Fans feign blackout to protest FlashForward’s demise

Fans have staged one of the most unusual protests in TV history to protest at the axing of their favourite sci-fi series: they dropped to the ground and stayed there for 2 minutes, 17 seconds.
They were recreating the worldwide blackout that was central to the action in ABC’s FlashForward. As the programme title suggests, the population of the world were able to see incidents from their future during their blackout.

ABC cancelled the show after one series – leaving the story on a cliffhanger. Disgruntled fans decided to stage their own blackouts yesterday outside ABC offices in New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and London.

As part of the wider protest, ABC bosses have been deluged with 20,000 friendship bracelets – of the kind given to FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) by his daughter in the series.


“The show’s premise is based on a mysterious event, which causes everyone on the planet to black out for two minutes and 17 seconds on October 6, 2009,” said the group’s press release. “During the global blackout, or GBO, those that lost consciousness saw FlashForwards or visions of their lives six months into the future.”
The campaign began moments after ABC announced that FlashForward would not get a second season.
“Dozens of Facebook pages were created, including Save FlashForward, BringBackFlashForward, Against FlashForward Cancellation, Do Not Cancel FlashForward, Stop FlashForward Being Cancelled, and many more,” said the fans’ press release.