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I have been dying to see this show for ages after reading the book last year and then hearing that a TV show was to be put into development shortly after finishing it.

The show is created by ABC the company behind LOST and Flash Forward is tipped as being the long term successor when Lost finishes its final season next year, and with a run of 22 episodes to this first series it’s shaping up to be something special.

Written by Davis S Goyer and Brannan Braga the basic story is that everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and during their blackout they see a glimpse of their future on 29 April 2010 which leads to a world changing experience on everyone’s awakening.

The First episode is called “No More Good Days”, and like the LOST pilot episode it starts off at 100mph. The opening scene has Ralph Fiennes character Mark Benford in an overturned car with blood on his face and broken glass everywhere and as he pulls himself clear he is greeted with a glorious scene of a chaotic LA with hundreds of crashed vehicles, flaming buildings and sheer panic everywhere. It’s the perfect way to start a show and instantly you’re hooked.

flash_forward-11Four hours earlier and the show sets about showing you everything that builds up before the chaos hits. You meet the main players of the show with Bryce Varley who’s going to commit suicide on a pier, Mark Benford at an AA meeting with his sponsor Aaron Stark, Mark’s wife Olivia who’s a doctor, their little daughter Charlie and Mark’s FBI partner Demetri Cho, who in a thrilling car chase with Mark pursuing some terrorists, takes us up to where we came into the episode when everyone drops into their Flash Forward and we see Mark Benford’s Flash Forward vision.

Everyone awakens and so begins the aftermath again and the plot of the first episode starts to try and unravel what happened.

What I really liked is that everyone comes to terms with the Flash Forward visions quickly as it’s a worldwide event and news reports start to highlight the same date from recollections of multiple people. There is no need to try and persuade the good folk that this event did actually happen – the devastating destruction of planes crashing, pile-ups on roads and video footage of people collapsing is proof enough. The only thing is why and how did it happen?

Throughout the episode you start getting descriptions of other peoples visions and how this will obviously affect their state of mind, especially those that did not have a vision and the belief that they will be dead in six month’s time or knowing that your life will change so much from the present day and with this knowledge can you change it? Really fascinating stuff.flash-forward-abc Overall the first episode was a great intro to what will be a riveting 22 episode series, it had great characters which will improve throughout the show and a plot that is going to be every bit as confusing as LOST. It’s such a great idea and with further glimpses into the future from other characters adding to story in each episode it’s  just going to get better and better.

See if you can spot the big nod to LOST during the episode in a nice little connection to the classic TV show.

One main problem I had with the show was that it’s being shown on a Non-HD channel on Channel 5 and is filmed in HD so we are missing out on seeing the real top quality version of this amazing show and this is why I doubt the series will be on Channel 5 next season.

There were some superb scenes and plot twists throughout the episode but nothing quite as brilliant as the ending which was truly gobsmackingly outstanding and a definite hook line and sinker climax to make you want more. Roll on next week for episode 1.02 “White To Play”.