"Lost" Has Lost Me

It's just like goddamn Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Within just a few weeks of coming out, taking off, and gaining a ridiculous level of popularity, the same lucky, lucky contestant would be on for 45 minutes, and only 3 questions would be answered. It would be irrelevant, intentional stalling, pointless observations on their home and childhood and friends and first communion, instead of just answering the goddamn question, right or wrong. Jeopardy has always been the kind, and remains rightly so; they pose the answer, and a question is immediately required. That's proper quiz-show pacing.

And now there's Lost, and it's going the same way. Hey, I like the premise: A large ensemble cast is thrown together in tragic circumstances, and as things develop we learn more about the charactes as well as being pulled into a very intriguing mystery about their location, and their fate(s). I like this a lot, and it got me into the show before the first season ended.

And now, just into the second season, I've left the show and won't be back. And I'm telling everyone I know to do the same. It's typical, and I can't say it's unexpected: rather than just tell the story, let the narrative go where it's supposed to, ABC has just stretched it out, with bullshit hype and drama and music and bad drawn-out acting along with way too much "previously on Lost" padding and back-end "coming next week" teasers. Given the roughly 48 minutes that the show actually runs in its scheduled one-hour slot, the story actually moves forward only about 15 minutes a week. They're yanking our chains to increase their cash flow.

I mean, I like this show, and want to watch it. But I don't need ten minutes of re-cap each week. And I don't need drawn-out scenes with bad emotion and music. I don't need stupid dream sequences. I need the story to progress logically and on a decent schedule.

I mean, look at Twin Peaks (). That's some of the best TV of the last 30 years. And it only went 29 episodes in 2 seasons. Why? Well, the core story, the story that hooked everyone with the mystery of Laura Palmer and the mystery of the evil, the White and Black Lodges, well, that was pretty much over once Agent Dale Cooper crossed over and came back fundamentally changed. After that, how do you ratchet up the excitement again? How do you top that story? Easy: you can't. So the show ended. (more on this at: )

The irony: ABC aired Twin Peaks. They won't make the same mistake again by letting a runaway hit run away with them. They'll stretch it out for as long as they possibly can, vamping and dancing in place, squeezing every single dollar and cent they can out of the franchise. That was clear enough to me after watching the new season of Lost; I wonder when everyone else is going to figure it out.

So, until I hear--from someone who's dumb enough to still be with the show--that things have picked up, Lost has lost me, for good.