My Favorite Current Media Product: LOST

LOST is the best current show on television. I watch it religiously. The creators of LOST are the big guys who work for ABC: J.J. Abrams, Jack Bender, Damon Lindelof, Bryan Burk, and Carlton Cuse. Most of these men are young, brilliant writers and thinkers, who also produce and direct most of the episodes. They used to work on other top shows on ABC, such as Alias. The central story line of the show is that people from all over the world just crashed on an island, perhaps an island that already had inhabitants.

However, the show is not nearly so simple. This is no ordinary island. The best part of the show is that the writers know where the show is heading, they have stories in mind, and they know what characters have done in the past and what they will do in the future. They share a little bit of their secrets with us each week. Of course, they wanted to create a television show that many people would watch and love, and the bottom line is probably always to make money. They have surely accomplished that. However, they also wanted LOST to be something that had never before been seen on television. While based on an island, the show goes into depth about who these people are, who they were in the past, and how they live each day with each other in an unknown, scary, mysterious place. The audience gets a chance to see into each main characters’ intentions, loves, hates, and desires. They also add new people to the show each season; by always introducing new characters into the mix, the audience is never bored. LOST is really a show about these people; there just happens to be a thrilling story in the background.

Audiences watch the show because they want to know the answers; they want to know what will happen next. If a person enjoys LOST, they are usually a big fan. It is the type of show that is addictive and catchy. However, many of my friends, and I assume many other people, dislike LOST without ever seeing an episode, and they will even argue that the show is ridiculous. ABC’s target audience is probably all Americans between the ages of fourteen and sixty. The show has so many dimensions that it can appeal to almost anyone, no matter their age, gender, race, or religion.

However, many people do think that it is absurd that the survivors who live on this island have guns or other modern conveniences. They simply have not seen the show enough to know why this is. There is a complex reason for most everything on the show; perhaps these people do not want to watch a show that will make them think. I usually watch each new episode twice, and then discuss it with a friend or two. Our discussions are about what happened in the show, what was revealed, and about what unanswered questions we might now be able to conjecture. For some revelations, events, or incidents in the show, all we can do is exhibit wonder. The writers, producers, and directors have done an incredible job creating a believable story with lovable, real, or even hated characters; this is a show that thousands of people look forward to every week, just to see what will happen; we want to find out what we will next discover together as an audience.

There are only a few things that I do not like about LOST. It was very hard to wait until February to see the fourth season. It is great being able to see eight (and what would have been sixteen had there been no writers’ strike) brand new episodes in a row. However, I did not like waiting almost a year to see the new episodes. I did take the time to re-watch the first three seasons, with the extra features, so perhaps it was all for the best. Additionally, I do not like that the writers have killed off certain characters. I will not say them here, in case someone wants to watch the show. I know that they had to kill certain people for the story line, and I appreciate the greatness of the show, but I still miss them.