This news follows both the show's steady fall in the ratings — last week saw the series beaten by Fox's Bones for the first time; overall, FlashForward has lost a third of its audience since its premiere — and co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim leaving staff last month. An ABC spokesman said that the reason for the production halt was because the network wanted "to maintain the high quality of the show, and this gives the writers the opportunity to do so."

This shutdown follows ABC's similar decision for V in August, a halt that grew in length and led to two different replacements of showrunner before the series even premiered. Is FlashForward co-creator and current showrunner David Goyer about to find himself ousted in favor of someone that ABC feels more comfortable taking the show to April 29th 2010?

ABC halts 'FlashForward' [Variety]

V's success last week must feel confusing for the alphabet network; on the one hand, it was the second-highest rated series premiere of the season, and the most-watched 8pm premiere for ABC since Lost, but on the other, they'd already put the show on production hiatus and retooled things behind the scenes in a way that not only means they're unlikely to be able to bring the show back before the announced March 2010 return - thereby potentially losing whatever momentum the show will have at the end of this four episode mini-season - but also means that they've replaced many of the folk responsible for the show's success in the first place (Then again, who knows how many people liked what they saw last week and will return tomorrow?). Ever eager to help television networks out of a jam, we've come up with some possible ways to keep the V-mentum going while viewers wait for more Visitors:

Re-Edit Other, Little-Seen, Shows To Tie In With V
Got any police procedurals lying around? Just add an extra scene at the end where the perp turns out to get a cut on his hand and WTF HE'S A LIZARD MAN. Then you can cut to Elizabeth Mitchell getting a phone call and saying "Another one? Oh my God, they're everywhere." Cue dramatic music and cut to black. Pretend that it's an effort to show just how widespread the alien invasion actually is.

Re-Edit Episodes Of The Original V
Start each episode with Morena Baccarin talking to some minion Visitor and saying "You know, this reminds me of that time we invaded an Earth in a parallel dimension, and I had that long hair and 1980s evil bitch mask" before cutting to the original episode. Then, at the end, cap each episode off with Baccarin laughing and saying "Now, that was a sticky situation!"

Run Trailers For Lost Promising That It'll End With The Visitors Arriving On Earth
It's not like we have any better idea how Lost is going to end, let's face it. And, let's face it; like you can't already imagine the serious voiceover going "It started with a planecrash... But once they've solved the riddle of the island... They'll have to face the visitors." And then use Party of Five footage of Matthew Fox and Scott Wolf and pretend it's a flashback. Alternately...

Run Trailers Reminding People That They Could Just Watch Lost Instead
Again, cue the serious voiceover: "Waiting to find out what happens in V? Why? Lost is back on and it's much, much better. We promise that we'll throw Alan Tudyk in if it'll make a difference. Come on! It's the last season!"

Just Rename FlashForward
Am I the only person who thinks that FlashForward and V are long-lost brother shows? Both of them have worldwide events that shock humanity that are linked to terrorism and some believe prove the existence of God, both have FBI agents as central characters working to uncover the truth about said events, and both feature attractive people from as many different demographics as possible drawn into the web of slowly uncovering storylines. Considering that FlashForward's ratings are slipping, why not just edit in a new subplot that explains that the FlashForwards are really the result of Visitor experiments, show Dominic Monaghan peeling off his face to show that he's a lizard, and just call the show V from December onwards? Would anyone really care that much?

(Via)

The plane crash is creator Marc Cherry's latest publicity stunt for the network's Sunday night soap opera, but the identity of the airline apparently comes from an Easter Egg-friendly ABC, according to anonymous sources talking to E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos:

"Everyone loved how well those 'ABC House' promos did last year," one alphabet-net mole tells me, referring to the promo spots in which characters from different ABC series mixed worlds. "We're looking at ways to find more fun crossovers between shows, and so the idea came up to have the Desperate Housewives plane be Oceanic."

This will be just the latest crossover for Lost's troubled airline; advertisements for Oceanic have appeared in Chuck, Pushing Daisies and the series premiere for FlashForward.

Lost Plane May Crash on Wisteria Lane [E! Online]

Entertainment Weekly speculates that both the Day One mini-series change and V production stoppage are the result of broadcast networks getting worried that science fiction doesn't play well with mass audiences, and offers up this surreal rumor as proof:

...in fact, one rumor making the rounds is that V characters aren't even allowed to use the word alien to describe the visitors that arrive via spaceships, though ABC denies this.

