So what’s the big deal about Forever, ABC’s new drama which premieres Monday, September 22 at 10pm starring Judd Hirsch, Ioan Gruffudd, Alana De La Garza, and Joel David Moore? Well, that’s exactly what Executive Producer Matt Miller (Chuck, Human Target) wanted to talk to BuddyTV about. With little prodding from yours truly, Miller jumped right in and spilled his guts like a freshwater trout. You and I get to reap all the benefits of Miller’s generous reveal and find out exactly what makes this crime procedural different from all others.
“The conceit of Forever,” shared Miller, “is that this character is immortal. What’s great about it is that it allows us to not just tell a story in present day every week, but we get to tell a flashback story every week. So, you’re not only telling the ‘A’ story of that particular weekly episode where you find a body in the ME’s office and we solve the crime by the end, we also get to unravel pieces of our own main character’s mystery throughout the course of the season.”
Yeah, so, what’s the big deal about unraveling a character’s mythology bit by bit throughout a season? How is it different from Sherlock, Arrow, Angel or CSI and why should I give it a try? Read on, people.
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It’s Got All the Right Stuff
Yes, ABC’s Forever has flashbacks like Arrow, immortality like Angel, homicide cases like Castle, CSI and Bones with incredible forensics like the later two. And granted, Henry pines for a dead wife like Ichabod in Sleepy Hollow, and has the intellectual acuity and keen powers of observation like the protagonists in Sherlock and Elementary, minus Holmes’ arrogance and irascibility. Bonus!
Without a doubt, Forever‘s leading man, like all the leading men in the shows listed above, is panty-melting gorgeous with the added bonus of a silky British accent that is To-Die-For. As a matter of fact, Ioan Gruffudd (Castle, Horatio Hornblower) who plays Forever‘s Dr. Henry Morgan appears at #12 in our very own list of TV’s hottest men this fall.
So how is ABC’s Forever different? I’m getting to that.
It Has A Very Unique Family Relationship Dynamic
Forever serves up some promising sexual chemistry between Henry and Jo Martinez, a recently widowed New York homicide detective played by Alana De La Garza (Do No Harm), and features a heaping helping of wry humor. It also delivers a smattering of science, corpses that don’t at first look like – but end up being – homicide victims, and some phenomenal historical vignettes, but the emotional core of the series, according to Miller, is the unique dynamic played out between the two main characters, New York medical examiner Dr. Henry Morgan, and his best and only friend, Abe, played by Judd Hirsch (Damages, Numb3rs, Taxi).
Spoiler Alert: Abe is actually Henry and his wife Abigail’s adopted son. What?
“Things can get a little repetitive in television,” Miller admitted. “It feels like we’ve seen and done a lot of plot twists and we’ve seen characters solve crimes and I always ask myself … when I’m sitting in the editing room and looking at it … ‘How much magic is there in this? How many moments in this thing are real and how many are something that no one else is doing in television?’ For me, I’ve never seen a relationship between an immortal 35 year old and a 70 year old man who is his son. And as Henry is someone who cannot die and Abe is looking into the twilight of his years, the concept of a guy who can’t die juxtaposed against his aging son adds an interesting and an very emotional layer to the show.”
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With Abe at his side as his quintessential ‘soft place to fall’, Henry faces the challenges of keeping an impossible secret, of living with devastating loss, and of enduring incredible physical pain. Though Henry is immortal, he’s not spared the experience of physical death. Quite the opposite. In the first two episodes he dies three times, and quite painfully, I might add.
So, it looks to me like Forever is going to confront the issues of aging, unimaginable loss, and pain in a way we’ve never seen it before. If eternal life has been made bearable only by Abe’s companionship, once that is gone what will Henry have to live for? That is the scrummy conundrum, friends. That’s what makes Forever unique.
Henry Uses His Past to Solve Murders. Case in Point: Jack the Ripper
“Henry’s back story can be anything from a slave ship and the 1840s or deals with Henry and the love of his life, Abigail, whom he meets in the mid 40s and then a little bit of them in the 50s. We also tell stories like in the fifth episode which takes us back to 1890s New York and we get to have these wonderful flashback sequences. We’ll also have those stories relate to the ‘A’ stories that are going on in present day where it’s the sense that this guy has truly seen and done everything.”
