The Official "Lost" the series discussion

[Deberg_1990]

I figured I would start a thread for this and see what happens....there seemed to be quite a few viewers on the board for this show the past few weeks.....I like the direction the show is taking so far......episode 3 tonight at 7 central on ABC....

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by scorpio

The producers have said repeatedly that they aren't dead or in limbo or anything. They re-affirmed it in an interview a couple weeks ago.

I think they're in an alternate timeline, something to do with all the freaky magnetic stuff on the island, like maybe it exists in a space/time anomaly or something.

That's what they've said from time to time but personally, I don't buy it. I hope they come up with something "genius" but it seems to me like they're in one of Dante's rings of Hell. Not the first, because it appears that all of the Lostie's have murdered someone but certainly somewhere in Hell.

I'm probably wrong but other than the island being a massive psychological experiment in which they've all agreed to participate (but they can't remember that they've agreed), I've got nuttin'.

[scorpio]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

That's what they've said from time to time but personally, I don't buy it. I hope they come up with something "genius" but it seems to me like they're in one of Dante's rings of Hell. Not the first, because it appears that all of the Lostie's have murdered someone but certainly somewhere in Hell.

I'm probably wrong but other than the island being a massive psychological experiment in which they've all agreed to participate (but they can't remember that they've agreed), I've got nuttin'.

Only a few have murdered people - Sawyer, Kate, Sayyid (probably), Charlie (and that was on the island), Anna Lucia

[Baby Lee]

Locke disgusts me, but they'll probably have a reveal that redeems him.
Right now, he doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything, aside from his own dreams of being special. Destroying the way off the island, destroying the way to communicate with the outside world, conning Sawyer into doing a task required of him that he doesn't have the constitution to accomplish himself.
"Ah gawt mah legs back, so eff evereh bowdy else!!"

[oldandslow]

I have heard from a fairly good source three people we know and love/hate die in the episode finale. Highlight below to read the names.

kate, ben, sayid

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

I have heard from a fairly good source three people we know and love/hate die in the episode finale. Highlight below to read the names.

Did your source indicate if they're all really dead?

[oldandslow]

Originally Posted by tomahawk kid

Did your source indicate if they're all really dead?

Yep - ...oh and delete the names in your quote.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

I have heard from a fairly good source three people we know and love/hate die in the episode finale. Highlight below to read the names.

I haven't heard beyond speculation the exact persons, but I've seen pretty well confirmed a total of five [5] deaths by the finale. PapaSaw was apparently the first.

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

Yep - ...oh and delete the names in your quote.

Well, are they?

[Chiefnj]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

I have heard from a fairly good source three people we know and love/hate die in the episode finale. Highlight below to read the names.

Where did you read those 3 are the ones to die?



I like the Locke character. It's good to have a few oddballs that you never know will fall on one side or the other.

Sawyer's character seems to have no purpose now that he killed Sawyer.

Kate should be in lingerie every episode or there is no point having her live. She's useless and the character development is horrible.

[Bearcat]

I like how they're tying it all together, even if there are plenty of times I think "I sort of remember that.... too bad it was 3 years and 140 useless episodes ago", like before Sawyer and Locke's dad got into the details about Sawyer's parents.

Originally Posted by scorpio

The producers have said repeatedly that they aren't dead or in limbo or anything. They re-affirmed it in an interview a couple weeks ago.

I think they're in an alternate timeline, something to do with all the freaky magnetic stuff on the island, like maybe it exists in a space/time anomaly or something.

Yeah, I think it would be too obvious they are in Hell since they've come out and said it a couple of times, and it doesn't really go along with the submarine.

I think the talk about the airplane and dead passengers could easily be explained by a government cover-up, which would obviously go along with the rest of the story. Locke's dad's claim they are in Hell isn't really based on anything, since he went on to explained he was kidnapped.

I really liked the exchange with Jack and Kate... the "you have to tell her"... does a good job of confusing the trust issues.

[Chiefnj]

Why don't the castaways just move into the abandoned village? It's got houses, beds, piano's, running water, showers, a game room and a neat security system. Why sleep on the beach when there is a free hotel 6 a few miles away?

[cadmonkey]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj

Why don't the castaways just move into the abandoned village? It's got houses, beds, piano's, running water, showers, a game room and a neat security system. Why sleep on the beach when there is a free hotel 6 a few miles away?

I don't think they trust the other's to the point of moving somewhere they would feel vunerable. At least on the beach they feel a small sense of security.

[keg in kc]

'Lost' set for three more years

ABC hit expires in 2010

By JOSEF ADALIAN
Variety.com
Posted: Sun., May 6, 2007, 9:20pm PT

ABC has set a 2010 end date for hit series 'Lost,' with the drama equally dividing its final 48 episodes into three seasons.

In a potentially paradigm-shifting play, ABC has agreed to let the producers of "Lost" set an expiration date for the series -- three years in the future.

Skein will now wrap after the production of 48 additional episodes that will be divided into three, shortened 16-episode seasons. Final episode -- the show's 119th -- will air during the 2009-10 season.

In conjunction with the advance order, "Lost" showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have inked hefty new multi-year overall deals with ABC Television Studio to continue with the series until the end. Duo had made setting a wrap date for the show a condition for staying.

Lindelof and Cuse had wanted "Lost" to end after two more seasons. They're essentially still getting their wish: The 48 episodes they'll produce over the next three years is the same number the show produced during its first two seasons.