On the one hand, it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that this rumor comes from the V-esque rule that the aliens are always referred to as "Visitors," because it sounds friendlier, is part of their evil master plan and provides the show with the initial that it uses as its title. But on the other, V is all about an alien invasion. You'd think that, if ABC was nervous about using the word "alien," they wouldn't have gone ahead with the series. Then again, an ABC insider does tell EW that, when it comes to science fiction programming, "It's all about trying to find the right balance [between SF and non-SF elements]."

With the show now running in two "pods" separated by months, the production still on hiatus but ABC continuing to release promo clips for the November debut, there's an air of confusion surrounding what should be one of the more high-profile, exciting launches of the year. Here's hoping that ABC manages to get everything back on track - and does something to dispel all the rumors surrounding the problems for the show - soon, before it turns into this year's Dollhouse

A couple new sneak peeks from the pilot, which airs Nov. 3, turned up online. One of these clips is similar to the clips we posted a while back, the other appears to be totally new.

We saw this pilot at Comic Con and enjoyed it a lot — so here's hoping all the network's tampering and the decision to put the show on extended hiatus, and air only four episodes before going on a long break, haven't killed it before it starts.

Variety reports that ABC have made the decision to split the 13-episode first season in two, and to hold the show's back nine episodes until midseason, expected to be March next year. The March decision is charitably being explained as protecting the show from next year's Winter Olympics and traditional ratings juggernaut American Idol, but rumors persist that not only is the series in trouble - production is still halted, with no set date to restart - but also in danger of seeing the number of episodes reduced in an attempt to minimize damage for the network, something that ABC and studio Warner Bros. deny.

Developing.

ABC eyes 'pod' treatment for 'V' [Variety]

Talking to the British SFX magazine, co-creator and producer David Goyer said,

We pitched [ABC] a fairly excessive plan... I mean, we know exactly the shot that season one ends on! They obviously said this resembles Lost, in that it's a really cool script, but [they asked], 'Do you have any idea where it goes?' We said, 'Yeah we know how the whole season ends and how the whole series ends', and they went, 'Holy shit!'

Marc Guggenheim, another producer for the series, went further:

We know what the ultimate season is and the penultimate season is. For in between, we know the various seasons but we are treating it like an accordion. In success, [the show] can go seven years. In less success, it would need to go three years to work. The end game of the show, to be properly done, really requires two full seasons focusing on the end game.

With the pilot winning its timeslot for ABC, it's possible that ABC are looking at a very extended accordion for the show. We'll see if ratings continue to hold up in future weeks.

'FlashForward' execs 'have ending planned' [Digital Spy]

FlashForward [ABC]

Promos for the September 13th episode of the internationally-funded drama about the life and loves of telegenic astronauts called the episode the "season finale." Though the show has completed two more episodes, the closing credits lacked any previews for future episodes. Ratings for the show had consistently fallen throughout its run, ironically, until the last episode, which saw a small uptick to 2.53 million, but the show was also hurt early on by outcry over what was seen as an anti-abortion stance that its lead writer denied.

Additional episodes of the show have already aired in Canada, where the series is expected to run until its intended conclusion.

ABC Cancels 'Defying Gravity' After Only 8 Episodes [Ace Showbiz]

As part of the viral campaign for the final season, ABC has asked 16 artists to each create a poster based on some aspect of Lost. Each poster is available from "Ronie Midfew Arts" (likely an anagram for "Widmore FIne Arts") for $50 plus shipping, and will be limited to 300 posters (the Hitchcockian Locke poster is, sadly, already sold out). A poster goes up each week, and below are the three that have already been revealed.

Ronie Midfew Arts [Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear via DocArzt]

The Dharma Van by Methane Studios
The Numbers by Tim Doyle
Locke's Secret by Olly Moss

The rumor broke on V hyperfan Ilana's "'V' Celebrity Site" on Saturday:

One of my super reliable sources has just informed me that the Writers Guild (WGA) is having a debate whether or not ABC's "V" is a remake or not. According to my source, Warner Brothers is now claiming that ABC's "V' is NOT a remake. In other words, WB has retracted everything they've stated about a re-imagining of the original "V." Why? Most likely it all boils down to money. If the ABC Pilot & Series are ruled NOT a remake, Ken Johnson would be denied the "Created By..." credit which he has had on all previous incarnations of "V." If there is no "Created By..." credit, then no royalty payments have to be made to the creator. WB has therefore forced the WGA to begin a special "remake arbitration" where three anonymous writers will be sent KJ's original screenplay and the new pilot script to rule on whether the new one is or is not a remake. Interesting how WB waited until after Comic Con to announce their new position.

