Saving LOST in Five Easy Steps
I promise this is the last time I will nag about the public perception of LOST. If you haven’t noticed, AP circulated yet another article on LOST, this time stating that LOST had turned the corner for bad and could not be saved.
Again, not a very pragmatic piece at all. So I dashed to the assignment of "Come up with a few things that could improve LOST". Is it too late? Does it need fixing? These are irrelevant considerations. The spirit of this exercise is more what can be done to make something good even better. You can check out my suggestions and I look forward to yours!
Doc-I agree with number 5 the most.LOST is so stand alone that it’s impossible for it to kill the highest ratings. Even Kobe Bryant can’t get the Lakers to the finals without a supporting cast……Stick LOST back to 9 and allow a show to live a little longer than 2 months before cancelling it. Throw that other Abrams show on at 10, What about Brian?..some light hearted fare that can calm people down before going to bed.
Most everyone I talk to loves the show but hates the time change. That alone can kill in the ratings.
Comment by El Prez — February 20, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Man, i’m tired of all the negativity surrounding LOST lately. The media is garbage, who gives a crap what they think? As long as LOST is on for another 2 seasons, I’ll be a happy camper and i’m sure the rest of the REAL LOST fans would be as well.
Comment by Aeolian42 — February 20, 2007 @ 11:32 am
I really don’t care what the press says (i stopped caring when my local newspaper started printing positive reviews for derivative comedies, and dismissing films like “The Royal Tennenbaums” as pretentious…)but it does bother me that an excess of negative press could kill the show.
Of course…we must also be aware that media loves to fit narrative structures to their news stories, so with the possibility of an ending in sight for the show, it’s possible that this is the rising action of the medias narrative before arriving at a climax which will eventually arrive with the “Lost is Saved” headlines down the homestretch. In fact, several of the media outlets that initially started being more critical of LOST have started being a bit more positive sense the hiatus…
Is it possible that these are the trend setters and the AP articles are the mainstream realization of the criticism that started gathering steam last year?
Comment by wedestroymyths — February 20, 2007 @ 2:13 pm
There’s not a damn thing wrong with LOST. I don’t care what the media says.
Comment by Jen — February 20, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
I can’t say I agree w/ the article… I like LOST for its intensity… not its comedy. If they threw in a few episodes just for fun, that would totally ruin the whole purpose of the show! the show DOES have a purpose! And I don’t believe that if Darren filmed an episode, ratings would go up… he’s not a mainstream name that would attract viewers. Also, close the book on Dharma? How is that possible? We have no idea what the Dharma inititive is yet! I wouldn’t try to give advice to the show, creatively.
Comment by bf — February 20, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Solution for LOSt: educate people. Someday they will like to be intellectually challenged.
I will never stop watching the show…
There is nothing wrong with it. It is the best show on TV!
Comment by Js — February 20, 2007 @ 5:02 pm
I like your suggestions, but using Grey’s as a lead-in to LOST is definitely a bad idea. First, Grey’s is beating CSI in it’s current time slot on Thursday nights, which is a pretty impressive achievement. Maybe ABC could put a show like “What About Brian” before LOST; even though “What About Brian” gets a lot of criticism, it’s actually been better this season than last season. Just my thoughts.
Comment by gwgrad — February 20, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
1. Close the book on Dharma.
As mentioned above, how can they do that when we don’t even know what it is yet? If you mean, “get outdoors and use that great Hawai’i scenery instead of sets on a soundstage” OK, that’s a good idea.
2. Bring in the big guns.
The directing is fine, no need for no-name indie kids. The writing is always up and down a bit, unless you want JJ to write all of a season. I sure don’t.
3. Bring in the faces.
Hate that idea. The show doesn’t need stunt casting like Cheech Marin (he’s good but still). You know what guest star my dad was most excited about so far? Clancy Brown (Kelvin) because he’d seen him in a couple of things and liked his acting. Get *good* actors and make sure they’re available who then tell them “Woops, I got a play in Chicago, can’t come back for six months”. There’s no shortage of kick ass actors, none at all. Get ‘em, they’ll love the chance.
4. Get away from the “story” once in a while. Gone are the care-free episodic LOST’s of season one.
Thank God. That’s exactly why I think S1 is so overrated, I hate those “respite” episodes and I’m sick of the Hugo and Charlie “comedy” bits. There’s a ton of story still to go, get to it, don’t waste time with frivilous stuff that doesn’t add to the story just because it’s “too intense”.
Not one of your better efforts, Doc. I hope you’re not in decline and all that.
Comment by Jeremy Bender — February 20, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
You could make LOST more palatable to some by putting everyone back on the beach, never killing any major characters, and getting rid of The Others/lingering Tailies. Make every season a repetition of the first, that’ll save it.
The people I know who liked LOST in its first season but no longer watch list the above as major complaints. They want to see Charlie wiggling his finger in a jar of imaginary peanut butter to the delight of a giggling Claire, season after season. They don’t want anyone to die and they just want the smoke monster to rumble and clatter in the trees off in the distance while the beautiful people hook up and have sex on the beach.
Frankly, I think the show has gotten better with each season. I liked the second season more than the first, I liked the progression and the changes and the additions, and I am particularly enjoying the tighter writing of late. It’s a good show getting better and to hell with what anyone else says or thinks. I know what I like.
