Could Fans’ Expectations Lead to Trouble for ABC’s Hit Show Lost
I have a knack for liking strange shows. I loved “Twin Peaks.” I loved “X-Files.” I loved “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.” Therefore this particular show would seem to be right up my alley. However, I have loyalty to certain shows and whatever used to be on against “Lost” during the first season was a show I had ben watching for a while and I have yet to invest in that wonderful invention called TiVo.
Still, with everyone around me and in my family watching this show not to mention all of the magazines writing about the show, I was able to pick up the storyline without much effort or confusion when I watched the first show of season two. It watched with some skepticism. This show couldn’t really be all that, could it?
Well, now I am hooked. It slowly sucked me in. As each strange new development came about I found myself with more questions and sucked deeper into the plot of these strange people stranded on an island. The plots itself would be impossible to explain right here, so I won’t even try. If you haven’t watched this show then you will just have to look up the plot and storyline on the myriad of websites dedicated to trying to figure this labrynthine plot out.
Here’s the problem I foresee with this show, however. The hype and build-up over what must be behind this plane crash and mysterious island cannot possibly live up to expectations, can it? Has any show really lived up to its expectations when the hype and build-up was this big? I can’t think of one television show or even a movie that had this kind of build up that didn’t turn out to be a bit disappointing when you finally saw it.
There was one story, now that I think about it. It was a comic book series from the mid to late 80s called “Watchmen” written by the greatest comic book writer ever, Alan Moore. It was a story spread out over 12 issues with a myriad of characters. The story started out as a simple murder investigation, but each issue got more complicated and each issue revealed something more shocking than the last issue. By the time you go to the end, it was so horrific and shocking that it was beyond anything you could actually have imagined in the beginning.
What could possibly be behind everything on “Lost” that would be shocking enough to live up to the expectations of the fans? These patient fans, too. This show seems to creep along for episode after episode where NOTHING seems to happen. Sure the characters are interesting, but the endless flashbacks and stories of what their lives were like before the island gets a little annoying. You go weeks without anything be revealed and then suddenly – BANG – an episode that freezes you in your tracks happens. This season, two characters end up dying in a violent manner at the end of an episode. A betrayal is revealed. It was great television. However, the snails pace of this plot could lose fans over time.
Then, of course, the show has to last long enough for the producers and writers to actually reach the ending. Apparently some of the producers and writers say the plot could take about five seasons. Will people be patient long enough? Can they go five seasons being kept in the dark? And if they do reveal everything, like this season’s finale seems to suggest, is there enough there to bring people back? Once they found out who killed Laura Palmer on “Twin Peaks” the show was never quite the same. Will the same be said of “Lost?”
I can’t say that I know for sure. I do know that, so far, the show has lived up to the hype that was fed to me last season. I have been hooked like a large mouth bass during bass-fishing season. I plan on being there for the season finale and it looks to be a doozy.
Just pardon me if I curse myself for allowing myself to get hooked into another one of these damn shows.
