The series revolves around the lives of several people as a mysterious event causes nearly everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for two minutes and seventeen seconds on October 6, 2009.

During this blackout, people see what appear to be visions of their lives on April 29, 2010, a global "flashforward" six months into the future.

[1] FlashForward was originally developed at HBO, which sold its option because it thought the show would be a better fit for a broadcast network.

In 2015, Robert J. Sawyer shared his memo that he sent to producers and staff writers on February 19, 2010 outlining his suggestion for season two.

[53] In Greece it is broadcast on FX,[54] in Hong Kong on TVB Pearl,[55] in New Zealand on TV2,[50] and in Russia on Channel One.

In Western Europe, FlashForward airs on Kanal 5 in Denmark,[61] Nelonen in Finland,[62] Canal +[63] and TF1 in France,[34] ProSieben in Germany by [64] RTÉ Two, in Ireland,[65] TV 2 in Norway,[34] Cuatro in Spain,[66] TV4 in Sweden,[67] TSR1, La 2 & SF zwei in Switzerland,[68] ORF1 in Austria, Five in the United Kingdom,[69] Fox in Italy,[70] Veronica in the Netherlands,[71] BeTV in Belgium,[72] and SIC in Portugal.

[78] The show's scheduling in the US was held to blame by some people; an unexpected extended hiatus may have contributed to the deteriorating fanbase.

[79] However, in other countries such as the UK, where the show was given prime time scheduling on terrestrial television, ratings also dwindled.

"[83] In September 2009, Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle deemed the series "enormously entertaining" with a "tantalizing premise",[84] while Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times wrote that it "begins in such a spirit of bracing suspense that [she was] challenged to recall another pilot that lured [her] so quickly into addiction.

"[85] Variety's Brian Lowry gave a more measured review, opining, "It's an intriguing, mind-bending concept that's mostly well executed [...] there's a solid desire to see more but not such wonderment as to proclaim unwavering fealty until the show peers a little farther down the road.

"[86] Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker graded the series "B+", stating, "FF isn't perfect.