LOST doesn’t need saving, except from those who expect it to be a perpetual beach party.
Comment by Lance — February 20, 2007 @ 11:35 pm
Thank God. That’s exactly why I think S1 is so overrated, I hate those “respite” episodes and I’m sick of the Hugo and Charlie “comedy” bits.
Seconded. Additionally, I’m glad to see that the days of the folks-on-the-beach-at-sunset-w/-crap-music-celebrating-one-more-day-of-survival montage are long done. They were more overdone then than the character deaths are now.
Comment by Richard Lennox — February 21, 2007 @ 12:02 am
I think Lost has serious problems. Having Grey’s Anatomy as a lead-in, moving it back to 9pm, stop with the others, more carefree episodes will work. Good ideas Doc.
One more thing that they need to do, is to stop the podcasts.
I’m sick of being told in a podcast one thing will never happen, and in another that it just happened in the previous episode. Can they just leave us alone and let us imagine Lost without their silly podcasts? It makes you think they make up the story as they go along.
Comment by BlackrockBob — February 21, 2007 @ 12:50 am
To be honest, I don’t agree with any of those points. Mainly because I don’t think the show is in any need of saving. Yes, the show does have problems, but they aren’t so severe that they impede my enjoyment of the show. The plot holes don’t bother me, as they normally don’t in this type of show. There is some character inconsistency (particularly for Kate, Sawyer and Charlie) but I’m not entirely sure it’s on the level as some of the show’s detractors claim.
The only aspect of the mini-season was the awkward shoe-horning of Nicki and Paulo into the action. Terribly written and directed scene that could have been very easily avoided. I’m not sure why they were really all that necessary when they’ve got characters like Claire who was given pretty much nothing to do in Season 2.
The format doesn’t need to reworking, there are just aspects of the writing that need tightening up but I’ve seen plenty to suggest they are on the right track in that regard. I enjoy Lost for what it is an highly entertaining adventure with a decent dose of weirdness thrown in for good measure. If the show was went closer to where I would like to see it go they would risk alienating the majority of viewers. I’m hoping that the producers will able to get this end date sorted and won’t have to worry about cancellation allowing the writers to tell their story. Judging from some of the stuff I’ve read on The Fuselage I think the people behind loss are a little bit too conscious of the criticisms, but aren’t necessarily listening to the right ones. There is nothing wrong with the overall story, which have been mentioned everywhere over the past week.
Comment by Dave — February 21, 2007 @ 1:21 am
It’s funny but the press here in Europe have a diagonally different opinion on Lost than their US colleagues. Over the last couple of weeks, several articles (5 up to now) have praised the show (and other too of course) for its originality, tone & how in general, TV has wooped cinemas ass, in terms of story, script & sheer creativity. I wouldn’t change a thing creatively except change the time slot eventhough I don’t think 10pm isn’t THAT late but that’s another story!
Comment by JDSalinga — February 21, 2007 @ 5:54 am
One more thing that they need to do, is to stop the podcasts.
I’m sick of being told in a podcast one thing will never happen, and in another that it just happened in the previous episode. Can they just leave us alone and let us imagine Lost without their silly podcasts?
Or you could just not listen to the podcasts, right?
Comment by tony — February 21, 2007 @ 6:24 am
I value everybody’s input on my top five, but remember this point from the lead-in
“Is it too late? Does it need fixing? These are considerations. The spirit of this exercise is more what can be done to make something good even better. ”
I approach pieces like this with as level a head as possible, but in reality… as I have stated… I don’t think anything is wrong with LOST. But man, I would love to see Darren Aronofsky come on board again.
Comment by docarzt — February 21, 2007 @ 7:30 am
The spirit of this exercise is more what can be done to make something good even better.
No, I think we all got that, Doc, we just didn’t think, for the most part, that your ideas *would* make the show better!
I don’t quite get why you have a stiffy for Darren Aronofsky coming in, though. Sure, loved Pi and Requiem for A Dream, but LOST has a set visual style, he’s not going to change that. Is he such a great director of actors that he’d make a difference? I don’t get that from his movies.
Comment by Jeremy Bender — February 21, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Um, I don’t know about this post. I disagree with #1, 3, and 4 (and 5 is a little unrelated to the show). Especially, though, 4 is silly. Everyone complains about not getting enough answers, and the solution is to take a break from the story?
Comment by John — February 21, 2007 @ 1:42 pm
I’ve stated this in previous posts. The big kick in the groin to the ratings are the DVD’s. I think a lot of people can’t take the unrelenting wait week to week between episodes let alone a 2 month hiatus. I first saw season 1 during season 2. I kept watching episode after episode, as now I had the DVD power to. Then I started watching season 2 when the reruns began. Then they took a long hiatus after the “tailies” recap episode. I decided to wait to buy the DVD’s, so that once again there would be no wait between episodes. I was particularly annoyed by the recent hiatus, but these discussions have me watching week to week. These discussions have become a very important part of the overall experience. As far as the show itself goes there is absolutely no problems. Just please quit tryin to torture us with all the hiatus’s (including the extended summer hiatus I failed to mention earlier). It’s annoying.
Comment by cap10tripps — February 21, 2007 @ 3:05 pm