As a rather vivid example of Henry’s present day experiences being related to his colorful past, Miller let leak that Henry, literally, has first hand experience with the real Jack the Ripper, which comes into play in episode six.
“What’s great for us to write in this show is the notion that that we can tell a present day Jack the Riper story, but we can also flash back to the actual Jack the Ripper killing. Henry was living in London during that time and ended up getting a little bit involved in the case. What’s also interesting about that is that the original Jack the Ripper killing was when the concept of medical examiners was first conceived in that doctors had to help out with putting the bodies back together to identify them and then ultimately trying to work the case.”
Henry’s Nemesis is Creepy, Creepy, Creepy
In the very first episode Henry receives an envelope containing a wicked sinister message from someone who claims he’s been watching him for a long time and shares his affliction. It sounds like he might want to use Henry as a guinea pig of some sort in his own campaign to overcome immortality. Henry is terrified to the point of starting to pack for France instead of facing the prospect of being poked and prodded like a laboratory animal by scientists. Since I had Miller on the line, I asked him what he could tell us about this Moriarty-esque antagonist.
“The anonymous character, what does he want from Henry and how long has he been alive? Is he another immortal like Henry? Have they ever met before; do they have any kind of connections to each other from the past? All of that stuff we will dive into and get some answers to in the course of the first season.”
Folks, after watching the first two episodes I can tell you that the chances are good that Henry’s antagonist, who claims to have been around since Jesus was in sandals, is going to attempt, and probably succeed, in killing him numerous times. Oh, Henry! Why do I think that? Because in episode two his disembodied voice tells Henry over the phone, “We’re soul mates. We’ve got eternity together. Might as well have some fun with it.” Snap!
So, Mr. Miller, how soon will we see this ‘Adam’ on the screen and has the character been cast yet?
“I hope to reveal this character at some point,” he freely admitted and confirmed that the part had been cast but would not admit who would be playing him no matter how much I cajoled him. Fair Enough.
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There’s a Dominatrix in Episode 9 & Much More
Yes, Forever has its own multiple shades of gray worth sticking around to see. As a matter of fact, it looks like there are a number of juicy nuggets in Forever‘s future from Henry’s past.
“That’s the idea of the show. He’s sort of done and tried everything. We do have in episode nine where Henry has an interesting connection with a dominatrix who is accused of committing a murder. Henry and the dominatrix end up working together a little bit, but you know there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain. Henry is certainly familiar with pain on a lot of different levels, emotional and physical, so while he is a deeply moral and ethical person unlike the anonymous caller, he is not necessarily a Boy Scout.”
Oh, la la, say more, Mr. Miller. What else do you have in store for us?
- In episode two Henry receives a gift from the anonymous stalker who reveals how long he himself has been alive, and Jo almost finds out Henry’s secret, but ends up ‘saving’ his life instead.
- In episode three there’s “an incredibly emotional and fun Henry and Abe story that runs throughout that episode. We’ll get to see Abe as a ten-year-old with Henry, and getting to kiss his first girl.”
- Episode three’s central crime centers around a fountain of youth drug and we get to see Abe grapple with the possibility of joining Henry in immortality.
- Episode five is 1890s New York we get to have these wonderful flash back sequences.
- Episode six “has a wonderful flashback story of a modern day Jack the Ripper … and we’re gonna see some feet and a hand and a head (of the stalker).”
- Episode nine involves Henry’s dominatrix.
- Somewhere along the line we will get to see Abigail as an old woman.
There you have it, folks. Now you know why ABC’s Forever is something new out there. If you’re like me and 10pm is a bit late to be starting a show, set your DVR and watch each episode of ABC’s Forever at your leisure. As for me, mine’s already set.
Forever premieres on Monday, September 22 at 10pm and then moves to its regularly scheduled time slot with episode 2 on Tuesday, September 23 at 10pm on ABC.
(Images and video courtesy of ABC.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