The Visitors Among Us fanpage dug deeper:

So the way things stand is that there are three arbiters at the Writers Guild of America who will decide whether or not this "V" is a remake of the original. Apparently if the arbiters decide that the new version of "V" is different enough, the term "remake" kicks in. The Guild defines remake as a motion picture that contains "substantial similarity" to a previous motion picture with respect to principle characters, general setting (including an updated setting), plot, storyline, tone, events and structure." Should the WGA decide that the new show is different enough, basically the creator ends up with no royalties. And to add insult to injury, the creator cannot even address the Guild on the matter (which is different from a regular arbitration). Additionally, the results are not allowed to be questioned or argued against.

While we're kind of appalled that ABC would consider arguing that the new V is unrelated enough from the original to be a new series, we're not as surprised as we wish we could be. That said, is there really any chance that the Writer's Guild would say that this isn't a remake?

ABC claims it has been working with Kauffman for years on a possible small-screen adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel. The plan is for the romance between Clare and the time-traveling (and, incidentally, television-allergic) Henry to unfold over the course of several seasons, with individual episodes having their own story lines.

Normally, I'm all for adapting novels for television and giving them more room to breathe than they get in a feature film, but with The Time Traveler's Wife, I'm much more hesitant. The novel is such a self-contained animal, constantly folding in on itself and exploring the predestination paradox created by Henry's time travel and the tragic consequences of his condition, making it much more suited to a miniseries or feature film than a long-form television epic. And Journeyman, Fox's now-defunct series that also focused on involuntary time travel, worked because it was an adventure and mystery story, and its time-traveling protagonist was able to alter the timeline with his actions. Henry is, by comparison, leading a fairly ordinary life, and can alter nothing. But I suspect that, in a full-length series, Henry's time travel would be an incidental part of his character, and we would be seeing more of a How I Met Your Mother where the romantic lead occasionally happens to visit younger and older versions of his wife.

'Time Traveler's Wife' Series Travels to ABC [The Wrap via /Film]

TMZ.com has the list of similarities between Lost and his unproduced drama (also called Lost, he claims) that producer Anthony Spinner filed as part of his lawsuit, and while it looks as though his 1977 pilot about the survivors of a plane crash on a tropical island has more than a few shared elements with the popular ABC show, it also raises the question about what makes Lost the show it actually is.

I can forgive Spinner's comparison of the similarities between the shows' characters - although, it's worth pointing out that none of Lost's characters seem particularly original or even interesting when given the one-line basic description that Spinner provides, and to an extent, that always seemed kind of the point of them; that they were stock characters we were familiar with as viewers, plunged into an unfamiliar environment - even when the comparisons border on the "One of my characters was a man, as well" line:

Survivor suffers from a drug addiction (Kyle) - Survivor suffers from a drug addiction (Charlie)... Ethnic minority character (Coby) must deal with racial slurs especially from one character (Butch) - Ethnic minority character (Sayid) must deal with racial slurs especially from one character (Sawyer)

But it's the description of plot similarities where Spinner's comparison of the shows starts running aground. Even supposing that Spinner's Lost was real - and, to be honest, we're not entirely convinced that that's the case - the situations that he describes it sharing with ABC's Lost seem more like situations that the latter show used as misdirection or McGuffin in order to get viewers lured in for the real story:

Raft built but destroyed by natives... Killing off of a lead... Leads attempting to kill one another, committing suicide, dying of illness... Use of trip-wires and makeshift weaponry... Use of flashbacks to the regular life of each character before being marooned as both a source of content, style, and a means of character development

I mean, yes, Lost did all of those things, and the flashbacks in particular were a defining gimmick of the show's first seasons, but... they're not really what the show was about, you know?

(You could even argue - if I were a more argumentative sort, I would - that the flashbacks were as much about priming the audience for narrative that takes place in more than one timeframe simultaneously so that they wouldn't be confused when the time travel element of the show really kicked in, as they were about character development. But I'll get to that in a second.)
All of this raises the question, in an around-about way, of what Lost is really about. And here's where I piss off at least half of everyone reading this by saying that, should this lawsuit come to trial, ABC should defend themselves by pointing out that, like Battlestar Galactica, Lost really isn't about the characters. Don't get me wrong; both shows had characters we empathized with, believed in and rooted for - not to mention had crushes on and built fansites for - but, when it comes down to it, the characters in both shows? Pretty much coincidental to the important stuff.

