So the word is out. Flash Forward has been canceled, V gets a last minute reprieve. I guess if I had to kill one of the two, that’s how I’d go too. But the real shame is that both shows could be/could have been so, so, so much better if they were just better written and (particularly in the case of Flash Forward) better cast. There’s literally no character in Flash Forward I wouldn’t have been perfectly happy about being killed off. None of them had chemistry with each other or with the viewer. The only guy I was sorry to see go was that fat bearded guy from all the David Mamet movies [Update: Yes, this guy]. I could spend a lot of time dwelling on the idiocy of F.F.’s scripting, but since it’s canceled, why bother? But, please, someone inform the producers that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t exist in the early 1990s! That was by no means the show’s biggest idiocy, but it vexed me every time they referred to DHS doing this or that in 1993 or whenever.

As for V, I just don’t get why it has to be so bad not good. It, too, has huge casting problems. The Hugh Jackman knock-off terrorist character is particularly idiotic. In every episode, there are countless “that makes no sense” moments (as in last night’s finale when the FBI chick asks for her gun and is allowed to wander around the ship alone). My biggest pet peeve? Every single time the alien queen hottie lies to the humans — every time! — be it during a press conference or when she’s talking to the teen beat Dan Rather character from Party of Five, she then turns around and smirks her villain smirk. First of all, she’s supposed to be without human emotions. Second of all, even the worst politicians know that smirking-like-Montgomery-Burns after you lie to the public is a horrible habit, particularly in this age of ubiquitous cameras. But what really, really, bothers me is how it betrays the contempt the producers have for the audience. After a whole season of telling the viewer that the Vs are evil, they still think we need to see the alien queen from Victoria’s secret do her Snidely Whiplash smile lest we think she really does want to give us clean energy and cancer cures.

Argh.

Update: From a reader (some spoilers):

Jonah:
I enjoyed the intro episodes of 2009, but am finding the last run of episodes to be mediocre, at best. There are dozens of examples, but in my mind, the most egregious examples the creators’ collective lack of imagination are as follows:
1. The aliens have an extreme technological advantage over humanity, yet it does not yet appear they have invented locks. When Erica was sneaking around the mother ship, her ability to walk into the super-soldier hatchery with a bomb seemed a bit surreal. I have a higher level of security to keep my kids from bothering me in the bathroom.
2. The human resistance is pathetic. If there are ever situations where terrorism may be justified and collateral damage acceptable, the list of situations should certainly include global invasion by malevolent aliens. I’m just saying…
3. Maybe it was too much to expect, but Erica didn’t have the presence of mind to shoot Anna when they were having their one-on-one conversation during the finale? It would be like going to a meeting, ALONE, with Hitler in order to size him up for next time. Really?
4. The super-soldiers sure sound scary, but the ONE they managed to hatch early and release only killed two people by stabbing from behind. Who couldn’t ambush someone and kill them from behind?
5. The ops/terrorist guy seems too much like someone I have a chance against. He reminds me of the guys we’ve all met who begin story’s with “when I were in special ops…” I’ve known guys who were in ops, and I’ve known guys who said they were…they weren’t always the same people if you know what I mean.
The list could go on, but these seem to bother me the most. One final though… Why don’t they have surveillance cameras on their ships? Just wondering.
Thanks,

I agree with all of these and, as my wife can attest, I have shouted at the TV about many of them.