Couch potatoes across the world became united on one channel of sadness as news that the inventor of the television remote control had died began to set in.

The science fiction pilot Flash Forward has been picked up by ABC and given a 13-episode order, the network says.

Scifi.com -- The WB has ordered a pilot for a TV series based on the DC Comics series The Flash, Variety reported. Todd Komarnicki (Resistance) is writing the pilot and will executive produce the project via Warner Brothers Television and his Guy Walks Into a Bar company, the trade paper reported.