Your sitting and looking skills are decidedly above par, sir. I tip my hat to you.

Gotta say, Lost restored my faith in serialized drama -- and though a shark was briefly glimpsed in an early second season episode, no one attempted to jump over it. So I'm guardedly optimistic that it'll retain my interest for awhile yet.

Lost is very good, but, it's to intense for me. I mean I want to know the answers And I know that the answers will never come. because if the answers ever came, people would stop watching.

Lost isn't art, it's visual crack. And Crack is Whack

delmoi, the Lost showrunners definitely understand that dramas like the X-Files are cautionary examples of what happens when too few answers are forthcoming. They've said that they plan to lay things bare in the end, and parcel out revelations on a regular and continuing basis.

They basically resolved the major mystery of the entire first season in the first three minutes of the second... that is, what's down there in the hatch?

Am I the only person on any of the MePermutations (excepting the "Is this something you'd need a TV.." assholes) who hasn't watched this show?

Then again I managed to dodge the Buffy, and Stargate things and still live, so what the hell.

jonmc you must become one of us ... one of us ... one of us ...

or pick up Firefly. That'll satisfy. :-)

I avoid any media with a buzz surrounding it on general principles, wolfie. Stop trying to corrupt me.

*joins jonmc on the "those who haven't watched Lost" side of the room*

I've never seen it either.

*passes 40 and fattie to dg and iconomy*

Fight the Power, yo!

I've only started watching it... I've seen the first three episodes so far...

But, for the faithful: Did it take you some time to get into it? Because up to now it just seems mildly interesting, and my husband is calling it something like "underwear models on an island".

taz, it's the fourth episode that'll hook you. Terry O'Quinn ROCKS!

jon, there's no 'buzz' about this show, it's a groundswell. Know the difference :P

Mainstream advertising or "groundswell," word of mouth, it's all the same thing, herd behavior trendiness. Screw it on general principles, says I. I've been led on wild goosechases by both, I'll follow my own nose, thankyouverymuch.

I liked it when it first started. Then it started to bore me. Then the finale got me interested again. Now, I'm hooked.

But Terry O'Quinn will always be the Stepfather to me and thusly creeps me out.

I am a huge 'Lost' fan, and also was on the buffy bandwagon. That said, I never got into the X-files. I dunno, whatever does it for you.

oh I just read your post jon. I dunno. I don't think I tend to follow trends (maybe i do and have no idea that i do). I just watch what I like. and I do like lost. blame it on the fact that i don't get hbo, i dunno.

I avoided Lost until last month, then watched the whole first season. The only telivision I like is serlialized stuff--I only watch via downloads or DVD. I didn't realize that Lost was so serialized and pretty high quality, but when I did find out I was pleased to start watching it.

I'm still a little worried that they're just making shit up as they go along and it won't all make sense together and like killdevil, I was worried there for a bit a couple episodes ago or so, but I still have some faith.

It's interesting that former Mutant Enemy people are involved in both Veronica Mars and Lost, the only shows I'm watching (until BG comes back on in January).

So, who here recalls Walt's (step)father's comment to Michael that "things happen around [Walt]" from last season? I think much of this centers around Walt. Did they ever say what company Walt's mom (and stepdad) worked for?

Like everyone else, I'm fond of Hurley/Hugo and enjoyed last week's episode. Although I wish he'd actually tell someone his story.

I got you beat. I started the first season dvds yesterday at about 4 and just finished the final episode about 10 minutes ago.

dramas like the X-Files are cautionary examples of what happens when too few answers are forthcoming

Huh?

I remember watching a stray episode a couple of years after I'd stopped watching regularly, and found Mulder fast asleep in an observatory in South America. Suddenly, lights start creeping through cracks in the doorway, then BAM! An alien kicks open the door. I'm like: what the hell? What happened to making us wonder? (of course, Scully being just conveniently out of the room every time did get a bit old)

Oh, and for the record I hate hate hate Buffy, X Files, and most other (non HBO) TV. I was very surprised by Lost. Not a lot of expositional dialogue (which is what makes the Whedon stuff so gawdawful).

The most fucked up thing about Lost was the "previously on Lost" things at the start of the episodes. How they chose what to include in them was baffling. Usually those catchup things show you snippets from the last episode. The Lost ones seemed randomly selected. The catchup for the last episode of season 1 was almost 3 minutes long.

Y'see, I'm really un-schooled on TeeVee. I have 800 channels and only watch the Daily Show. That's it. I never watched Buffy (or even knew what the hell it was), West Wing or any of that yawnage. But since that thread last week, I was rather piqued and did some torrent action that I got around to watching yesterday, and thusfar, I've really done squat this weekend.

(Dreamsign, it was Scully in an alien costume.)

Lost bores me. This is a good thing because ive been meaning to find something more interesting than watching teevee. But perhaps it also shows that im just getting more and more impatient as i get older. Itll get to the point when i wont have the patience to

But Terry O'Quinn will always be the Stepfather

Yup.

watched 8 episodes of Lost yesterday. I'm finally caught up. When does Mulder show up on the island?

jonmc,

You have a love for popular songs, but not popular shows?

Depends on how you define "popular," bugbread. And quite frankly, I think the quality of TV has never been lower than it is right now. And quite frankly, I have a massive distaste for hype of any kind, and that's just about all I see from TV these days.

And quite frankly, I think the quality of TV has never been lower than it is right now

.
We're roughly the same age, so don't go telling me you've forgotten about the 80's, now. And what with the re-entry of HBO and the like, I have to say that TV now seems to me like it's averaging the same as ever: the bad has gotten much worse, but the good has gotten much better.

