[Closed] Lost...

I watched it through again about a year ago. Knowing the outcome actually helped and I picked up lots of clues along the way that I had missed first time around. Being able to binge it was also an advantage.

I enjoyed the first series. I tried to enjoy the rest.

I never watched it. Was going to, but I heard the big twist at the end and decided I hated it, so I hate it.

The ending was shite. Quite clear they were just making it all up as they went along as opposed to having a plot outline to start with. It had so much promise, but the last series and that ending......terrible

I was obsessed with the first few series, and even bought Sky for the first time when I moved from Ch4 to Sky1 just so I could keep watching.

But it quickly became clear to me it could never live up to the hype it created with it's endless cliffhangers, eventually I was reading a magazine article about it in which one of the writers casually dropped in that rather than a large story arc that was carefully being followed to a known conclusion they were just making it up at they went along. I think they were trying to reassure fans that it wasn't going to end soon, but it back-fired (for me anyway) I was only hanging on to know why all this mad shit was happening, it was a sudden realisation that the mystery would never be solved, it would just end one day when they cancelled it and I never watched another episode.

It was years later I read about the Bobby Ewing style ending and I was glad I had.

Quite clear they were just making it all up as they went along as opposed to having a plot outline to start with

And yet there are lines in the very first episode that relate to the story ending.

I thought lost was awesome first time round. Felt original back then. The conclusion was a bit disappointing as try always are, but I enjoyed the journey immensely. Wouldn’t want to go back ad re-watch - significant amount of time to be sat in front of the telly and bound to not be as good second time around. Don’t recall a Bobby Ewing style ending though.

And yet there are lines in the very first episode that relate to the story ending.

They probably did that to make you think there was a link. There definitely wasn’t and the writers pretty much admitted this

And yet there are lines in the very first episode that relate to the story ending.

Well yes, that wouldn't be difficult to do, but they just filled in lots of stuff around it too.

I watched and thoroughly enjoyed the first series of lost & I think I saw some of the second series but missed a few and wasn't interested enough to catch up by then (back when that meant buying or renting a DVD) as the plot seemed as lost as the characters.

On a tangential note of things I only saw the first series of but enjoyed that much at least...

Is heroes worth watching?

At least they gave some sort of an ending.
I was really enjoying Alcatraz. They had a nice car chase in the last episode of S1 around San Francisco and a great tease for the next season, and that was it. Gone.

Heroes definitely isn’t worth watching after the first series. Becomes pretty terrible with some truly awful plotting and character arcs. Think it was hit hard by the writers strikes. Could be wrong though.

Is heroes worth watching?

Starts really well, Series 1 is brilliant, Series 2 less so and 3 and 4 pretty terrible.

Heroes.

First time around I watched all of season 1 then gave up after a few episodes of season 2.

I caught it all again recently. S1 was good, 2 and 3 went downhill but I stuck it out to S4 and was glad I did.

I hate following one of these then they suddenly stop. Enjoyed The OA, waited for the second season but then found out there wouldn't be a third, so didn't even bother watching the second.

Prison Break followed a similar trajectory - a great first season them diminishing returns.

Season 1 of Prison Break was entertaining, but stupid. After that, the stupid just grew until it was laughable by the end. Pity, it had a fairly decent cast.

Tin Star.

How shit did that get in such a short space of time?

I tried Tin Star too. Abandoned it after the first episode, it had all the hallmarks of a shit avalanche about to launch itself.

Tin Star.

How shit did that get in such a short space of time?

Yep, there were warning signs. I'm always wary of 'American' TV series which aren't, it's a Sky1 production and they're usually cheesy shit.

Billions is very good if anyone hasn't seen it.

Has anyone seen Yellowstone yet? It's been getting decent reviews in the US, it's on in the UK now on some random channel, but it's a big budget job.

