"LOST" Thread - Part 2

[Stephanie]

Continue your discussions in this thread.

[wx247]

I love LOST!!! Thanks for starting the new thread for us Stephanie. Are you a LOSTIE?

[lurkey]

My little rant is over. But I will write to this network. That look that Jack and Kate exchanged, on the dock, meant something. I would love it if they gave us 6 weeks, of 2 hour episodes, to really get into the next season's storylines. No way will they do that. They'll give us 6 stinking episodes, a ton of commercials and teasers that will run endlessly, for months until it's return.

An outrage, I tell you. That is exactly what this is!

OR, maybe the actors want a longer break with family, on the mainland? That could have entered into it possibly. It must be torture to film in Oahu!!!! LOL

It could be worse --- we could be waiting until January 07 for the season premiere. A 24-like schedule was being discussed.

[Stephanie]

I love LOST!!! Thanks for starting the new thread for us Stephanie. Are you a LOSTIE?

No, I've never watched the show.

[Miss Mary]

Great idea!

With that said, can I say I think they might be Purgatory? LOL Just kidding, just kidding.....boy you say that P word on a Lost board I read, and you will get flamed I tell ya! Since of course the writers said they are NOT in Purgatory (sure seems like they're some sort of time warp!).

I'm still PO'ed and plan on writing the network.

Mary

[wx247]

Mary we will survive somehow... I just don't know how.

[Miss Mary]

Mary we will survive somehow... I just don't know how.

If you can move on w/o Libby, then I guess I can accept this new schedule. It's still an outrage though....this tends to happen with shows that aren't in the Top 20, that have low ratings possibly, and on their way out anyway. Lost isn't even close to that dire situation!

[lurkey]

Mary we will survive somehow... I just don't know how.

If you can move on w/o Libby, then I guess I can accept this new schedule. It's still an outrage though....this tends to happen with shows that aren't in the Top 20, that have low ratings possibly, and on their way out anyway. Lost isn't even close to that dire situation!

This was a compromise between the producers, the fans, and ABC. The producers wanted the season schedule broken up in THREE segments (a beginning, middle and an end of the season, I guess). The fans were upset with the number of re-runs. ABC wanted enough of a break between the segments to showcase a new show.

There are many popular shows that have unorthodox schedules. FOX has Prison Break and 24. SCIFI has Battlestar Galatica, the Stargate shows.
F/X: The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and one other I can't remember. HBO: Sopranos, Deadwood, etc. .

[Brent]

Mary we will survive somehow... I just don't know how.

If you can move on w/o Libby, then I guess I can accept this new schedule. It's still an outrage though....this tends to happen with shows that aren't in the Top 20, that have low ratings possibly, and on their way out anyway. Lost isn't even close to that dire situation!

This was a compromise between the producers, the fans, and ABC. The producers wanted the season schedule broken up in THREE segments (a beginning, middle and an end of the season, I guess). The fans were upset with the number of re-runs. ABC wanted enough of a break between the segments to showcase a new show.

There are many popular shows that have unorthodox schedules. FOX has Prison Break and 24. SCIFI has Batterstar Galatica, the Stargate shows.
F/X: The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and one other I can't remember. HBO: Sopranos, Deadwood, etc. .

Exactly. The reruns do horribly(no one watches them), people all over the internet complained endlessly about them. Of course, now they'll complain about the hiatus, but in March/April when most of the other shows are in repeats, Lost will have new episodes, and there will be no more of this "2 episodes and then a month hiatus then back for 3 episodes followed by a 3 week break". It's not possible to do more than 24 episodes a season, and with the season 35 weeks, they had to do something.

[O Town]

Well it sucks. I think it is just dumb, its harder to remeber from one hiatus to another what was going on exactley. Don't understand it and do like it one bit!

[Miss Mary]

OTown - I agree. It is all confusing. In the finale there were scenes with Michael, at the computer in the hatch (if my memory is correct). Then I remembered it was from weeks ago and they were continuing that scene where he communicates with someone at the computer and realizes the other person is Walt. I had to keep reminding myself, oh yeah they're finally getting back to that scene. This time off will only make it worse.

And quite honestly, I won't believe we'll have all new episodes when it does return after the hiatus. When I see the episodes are new on the guide, for weeks on end, then maybe I'll believe it.

I still suspect they'll give us 4 or 6 weeks of new, then slip more reruns in when they think we've forgotten all about this winter hiatus.

Finally, if they're going to be jacking the show around (catch my pun? LOL) like this, why not add at the beginning of each episode what day it is, island time. Day 60....72.....80......you get the picture.

Mary

[lurkey]

I think the new schedule is great. We get six episodes with a mini-cliffhanger to hold us over the hiatus and then all-new episodes from Feb to May. If I need to catch up before new episodes appear in Feb, I know the six previous episodes are available online to watch.

