The Tail Section

Along with the premiere date, today also brings the official cast list, meaning we now can confirm which cast members are official series regulars for the final year.

The season 6 cast is:
Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Jeff Fahey, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Ken Leong, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn and Ziuleikha Robinson

In case you forgot, that last woman plays Ilana from Ajira 316.

In other words, the final season has 14 series regulars, just like season 1. However, only 9 of them were around back then.

It also marks the first time Carbonell and Fahey (Richard and Frank) are series regulars, they were always listed as guest stars before.

What do I take away from this? Mostly that, with Carboell, O’Quinn, Fahey, Emerson, Robinson and Yunjin Kim all listed, we will probably still see them on the Island in 2007.

However, the return of de Ravin and the lack of Mitchell and many DHARMA folks suggests to me that all those theories about the bomb working and changing the future so Oceanic 815 lands safely are true.

But then how the heck are Locke and Sun still on the Island? I can’t explain it, except that we may be dealing with weird parallel universes.

ABC has finally confirmed when Lost will return, and it’s February 2. TUESDAY, February 2.

That’s right, the show is moving once again, this time to land Tuesdays. The February 2 premiere will feature a one-hour recap at 8pm followed by the two-hour premiere, “LAX,” at 9pm.

The next week, the show will settle in to its regular spot Tuesdays at 9pm. The move to Tuesday will most likely mean the show will be paired with V, another sci-fi show that just so happens to star Elizabeth Mitchell.

Last night, Carlton Cuse revealed via Twitter that William Atherton will be stopping by Lost for the final season.

Of course, as always, there’s no exact word on what role he’ll be playing, but since he’s William freaking Atherton, I have to imagine it’s going to be a kick-ass villain.  If you’re like me, you remember Atherton as Walter Peck, the villainous EPA agent in the original Ghostbusters film.  He has a distinct voice and attitude that could rival Jeffrey Jones in the creepy department.

Who do you think he’ll play?  A good guy?  A bad guy?  A relative?  A random red shirt who gets killed off quickly?

As expected, Damon and Carlton didn’t exactly reveal a whole lot about the final season during today’s Comic-Con panel.  But there were some juicy moments.

-They’ve already written the final scene, but it’s under lock and key

-Elizabeth Mitchell WILL be back next season

-They hinted that the bomb most likely worked, and that the final season will be very similar to the first season

-Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson and Nest Caronell all showed up, as did a special mystery guest…

-DOMINIC MONAGHAN showed up. at the last minute to say hello.  Was this just because he’s already there as a new cast member on ABC’s Flash Forward, or because he’ll be returning to the show.

-Lending support to the idea that he is coming back, they showed a retrospective of all the characters who have died on the show.  Perhaps it was also a montage of people who will be coming back for the final season.

For the Emmys, the nominees for Outstanding Drama Series select six episodes to submit, and based on those submissions, voters will choose the winners.

TVGuide.com has confirmed the list of six episodes Lost is submitting, and I’m not sure I’m on board.

The episodes are:

La Fleur

The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

The Variable

Follow the Leader

The Incident (Parts 1 and 2)

The finale was a logical choice because it also scored a Writing nomination, and The Variable was the best episode of the season.

But, to be totally hones,t The Life and Death kind of sucked because it was a series of rather tame vignettes.  316 was far superior, as were great episodes like Because You Left, Jughead, Namaste and Dead is Dead.

Overall, it may be a moot point.  The fact that Lost was even able to score a Drama Series nomination for a season where it went unapologetically into sci-fi territory is enough of a shock.  The nomination could be its reward, but I still have hope that Michael Emerson’s performance in “Dead is Dead” can win him an Emmy.

Lost is competing against Damages, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Big Love, Mad Men and House.  Right now I’d probably put my money on House to get an honorary Emmy as a reward for general excellence.

A Bolivian television station and a Dutch radio station thought they had exclusive footage from within the ill-fated Air France Flight 447, which crashed on the Atlantic Ocean - but not before, at least some speculate, it broke up in mid-air - early this month. The Dutch said the photos, given to them by a tipster, were “reliable”. The Bolivians took the photos and made an entire segment on a news program thinking they got a world exclusive.

Too bad they don’t watch Lost.

After all that speculation over the past weeks…

Rumor has it that Elizabeth Mitchell will return on Lost next season but only for an unspecified handful of guest appearences. Obviously she’s hoping that V will really take off, and the series was formally announced at the upfronts yesterday with more details and character photos. Most importantly, though, the first footage of the series has been released and Elizabeth Mitchell figures prominently. You can watch two video clips of Mitchell on V here and here. What are  your first impressions?

ABC formally released their upfronts for the 2009 fall lineup today, announcing what series they’ll be making, renewing and canceling, where everything fits into the scheduling grid and why you should be excited. For those who haven’t been paying attention most of it isn’t a surprise. There were already a lot of leaks. But for those who haven’t checked out the Lost network’s new battleplan read the EW article, BuddyTV article and Zap2It article here.

I meant to post this article about the methods Lost’s producers use to keep the plot twists a secret and somehow it slipped through the cracks. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a glance. Nothing shocking but there are a few fun details about foilers - fake spoilers - leaked by the producers.

ABC release their upfronts, picking up ten new series for the fall (a lot by today’s standards.) There are six dramas and four sitcoms. Reuters ascribes the move to ABC being desperate to find Lost’s replacement for when it goes off the air, and reiterates that they’re betting heavily on Flash Forward. V could harness the more SF contingent of Lost’s fans. Several of the others sound like tame procedural dramas, but it’s hard to know much without a lot more information than the network has released so far.