It was such a relief to know that Watchmen was a 1-series and done show.
After Lost, I don't think I would have watched another Lindelof show without knowing it ended decently.
The Leftovers was a bit in-between for me. Definitely some elements of making it up as it went along, but at least it was entertaining along the way. The ending was at least thought out beforehand and the show didn't drag on too long.

I still haven't forgiven Lost for the ending, it went from strong to written into a corner and needing to back out of it weakly hoping no one notices, rubbish!

I watched the first season of Billions. Good cast, but looked to be turning into a soap opera so I stopped there.

Oh, and the GOAT of turning shit has got to be True Detective. Season 1 wasn't perfect, but it had some stunningly good bit. Season 2 was just a huge stinky turd.

I love Lost and have watched it 3 times now, once on my own, once with my son and then once with my son and daughter.

The ending wasn't that good, but some of the previous episodes were great.

I really like Michael Emerson playing Ben and he is also excellent in Person of Interest.

Ended up disappointed but the first few series were some of the best TV ever, Locke and Boon discovering the hatch and all the orienteering stuff was mind-blowing for me at the time, might have to revisit.

I think the last Lost episode I saw, they were building a raft. Dunno why I stopped watching now, probably just stuck in the "I'll go back to that at some point" pile and never quite got around to it. See also, Game of Thrones and 90% of video games I own.

Heroes.

First time around I watched all of season 1 then gave up after a few episodes of season 2.

Exactly the same for me. I thought the first series was some of the best TV I'd seen in years, S2 was toilet in comparison and I gave up about halfway through. I didn't even know they'd made 3 and 4.

I'm currently watching The Expanse and it is a bit like Heroes in that the notion of Goodies and Baddies is a bit fluid. Makes for more interesting viewing as you find your loyalties swaying.

Lost seemed to suffer from the "Curse of JJ".
i.e. gets off to a good start, interesting premise, characters seem to have some depth and plenty of plot points that will needing resolution as things progress. The network wakes up to the positive reviews and higher than expected viewing figures, commission a longer run. Then Mr Abrams realises He never really knew where the story was going, or how to finish it off, let alone treble the episode count. Eventually everyone wanders off mumbling about how crap it became...

I never got past about the third episode of season 2 and had no good reason to revisit. There's way more interesting things out there to draw my attention...

I’m currently watching The Expanse

Very good telly but by the end of the last season I wanted to slap "holden" something* about Steven strait just grates, and frankie Adams as Bobbie just doesn't work for me as an ex special forces type.

*edit, thinking about it he's just a bit too moody teenager for me.

TV series are made by TV studios, which will keep commissioning a show for more series until ratings drop, cos they only care about money. If writers get fed up with this, they leave or are fired and are replaced.

Netflix seems often (but not always) to have a different approach - write the show until the material is exhausted, then it finishes and the writers are free to do write something else. Hence loads of 2-3-4 series shows.

I think the difference in approach is almost entirely down to delivery format.

There's no need to produce a show for 12 episodes so it fits nicely into the TV schedule which historically (in the US especially) was seasonal. As such to sell a show it had to have a certain number of episodes of the networks weren't interested as it didn't schedule well.

With Netflix that doesn't matter, a 4 episode show doesn't cause scheduling problems and you're not selling a 12 week run of ads split over 3 4 week shows like you would have so it frees them up to simply make things the right length.

TV series are made by TV studios, which will keep commissioning a show for more series until ratings drop, cos they only care about money. If writers get fed up with this, they leave or are fired and are replaced.

Yep, look at The Walking Dead, the first series was genuinely one of the best bits of TV ever made, but it didn't take long to turn it into a cash cow. They pay the stars relatively terribly compared to any other hit TV show, they use the same unused bit of freeway and a couple of large sets for everything. It doesn't matter if the ratings are half their peak and the story lines repetitive dead ends, because it costs peanuts to make.

HBO still makes the best stuff IMHO, they're not always perfect, but the don't drop the quality or start dragging out the story lines if they hit it big.

TV series are made by TV studios, which will keep commissioning a show for more series until ratings drop, cos they only care about money. If writers get fed up with this, they leave or are fired and are replaced.