And it's not like they will stop filming during the "break". 24 starts in mid-July and ends filming in April / May with usual breaks for holidays. Unless there are problems in production,(e.g. torrential downpours of rain like last season), they will keep the usual filming schedule. If anything, it probably would be a little easier filming this season.

[wx247]

As long as they keep giving me LOST, I will be okay. It is when the show ends that I am really going to have problems!!

[Miss Mary]

Garrett - I hear ya. My daughter is into Will & Grace reruns and she watched the one where the group is all upset at 3 of their beloved shows ending - Sex in the City, Frasier and Friends. Many references to the group having virtually no lives, since they watch so much TV. Very funny. Lilith from Frasier guested.

Anywho, I thought it was a funny episode b/c I am just like that with my "beloved" shows. Oh yeah! Crying when Friends ended, yes I did, thank you very much. I invested 10 years with those 6. I cried when Dallas ended, watching every first run episode, live, except for about 6. Same goes for St. Elsewhere and Knots Landing. And I can't forget The Waltons......

That said, Lost has filled the void in my life of not having a show I HAVE to see each week. And one I think back to over the coming week, until the next episode.

Am I proud I'm this way with my very favorite TV shows - probably not - but hey, this is who I am!

I just wish there had been online message boards when Dallas was on. Oh yeah baby, I would have never gotten anything done! LOL

I will miss Lost when it's gone. And you guessed it, probably cry! Cause you and I know they're never getting off that island!

Mary

[southerngale]

I wasn't real happy about it at first, but I think once it's late January or early February and we get new episodes until the end of the season, everyone will love it! Being a "24" fan, I hate waiting until January for the new season, but when it starts with a 2 hour premiere, runs new episodes every single week with a 2 hour season finale in May, I'm thrilled we don't have to wait weeks in between for new episodes...one week is LONG ENOUGH!

[Brent]

Spoilers ahead from Ausiello and the scheduling move is mentioned...


What can you tell me about the show's first six episodes?
Carlton Cuse: Damon and I are designing the show as a sort of miniseason. We almost view the first six as a miniseries. And it's going to answer what we left hanging at the end of the finale. Obviously, we're going to explain what happened to Locke and Desmond and Eko, and sort of deal with the fact that Sawyer and Kate and Jack are in captivity. We really love the idea of having this little six-episode [arc], and we have a whole story design with a conclusion and a cliff-hanger that will hopefully keep the audience curious and hanging and excited about coming back in January for the longer run of episodes.

Are you happy about the scheduling move?
Cuse: We're ecstatic. We couldn't be happier. Damon and I got so many complaints last year from the fans about frustration over the repeats, and feeling so confused about when Lost was going to be on. The impatience of having to wait two or three weeks before the story could continue. Now, when Lost is on, it's on.

Would you have liked to have gotten more than six episodes up front?
Cuse: The problem, ultimately, is that we physically cannot produce more than 22, 23 or 24 hours. We did 24 hours of the show last year, and it nearly killed us. We were simultaneously producing episodes 22, 23 and 24 at the end of the season with three different crews. It's such a hard show to make, and yet there are 35 weeks in the prime-time season. We wish we could make 35 episodes of Lost; we just can't. There are always going to be compromises in scheduling the show. And [ABC president] Steve McPherson decided, I think very smartly, that it would be way too long to wait until January to have the show back on again. That was the other choice: to come back on in January and run straight through to May. But I think it's better and more satisfying for the fans to have a pod in the fall. To not have to wait from May until January for the show to be back on. But we like it. We see those six episodes as a little miniseries, and it's going to be intense and hyped and high-octane.

Will Cynthia Watros (Libby) be back in flashback?
Cuse: We would love to tell more chapters of Libby's life, in the same way that you've got Jack's father's story. That character was dead from the word go, but that doesn't mean we haven't learned and seen his story over the course of the series. We would love to sort of finish up Cynthia's story, but if I were specific about that, it would spoil the surprise of our storytelling.

Will the Oct. 4 season premiere pick up where we left off?
Cuse: We pick up where we left off, but obviously there are different stories on different parts of the island, and, you know, we will get to all of them in the first few episodes. But like last year, we didn't deal with the raft survivors in the first episode. Not everything is going to be answered in the first episode. But the captivity story [with Jack, Kate and Sawyer] will definitely be addressed.

Where are you in terms of casting three new roles?
Cuse: We are right in the middle of it. We hope to have announcements next week. We're casting two female roles and one new male role. I can't tell you where [the characters] are going to come from, but obviously, one of the things we're doing this year on the show is... learning a lot more about the Others, and their society and their history. So it might be fair to say that you're going to learn more about some other characters who are also Others.

