FLASHFORWARD--Review and Spoilers

Based on a book by Robert J. Sawyer, the TV show features a great concept. What if everyone in the world blacked out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and got a glimpse of their lives 6 months in the future?

ABC is trying to find their new LOST, and they may have. They find several interesting characters--FBI agents, doctors, babysitters, children and put out a pilot that is extremely compelling.

The flash forwards make for interesting mysteries. Why is a woman having a sonogram at 10 in the evening, for one? If a character saw nothing in the future, is he dead?

And what exactly is the FBI agent discovering, that leads a series of men to hunt him down and attempt to kill him?

(I can guess at the last one, mostly because I read the synopsis of the book... Wonder how close the series will stay? In the book, people flash forward 21 years instead of 6 months... My guess is "loosely.")

And in true LOST fashion, it has a great twist at the end of the episode--(I was wondering how cameras would play in... Would they black out too? Would they show what happened?)

There are a few drawbacks that I'll chalk up to being part of the pilot, but could detract from future episodes.

Some of the dialogue is really on the nose--mostly coming from the agents and the doctors as they try to explain some of what's going on, even though it's not necessary to the plot. It was distracting.

Also, in an effort to keep mysteries going, characters (much as they do in LOST) don't say anything about what happened to them? If they spoke up, it'd probably solve a lot of problems.

The one scene that really bothered me involved sharing their own flash forwards. The woman asks her husband to tell her about his. He does and when she asks about hers--DUH! Like he wouldn't--she refuses. For being a medical doctor, she's pretty dumb at that point.

But I give the pilot thumbs up and look forward (HA) to seeing what the series has in store.