Ryan McNeil
This is a movie blog, but allow me a moment to talk TV.
This week, one of my favorite shows is ending, so perhaps it’s natural that as I consider what I want to do for its ending…that I reflect back on its beginning. It actually began without me as a fan.
Lady Hatter had heard good things about it, and started tuning in. I was convinced that it would be some sort of Gilligan’s Island/X Files hybrid and refused.
I spent an episode or two with headphones on.
Then I ditched the headphones, but read on the other side of the room.
Then I read from the loveseat – closer to the TV.
Then, after an episode or ten, I’d stopped reading altogether and had my eyes fixed on the TV.
She told me it was a good show, and while I hate to say this sort of thing so publicly…Honey, you were right.
Of course, me being me, I still had to nitpick, and I started echoing something Stephen King wrote that summer, that the very best thing the show could do was end quickly. Well lo and behold if I didn’t get my wish halfway through season three, and as is to be expected, the show is all the better for spending so much time and effort working towards a natural conclusion.
Speaking of that conclusion, if you gave up on the show somewhere along the way, do yourself a favour – resist the urge to tune into this weekend’s finale. Too much has happened. You won’t enjoy it, and you might not get it. You’ve been warned.
It’s not perfect television (almost nothing is), it has its detractors, and Lord knows it spawned a few dozen unworthy imitators. But it was ambitious, philosophical, and knew precisely how to keep me coming back for more.
I won’t begin to offer up opinions on its ups and downs, nor will I offer any details on just what I think on the direction this story is taking in its final chapter. I just wanted to take occasion to say goodbye to a TV show that has entertained the living shot out of me for six years.
Thanks a million LOST – I’m gonna miss ya.
What did you think? Feel free to leave comments with any thoughts on LOST.
Sigh — it's The Beginning of the End.
What the heck am I gonna go with myself once it's all over? I guess watch it again in its entirety?
Folks keep asking me how I think it's gonna end and I really don't have a clue, and I also don't care to. It's been a wild six years, looking forward to seeing how things turn out.
I'm gonna miss lost too! What a pity that its gonna be over, but I also don't think they could have kept going any longer. It's a good time to stop the show.
@ Caralyn… Not only should you ask what you're goona do with yourself, but likewise – what are you & I gonna have to talk about?
@ Aiden… Yeah, there are all sorts of endings I could be happy with right now. I might even like an ambiguous ending best of all.
@ Vanessa… See, that's the thing. There are so many shows that would be absolutely amazing if they dedicated themselves to a fixed number of seasons/episodes.
Someday, when network TV understands this, we'll all be much more entertained.
I'm eagerly anticipating the ending of LOST, but unless they play it on the Cruise I'll be on next week (and assuming I'm not gambling, drinking, or up to some other foolish activities) I may not see it until a week from this friday.
Also, indulge in your TV discussions every once in a while, if all I wrote about was movies I'd go insane. Hence why I go on my mental detours 🙂
I'm going to miss it terribly. It's introduction of intangible ideas into the mainstream TV medium has really been inspiring. Love throughout alternate universes, redemption, damnation, fear, hope, spirituality, science, faith, logic… It's been an amazing experience. I'm thankful to have been a part of it.
I don't think we will see a show quite like it for a long time. Despite killing off some of my favorite characters (e.g. Mr. Eko, Jin, Juliet, etc.), Lost has been consistently good over the six years. The only real blip was the first half of season 3 but a lot of that was due to the writer's strike. It will truly be missed.
I can't even begin to express my love for this show. I've never seen anything like it before and probably will not in the future either. I still can't really embrace the fact that it's coming to end, but it is indeed better to end it now rather than stretch it and exploit it until it becomes useless.
On a side note, I think I'll start to watch it from scratch in a couple of years, just to see how it all fits together and maybe discover a couple of things I might have missed over the years.
We'll have stuff to talk about…kids movies. 🙂 We can talk about how my kids still say, "What the cuss?" when something goes wrong. lol
@ Univarn… Have fun on your cruise.
As for discussing TV on this site, don't count on it. For starters, I'm not exactly proud of the amount of TV I watch. While I do get to see damned near everything thanks to a PVR, I have no interest in watching it all immediately so I can blog about it before bedtime.
@ Wild Celtic… Indeed. I think it's the way all of those themes started coming up more and more as the seasons went on that lost so many mainstream viewers.
All the better for those of us who stuck with it, right?
@ CS… Hey, I just realized, we can talk about the finale at pub night on Tuesday! The first half of season three seems especially tough because that was the point that the creators started stalling since ABC wouldn't commit to a fixed number of episodes.
Once they got that agreement (during the strike as it just so happens) it was hammer-down the rest of the way.
@ Atroxion… Kudos to you for being able to wait a few years. I think come September I'll want to start watching the whole thing again to see how it all fits together.
But I agree with you – I doubt we'll actually see something like this again.