I've recently started series 14 of Supernatural where even the writers joke about the longevity of it. It's been silly for ages, but it never really took itself seriously and has had all sorts of daft plotlines, even the main story arcs are usually secondary to the one off fun episodes they make. It's not clever or challenging TV, but sometimes you just want to be entertained.

With Netflix that doesn’t matter, a 4 episode show doesn’t cause scheduling problems and you’re not selling a 12 week run of ads split over 3 4 week shows like you would have so it frees them up to simply make things the right length.

True but Netflix also have the courage to stop a show when the material is worked through. With network TV shows you can see the writers trying to conclude a storyline and the network says 'no, we want more' so they do some stupid plot twist to open everything back up again. Inertia means that people continue to watch something until it gets really poor then they just drift away, and the show just stagnates.

Having said that, few Netflix shows are 'monster/crime of the week' because when people are bingeing shows they want to follow a big storyline. This format is less amenable to endless episode making.

I’ve recently started series 14 of Supernatural

My wife binged that entire show. It was hard work at times but she made it, champion that she is.

True but Netflix also have the courage to stop a show when the material is worked through.

I think its more likely their stats tell them people don't drift away from Netflix and instead just watch the b to z list junk, of which there is oodles and oodles, once the good show runs out and even if they do switch off only a tiny % stop subscribing. vs a traditional network where people do turn over/off making the ad space worth less. Keeping a series going, beyond its obvious end, but holding viewer numbers is important to keep the business afloat.

Not bravery vs "cowardice" so much, just freedom born of a different funding model. (which last time I saw wasn't paying Netflix' bills in a way that would bankrupt an old fashioned media company but with web/tech stuff seems the norm)

I watched the first two series that were free to air . Was ok.
I did love heroes at the time and I recorded the reunion on channel 5 but only watched two episodes....
but Dexter! I did all of them.
Currently deciding wether or not to help junior j out, like dexters dad did. Ha .

I watched the full run of Lost for the first time about three years ago.

I was angry for weeks after it, as others have stated about the end, its dreadful.

Can I have those hours of my life back please?

but Dexter! I did all of them

Thoroughly enjoyed Dexter. Oddly made me want to go to miami though, for which I dislike it.

There’s no need to produce a show for 12 episodes so it fits nicely into the TV schedule which historically (in the US especially) was seasonal. As such to sell a show it had to have a certain number of episodes of the networks weren’t interested as it didn’t schedule well.

There is also the syndication thing in the US. A show will be sold to other networks after it's aired, and they'll stick it on a rerun loop (which I'm guessing is where we get "season" instead of series from). In order to do that without endless repeats they need like 60-100 episodes minimum. This is why you get series which run to like 21-22-23 episodes.

The first 2 series were the most gripping and original t.v. I ever watched.

But  script writing "lost" its way quite soon after and the shows producers obviously couldnt find a way of wrapping up the show up in any meaningful sense so continually resorted to a load of flash back / flash forward bollox

If it had had a finite lifespan of 3-4 series with an ending decided from the start it could have been one of the best shows ever.

Still pretty good though , just dont bother watching any of it after series 3.

I think I stopped around series 3. I do wonder whether I should finish it but I don't think I will. What I watched was pretty decent TV.

Can I ask you question brother, has some one mention sweetcheeks yet?

As long as you don’t take it seriously Lost is enjoyable.

Think I watched it to series 3 or 4.
Got seriously agitated with the number of open threads and stopped watching as it was tiresome.

I've no intention of revisiting it, I don't care how it ends.

I'll put my hand up

I loved it from start to finish

I totally get why people hated it, but I genuinely loved it. Some of my favourite characters and was really invested in them.

I loved the ending

Flame away😂

Another fan start to finish here.
It was always about the journey rather than the destination though.
The soundtrack was awesome. Really amplified the drama. Especially first season.
Liked the katecentric and lockecentric episodes best.