How did LOST get so lost?

I only saw the first 2 seasons....thought they were...ok. First better than second. I did catch a few snippets later on, but i had NO idea WTH was going on......
 
I feel that Deadwood **** all over Lost.

What does that to do with this thread?

Nothing.

So, yeah, I'm not one to talk 'bout it.
 
I watched a few episodes early on - to me they were very obviously playing for time. To me it's pretty contemptuous of the audience.
 
I quit watching when it became obvious they had no idea where they were going.
 
Actually they did know where they were going. Why are you judging something you haven't seen in its entirety? I saw every episode and thought it was terrific. Superior television.
 
I'd like to completely disagree with arc60 and pass on the pipe that he's smoking with out indulging or inhaling. I hated where it went and what it became. I gave away my Lost DVDs to someone without as much taste as me. Though admittedly, I loved where it started and thought it squandered enormous potential.
 
They did lose track a bit during the 3rd season when they didnt know how much filler theyd have to come up with. Then when they decided on how long the show would be on for, they really got back on track.

Not saying there werent some clunkers here and there, but overall it was a great show.
 
I thought the show overall was great. It started very strong and the last few seasons I thought was handled perfectly. Granted the middle seasons did go alittle off on too many tangents. But all-in-all I thought it was great.

I cant wait for Alcatraz to start.
 
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After discussing the show with fans on Lostpedia for the last 6 months who either loved or hated it, I've come to believe your experience with the show is personal and depends a lot on your expectations and perspective.

There are too many people who absolutely LOVED it and too many people who are devastated by the ending for there not to be some extremely subjective reality to the quality of the story.


My personal experience was that I loved seasons 1 + 2, got disillusioned by 3 + 4 because I thought they didn't have a way to wrap any of it up, I was really just watching it because my husband wanted to stick with it.

But then towards the end of 5, culminating in the season finale "The Incident", they answered enough of the questions about the mythology that I was completely won over and season 6 had me back to where I was in the first two...

However, I'm someone who not only likes sci-fi, I really love mythology and spirituality, metaphor and the like. I can let go of the necessity for scientific explanations... I didn't have huge expectations that everything was going to be answered, perfectly, in fact, just the opposite. I didn't really like the characters much by the end of 5, but season 6 wrapped up their stories and explained why the fact that they were so flawed was important. I started to care about them and found myself routing for even the ones I didn't like the most... and the way they resolved most of them I found extremely satisfying.

I would never say LOST was perfect, or that I wasn't disappointed that some questions were left unanswered or were there for the sake of mystery - and I totally get why people hated it and felt cheated. I just wasn't.

Also, I understand the writing process was limiting.

It seems to me that Lost was written like the first draft of a novel. They had a great premise, great characters and a sketchy storyline with a general idea of the ending and they just went for it without a detailed outline that planned everything out.

And then the writers strike, and actors bailed and other actors (Micheal Emerson), showed up as brilliant additions - and they had to or wanted to change things along the way... Only, the 'chapters' were published episodes that everyone had seen - they couldn't go back and edit out the pieces that they didn't have time to resolve because of the deadline.

So they did the best they could. I would have loved another season to wrap it up, but it is what it is....

BTW, I got so hooked on Lost and had so many issues trying to let go of unanswered questions that I wrote 4 fan fictions to answer the questions and help me cope. :lol
 
LOST was a soap opera, with a twist. I watched every episode, watched it again on the DVR. I watched it in slow motion and tried to decifer the clues. I was lead to believe that it would all make sense in the end, and that is why I was so dissappointed at the end.

Mostly, it was a character driven experience, with some cool magical stuff thrown in. I liked the characters, and as they died off, so did my interest, untill finally we got down to the most boring of them all, and it ended on a thud.

OK, look for new thing to watch. It's only television. What did you expect?
 
Guri, that's a great write up. I understand different people's experiences will vary, I just wasn't able to go along for the ride with all the reasons you stated.

I'm not sure anyone remembers the guy with all the awesome theorizing on the 4 - 8 - 15 - 16 - 23 - 42 forum that got mentioned numerous times back in the day, here in the Off-Topic Forum, but I thought the man was really onto a truly fantastic science fiction based description of where the show might go. Perhaps, his theorizing may have influenced the show in another direction (a mess of new age world spirituality and simplistic minded good vs. evil fantasy), but I will always be disappointed that he wasn't truly onto something. Because I thought his ideas were the stuff of legend.
 
Actually they did know where they were going. Why are you judging something you haven't seen in its entirety? I saw every episode and thought it was terrific. Superior television.

There was a scene in particular that bothered me. There was this build up and build up, and finally this character went out into the woods and saw...something. We couldn't see through his eyes what it was, but he saw it. So now this character, with whom we the audience empathise with, has information which will further the plot, which is what we've been waiting for.

But they don't give the information to the viewer, nor are we even given a nod. It's just left on the shelf. This is what i'm talking about in terms of the writers stalling for time. It's like they were playing a game of "consequences".
It's ok to write piecemeal when it's a soap opera, that's how soaps work, but to write a mystery story making it up as you go along is a huge waste of teh audiences time IMHO.
 
Guri, that's a great write up. I understand different people's experiences will vary, I just wasn't able to go along for the ride with all the reasons you stated.

