Why FlashForward Shouldn't Have Been Cancelled

5. Brilliant Premise

A strong core premise is vital to a programme’s success, and FlashForward’s was excellent.

While plenty of stories had already been told based on the idea of visions of the future, the concept itself remains fundamentally compelling, and its application to the entirety of humanity took it to the next level.

The writing team did a superb job of exploring how both the core cast and the world at large responded to their flashforwards (not to mention the 20 million deaths caused by the blackout). Because the visions all featured the same moment on 29 April 2010, the series had a terrific sense of momentum as it moved ever closer towards that fateful day.

Some characters were desperate to ensure that their flashforwards came true, while others were just as desperate to prevent them.

Ominously, some saw nothing, which was quickly revealed to be an indication that they were destined to die on or before Flashforward Day. This enabled the show to explore the idea of fate vs. free will in a variety of ways, as characters carried out both incredibly heroic and highly questionable acts to secure the futures they wanted.

FlashForward also made brilliant use of the “self-fulfilling prophecy” concept, particularly as the investigation into the blackout that served as the series’ central narrative was based on clues from the visions.

On a larger scale, explorations of how the blackout affected politics, religion and wider culture meant that the stakes felt truly global.