What effect do you think it will have on this type of television show? More and more television shows these days, even if they are episodic, incorporate ideas that last over multiple seasons and imply a build toward a climatic end. The Shield was a good example of a show that you knew had to have a definite ending. Some like nuBSG and Lost are built around mysteries and questions that will eventually be solved. Maybe. I for one was rather disappointed with BSG's copping out on a lot of its answers. If people go away from Lost with the feeling that they have been let down or cheated do you think a mass audience will ever emotionally invest themselves in another one of these type of shows again?
So If Questions Don't Get Answered
- Thread starter The Boy Who Cried Worf
- Start date
I'm not so much concerned about the answers as I am concerned about the big reversal that I'm fairly sure is going to be a part of the finale. If I know the creators at all, they're going to throw us a curve ball in the last two hours. Depending what that is will probably largely affect my view of the series as a whole.
I've mentioned it before, but what I really don't want to see is an ending that invalidates previous events. Something like "they're in purgatory" or "it was all Hugo's dream" would undermine things that had come before, because it would mean that they had never really happened. I strongly doubt that's where the story is headed, but if it was, I don't think I'd like it.
I've mentioned it before, but what I really don't want to see is an ending that invalidates previous events. Something like "they're in purgatory" or "it was all Hugo's dream" would undermine things that had come before, because it would mean that they had never really happened. I strongly doubt that's where the story is headed, but if it was, I don't think I'd like it.
I think that will have far less impact than the fact that networks don't have the slightest clue how to re-create Lost. They've tried with sf/f and non-sf/f shows and flopped time and again.
So now for the 2010-11 pilot season, they've largely given up and are going the easy route: buncha episodic cop/lawyer/doc shows. They know there's an audience for those genres, and they know how to write the formula to make them basically work. They don't have to risk a total misfire that has to be cancelled when they create something that fails to appeal to the Lost audience or any audience for that matter.
The one pilot possibility that has even a remote whiff of Lost is The Event (NBC) - but that could be more inspired by 24 (whose audience will also be looking for something new this fall) and isn't necessarily anything to do with sf/f.
However, if any show did come along that managed to re-capture the magic of Lost, the Lost audience would glom onto it gratefully, regardless of whether all the questions in Lost were answered, because next season, TV is gonna be a bigger wasteland than ever. We'd be lucky to get a show that is half as good as Lost out of the dire pilot season the networks have planned.
^I don't think this is something that's all on the networks, though. Too many writers and TV show producers try to cache in on Lost's success by creating something that's not a story they're passionate about on its own, but rather it's "kind of like Lost, but with aliens!" You get my drift.
Lost is a success because Lindeloft and Cuse didn't try to copy whatever trend was going on at the time. They told their own story on their own terms and seem to have a blast doing it. It's something they're excited about not because it'll make them lots of money, though it did that, but also because they genuinely care about telling the story. Sure, the show is influenced by previous TV shows such as The Prisoner and The Twilight Zone, but it's definitely not a rip-off.
I found the same thing happened after The Lord of the Rings came out. Suddenly everyone wanted to make their own adapted from a famous book fantasy epic, so they made The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon and the like. But the thing that was missing was that The Lord of the Rings was made by people who actually cared about getting that story on screen. They had no idea if it would make money or not, though they certainly were hoping it would.
The best stories are the ones that involve a bit of risk in their creation. The forgettable ones are made because they're a safe bet for a few dollars. Very few networks/studios/producers/writers seem to understand this.
The next Lost will come out of nowhere. It'll be a story that just grabs the right people at the right time, and it'll be told by people who really want to tell this story. And it'll come. A new story like this always comes along eventually. But it will never be a show that is marketed as "The next Lost, but with [insert twisty concept here]".
Lost is a success because Lindeloft and Cuse didn't try to copy whatever trend was going on at the time. They told their own story on their own terms and seem to have a blast doing it. It's something they're excited about not because it'll make them lots of money, though it did that, but also because they genuinely care about telling the story. Sure, the show is influenced by previous TV shows such as The Prisoner and The Twilight Zone, but it's definitely not a rip-off.
I found the same thing happened after The Lord of the Rings came out. Suddenly everyone wanted to make their own adapted from a famous book fantasy epic, so they made The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon and the like. But the thing that was missing was that The Lord of the Rings was made by people who actually cared about getting that story on screen. They had no idea if it would make money or not, though they certainly were hoping it would.
The best stories are the ones that involve a bit of risk in their creation. The forgettable ones are made because they're a safe bet for a few dollars. Very few networks/studios/producers/writers seem to understand this.
The next Lost will come out of nowhere. It'll be a story that just grabs the right people at the right time, and it'll be told by people who really want to tell this story. And it'll come. A new story like this always comes along eventually. But it will never be a show that is marketed as "The next Lost, but with [insert twisty concept here]".
While I'm not saying Fringe is as good as Lost was in Season 1, it's certainly made huge improvements towards the end of Season 1 and season 2 has been very strong for the most part. It's really started pulling away from being an X-Files wanna be and finding it's own identity and is becoming a nice candidate to replace Lost on the Sci-Fi front. For those of you who gave up on in early/mid season 1 I'd strongly recommend catching back up.....it's found it's groove and is doing well.
Which shows are those? I haven't noticed anything like that among the pilot possibilities for the coming season. One new show with actual aliens in it would be heartening. Space opera has totally fallen out of favor on TV.
I was actually reaching all the way back into the days of Invasion and Surface for that one, the former of which--I believe--was marketed that way when Lost started its second season. Or how about "Lost but with flashbanks to a 36 hours bank robbery standoff" (Nine) or "Lost but with a global scale and an actually experienced flash forward."
The Nine was a good example of how not to do one of these shows. It started off with a good cast and some promise, but with each episode it became apparent that the makers didn't know what type of show they were presenting to us and din't offer any clues as to where it might go. Was it supernatural themed? Just a mystery show? A crime drama?
With V and Flash Forward it wasn't enough to just try and recreate Lost, but they had to stick in actual Lost cast members as well. Did my eyes deceive me or was that M.C. Gainy in the promos for Happy Town?
