GETTING LOST IN LOST

GETTING LOST IN LOST

Feeling lost when you watch Lost on TV?  Don’t worry—the hit show has been deliberately crafted that way by the producers and the writers, with a lot of help from the folks at ABC.  Executive producer Carlton Cuse explains, “Lost has broken a lot of rules of television during its run.  I think that actually being able to determine an end-point and an ending for the show on our own terms would, I think, be actually the appropriate and right finish for this as an experience.”

Although ABC is not about to pull the plug on one of their more successful ventures, it’s good for the fans of the show that the producers are already talking about planning the ending for the series.  The producers and writers for Lost will definitely work toward a big payoff, and resolve many storylines.

But executive producer Damon Lindelof says there are many questions to consider, and not everything can or should be answered.  Lindelof, along with the collective brain-trust behind Lost, will ponder such questions as: “What’s happening on the island that will emotionally sort of activate the telling of this story?,” “What is it that Kate did?,” “How did Locke get in a wheelchair?,” and “How did Jack get his tattoos and why?”,  The audience wants to know what the monster is—what the island is—where “The Others” came from, says Lindelof, and they will not be disappointed in the end.  But they may not get all the answers they seek.

The strange mystery-adventure series will return to the ABC schedule on February 7th, moving to Wednesday nights at 10pm.  During the new installments that will air for 16 consecutive weeks, Cuse assures us that viewers will find out why The Others have kidnapped Kate, Jack, and Sawyer.  And the show will also explore more questions about The Others—who is Ben in relation to Juliet, why have they been taking kids, why are they abducing people, how long have they been on the island, and why were they having book clubs?

Cuse admits that he’s gotten a lot of criticism from the fans about the endless repeats, and he notes, “I think the nature of television viewing is changing.  I think as people become more in control of their television viewing experience, that their tolerance for repeats has gone away.”  Thus, the producers and the network executives have decided to show a pod of episodes in the fall (Lost aired six new shows to start off the season), and the rest in the spring.

“When we get to the end of this run in the spring, I honestly believe that will be a really positive experience for the show and the fans,” says Cuse.  Stay tuned.