By Marisa O’Neill
Today’s Guest blogger is Marisa O’Neill. Yes, we look a bit similar – that’s because we’re identical twins. Marisa is a television line producer by day and by night she’s my go to girl for what’s the latest in television.
Did ABC shoot themselves in the foot by introducing two ongoing series with complicated mythologies and a never ending guess who done it plot? I’m talking specifically about V and Flash Forward. I admit I was interested at first, and did my due diligence by watching each episode. I was a bit intrigued, applauded their high production value, set design, editing and often times the acting and writing. When their last episodes aired I wanted to know more. Then, they left the airwaves for 17 weeks. WEEKS! Weeks where 
there was plenty to fill my imagination and time. Between the holidays, working and shows like The Good Wife, Burn Notice and LOST, my time and entertainment card was all filled up.
ABC will resume airing these shows this month and will attempt to pick up where they left off. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were shows like, let’s say, Modern Family or even The Mentalist where week to week a viewer can pick up and not miss a beat. But with V and Flash Forward’s complicated story lines and somewhat convoluted mythology I can’t remember who did what to whom, what little plots or story arcs were revealed and what teasers or threads I should be following. I find the whole thing quite daunting. And that is certainly something I don’t want when I watch a weekly television series.
So the question remains, when I (if) I tune in to the new episodes, will I even know what the heck is going on, or will it be just vague recollections of a show I used to watch? I liken it to meeting that person in high school after 20 years, you know the one, they use to sit in the lunch room way in the back, and you shared a history class together… you kind of remember them, but the details are fuzzy.
Will ABC gain back their audience, or are the viewers onto greener television pastures?
A 17 week hiatus is hard to come back from. People are fickle to begin with, but add in an overly complicated storyline to a prolonged absence and I wouldn’t be surprised if they lost a large chunk of the fan base.
With many equally good and less plot intensive options (Human Target, Castle, etc) I don’t see how they’ll regain their audience.
Gabriel you’re right. I actually think Flash Forward went on hiatus because they realized they needed to re-tool the story arc.
Unlike Marisa, I was losing interest fast – I’ll see if they’ve changed things up enough for me to invest the time.
I gotta agree with you on this one. watched both Flashforward (under the rec of a friend) and V cause the main Visitor (Anna) played Inara in Firefly (second best sci-fi EVER!) but i dont think im going to pick them back up again…to busy watching Ergo Proxy on hulu.
Hi MJ –
I have not heard of Ergo Proxy – I’m going to have to check it out.
I too have moved on to bigger and better shows.
Ida you might want to give Flash Forward another try – they seemed to have stepped up the pace. And they’re giving us more answers, yet keeping the mystery alive so we’ll tune it. Just a suggestion.
Hello Maria and Marisa!
Marisa, you said it best in applauding their high production values. I only saw the first episode of “Flash Forward”, but have watched all of “V”, and I was left very impressed by the production techniques, but wanting more actual story. I appreciate their flash, just give me a little more substance!
I was a HUGE fan of the original “V” series and though it was cheesy-80’s, dramatic pay-off was quick to come. That is clearly lacking in the new version. I feel both of these shows are requiring a lot of time-investment for later pay-off.
I wasn’t ready to start watching the beginning of something (more specifically Flashforward) knowing it will be AGES before we get an answer to the mystery, so I kind of turned that one off.
Perhaps if it was introduced in the slot that “Lost” will be vacating, I would have been more willing to jump on board and dive in.
And as far “V’s” story, we already know the answers to the mystery based on the original series. We know the “V”s are bad and that they want to harvest humans for food. Maybe they’ll switch it up, but what’s the point really? I’ll give it another chance and see if it leaves me dazzled, but it’s all being DVR’d for later viewing.
Flash Forward!
Talking about milking it! I watched the first half, season, then I was out of there. And I now regret wasting those hours of my life.
Even if the rest of it is great, they lost me!. I feel the level of episodes could have been easily halfed in this type of series.
You take a series like “The Sopranos” Ok, we will watch 30, 50, 60 episodes over years if its quality programming. Why, because if they explore every aspect of that world, the main characters, it can easily cover about 24 episodes minimum. It works
But when you have a series based on a “hook”, almost like in a movie. I think its a HUGE mistake to draw it out that long, never mind the gap. With so much content out there, its hard to even keep an audience interested.
I dont watch much TV, but I got caught up on this, then I saw how they were milking it, and then the gap, I was really annoyed. I had a flash forward to my life six months ahead, and it showed me not watching the second half of it! Ohhh well.
Thanks for bringing this up! (aggghh) Very cathartic to get this out! haha
David
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Wow – great point David. I think you nailed it for me. A series based on one plot point — not really working is it?
They’re already talking about ‘the second blackout’ that will happen. Why? I believe it is because when the series originally aired they expected they would have their season finale in April and they’d leave everyone with a big cliff hanger. All the blackouts talk about one day in April when everything will change. BUT, they took a huge hiatus to ‘re-tool’ the show – so now they have to do something because that April date is fast approaching and their still in the middle of the season.
Hi All – so sorry I’m so late on this chain. Thanks for all your comments. I’m with a lot of you in theory – and, however, I’m still a bit curious. So…. flash forward 3 weeks in my life and I have to admit I’ve checked out both V and Flash Forward. Alright, I admit it, I’m weak… I need help. Perhaps there’s a 12 step program I can join. In any event, I believe David is right – they are vamping, vamping, vamping; and nothing annoys be more than the big ‘ole vamp in series television. Despite what I’ve said, I’m like the guy in Broke Back Mountain. My mantra for these two shows has become – I just don’t know how to quit you. Therefore, given my problem, I’m going to keep it on my TiVo for one more week and give them one more chance. Then I’m going to quit them. I may need help… so if you have any advice, please, I’m all ears.