A lot of you recommended Flash Forward to me and pointed out it played into the 17 meme. I watched the pilot and enjoyed it, but wondered if you could sustain an entire series on the premise.
My suspicions were somewhat reinforced by the second episode, which I didn't find nearly as compelling as the first (though I certainly find Sonya Walger compelling). In fact, I haven't finished it yet.
I noticed the same pattern with the second episode of Eastwick, which I couldn't make it through either. There's a lot of high concept genre material making its way to TV, but apparently not finding enough of an audience to sustain it. Maybe these killer pilots create over-high expectations? I can't say I'm overly enthused at yet another serial, either, particularly with all of these other storylines floating out there in the ether.
Whatever the case, Flash plays into the same Apocalyptic meme (and 9/11 meme, certainly) we saw in Knowing and the 2012 trailer. Which just goes to show that we're truly stuck in a weird mid-70s time-loop, with the entire world mired in a deep psychic malaise. I'm not sure stuff like this helps much.
The end-of-the-world flicks of the 70s helped feed the Evangelical movement in no small part, but now even that culture is waning. I shudder to think what might arise out of this new wave of pessimism and paranoia.
