I recently watched the primer if Flashforward on Hulu. I had seen the previews for the show for quite some time but the first time I tried to put it on my DVR it wasn't yet programmed and then I forget. It would have been nice to see on the bigger screen but either way it was a good show, and I liked it enough that it inspired me to read the book.

I have no idea how much of the book is spoilers for the TV show, but if you do not want to know anything that happens in the story, or might happen in the story be warned.

The first major difference in the book is that the main character is not an FBI agent, but a man working at the large hadron collider. As you can likely guess from that the mystery of how the flash forward occurred is far less of a mystery. The Other major change is that the flash forward in the book takes them forward twenty one years, not six months.

Typically I do not like it when people take a book and change in, but both of these are very good changes for a TV show and i can understand fully why they would do it. A weekly show can't really have a twenty one year jump and not knowing what caused the event is quite a lot more important in a TV show.

One of the things I really hope they do not change though is the implicit questions of free will that the flash forward brings to light. If you can see a glimpse of the future does that mean that you have no control over your choices, or is this only a single possible future? This also comes with something that in the book is called the Ebenezer effect. That is that those with the most negative futures are in many ways the ones who are most helped by the events of the flash forward because they can see the need for change.

One thing that does worry me though, is the question of whether they will need to have a flash forward each season. I do not know if this would be a good thing or a bad thing but the idea makes me a little nervous for the show in general if they do, but without knowing how the show will play out, or what caused the flash forward I have no real reason for that fear.