It's great that you're able to realize others can get something out of it despite the flaws. I can't tell you how many people take their own experience as objective and insult those who don't agree - gets annoying. :p

I'm not sure anyone remembers the guy with all the awesome theorizing on the 4 - 8 - 15 - 16 - 23 - 42 forum that got mentioned numerous times back in the day, here in the Off-Topic Forum, but I thought the man was really onto a truly fantastic science fiction based description of where the show might go. Perhaps, his theorizing may have influenced the show in another direction (a mess of new age world spirituality and simplistic minded good vs. evil fantasy), but I will always be disappointed that he wasn't truly onto something. Because I thought his ideas were the stuff of legend.

I never did get to read any of that stuff. I was a no spoiler purest throughout the entire series and didn't go on line to discuss anything until just before and after the finale. That may be part of why I wasn't let down... I wasn't invested in theories, I actually stopped trying to put any together at the end of 3 because I was so disgusted with it.

The numbers are still fascinating to me and I might have to go searching for that thread! I have my own theories about them that I incorporated into my stories based on what I've read about the on line game and the 'equation'.

It could have been so much more than what they did, I agree with that.

There was a scene in particular that bothered me. There was this build up and build up, and finally this character went out into the woods and saw...something. We couldn't see through his eyes what it was, but he saw it. So now this character, with whom we the audience empathise with, has information which will further the plot, which is what we've been waiting for.

But they don't give the information to the viewer, nor are we even given a nod. It's just left on the shelf. This is what i'm talking about in terms of the writers stalling for time. It's like they were playing a game of "consequences".
It's ok to write piecemeal when it's a soap opera, that's how soaps work, but to write a mystery story making it up as you go along is a huge waste of teh audiences time IMHO.

That's the kind of thing that really got to me too. The characters would not TALK to each other and share information. It was really frustrating going through it the first time with how long the seasons drug out.

Going back now and doing a rewatch, though, now that I KNOW what he likely saw and why and what that thing was that showed it to him, and why, it's much more interesting to see that characters reaction to it.

I'm assuming you meant when Locke saw the 'beautiful light' that the smoke monster showed him.[/quote]

I fully admit, Lost is better to me remembered than experienced. It was PAINFUL to watch the first time, not knowing what I know now. I even like Kate and think Sawyer is funny now that I know how they turn out. Hated them the first time through...
 
There was a scene in particular that bothered me. There was this build up and build up, and finally this character went out into the woods and saw...something. We couldn't see through his eyes what it was, but he saw it. So now this character, with whom we the audience empathise with, has information which will further the plot, which is what we've been waiting for.

But they don't give the information to the viewer, nor are we even given a nod. It's just left on the shelf. This is what i'm talking about in terms of the writers stalling for time. It's like they were playing a game of "consequences".
It's ok to write piecemeal when it's a soap opera, that's how soaps work, but to write a mystery story making it up as you go along is a huge waste of teh audiences time IMHO.


I haven't seen the show, but my experience of what fans' reactions are is that some people primarily seized on the plot/mystery elements of the show, and others enjoyed that but were more in it for the characters.

In general, I think people who just enjoy watching well-written characters do interesting things in interesting situations are better suited towards long-form network TV and all its vagaries, potential strikes, casting changes, etc., etc.

People who like a neatly-handled plot that doesn't give cop-out answers like "Well...it's a mystery" at the end or whathaveyou, generally end up screwed by shows like LOST.

When a show like LOST (or X-Files, or Carnivale, or Twin Peaks, or Galactica, or whatever) seems to be driven or strongly appreciated for its plot/mystery elements, the real dilemma for the writers is to try to signal that that ISN'T their point. Of course, this is constantly offset by the marketing guys who HEAVILY market the mystery and hype the hell out of it, only further confusing the matter for fans.

As with BSG, I'd bet a lot of the blame could be left at the doorstep of the network which recognized that lots of people dug the plot elements, and that the plot elements were the easiest thing to advertise. "There is a plan!" or "Tonight, on LOST, another mystery revealed!" or whathaveyou. Meanwhile, the writers would much rather go lighter on the plot and focus more on the characters and the drama between them.


This is why I've come to the decision that the best approach to writing a TV show is to write self-contained season arcs. You can drop SUBTLE hints and clues to subsequent seasons, but you should never write so that you REQUIRE people to tune in next season for the answers to questions raised in last season. Tie your seasons up neatly, and this way it won't ever matter that you got canceled between seasons. Likewise, you can avoid raising larger overarching "mythology" arcs that span the whole show and REQUIRE long-term viewership.

Shows that have handled this well are Buffy and The Wire, in my opinion. Either show could've been canceled at ANY season ending, and they'd still be satisfying experiences plot-wise, while also having well-written, interesting characters. Both shows also REWARDED long-term viewership but didn't REQUIRE it. You could jump in at the start of any season, if you wanted, and be ok. You'd get MORE out of the show with longer-term viewership, but it wasn't necessary. And you never had cliffhanger endings.
 
I think that LOST more than any other network show in recent history has squandered enormous potential. I imagine a meeting between the suits and the creative minds that went something like this, "We've had fantastic numbers for the start of the series, but we're hemmorhaging viewers in alarming numbers. Do you think you might could dumb it down for Joe Six-pack?"
 
The point for me is that Buffy wasn't telling a specific single story. nor, to some extent, was the XFiles. Or Doctor Who. They could afford to be episodic.

But Lost pretended it was a straight forward story - which was where are they, how did they survive, and maybe why are they there. Imagine going to see a two hour movie, and at the end it doesn't make any sense, then you get home and see the writer on TV saying, "well, I didn't know the end when i started writing it, so that's why it's maybe a bit confusing". That's just not how you make good art. My two cents anyway.
 
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