been the ones where no one says anything, notes The Onion A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff. (Link contains some NSFW language.) One such moment: the opening montage last night, a dreamy/nightmarish retelling of the blackout that was silent except for the haunting accompanying music, Björk's 'It's Oh So Quiet.' There's no reason a story, even one as complex as 'FlashForward's', can't be told visually. More of this, please.


Watch 'FlashForward' Full Episodes at SlashControl

5. A little logic goes a long way
Its outlandish premise aside, 'FlashForward' has some real plausibility problems, as Chicago Tribune TV critic Maureen Ryan, Den of Geek's Billy Grifter, and others have observed. We might buy into a worldwide blackout-and-clairvoyance epidemic, but not that Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and his fellow FBI agents are the only ones in the whole world investigating this phenomenon. Or that nobody (save for the customs agent last week) has used their foreknowledge to improve his or her station in life. Or that within a few days of a worldwide cataclysm, daily life has resumed so easily. Why aren't we seeing mass freak-outs, or religious revivalism, or anything else to show that people (other than the show's core ensemble) have been shaken to their marrow?

6. Embrace the big questions
As VanDerWerff notes, 'FlashForward' seems little more than a standard-issue crime procedural drama dressed in sci-fi trappings. Instead of hunting down old war criminals, hot blonde terrorists and dead birds, Mark and his team should be pursuing a greater mythology as well, à la 'Fringe' or 'The X-Files.' The show's premise lends itself to grand theological questions, as Unqualified Offerings blogger Thoreau suggests, so why didn't babysitter Nicole's visit to the priest open those avenues of exploration? This show's solipsistic characters should want to discover and get caught up in something much bigger than themselves. After, that's what 'FlashForward''s viewers want, too.