LOST ITS WAY

“Winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry,” basketball legend Bill Russell once said.

And for many, that kind of empty reward at the conclusion of LOST still leaves a bitter taste. The final episodes were not as much about resolving the initial story than trying to back out of a freshly painted corner.

One of the lingering problems about LOST is that it quickly lost its original vision, as set forth in the original pilot episode and writer's guide.

Instead of having episodes that focused on one basic story, the writing changed from simple, defined episode plot to a series of mixed up stories being interrupted by new events.

First, the flashbacks. They were used to tell the back stories of the main characters. But instead of flushing out major character traits, they became used to take up more screen time than actual island stories.

Second, within the island story line, a situation rarely resolved itself. Instead, a new event, mystery or action interrupted the characters mission. Then the missions began to drag over from week to week.

Third, came the "twists."  Out of nowhere, strange things would pop on the screen not to enhance the story but to shock the viewer. A sudden death of a character is a prime example.

This makes it hard to watch if you were a casual viewer. Ratings continued to decline from Season 1, but there was an avid base of support, and glowing media reviews, to keep the "smartest show on TV" on the air. This is why this highly touted show never could sustain re-runs in syndication; it is too hard to follow.

There are plenty of explanations for why the express story structure of LOST was abandoned. It could be that J.J. Abrams was an absentee producer, off doing films, rather than keeping the series on point. It could be that the shake up of ABC network executives who then forgot to ride herd on the initial concerns and requirements of the show. It could be the writers thought they "were smarter than everyone in the room" and did things their own way because they could. It could be that the writers were making it up as they went along, without a plan (as many critics said after Season 6).

It was probably a combination of all those factors that gave us the LOST series that was aired on ABC.