Flashforward might get better

[yendi]

Talentless comic-book writer Marc Guggenheim* -- who was brought in after the pilot was filmed because the network didn't have faith in Goyer -- has been let go, leaving Goyer as the sole showrunner. Of course, this won't have an impact on what we see until after January, but it gives me some hope.

*His run on the Bart Allen version of The Flash may actually rank as the worst comic-book storytelling of the decade, and this is a decade that includes multiple works by Frank Miller, as well as the entire DC and Marvel universes over the last four years.

Comments

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

How DARE you make me remember The Flash! I know, not the version of The Flash you're talking about, but I'll rant anyway. That precipitous drop from the kind-of-cool Flash pilot to the dumb, dumb, DUMBGYARGHDUMB second episode bitchslapped me back then. Not even the gorgeousness of Amanda Pays could ease the pain.

Back to Flashforward (of which I've only seen two scenes, the "video footage of the one awake guy" scene and the "desert birds fall down go boom" scene): What do you think is its most reparable dumb thing? Meaning, what's not-good about it that you think is most easily repaired? If you were running the show with Goyer, that is.

[yendi]

It's hard to say, as the pacing is the real issue. I'd start by showing that LA actually has Hispanic people, of course, and then maybe pull the focus away from Fiennes and his wife -- easily the most boring characters -- and onto Cho and the other FBI agents. I'd also hire writers who actually understand dialogue.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

The "hey! They're boring!" thing will probably dawn on them over time (unless the paycheck they're paying to Fiennes isn't blinding them). I'm hoping it does, based on what you said.

Sounds like the dialogue isn't even interesting-odd, the way Stephen King or Daniel Handler's not-quite-realistic dialogue can be. If so, double-annoying. (Your comment also made me think how I'm liking the kids' dialogue in Summerland by Michael Chabon; it really does sound enough like how kids would say stuff.)

I'm starting to think the last show that was actually good about showing Hispanic people in SoCal was The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And it does bother me that Buffy and Angel weren't good about showing that.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

I caught a few episodes of Guggenheim's Eli Stone and that wasn't bad. Of course I can't think of any comics he's done I've cared for. And while his Flash run was bad its not like it was Countdown...

Eli Stone.

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

I really like Eli Stone, enough that I watched it over with my brother while he was with me over the summer. It's find-able online for free in a couple of places (see surfthechannel dot com). Of course, I do have to hide my eyes from the really embarrassing parts... I never could figure out how he didn't get hit by traffic when wandering around in an alternate reality.

Re: Eli Stone.

[yendi]

See, that's part of the problem for me. The show never achieved the level of whimsy that, say, Pushing Daisies did for me, so it existed at a level of silliness that I just couldn't buy into.

[yendi]

I'm willing to cut Countdown a little slack because it was a clear instance of too many cooks, and no lights on in the kitchen. And Didio sprinkling rat poison everywhere.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

By the way, this phrasing RULES.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to give Guggenheim a slight amount of slack for the Bart Allen Flash series, because that thing had DiDio's fingerprints all over it.

Mind you, my opinion on who the True Flash is can be seen by the icon above...

[yendi]

Pretty much everything DC has Didio's fingerprints all over it. He's like a six-year-old who has eaten the world's messiest PB&J sandwich, and is now rubbing his hands on everything he can find.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I personally really enjoyed Marc's Young X-Men.

I've never read his FLASH, never being a FLASH fan to begin with, nor any of his current Spidey though.

I'm also a little less critical of FlashForward than everyone else seems to be.

I've read the original novel and really really really hope that basically it doesn't venture anywhere near where that book did. As hardcore sci-fi...awesome. As a mainstream 8 PM TV series which seems to going for emotional as much as mystery? Fuck no.

Hey, but that's the fun of nerd friends. We can agree to disagree and enjoy it.

right?

[yendi]

I definitely share your hope that it doesn't go in the same direction as the book (and I suspect it won't, if only because of what we've seen so far). I never did read his Young X-Men, so no opinion there.