Lost

I really liked the anecdote about Psychic Walt, and how that episode was clearly written as if Walt was psychic and could manifest things (the bird, the polar bears), but because it was never explicitly said or dealt with later, that’s ultimately not really part of the show’s canon. And of course, all the different contingencies they had for explaining the polar bears were entertaining. Walt manifested them! Well actually they were on the island from the Dharma experiments. Well actually they were just cargo on the plane.

If you use mysteries as crutch for your story you better have an idea where they lead to and this whole article made pretty clever that they didn’t. That has nothing to do with the creative process being “organic”, it’s about knowing where your story starts and where and how it ends. The guy even admitted that in the first two seasons there was never any talk about a Jacob or a guy in black suit and that all explanations were only “true” as long as someone else didn’t have a better idea. That’s to some degree understandable but the core of your story really shouldn’t be made up in this way if you want to have a satisfying conclusion because it WILL create problems further along and that’s what happened in the end with Lost.
So the “truth” seems to be that they had an idea what they wanted to do with the characters but really didn’t have a plan (only rough concepts which are about as creative as various Lost fan fiction) for their mythology and yet it was the mythology that was again and again put into the spotlight of their stories.

Another series that worked because the creators plotted it out from beginning to end before anything was even shot is Fringe (which is why S5 didn’t work, since it was so obviously tacked on at the last minute). Little things is the first season that seemed insignificant became more important as secrets were revealed.

The anecdote of the Black Rock makes clear that Abrams planted plenty of “mystery boxes” early on that did not have answers until later on but the central conceit seems to have been there from early on with the ideas being fleshed out within that frame work as they went. Unless your show is adapted from a previous body of work ala Game of Thrones, this is going to be true of pretty much any show and you really wouldn’t want it any other way because it would be a creatively stagnant, paint by numbers production moving forward.

Even Game of Thrones has increasingly deviated from the books to play to the strengths of the format, the actors and the writers. All good television does.

This is not to defend every idea that the writers eventually came up with. I do think that many of the final reveals were either disappointing or silly. That’s always a danger when so much is shrouded in mystery. I think that people have allowed their justifiable disappointment in some of these late reveals to cloud their retrospective judgement of a show that was one of the best, most creative and influential shows on television for several seasons. Lost ultimately doesn’t crack my top five shows of all time, maybe not even my top ten, but it was still a great show with great characters and stories that kept me coming back again and again. The bad may have been very bad but it was far, far out weighed by the good.

Breaking Bad is my favorite show of all time because it managed to successfully pull off a multi-season story arc with amazing characters almost flawlessly but it is fairly unique in this regard.

Well said.

That was an interesting read and I think gave a good clue as to why the show ultimately disappointed so many. This writer seems to think the big question among fans is “Did you have it planned out or make it up as you went along?”. It’s really “What is the island?”.

In this article he coyly says he knows, there was a stand taken on what the island is, but no he won’t tell us since it wasn’t in the finale. I hate people like that, they make a big deal to tell you they know some secret information that they know you want, but they can’t tell you. I have no problem with it not being his place to say what it is, I can respect that. But then he should have started his article by saying “I can’t tell you what the island is” so that those of us who are looking for that answer don’t spend time reading more for nothing.

I think that’s a serious core misunderstanding between the writers and the audience regarding why people were watching. That show didn’t have that audience because people were attracted to a show that was planned in advance. We were watching to find out who/what/when/why.

Though S5 of Fringe was disjointed compared to the overall arc of S1-4, I quite enjoyed it. Possibly moreso because of how it came to be (ie., not knowing they were going to be picked up for a 5th season and having to scramble a story together).

Another is The Shield, though it wandered in the middle seasons (sometimes poorly, but for the most part successfully) it always came back around to the events of the first episode.

After seeing that I had to go onto Hulu and rewatch The Constant. It might honestly be my favorite episode of any show. What a masterpiece.

Agreed. The Constant was excellent. I should also go back and watch that.

There are a lot of frustrations I have had with Lost, but when it scored, it scored big.

The “not Penny’s boat” episode was great too.

Agreed. The lows were real low. But god damn were the highs worth it.

I did love the ride most of the way when it was on originally, but I just can’t go back and watch even the best episodes knowing how it ended. It totally ruined the series for me.

I always wondered why I haven’t seen a lot more of Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond). He was probably my favorite character from LOST. Turns out it’s because he’s had a successful 5 season and still counting run on “The 100”. Good for him! I may actually have to go watch that show now that I know he’s in it!

Desmond was my favorite character by far. Ben was my second.

The 100 is great, contrary to its thread title. :D

It certainly defied its early predictions. I have to say, though, that the final episode of this season may have jumped the shark.

We binged Lost some years ago, streaming it over the course of a few weeks. One of the episodes that has always stuck with me was the one that introduced Mr. Eko; the scenes in Africa with armed thugs, the priest, and the village were some powerful stuff.

Desmond’s character in The 100 is one of the best characters there too. Just like him so much as an actor overall.