SFWA member Robert J. Sawyer’s novel Flash Forward has been picked up by ABC as a new series. Pretty exciting for SF fans and WIRED news got to see the first episode.

The show, created by The Dark Knight co-writer David S. Goyer, explores the aftermath of a two-minute, 17-second, blackout experienced by the whole of humanity.

Besides the car wrecks, botched surgeries and bruised bodies resulting from 6.8 billion earthlings losing motor function simultaneously, Episode 1 (which includes a cameo from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane) sets up two overarching questions: a) What the hell happened? And b) During the global blackout, each human experienced a “memory” of events that happen six months in the future. Can they, or should they, try to change destiny?

Fans of the book will be in for a surprise, since there are evidently a lot of changes in store. David S. Goyer, the creator of the show says, “It would be pretty stupid to build a hit TV series that has a mystery you could solve by going to a bookstore.”