With November sweeps and the World Series both starting last week, it causes a strange effect in television ratings. While November sweeps is supposed to bring in high ratings, the World Series always cuts into their usual audience as we’re seeing with ABC’s much touted drama, FlashForward. The new series created by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga saw its lowest ratings last week and conversly, this past week Smallville saw their highest ratings since the ninth season began.

Still, can the World Series really account for all these ratings fluctuations? As a fan of Smallville, I make sure to always tune in, but even with the show being able to pull in 2.6 million viewers; it’s still down over 1 million viewers from last season. When Smallville made the move to Friday night, The CW was putting their veteran series up against the powerhouse that is CBS’s Friday night line-up. Since the Kryptonian visitor has been able to hold its own on the toughest night of the week, I have a feeling that Mr. Kent may receive another season order.

Oh Internet, say it ain’t so!

Hulu – my utopia of free TV online – may soon become another run-of-the-buck paid subscription site (see header image)! (Sigh) It was only a matter of time, really…

Broadcasting & Cable brings us this chilling news, which supposedly originated from the mouth of News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey, who said during the Onscreen Media Summit that:

ABC’s new Lost-esque mystery TV series, FlashForward – about a global blackout lasting 2 minutes and 17 seconds, in which time the entire human race gets a vision of their future six months ahead – has been impressive so far. The initial high concept is a whopper, enough (evidently) to bring in 12.4 million viewers for its pilot last month. And ABC is obviously confident in the series with the recent news that it has (thankfully) been picked up for a full first season.

Oh, if only things were as rosy as the ratings make them look… But don’t worry, FlashFoward hasn’t been suddenly canceled or anything of that sort! Put those pitch forks away, people! The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that one of FlashForward’s main players – co-showrunner and executive producer Marc Guggenheim (Eli Stone) – is stepping away from the series, leaving the job solely to the show’s other showrunner and executive producer, David S. Goyer.

We here at Screen Rant are here to cater to you, the reader. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be bringing over any freshly baked ice cream cone cupcakes (remember those? Awesome.), but that does mean that we like to hear from you about what you like, what you don’t, what you watch and what you’d like to see more coverage about.

Over the past few weeks of the fall season premiere, we have played around with reviews and discussions on a variety of television shows – and while some received the expected responses (Stargate, Flashforward, Smallville), others did not (CSI, CSI:NY, Criminal Minds, MythBusters). And then there were some shows that nobody expected to receive the amount of response it did (Ghost Whisperer).

Fans of the series, FlashForward, can now watch comfortably without fear of cancellation as ABC has picked up the freshmen series for a full season order.

The series – which focuses on the mysterious event that causes everyone to simultaneously blackout for 137 seconds and “flash forward” to view a moment in the future on April 29th, 2010 – has been performing strong in its time slot with a 3.0 amongst adults 18-49, compared to last year with Ugly Betty garnering just 2.6.

The third week of ABC’s new FlashForward arrives inside the television review halls of Screen Rant.

The world view of what has taken place expands as we begin in a prison in Munich, Germany, where a long-term prisoner named Geyer and a guard begin a discussion that will change many lives and perspectives. What will we find out this time? Will we garner more puzzle pieces that are put in place or only glimpses at the 2 minutes and 17 seconds that had almost all of us spent frozen three weeks ago?

I’ll be reviewing this and future episodes of FlashForward in an ironic and incredibly-appropriate “stream of consciousness” format, giving you essentially what I’m thinking as the show airs. I encourage everyone to send feedback in regard to any of the points below and use this opportunity as a sounding-off point to tell the Screen Rant team what YOU think about this third episode of ABC’s FlashForward!

The second week of ABC’s FlashForward arrives with knowledge, action and intrigue! Read on below as I detail my thoughts from this second episode and remember – if you missed this evening’s episode, there is a scheduled encore edition planned tomorrow evening. Same FlashForward time, same FlashForward channel!

I’ll be reviewing this and future episodes of FlashForward in an ironic and incredibly-appropriate “stream of consciousness” format, giving you essentially what I’m thinking as the show airs. I encourage everyone to send feedback in regard to any of the points below and use this opportunity as a sounding-off point to tell  the Screen Rant team what YOU think about this second episode, of ABC’s FlashForward!

For many avid TV fans out there, the premiere of the new ABC series FlashForward was not only “a new show starting” but an event. It has one of the more intriguing show premises to come along in quite some time – one day, out of nowhere, the entire population of Earth blacks out for exactly 2 minutes and 17 seconds. But here’s the curve ball – in that time, everyone gets a vision (or “Flashforward“) of their own futures in roughly six months.

That premise alone had me (and I’m sure many others) hooked straight away and thankfully the premiere episode of FlashForward did not let us down (the ratings sure reflected that). It was intriguing, engaging, well acted, well written and like all good TV shows, it left you wanting more by episode’s end. And it looks like the producers of the show have a plan to continue with that kind of thing as they say it will “need” (that’s a direct quote) to last at least three seasons for them to tell the story properly.

The overnight ratings numbers are in for the premieres of Dollhouse and Smallville and they’re not as rosy-looking as we’d like.  Then again, it is Friday night and our favorite returning shows are up against some heavy hitters.

CBS dominated Friday night with their shoe-in season premiers of Ghost Whisperer and Medium.  Both shows raked in over 8 1/2 million viewers.

Even the encore presentation of FlashForward dusted our favored shows by bringing in an additional 4.6 million viewers.

