It looks like the 2009-10 season is going to be the year of the changing showrunner.

"FlashForward," which had already switched showrunners from Marc Guggenheim to David Goyer last October, is changing again. This time with Goyer -- known for his work in the revived Batman movie franchise -- stepping down, and no replacement yet announced.

Goyer said he wants to focus more on movies, and the daily grind of running a show has been interfering with it. But "FlashForward" has run into a number of problems since its launch on ABC last fall, including ratings that fell from a 7.7 rating/13 share in the overnights from its premiere Sept. 24, to a 4.6/7 for its most recent episode Dec. 3.

ABC said Guggenheim, the co-creator of Eli Stone, had always been meant to be a temporary showrunner, someone experienced in the television medium that could show Goyer -- who has focused mostly on movies in the past -- the ropes to doing the job. The switchover was made in October, but sources tell Airlock Alpha some at ABC have not been happy with the results.

"FlashForward" is set to return March 18 after the Olympics, but the network is going to have a tough time trying to win back viewers from the first half, let alone attract new viewers. The extended mid-season break has not been a good thing for television series historically, especially shows that have tight story arcs over multiple episodes. A similar mid-season break is usually blamed for the demise of the CBS series "Jericho" that took a massive fan campaign to bring back, only to be cancelled after a short run in its second season.

The fact that ABC hasn't announced a new showrunner isn't a great sign. Much of the production work on the series should be complete, at least in terms of script creation. However, it is possible that ABC could wait until after "FlashForward" returns in March and get closer to a decision on the fate of the show.

It's possible that Brannon Braga, who hasn't run a show since "Star Trek: Enterprise" and the short-lived series "Threshold," could step in as showrunner. But that is unlikely based on his work with "24" on Fox.