A plane crashes on a very unusual island. No one comes to rescue the survivors. Their lives turn out to be oddly intertwined. Bizarre and supernatural things keep happening, like a smoke monster, like a polar bear, like six numbers that are supposed to mean something. There are flashbacks, flashforwards, flashsideways. Fans of the show obsessed about every clue. Fans like me.
Wow, was I ever obsessed with Lost! I wrote long, detailed reviews, knowing full well that I could never catch everything. I had a Lost discussion list on Yahoo that was the second biggest on the web, which is probably why Disney eventually sent me free DVDs. (The discussion list and all of its comments no longer exist, sadly.) My Lost reviews were plagiarized repeatedly. I know a lot of readers found me because of Lost. Thank you, readers.
Shot in Hawaii with an international cast, Lost didn't even look like other shows. Every other network wanted a show with whacko ratings and obsessed fans, just like Lost. Since it ended, though, it's become something of a punchline, and not in a good way. Lost still suffers from not ending the way we wanted it to end, although I don’t think any of us die hard Lost fans actually knew the way we wanted it to end. We just know we didn't want it to end like it did.
I rewatched Lost a year ago and when I knew how it would end, I really enjoyed it. So if you were into the show like I was, and you haven’t given it a rewatch, you might want to dive in.
And if you never watched Lost, why didn’t you?
P.S. Sadly, Lost is the reason for our current all-comments-moderated policy. Three (I think) different people have been posting troll comments on certain Lost episodes, attacking me personally and posting nasty comments about female characters and Sawyer. If you guys are reading this, give it up. I will never allow your comments to go up and upset people.
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Only four more to go! Any guesses? :)
ReplyDeleteI should add the comment thing that it isn't just Lost. Before Lost, it was True Blood. Before True Blood, it was something else. Most comments are terrific, and we really love them. And some are badly worded spam with scary links.
I feel confident that Supernatural will be #1 and Buffy #2. Then I'm not sure...The 100 at #3? Legends Of Tomorrow? Star Trek? But which one of them?
DeleteTJ, I didn't think of either Supernatural or The 100. Obviously Supernatural will be at the top. I thought of Buffy and La Femme Nikita. The 100 is a good guess too. I was hoping Orphan Black would make to the Top 20, but at this point, I doubt it.
DeleteSome very masterful writing happened on LOST. I used to visit a local theater that showed every episode on the Big Screen. So cool.
ReplyDeleteSad that they didn't keep up the good storytelling. Could've been great. Instead, it will forever be known as the most expensive free writing project in history, like those round-robin exercises in school that started strong and went down every rabbit hole on the way to obscurity.
This is the show that brought me to DouxReviews. This is the show I’ve rewatched the most (4th rewatch last year - more on that in a minute). And yes Billie, I admit it - I plagiarized. Not your reviews - but I certainly borrowed some of your theories, haha. I’d come out to the site after each episode, eagerly awaiting your next review, consolidate your thoughts with my own, and then bring them to our weekly Lost Luncheon where a bunch of us would meet and theorize on WHAT IT ALL MEANT!!! When you really think about it, what show can carry that kind of gravitas in this day and age? Seriously, let me know, I want to be watching it.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I just rewatched it last year with my youngest. We both loved it and I made a ton of posts with my thoughts. I even made an incredibly long, thoughtful post on the finale review only for the internet monster to eat it. Figured I’d never write anything that eloquent again and never went back, but here’s a summary:
Lost is absolutely worth a rewatch, or a first watch if you’ve never seen it. I think it plays even better when you are removed from the theories frenzy from when it first aired. Seasons 1, 4 and most of 3 are among the best seasons of television ever made, and seasons 2 and 5 are pretty excellent. The final season doesn’t hold up as well and one reason is it has aged poorly in my opinion, although even then there are fantastic individual moments that elevate it above standard TV fare.
As for the finale, well, maybe this is a good time to go back and write that final review on that page. :)
Lost is my pinnacle. I’m older, more television and movie jaded. I don’t expect I will ever find better. I hope each of you find a show that means as much as Lost meant for me.
DreadPirate, thanks so much for your comment. And let me suck up a little and say I've always enjoyed your comments. :) (You have a handle I always recognize, since I'm such a big fan of The Princess Bride.)
DeleteI am one of the few that really didn't like Lost. A lot of shit happened, and it felt like all the complications were there just for the sake of it. And strangely, at the the same time, it often felt like NOTHING happened at all.