I hear we're finally going to get some romance on the show this season. It's the season of sex!
Cuse: Finally, yes! I wouldn't call it the season of sex, but I will say that romance will play a much more active part of the show this year.... We actually meant to get to it last year. We didn't really get to the romance as fast as we thought we were going to. So this year that's definitely on [our] agenda.

Are we talking Jack and Kate?
Cuse: I think actually one of these new female characters is going to be a romantic interest, possibly for Jack.

Is she going to be the third part of the triangle that was initially planned for Michelle Rodriguez?
Cuse: Yeah, exactly. And it's not going to be just one new romance. There will be several new romances on the show this year.... The second season was a little darker, a little more intense, a little more mythology-oriented, and I think that this year we're looking to make the show a little bit brighter, a little bit more vibrant, a little bit more on the action-adventure axis, a little bit more on the romance axis. We were interior, we were down underground in the hatch, it was very monochromatic. I don't think the show will be as dark and as intense this year. And it will be, I think, even more on the character axis than on the mythological axis.

Is the empiricism vs. faith issue still core to the show?
Cuse: I think it's one of those issues that's never really resolved. I mean, I think, in essence, the show is constantly about empiricism vs. faith. Many of the things that happen on the show are debatable on that axis. Was this something that was supernatural, or is there a logical explanation — and which one is the truth? That's part of what Lost is all about, and we actually like the ambiguity of those story choices that we make because it allows the audience to sort of participate and engage in that debate themselves.

How will Locke be different?
Cuse: John Locke will be a very different person in Season 3. All of his questions and his doubts and his uncertainty have been answered. In fact, the button did mean something. And there was something at stake. And I think that will bring about a change in that character.

How big a role will Penny have?
Cuse: Penny is an important character in the overarching mythology of the show. I don't want to say too much about how much she's going to be in Season 3.

Will the outside world play a significant role this season?
Cuse: Yeah. The interrelationship between the outside world and the island will be something that will be a part of Season 3.

And the monster?
Cuse: Yes, the monster will be a part of Season 3, as will the polar bear. People are asking what happened to the polar bear, so we will be doing some polar-bear stories.

People also want to know what happened to that thing that ate the pilot in the, um, pilot.
Cuse: That was the monster. He wasn't really devoured. When we saw Greg Grunberg he was hanging 70 feet in the air on a tree branch. He was dead, but he wasn't swallowed. The smoke creature and the monster are one and the same.

Are Walt and Michael gone forever?
Cuse: Not necessarily. They still remain a part of the overall mythology of Lost. But as to when we will revisit their story, that's not something I can answer. But we will not immediately be getting back to Michael's story.

Malcolm David Kelley will be getting older and taller. That has to be a consideration when you plan his story.
Cuse: It's something that we've accounted for.

What about Cindy, the missing flight attendant?
Cuse: She's a personal favorite of yours, isn't she? I hope Cindy shows up at some point. Let's just say we have many actors on our show; she is not at the top of the list of actors we're servicing.

Any firm plans for J.J. Abrams to write/direct any episodes?
Cuse: J.J. is going to cowrite the premiere with Damon, and our hope is he will direct Episode 7, which will be the first episode of the new pod.

Were you bummed about the Emmy snub?
Cuse: Obviously, we're disappointed. We feel like we did a really good season of the show. But in the bigger picture, Damon and I are so overwhelmed by the success of the show, both critically and ratings-wise.... I mean, it wasn't our year for that to happen, and that's OK.

[Miss Mary]

Brent! You're stealing my job......just kidding. Truly I am. So busy this summer as it is. Thanks go out to YOU for finding that article!!!

And now I'm heading out the door and can't read it, in its entirety. Dang! I will definitely read it when I get back.

Mary

[wx247]

Very interesting. All I have to say is Libby! Libby! Libby!

[MSRobi911]

After reading Brent's post I had to go watch the last episode again on my DVR....Penny is Desmond's one time girl friend before he went to prison that the rich daddy had sent off. She was the person that the two guys in the snow called and told her "I think we found him".

Mary

[Miss Mary]

Penny is apparently very important to the story. Her father is Whidmore, and some fans think he might be behind the entire experiment. He sabatoged her relationship with Desmond and wanted him out of her life. But she seemed to have strong feelings for him, hence the guys in the arctic station, saying we found it. It meaning the island? Possibly.

I've read on another Lost board, fans are really puzzled as to who HIM is. Faux Henry kept saying someone else was in charge. But who? Some fans think it's Jack's dad. But he died! Which makes no sense at all.

I think the man in charge is Penny's dad.

So yeah, she's pretty important to the plot. Because she's probably not going to like what her dad has done, if he's the head honcho.