DVD TV Rocks / View from the Prairie Box

We’re addicts. Thanks to our friendly neighborhood supplier, we’re hopelessly hooked on LOST.

Can’t. stop. watching.

15 Comments

Bethany Oct 24, 2005 1:13 PM

I think I’m possibly the only person in the nation who has weighed Lost, and found it wanting. I watched the first 12 episodes or so, and I have little desire to continue on. It’s entertaining enough while I’m watching, but I almost never think “Hmm, I’d really like to sit down and watch Lost.”

Craig Oct 24, 2005 3:16 PM

Bethany, make that two. I didn’t make it through the first episode. Not sure why, though I’m happy for the joy it seems to have brought Rebecca.

Megan and I are suckers for DVD seasons of 24, though. We blazed through seasons last Christmas break. That’s almost embarassing.

RT Oct 24, 2005 5:52 PM

Craig, I didn’t think the first 2-3 episodes were all that fantastic. But I had heard all the hype about the show so I was willing to stick it out and see where the story lead the viewer. My impression, after the first disc, was that even if you didn’t really like the show, you would probably be intrigued enough to want to find out what happens next — and then keep watching. Not true, though, for my first two commentors… (LOST supporters, where are you?)

Here’s why I LOVE the show… 1) Cliffhangers which keep us watching episode after episode, even when we’re really tired. 2) Backstories of characters, sometimes contrived but mostly fascinating and compelling, always interesting. 3) Call it the Swiss Family Robinson/Gilligan/What Would I Do? Syndrome — I love all the adventure and drama that comes with the shipwrecked-on-an-island story.

Bethany Oct 24, 2005 6:22 PM

I don’t think it’s a terrible show by any means, I just don’t think it’s a particularly great one.

Here’s why I’m meh about it: 1) I found hardly any of the characters very interesting. They seem predictable and underdeveloped, even with the backstories revealed in flashback (I read an amusing comment in one of the TWOP recaps to the effect of the real mystery on the island being why everyone on this plan had such messed up and weird pasts). 2) The dialogue falls flat more often than not 3) I felt strung along with very little payoff; it never seems to actually GO anywhere. You watch 4 episodes in a row, all with cliffhangers, but the actual forward progress that isn’t spent in flashbacks takes up about 5 minutes of the episode. The whole thing felt to me like it was moving slowly forward with no end in sight.

It’s a shame because I really love the premise, and I really wanted to love the show, but I just can’t get into it.

Firefly on the other hand, has quickly earned my undying affection. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Craig Oct 24, 2005 7:52 PM

Bethany sums up my observations those first couple episodes. I think the premise is interesting (particularly if it turns out that the whole thing is a take on purgatory, as I’ve read that it might be), but the characters seem nothing more than a Survivor cast with lines.

I think part of my non-liking of Lost is also that, at the time, I was looking for something to take the place of my beloved X-Files (God rest its soul), but that void has continued go unfilled. I’m getting a Wednesday night hit off of ABC’s Invasion, but it’s so sci-fi candy that I’m almost ashamed to say it publicly. Guess it’s my one show this fall.

Jeremy Oct 24, 2005 9:22 PM

Bethany, I thought that I knew who the coolest kid at Zion was, but I may have to reconsider. Just kidding…sort of. ;)

In all honesty, I really like Lost. I love the characters and their back stories, moreover I’m completely sold on the mystery of the island. I’m a sucker for stories that have bold and/or mysterious paradigm shifts (keep in mind that my favrie movie is the Matrix). If it turns out that the truth behind the island is trite or uncreative, I’ll probably feel disappointed.

I wish the story would proceed a little faster at times, but not if it requires a trade-off with the character development.

Craig, please don’t offer any spoilers, even if they’re speculative. It will make me really sad to have the mystery prematurely removed. :(

Bethany Oct 24, 2005 9:31 PM

Jeremy, sorry. I have worked hard for years to cultivate my cool kid image, and now it has come tumbling down around me.

Like I said, I want to love Lost…and I don’t really dislike it that much, I just don’t find it all that compelling either.

Craig Oct 25, 2005 3:39 AM

Sorry about the purgatory spoiler – thought that one was fairly well-circulated among Lost fans. No harm intended.

RT Oct 25, 2005 10:12 AM

Late night, Craig?

Jeremy Oct 25, 2005 10:21 AM

Bethany, don’t worry. You’re still cool—I was just giving you a little grief. ;)

Craig, don’t worry, no harm done. I’m purposely naïve of all Lost theories.

RT Oct 25, 2005 10:36 AM

B, you do realize that Jeremy will be 87 and you’ll be 73 and he’ll still be calling you kid, right?

Jason Oct 25, 2005 12:39 PM

I, for one, am glad that the producers of the show have come out and dismissed certain premises off the bat. If it turns out that they’re all dead and don’t know it, they’re in purgatory, etc., I will be very, very disappointed. Personally, I’m very intrigued by one of the premises that referred to “The Watchmen” comic book series. (If you’ve read it, you’ll know why.)

I am worried that the producers have predicted 5 or so seasons. The last thing anyone wants is a repeat of the “X-Files” travesty, in which a great show just got ridden into the ground when it should’ve ended several seasons earlier.

Bethany Oct 25, 2005 2:26 PM

Didn’t I read somewhere (perhaps on A&F or Overstreet’s blog) that several of the head writers of LOST admitted they’re more or less making it up as they go?

Jason Oct 25, 2005 2:32 PM

I read that too. But I’ve also read interviews in which they do have a definite ending planned. How they arrive at that ending, however…

Bethany Oct 25, 2005 2:35 PM

Aha… from lookingcloser.blogspot.com:

BAD NEWS FOR “LOST” FANS
Have you been frustrated by the show’s endless parade of mysteries and loose ends. Have you tried to convince yourself that J.J. Abrams knows where it’s all headed, and how all the mysteries tie together? Have you been yearning to believe it’s all part of “intelligent design”? Abandon all hope.

This may be nothing new to you, but it’s disappointing to me. Like Alias, this show’s indications that there’s a grand design, meaning to the madness, now appears to be just a bunch of hooey, and the only reason to keep wondering about the loose ends is to imagine who will improvise the cleverest excuses for the chaos.

Aren’t you glad life isn’t like that?

“There was absolutely no master plan on Lost,” insists David Fury, a co-executive producer last season who wrote the series’ two best episodes and is now a writer-producer on 24. “Anybody who said that was lying.” “On a show like Lost, it becomes a great big shaggy-dog story,” he continues cheerily. “They keep saying there’s meaning in everything, and I’m here to tell you no — a lot of things are just arbitrary. What I always tried to do was connect these random elements, to create the illusion that it was all adding up to something.” Many plot elements were concocted on the fly, Fury says; for example, they didn’t know Hurley won the lottery until it came time to write his episode. “I don’t like to talk about when we come up with ideas,” Lindelof demurs. “It’s a magic trick. But we planned that plot: We seeded references to it in earlier episodes.” Fury disagrees. He says scenes with those references were filmed much later and inserted into earlier yet-to-air episodes: “It’s a brilliant trick to make us look smart. But doing that created a huge budget problem.”