American TV

Episode 7 of FlashForward could be a pivotal one for the series. There was a huge focus in The Gift on the aftermath of the flash-forwards and how people responded to them. As always with this show, the theme of self-fulfilling prophecy and whether destiny is already written come to the fore.

Let's review the episode today by exploring the key themes? And naturally, there'll probably be a ton of spoilers for those of you who didn't bother to watch...

For the fourth episode of Fringe, it’s invasion of the frozen head snatchers. Yes, a mysterious gang are robbing severed heads from Cryogenics labs all over the place. And guess what, it’s up to Agent Dunham and her cohorts to find out who’s behind the thefts, with a little help from her parallel universe-hopping benefactor, William Bell.

But first, a little light experiment in which Walter gives Dunham a nice, blended mixture of treated worms to help her remember her trip to the Twin Towers. This triggers a series of flashbacks eventually brings Dunham back to her meeting with William Bell and recovers her memory of their conversation. But more on that later.

The fourth episode of House Season 6 balances the diagnostic team having an ethical quandary over a genocidal African leader while House causes mayhem for Wilson by falling out with another tenant in his building. In other news, Taub has seemingly vanished while 13 is still reeling from having been fired by her boyfriend, Foreman.

This could have been quite a heavy episode: James Earl Jones is Dibala, the ‘Tyrant’ of the episode’s title, and arrives at Princeton Plainsboro Hospital flanked by military bodyguards. The themes of genocide against his countrymen - perhaps an echo of Saddam Hussein’s regime - are quickly revealed and both Chase and Cameron are drawn into the ethical dilemma of saving the life of a dictator who will continue killing innocent people.

If - like me - you missed out on telly phenomenon like Lost and 24, you have an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with ABC's FlashForward. The series starts with a massive global event in which the entire population of the planet blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which time they experience visions of their lives 6 months in the future.

If the series had chosen to follow the lives of some agricultural types, the series would have been less interesting. Imagine it:

Farmer #1: I had a vision of myself in April. It was lambing season and we were dealing with a difficult birth...

Farmer #2: Ooo-arrr! I saw myself finally fixing the gate in the top field. Good weather for it.

Farmer #1: Aye. Wonder what it all means...?

A few weeks ago, the all-new series of Knight Rider ditched its original, secret service, anti-terror premise. The agency was shut down, krazy KARR made a brief reappearance, and Sarah became a billionairre thanks to her father's timely death.

And so, the gang (Mike, Sarah, Billy and Zoe - I'm glad they kept Zoe!) formed their own secret organisation which was more in keeping with the original Foundation for Law And Government (FLAG) from the 1980's series. Devon Miles would be proud.

For my part, I'm glad they ditched the secret agency thing, blew Michael's memory loss storyline out of the water and returned to the 'one man can make a difference' premise of the original series. The military backdrop was a great re-introduction to the car and cast of the show, but terrorism quickly became tiresome. I just hope that Michael running around the dusty midwest helping damsels in distress doesn't become equally as tiresome. Besides, in this era of cybercrime, how many rednecks and shady businessmen are out there making hardware store owners cower in fear?