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A comment from a British TV watcher said American TV usually handholds it's audience and unusually, it was not the case for LOST.
I liked LOST but I'm not going to say it was the high point of TV and the greatest show ever. The Wire had better writing and just as complicated and a compelling a story and more relevant to real life themes. Six Feet Under had better character development.
What LOST had was a combination of developing mind bending mysteries and twists, character development and blending of sci fi and fantasy elements and a cast and writing the made it all work, pretty much. Throw in the amazing scoring by the composer, who also won an Oscar for Up! and the beautiful locations.
LOST was similar to watching sports, say Michael Jordan. I'm still not saying LOST was the best show ever like Jordan as a player, but one of the reasons you tuned in to a Bulls game was what was Jordan going to pull out of his hat this time? A triple double while just recovering from the flu and throwing up? Some unbelievable move to the basket past three defenders? 6 straight 3 pointers in one period?
When LOST made your jaw drop, like a previous poster said, it dropped to the floor. The pilot, where Jack sees a gorgeous serene beach and makes a turn, takes several steps and sees the wreckage, a the guy sucked into the engine, the fuselage parts landing just next to Charlie, Hurley saving Claire from the falling wing. You thought it was just a lost on an island scenario and then you hear the Smoke Monster.
The twist and turns with Locke and his handicap, the flash forward when they show the future, yet you don't really know what it is, the hatch, Doc Arzt blowing up in front of your eyes and one of the most memorable phone calls ever in The Constant.
People say there were many unanswered questions and while I agree, I think there were more incomplete answers as opposed to unanswered questions. There were answers to questions, but the answers lead to more questions.
Was the level of absurdity just too much? The smoke monster, time travel, people living to be thousands of years old, able to grant immortality. Of course you have to suspend any notion of reality, but all in all, the show was a very enjoyable ride and I'm glad I took it.
While I'm not completely happy with the ending, the writers really wrote themselves into a muddle and I'm not sure if anyone could have written a satisfactory ending that satisfied the entire breadth of the audience.
Another thing I liked about LOST is that it had a big minority cast and you could say had a decent representation of the American demographic. Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, Russian, fat, old, etc... Plus there was a fair amount of subtitling. I never thought the American audience would have the patience to sit through all those subtitles, but they did and in huge numbers. I think this show proved that there is a demand for more than your usually mind numbing shlock on TV.
I agree with many that the quality of season 1, 2ish just wasn't sustained for the remaining seasons, but the writers aimed high and you can't fault them for trying. Maybe the next attempt, someone can take it up a notch and keep up a high level of quality consistently throughout a series.
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