ReplyDeleteTONS of new characters introduced each season, and a lot of them lasted only one season. Many season finales felt very network-y and clichéd with cliffhangers that sometimes fell flat.
The use of the flashback formula was done to death. Instead of adding to the lore of the show it felt like flashback-drug-abuse.
It was obvious after a couple of seasons that the show didn't have a clear plan. They were just adding stuff as they went, I guess the threat of cancellation was there all the time?
And, the theories we all had in the beginning, the ones the creators/producers promised us were wrong, ended up being exactly what was happening and the show ended (for me) disappointingly. I felt cheated.
To be fair, I don't think this show never had a chance with me. Buffy/Angel had just ended and I desperately wanted a new show to obsess over, My expectations were super high and of course Lost could never live up to that.
It's interesting that the show now seems to have a bit of a cult status and new generations of TV fans discover it all the time. So it truly is a legendary and remarkable show. It was just not for me. And I will never ever re-watch it.
I found you because of Lost (tvtome reviews I think?) and have been hanging around ever since. This is the best corner of the internet for all things most-excellent-television. :) I don't post much but I still read a lot of your articles.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking a guess that the first four shows are Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek and Star Trek?
Kayne, one really nice thing about this site lasting twenty years is the readers whose names I recognize because they've been here so long. Like you. :)
DeleteIt *is* funny that any of the Star Treks haven't shown up on the list yet. Hmmm.
I may have actually discovered this site while watching Lost as well, though I was watching it on Netflix after the fact. Like TJ, I was not a huge fan. Maybe my experience was partly tainted by the fact that I knew it had an unsatisfactory ending, but I stopped watching during season 3 when I felt like the show was just spinning more complications and confusion into the mix to prolong its run rather than moving toward a solution to the mystery.
DeleteI am certain that at least two of the final shows will be Buffy and Supernatural. The other two could be Star Treks.
I really do get why a lot of people didn't like Lost or didn't stick with Lost. But I spent six seasons writing about it and happily talking about it online with a *lot* of people, and it was an experience I'll never forget and wouldn't trade for anything.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember those days as well. Lost was an online phenomenom and everybody was talking about it. I was apart of that, although I might have been a bit grumpier in the later seasons...
DeleteI will say, the one thing I do love about Lost is that it learned me an important lesson. Lost (& Smallville) taught me that if you are not satisfied with a show - give it up - don't stick with it, it's not worth it.
I strongly think it will be a fight between Star Trek TOS and Buffy for the number one spot
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I adored the first season of Lost and still think it’s one of the most compelling seasons of television ever. I was disappointed in the continuous adding of mysteries without resolving earlier mysteries, but I never stopped watching. And the finale made me emotional, even though it didn’t provide the answers I wanted.
ReplyDeleteAs for what’s left, it’s got to include Buffy. My guess is that Buffy will be number one, and it’s what brought me to this site in the first place!
I found you because of Alias, then I got hooked on Lost and I needed somewhere to process the insanity. Which led to Buffy. And Veronica. And Firefly. And so many more. So I'm guessing the top 4 will include Buffy, Alias, Star Trek TOS and Star Trek TNG.
ReplyDeleteBillie Doux: gateway drug to great TV.
I found Doux Reviews because of Alias too! There was this Alias fan site (forgot the name) that featured Billie's reviews. There was a link back to billiedoux.com in one of the review pages, and the rest is history.
DeleteGateway drug to great TV. Seriously, this should be our new slogan. Except we don't really have an old slogan. :)
ReplyDeleteI found Doux Reviews through Lost, which I still hold up as my personal favorite TV drama. It's one of a few shows that just clicked with me in a big way, and the first of many new TV dramas I would obsess over.
ReplyDeleteWe all know it's not perfect, but I rewatched it 10 years after the show ended and it's still damn good stuff; in fact, it flows way smoother when you can watch it at your own pace. Still love the characters, the surreal and nonlinear style, the way the plot escalates, the myth/world-building, the music, the Island, etc. Lost managed to tell a remarkably expansive and compelling story in spite of the many flaws and limitations it had, in the show itself or behind the scenes. And whether you like it or not, I think it's hard to deny the impact it had on pop culture.
I have also rewatched LOST a couple of times, and I thought it all hung together pretty well, all things considered. Great show. Thanks for all your reviews!
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