Stephen spent some time yesterday worrying that Lost's big finale will disappoint as many people as Galactica's did, and that made me think about why BSG left so many people upset (as well as why I thought it was perfect when I watched it, and felt that fall away the more I thought about it). What I realized was that I only semi-agree with the idea that Lost puts character first. Galactica showrunner Ron Moore has talked more than once about feeling lost as to how to put together the finale of the series until he realized that the show's mythology came second to the show's characters, and that's why it felt satisfying at the time and less so as soon as the warm fuzzy glow faded; yes, each character got their moment and their earned (un)happy ending - well, almost - but at the expense of logic and plot in many cases, and that's what kept us watching, much more than the human drama, as good as it was: the sense that there was a bigger point to it all.

The same is true, I think, of Lost, but to a greater extent; as much as characters like Ben, Locke and Desmond may stay with you, I would still rather find out the answers to all of the questions of the show's mythology than watch any of them have happy (or unhappy) endings, and I doubt that I'm that alone in that. Lost, by design, is as much about the larger questions as it is about any of the characters' individual journeys, and if it ends up going to Galactica route, it'll end up upsetting fans much more than Ron Moore's robot-montage final sequence could even have imagined. It's one thing for Spinner to say that he created Lost in 1977 - and, given the show's time travel aspect, it'd be wonderfully fitting to discover that the whole thing is some ARG-esque parable about a writer who saw Lost then ended up thrown back in time and pitched the show in 1977, knowing it would fail, so that he could file a lawsuit in 2009 - but Lost isn't really a show about characters marooned on an island after a plane crash; it's a show about time travel and destiny and the big questions that you can only really address successfully in science fiction that just happens to feature people whose plane crashed on an island. Which may or may not be an island after all. Unless Spinner can show that that's what his show was always going to be, his Lost will, at most, be an awkward footnote in the history of our favorite island drama.

I have to say Impact's greatest achievement was making me appreciate The Core anew. Not that I need much help to do that, since The Core, starring Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank, deserves a high place of honor among right-thinking global-disaster movie fans everywhere. But Impact was basically like The Core, only much cheaper and much slower. People have been comparing it to Armageddon and Deep Impact, but The Core is really the greatest point of comparison, in my book. Weird global disasters, birds flying upside down, communities in ruins, people freaking out, and worse disasters on the way. So a group of flawed, messed up scientists has to make it right. The difference is, The Core is zippy and totally loony in its logic-avoidance, and it features Swank and Eckhart tunneling into the center of the Earth (seeing massive diamonds along the way) pretty early on. Impact, meanwhile, sort of drags along and weaves in tons of soap-operatic plots.

Okay, I'll stop rhapsodizing about The Core and actually talk about last night's steaming pile of brown matter... sorry, brown dwarf.

So Impact, famously, was supposed to be a Syfy Channel miniseries, but ABC outbid Syfy for the rights to air it. Based on part one, I'd say they should have had a bidding war to decide who was forced to run this thing. That said, the parts where CG asteroids hurtle through the sky and crash into the Earth and the Moon are pretty great, and I liked all the stuff where scientists stand around and talk seriously about how unprecedented this all is, and how the Moon is now in an elliptical orbit.

The parts that were tooth-pulling unbearable, though, were all of the long stretches where the miniseries tried to make us care about its characters, who just got more and more hateful the better we got to know them.

So in a nutshell, there's a huge meteor shower, and everybody around the world is watching in excitement. But unbeknownst to the watching masses, a brown dwarf is hiding in the meteor shower, and it has a huge mass and magnetic attraction. (But somehow it manages to avoid disturbing any of the other planets in the solar system, or otherwise announcing its presence.) The impact causes huge flaming asteroids to come rocketing down to Earth, smashing people. But then it gets worse — somehow the Moon gets into an elliptical orbit away from Earth and then towards it, and whenever it comes closer to Earth, there are freak gravity effects and electrical storms — see the totally awesome clip above — and everything goes hellzapoppin.

And at the end of all this horror, we discover that actually, the Moon's elliptical orbit is going to bring it closer and closer to Earth, faster and faster, until it finally crashes into us and obliterates the planet.