A specific, untold 2 minutes and 17 seconds has been taunting future audiences for months now. Tonight, we were finally served up not only a satisfyingly short back story but a ton of future knowledge to come in ABC’s new series FlashForward. The Screen Rant team is in the first row to offer you a review of what is arguably one of 2009’s most anticipated Fall television openings.

The premiere of FlashForward, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy and The Mentalist head this Thursday night’s primetime lineup. Let’s run down what’s on to tonight in hopes of easing the pain that Thursday night DVR’ing can bring.

What’s New?

8:00 PM

ABC – FlashForward: “No More Good Days”
Everyone on earth blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds and sees a glimpse of their future, but they must decide if they will accept their destiny or do anything they can to change it.

September 24th is the air date for ABC’s FlashForward.

All of humanity has a short blackout that lasts for 2 minutes 17 seconds.  During the blackout, everyone sees a spoiler-rich preview of their lives in their future.

With the show’s premiere around the corner (and I’m surprised by this) ABC has released an 18 minute preview clip of the premiere episode.

I don’t know about you, but when a network releases that big of a chunk of their newest up-and-coming show, I have to wonder why? Have their buzz meters recorded low buzz?

Interesting Advertising Idea:

ABC is distributing codes in some of their print ads in magazines like Wired, Popular Mechanics and select gaming magazines for the upcoming TV series, FlashForward.

This doesn’t make sense to me, but they say that when you hold these black-and-white codes up to your active webcam, it triggers your computer to show a 3-D ad for the show, displaying photos.

If you venture into the idea of clicking on the images, you’ll be treated to minute long video clips from the show.

ABC’s upcoming new show, FlashForward, will be premiering on September 24th and it’s based on the 1999 novel by Robert J. Sawyer where all of humanity passes out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds.  During the blackout, everyone gets a glimpse of their future, 6 months down the road.

Screen Rant’s Kofi Outlaw has seen most of the premiere episode and calls it “Lost meets 24.”  (I presume that means they have cell phones whose batteries never die!)

But what I didn’t know was that David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, The Unborn, Ghost Rider) says he has a long-term plan for the show…

ABC debuts a new series called FlashForward this fall (the title is one word – we’ve been telling you this), and, having seen the first 2/3 of the pilot during a screening at this year’s Comic-Con, I can tell you two things about it:

1. The show is basically Lost meets 24.
2. The pilot wasn’t half bad, and the show looks interesting.

Today we have a preview of the upcoming season, as well as a behind-the-scenes clip from the set of FlashForward’s pilot episode.

Just a brief update on this Monday: Plan your prime time with the 2009 TV Fall Schedule; Smallville is getting another new guest star; A certain “Foxy” lady might be kicking off SNL this year; Learn how to catch up on all the NBC shows you missed last year (for free!); and speaking of NBC, how about a first-look photo of Jim and Pam getting married on The Office?

And as a bonus (because I love you) I let you know about the government’s “Cash for TV Clunkers” program.

Let’s get to it!

Screen Rant’s resident TV expert Bruce Simmons has been keeping our readers updated on ABC’s forthcoming new series Flash Foward, which is being written/directed by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), produced by Marc Guggenheim (co-writer of The Green Lantern) and executive produced by Brannon Braga (Star Trek Voyager, Enterprise, 24).

FlashForward had a panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, where the pilot episode was screened. Afterwards, the cast and show creators let us know what we can expect from the upcoming season, what the creative path of the show has been, and they even debuted a previously unannounced cast member who had the crowd on their feet and cheering.

(And be sure to read to the end for quotes on Batman 3, The Green Lantern, and upcoming Star Trek projects.)

Is it a good thing when a lawyer starts to create comic books, writes screenplays, creates video games and can also be called a TV producer?  I call it a good start.  Especially if it’s Marc Guggenheim.

Fresh off of Eli Stone, Guggenheim’s present task is being the executive producer for ABC’s FlashForward.

FlashForward is about a moment in time when the entire population of Earth blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and during that short span of time, they get a glimpse into their future 6 months from that moment.

It’s been said that the new upcoming ABC series called FlashForward won’t be a rehash of the novel of the same name by Robert Sawyer. In fact it’s being said that it may not be what you expect at all.

FlashForward is about a moment in time when everyone on Earth blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds.  During that time, people experience visions of where they’ll be on April 29th, 2010, or 6 months into their future (That could be creepy.)

The mass black out does have its tragic side effects – People are doing everyday things when the black out happens and this creates what is described as a semi-apocalyptic moment as planes, trains and automobiles crash with unconscious people at the controls.  It’s here that the FlashForward pilot kicks in, introducing the main characters of the show.

ABC is hitting us with a bunch of new shows for their upcoming 2009-10 season.

The new shows include Cougar Town, The Deep End, Eastwick, Flash Forward, The Forgotten, Hank, Happy Town, The Middle, Modern Family, Shark Tank and V.

While shows like Better Off Ted, Castle, Scrubs and True Beauty will be falling in line with other mainstays of the network like The Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Ugly Betty and others.

David Goyer, the guy who wrote Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (OK, so he also wrote Jumper, but I think I hated that because they cast Hayden Christensen in the lead) is taking a side trip to TV land. He and Brannon Braga (co-helmer of the Star Trek dynasty for many years and currently working on 24) are bringing a new Sci-Fi series to ABC next fall: Flash Forward.