I am trying to figure out if this can be done via just template changes or does it require someone with talent to create a hack.

I want all search results to be threaded or flat by user choice, and preference, and the ability to display a few hundred characters of the users body of thier post under the subject, just seeing the "RE: TOPIC SUBJECT" is not very informative, and creates a time consuming task to click on every thing. Only to find out it took you to a thread you already read. If this list were in flat mode only show the starting topic. Hey this sounds a lot like ubb.classic?! hmmmm.... Can this be implemented???? PLEASE ?

Unless I am mistaken, the results should show up either flat or threaded based on their settings in their profile. The other part will need to be a modification of the php and template files. You might ask in the requests/suggestions forum, it sounds like a good idea.