But as I said, by the time the spectre of global annihilation has reared its brown dwarfy head, we've already had two hours of wishing all of these people would die. Especially since this elite squad of science geeks is supposedly our only hope of avoiding total decimation, and all they ever do is sit around drinking wine, and whiskey and various other spirits, and talking about how science has been proved wrong lately. There are a hundred discussions that go roughly like this: "I used to believe in science, but in the past few days, science has totally been called into question." "But it's only by questioning science that we get science." "But what if science is wrong?" I found myself wanting to operate the remote control with my cranium, since ether fast-forwarding through this drek or giving myself brain damage would be an acceptable response to what I was seeing.

I brown-dwarf you not, there are two separate scenes where a very serious military person looks very seriously at the camera and says the same line: "You can't hide from gravity!!"

But meanwhile, every one of our hard-drinking, Newton-questioning science types has an incredibly annoying personal life. There's Natasha Henstridge's character, who for some reason was married to this totally douchey reporter with a soul patch, who keeps chasing her around wanting to get the inside scoop on the brown dwarf thing. David James Elliott plays Alex Kinter, an astrophysicist who's helping his two kids get through the death of their mom by calling them "Buddy" a lot, and by keeping them around their brain-damaged, agoraphobic grandpa (James Cromwell, utterly wasted in both senses of the word.) And then Roland the Euro-git (Benjamin Sadler) has a pregnant fiancee, who cares about flowers and wedding catering the exact same way he cares about science and saving the planet. Yee Jee Tso (from the Doctor Who TV movie) plays Jared, who has issues too, but we don't really find out what they are. I think they have something to do with Jesus.

Their Hallmark-channel storylines are utterly cloying and dull, and they drag the space-rocks action to a grinding halt, forcing us to pay attention to these whiny, narcissistic characters. Why won't grandpa go outside? Will little Sadie keep believing in the man in the moon? What about little Jake, will he keep hitting home runs in the face of armageddon? And will Martina understand that Roland the Euro-git has to put saving the planet from a lunar impact before planning their wedding? Blah blah blah, and who the fuck cares?

That said, I'll probably watch the second half this coming Sunday, just hoping against hope that all of these people get blasted out of space by the brown dwarf, leaving what's left of the planet totally pristine and lovely for some sympathetic aliens to come along and reclaim in a million years or so.

Anyway, it's a good thing this tripe got pummeled in the ratings, losing out to golf and 60 Minutes, so ABC will never try to beat the Syfy Channel at its own game again.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello was told by ABC that Monaghan's appearance in a recent trailer for ABC's upcoming 2009-9010 season doesn't mean that he's returning to Lost, as many - including Ausiello himself - has presumed. Instead, according to the network, he'll be joining another hour-long drama on the channel... but it's supposed to be a surprise, so they won't say which.

Thankfully, we already know what dramas the network have planned - thanks, network upfronts - so it's just a matter of guessing whether he'll be showing up on Castle, new crime procedural The Forgotten, Eastwick, Flash Forward, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty (It's an hour-long show, but surely it doesn't count as a drama?), or mid-season shows The Deep End, Happy Town or V. While I'm all in favor of actors stretching themselves, I think watching the career of Monaghan (Lord Of The Rings, Lost, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and a Chuck guest-shot) shows that he knows that his bread is buttered on the geek side, meaning that Flash Forward and V are the most likely candidates to bring a short pouty Brit into their fold. Add in that his joining the cast (as a series regular) is, according to Ausiello, meant to be "a big surprise," and I'm putting my money on his ending up an alien in V before too long.

Of course, now that I've said that, he'll turn up as McDreamy's brother in Gray's Anatomy.

Spoiler alert: 'Lost' mystery solved! [EW.com]

To be fair, Earth 2100 has at least some possibilty of credibility; it's an ABC News special looking at what the next century has to offer the planet, and how some of the worst trouble could be avoided by taking steps today. Airing June 2nd, it's hosted by Bob Woodruff, so you know who to email to ask why it's not called Earth 2109.

However, there's no factual genesis to the promisingly-bad sounding Impact, which airs June 21st and 28th. We've already told you about this mini-series before, so let's let the Hollywood Reporter explain it this time:

David James Elliott stars in the mini about a small band of international astronauts, scientists, and soldiers banding together to save Earth from the approaching Moon.

That's right, people; the fucking moon is coming to crush us, and only the star of the shortlived 2006 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and JAG can save us. The best part about this show may be the fact that, while it may be premiering on ABC, it'll find its natural home of SciFi soon afterwards, as they bought the re-run rights to it last month.

Fall - and new ABC drama Flash Forward - really can't come soon enough.

ABC sets summer schedule: Rowling, 'Diamonds,' 'Impact' [THR Live Feed]