ABC for the win!

After the waking nightmare that was "Melrose Place," I had decided that maybe I'd just stick to "Glee" this season. However, I couldn't resist trying out two more new shows. First up was "Eastwick," based on the John Updike novel The Witches of Eastwick and the 1987 film of the same name. I'm a fan of the original movie, but also I really like Rebecca Romijn. In all of her interviews she just seems very down to earth, funny and the sort of girl you could just hang out and watch The Goonies with. So I've always cheered her on. Just sometimes from a distance. Also, like many of us at Pictures & Frames, I am a fan of the Canadian show "Slings and Arrows." As such, I am mad about Paul Gross. All this adds up to me watching "Eastwick." And liking it. The show centers on three women who become unlikely friends after wishing for a change to come their way. The change comes in the form of a mysterious stranger, Darryl Van Horn, who sweeps into their town and sparks some very strange happenings. It's a lot of fun and I'm very curious to see where the story goes. It may be one of those guilty pleasures that wears thin after a season (like "Ugly Betty" or "Desperate Housewives") but I'm interested enough to keep watching.




However, after one episode of "FlashForward" I am hooked like a methfaced tina addict. Oh. My. God. "FlashForward" is ABC's new twisty curvy mystery scifi show, primed to provide the sort of addictive thrills that will disappear once "Lost" is gone after the upcoming final season. For that reason alone, I was skeptical. Nothing can be as compelling and mind-bogglingly fun as "Lost" is! But yes, after just one episode, I'm ready to sit down and watch an entire season of "FlashForward." One day a pair of FBI agents (John Cho & Joseph Fiennes, or as I shall refer to them from this point on, Harold & Shakespeare) are on a stakeout car chase when all of the sudden BAM! Blackout. Both of them. And everyone on the road around them. And every person in the entire world. Everybody blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds. But during this time they are actually having visions- visions of the same two minutes and 17 seconds on April 29, 2010. What caused this? What does it mean? Will the visions come true or are they, like Scrooge's vision of Christmas Future, just possible realities, things that might happen if we follow a certain route? Can we change our paths or on April 29, 2010 at 10 PM will we be having adulterous affairs, stalked by mask-wearing creeps, in a meeting in London? What's worse- what if you didn't see anything while everyone around you was visiting their future? What will become of you? Will you be asleep or dead?



And then, the final scene of the pilot... if you weren't convinced by now that you'd be tuning in next week, you will know for sure. I may not have had a vision of myself in April of next year, but I can tell you exactly where I will be next Thursday night at 8:00. Watching ABC.