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As we all know, Lost is ending this season. Despite drops in the ratings, and unfair backlash in the second season, it remains one of ABC's flagship programs, and they seem determined to fill the sci-fi gap with two new shows. So far, both programs show promise, but, as of now, don't live up to Lost's quality. I explained my issues with V in another column. FlashForward has even bigger problems.

At this point, we've all heard the criticism that the characters are undefined, that they are mere chess pieces to move the plot forward. This criticism is right on the button, and gets right to he heart of my issues with prophesy as a mythological storytelling device. And make no mistake, these flash-forwards are prophesy by another name.

As I've said in other columns, if a show introduces a prophesy, and many mythology shows do, it must come true at some point, even if it's not in the way we expect it to. This can be fun to watch, but, as it's an exercise in inevitability, without interesting characters, it can lack an emotional core that any story needs to keep the viewers invested. This is why Galactica's Pythian Prophesy, Angel's Shanshu Prophesy and Alias's Rambaldi Prophesy all engage viewers, because we care about the people in them. I'll admit it - I had to go to IMDb to even remember the names of FlashForward's characters. I watched the first episode and really liked it. Then, as weeks go by, I continue to find it clever, but far less engaging. I just don't care about these people. So what difference does it make to me if John Cho's boring character dies or not, as his flash-forward would seem to indicate?
For that matter, creators David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga are playing fast and loose with the rules. A boring character played by Lee Thompson Young commits suicide to prove that his flash-forward won't come to pass. (Okay, this may get a bit heady here, so bear with me.) How can this be? One boring character changing his destiny would have had an effect on everyone else's destinies. Take our boring Joseph Fiennes character, for example. Young would have interacted with him in the months leading up to their April 29th destiny. Without Young's involvement, doesn't that affect Fiennes' flash-forward? If the six-degrees-of-separation theory is true, then the entire world is so intertwined that one boring character altering his fate should have resulted in a global Back to the Future style ripple effect.

On that note, many of the futures seem to be coming closer to fruition by virtue of knowing their inevitability. Fiennes' investigation board, for instance, provides clues that he follows that seem to be resulting in the creation of that very investigation board itself. So, without the flash-forward, he would not have had any need to create the board in the first place, nor would he know how to put together the pieces of it. Yet, in Young's case, without his flash-forward, he wouldn't have killed himself. So the flash-forwards cause people to both fulfill and change their destiny.

I'm aware of the theories of alternate universes, and Goyer and Braga do hint at such a possibility to explain changed futures, but it's just not fair from a storytelling point of view. Either the future can be changed or it can't. Some boring characters shouldn't be able to alter their future while others go barreling forward on a non-stop destiny roller coaster. It's having their cake and eating it too. There is no drama anymore because we know that, with a little elbow grease, our boring characters can get out of their undesirable futures, while those with happy ones can kick back and let them happen.

Which only makes the issue of the undefined characters more of a problem. If Goyer and Braga insist on making the future changeable, I could accept that to a degree, if I felt the characters were even the slightest bit compelling. Since they're not compelling, at least let me enjoy watching the puzzle pieces fit into place. No such luck - pieces are now missing. FlashForward's production is going into a short hiatus. If Goyer and Braga are smart (Goyer must be - he wrote The Dark Knight and Dark City), they'll take the overwhelming response to the boring characters to heart and start developing them. Otherwise, the drop in ratings that the show has suffered in recent weeks may change its destiny as the new Lost.