ABC execs, however, came up with a way to keep "Lost" on its sked for three more seasons. What's more, the 16-episode arcs will run without repeats (a la "24"), allowing the Alphabet to make the show more of an event.

"In considering the powerful storytelling of 'Lost,' we felt this was the only way to give it a proper creative conclusion," ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson said.

"I always said that we would allow the series to grow and give viewers the most compelling hour possible," he added. "And, due to the unique nature of the series, we knew it would require an end date to keep the integrity and strength of the show consistent throughout, and to give the audience the payoff they deserve. "

McPherson also acknowledged that getting Lindelof and Cuse to reup "was critical to me and the network."

ABC Television Studio prexy Mark Pedowitz shared that sentiment.

"We wanted to make sure we had the team responsible for its success in place for not only the run of the show, but so that each of their future series creations have a home at the studio after 'Lost,' " Pedowitz said.

J.J. Abrams, who co-created "Lost" with Lindelof, defected to Warner Bros. TV last year and has been focusing on a new slate of TV and film projects, including the revival of the "Star Trek" franchise for Paramount Pictures. He told Daily Variety that he fully supported the advance wrap decision.

"It is the right choice for the series and its viewers," he said via an email message. "It takes real foresight and guts to make a call like this. I applaud ABC and Touchstone for making this happen."

Lindelof and Cuse, who are putting the finishing touches on the third-season finale, released a joint statement praising what they termed "a bold and unprecedented move for ABC" and thanking McPherson and Pedowitz for making it.

Cuse added that he hoped more shows will be able to follow the "Lost" lead and declare an end date.

"I think for story-based shows like 'Lost,' as opposed to franchise-based shows like 'ER' or 'CSI,' the audience wants to know when the story is going to be over," Cuse wrote. "When J.K. Rowling announced that there would be seven 'Harry Potter' books, it gave the readers a clear sense of exactly what their investment would be. We want our audience to do the same."

Cuse confirmed that devising an exit strategy for "Lost" was key to reupping with ABC Television Studio.

"In making this deal, Damon and I had two priorities: defining an end point for the show and keeping the quality bar high," Cuse said. "To do that we are both fully committed to the day-to-day running of the show right up until the very end. It's also why the 16 episodes per year was key for us. Because our show is so mythological, and because, unlike '24,' we can't reset each season, we need the extra time fewer episodes affords us to really plan out the specifics of our storytelling."

Lindelof and Cuse made public their desire for an end date during the TV Critics Assn. press tour last winter (Daily Variety, Jan. 15).

Cuse and Lindelof also wanted an end date in order to mollify critics of the show who worried producers were simply spinning their wheels as they worked through the show's layer upon layer of mystery.

ABC execs had already been talking to the producers about the idea, but they seemed taken aback when Lindelof and Cuse made the conversations public.

Indeed, it would be understandable if ABC execs had been initially cool to the concept of an early end date.

After all, with major hits a rarity in the network game, the rule is to keep hits on the air until every last ounce of success has been squeezed from them (e.g., "ER" or "The X-Files").

And despite relentless media snarking this season -- and the fact that "Lost" has lost a chunk of its fall 2005 audience -- the series is still a top-15 hit that dominates its 10 p.m. Wednesday timeslot in key demos.

In its third season, it's still drawing as many young viewers as NBC's newer, more buzzed-about "Heroes" -- and that's not counting the roughly 2.1 million viewers who watch the show after its live broadcast or via free streaming on ABC.com.

ABC could be establishing a new formula by which nets find success through serving up skeins with more and more audacious concepts but shorter lifespans than the traditional network hit.

Already, the traditional syndie business model -- the one that required studios to produce 100 episodes of a show in order to recoup their investment -- seems to be fading away in an age of instant downloads and universal streaming.

That may be one reason, according to Lindelof, that McPherson and Pedowitz "never argued that the show should keep going and going. The issue has always been when it would end and how far out in front of that ending should we herald it."

Now that the end has been announced, Lindelof promised there would be no attempts to extend or continue the "Lost" mythology on air in some other way.

"There will be no extensions or enhancements. That number (48) is absolute," he said. And "once you begin to see where we're going, I think the idea of sequels and spinoffs will completely go away."

So if he, Cuse or Abrams suddenly come up with a killer plot thread that doesn't fit into the new timeline?

"We'll do it as a radio play," Lindelof quipped.

As for "Lost," show's end game is expected to kick into high gear later this month with the broadcast of the season finale. Details of the plot are under wraps, but a person who has read the script described it as a major shakeup to the plot.

"It changes everything," the person said.

Nothing's official yet, but ABC has all but said that the fourth season of "Lost" won't premiere until January or February of next year.

[007]

16 eps a year? What a let down when you are used to a series having at least 22.

Glad they came up with an actual end date though. That is a brilliant idea.

[DaneMcCloud]

Actually, it's ABC's and the more importantly, the advertisers who gain from this "unique" strategy. Instead of two "normal" 24 episode seasons, ABC has decided to stretch two seasons into three. The same amount of episodes are delivered but they're split into three different seasons.

It'll be interesting to see if this actually comes to fruition. If "Season Four" is unsuccessful in the ratings (and the show has already slipped substantially), look for ABC to air sixteen episodes next winter/spring, then sixteen more in the fall. They'd wrap up in May 2009 that way and I suspect that's exactly what will happen.