But, if it helps: I dunno what amount of hype there is for "Lost". It isn't on TV here, and as such there are no commercials, and there's no discussion. It's like a big alternate universe where "Lost" doesn't exist. But there was a Mefi post about the meanings of hidden numbers, and I decided to give this unknown show a look, and I liked it.

If you're one of those people who thinks that anything popular on TV is therefore automatically a product of hype and media manipulation, and therefore not any good, then more power to you, but the fact that you're not one of those people when it comes to music is one of the things I like about you.

You may not be employing the hipster defence right now, but it certainly comes across that way. Which, again, isn't really any skin off my back, but it might be a good reference for you about what the other half is thinking/feeling when they complain about popular music.

Sorry, that "." was not a Mefi mourning dot. It's just from me missing the period at the end of your sentence when clicking "blockquote".

And what with the re-entry of HBO and the like, I have to say that TV now seems to me like it's averaging the same as ever:

Well, I kind of see the HBO shows as mini-movies rather than TV, if that makes any sense. I almost always enjoy TV at it's most mindless, something to veg out on the couch with. So stuff like The Honeymooners and Barney Miller will always do the job better than Six Feet Under, say.

But, if it helps: I dunno what amount of hype there is for "Lost".

In traditional terms, I couldn't tell you, but on my various web habitues, people won't shut up about it, which is the quickest way to turn me off to something, mainly because nothing can live up to that kind of hyping.

But you can't mind other people talking about it if they feel like it, right?

There's not a lot of American pop culture I can share with people these days, so it's kind of fun to have the occasional show that people from all over the planet are downloading and discussing.

I don't watch much television at all, but being able to see something every now and then (though this is actually the first time) that a lot of my friends so far away are also watching is sort of nice - like sharing tunes on the internet is nice.

Good point. But remember that something doesn't have to live up to the hype to be good. It only has to be good to be good.

On the other hand, separating expectation from experience is easier said than done, so I understand the hesitation. What's worked for me is to wait a year or so, until something's no longer being discussed much if any. The hype is counteracted by the conspicuous silence, and I actually end out with a pretty neutral frame of mind.

The thing with Lost and all the hype about it is that there is so little good stuff on TV and when there is something, everybody goes batshitinsane over it.

Lost and Firefly have such a following because they really are good. Whether or not it's your cup of tea is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

I find myself somewhere between urbanwhaleshark and jonmc on the whole TV thing - with very few exceptions, I simply don't have the patience to sit and watch the (almost always) crap that spews from the set, never mind the constant interruptions of ad breaks (man, I wish we could get Tivos here - that may change my mind). I always seem to find that anything with major hype going on (as in - hearing people around me asking "did you watch xyz last night" all the time) bores me stupid. The only things I watch with any real purpose these days are Mythbusters and Last Man Standing. Of course, when the next series of The Amazing Race comes on, that becomes a "must see" and our household routine that evening revolves around it. The rest of it - meh.

Life is too short to spend it in front of a box watching pretend people live pretend lives in pretend worlds. Or maybe I'm just a grumpy old bastard.

And quite frankly, I think the quality of TV has never been lower than it is right now.

I completely disagree. At least, if you count HBO. I shut off my TV in 1987 as I thought everything was dreck. I even produced an anti-television documentary in the early 90s, I hated the box so much. However, in the past few years, due to tv on dvd, I've watched many of the series dramas and a few comedies. I can't recall there ever being a time in tv (I was born in 1968) that had as strong a line-up as Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Deadwood, 24, Band of Brothers, Lost, The Office (though British), and even Trailer Park Boys and a few others.

Sure, there's been lots of dreck, much of it even very popular (Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Buffy, The Wire, Oz, etc etc.), but I still think there's plenty worth watching and I honestly think TV is going thru a bit of a heyday right now.

As for the "hype factor", for the most part I'm outside it and hear nothing of it (much of it comes from TV itself, and I haven't "watched tv" in almost 20 years). For instance, I had never heard of Lost until a week ago. Never heard of Six Feet Under till it was in its third season. Never saw even a snippet of Buffy till it was in its 7th season. You and I, jonmc, have 'had this discussion' before (on the blue) and I still rest that it's far easier just to tune out the hype and try something and judge for yourself. I just go the video store and rent stuff based on the box art, premise, cast, etc, the same way I decide which albums to buy to hear new bands. Works pretty well, I think. And whether millions like Lost or it got cancelled after one season, I like it, and that's all that's important to me.

I just go the video store and rent stuff based on the box art, premise, cast, etc, the same way I decide which albums to buy to hear new bands. Works pretty well, I think.

Me, too, but seem to keep coming to different conclusions, somehow, to which I can only say vive la differance. But, it'd difficult to deny that on the many MePermutations, you hear a lot of Lost evangelism, which is a turn off for me.

I also missed the Lost thing. Never seen an episode. If anything, all the buzz has kept me away because it seemed like a thing you needed to see from the beginning to appreciate. I'm curious, but at this stage, there's no way I'm going to invest the effort to go back and watch the whole thing on DVD. Viewer, please.

got into buffy in its next to last season because it just happened to be just what i needed then.

got into x-files because i was laid up in a place with a bunch of tapes of the first few seasons

saw "Everyone Hates Hurley" and liked it. generally was avoiding Lost because i didn't have time to get into it, the first one i saw was the terry one i think and i wasn't getting into it. Also, being at a distance from the show seems to give me some perspective on it (how some people were with twin peaks) so i knew they'd kill off that one guy right away.

i've never been cool. i don't really plan on it. but i generally like to know something of what i'm talking about before i talk about it. it just makes me more comfortable.