The TV Addict 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so good on you for voicing yours.

I, on the other hand, LOVE Lost!!!! I think we’re in the middle of watching one of the mose genius things ever to grace this lovely medium called TV. I think of LOST as an extended pop-culture iconic event that will be talked about for decades after it’s completion.

I can’t wait to say to my kids (who will probably be able to download the whole series directly to their brains) “I had to wait 9 months between seasons and it almost killed me!”

To all the Canadians out there, Happy Almost Canada Day!!!

Man up and don’t post anonymously. You’re entitled to your opinion, but claim it.

1. marie, theTVaddict is a democracy and everybody is entitled to his or her opinion.

2. holli, the ‘anonymous’ thing is my fault. I haven’t been in touch with the author all weekend, but I’m actually pretty sure they’d be cool with using their name. As soon as I get in contact with the author, I’ll be changing the ‘by’ credit.

Thanks for the clarification TVA. Sorry for the disparaging Anon. And if you don’t like LOST, what do you like so we’ll have a better idea of where you’re coming from?

I also think that you’re missing at least 1/2 the fun by marathon style watching. The thing I enjoy most about LOST is talking about it with other Dutch fast-pitch knitting attorney archers.

Anonymous is an idiot. He/She clearly doesn’t “get it”.

Holli, your second post is exactly what I’d like to know!

WHAT SHOWS DOES “‘anonymous” WATCH?

also…I, too, believe that one of the most amazing parts of the “Lost experience” is talking to you friends and even strangers you meet about one common intrest! it’s uncanny!

Anyways…Lost is not for eveyone…….just like any tv show!

All in all, I am an avid fan of Mr. Abrams’ show and think “LOST” is the best thing for television since “24″, “Scrubs”, “Seinfeld”, and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”!!!

TV ADDICT, I am happy to hear your reply to “marie” because I enjoy hearing the obscured (lol) opinion of a fellow Television Watcher!

Keep up the good work TV ADDICT…the only thing you could do….is FINALLY let ME win one of your contests…..or bring me to the up fronts in NEW YORK!!! yeah…that will get you an article in the USF (University of South Florida) Newspaper!!! lol!

I know I’m in the minority, but YAY to the writer! I wanted to like Lost (and love vaguely supernatural, long story arc tv generally) but it is just so…not interesting to me. I have valiantly struggled to like it because Everyone Likes Lost I’m told, and I do like the flashbacks. But, I’m just not feeling it. (It kind of reminds me of X Files; I used to plan my week around watching this show, but once the movie came out I realized there was never going to be a payoff in the story line and had quit watching by the time Mulder departed the show.)

I’ll leave the Lost to you guys and go watch my Buffy DVDs while waiting for the next Weeds and the Arrested Development movie. Just look at my absence as more Lost for everyone else!

I guess anyone with a keyboard these days. At least try to write a coherent article if you are taking such a stance on a show. I don’t even know where to begin.

Wow… just wow. As a scholar and student to all that is cinematic and digital media I feel the compulsive need to ask you, what the hell is wrong with you? How can you not appreciate the intricate storytelling and superb acting on this show? How can you not appreciate the way that the producers handle their business? Do you not see that LOST is about SO much more than just television? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but damn, yours is so off base that I’m seriously sick to my stomach. Please let us know what you consider to be good television.

I’m with anonymous. I was into Lost for the first couple of seasons, but I’m just not willing to watch a show that’s based on questions answered by more questions answered by MORE questions. It reminded me too much of the last couple of seasons of X-files when everyone sort of realized that Chris Carter had no clue where he was going.

“this euphoric explanation as to why they have spent several hours (years even) viewing this elaborately and intricately crafted tale; sadly, this revelation will never come”

How does this person KNOW the revelation will never come?

“However, it was soon obvious that the writers had burrowed into a “rabbit hole” that they have no sensible way to lead the viewer out of. ”

How does the person KNOW they have no sensible way to lead the viewer out of it?

People are so stupid these days. Fine, voice your opinion but do not throw stupid meaningless sentences at people just to sound smart . And don’t act like you know what the writers are going to do with the story. Only a few people know what’s coming. It’s like reading a book and saying ‘I don’t like this book because I know that there’s no resolution at the end, even though i’m only halfway through it’

Hee. I completely get where you’re coming from. I watched the first season religiously, although I didn’t trust they knew what they were doing since I’d been burned by JJ Abrams before (Alias, anyone). So the fact that S2 and S3 completely sucked didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

I spend those two seasons slamming the show to anyone who would listen. The only thing more annoying than the fact that it was going nowhere, were the throngs of devoted fans insisting that everything had a purpose and was going to be explained. To me, them shoving in the numbers everywhere, or inserting shots of other characters in flashbacks didn’t mean crap, and it infuriated me that people would take it as some kind of sign.

Flashforward (ha!) to S4, and after The Constant, I was hooked again. I have to say that the flashfowards really helped the show, as did setting an end-date. While I don’t particularly think the characters are well-written, at least the show isn’t boring the crap outta me like S2 and S3 did, so that’s enough for me. I don’t enjoy it like I used to, and I haven’t forgotten or forgiven the idiocy of S2/3, but I like it again, nonetheless.

Like Anon, I just recently got into this show and watched all 4 seasons online. That’s where the similarities stop. I became absolutely OBSESSED! I actually think watching it online helped. I hear all the complaints about season 3 and I think a lot of the frustration came from having so much anticipation and not getting any payoff. I didn’t even notice because I just sped through them. It wiil be interesting to see what happens when I join the rest of you and waiting a week for each episode.

CC said: “Just because you dont appreciate it doesnt mean you have to bash it.”

Actually, just because I don’t appreciate it is precisely why I have to bash it and to quote your beloved John Locke “Don’t tell me what I can or cannot do.”

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. I am the infamous “Anonymous” that you have all been responding to. First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my article. In turn, I read every one of your responses. In case you are wondering … I am unrepentant. I still think watching LOST was an immense waste of time.

I think I’ve already said all I really need to say about LOST. The fact that a lot of people here had to be reminded that an alternate opinion is indeed acceptable is quite astonishing. Nonetheless, for me, it was enough to know that there are people (even if on this site, there weren’t so many) that agreed with me or at least understood what I was saying.

LOST fans, I’ll be sure to check back with you in 2010 (y’know, after your glorious-Hale-Bopp-comet-finale) so that we can discuss your disappointment. You’ll probably pretend and act excited, but deep down inside we’ll all know that it was a letdown. You’ll also remember that I actually did warn you.
Cheers, LOST fans. Now, please, relax.

Here are a few shows that I enjoy (or enjoyed while they were on):
LOST (just kidding … and you should’ve seen that coming, really)

Arrested Development, Dexter, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Six Feet Under, The Office (British, then American), Extras, 30 Rock.

The suggestion that by analyzing the shows I watch you will understand why I don’t like LOST is a bit ridiculous (but not as ridiculous as watching John Locke spend several weeks trying to open a hatch in secret).

Someone called me a “deranged” writer—now that was funny. I haven’t heard someone use that in a word since I saw the movie “Everything is Illuminated”. Now that was the highest compliment.

In high school I once tried to argue with a Jesuit that Shakespeare was bad art. I pointed out lots of problems, from hackneyed plots to loose rambles to poor character development.

Man, was I a dope. The truth was, I wasn’t into it at that point in my life–it was too hard, basically. My punishment was to fall in love with it two years later and devote a good chunk of my life to acting in and directing that poorly written claptrap.

To use another example, I don’t really like ballet, for numerous reasons, but I hope that I have grown enough as an artist and a person to draw a line between what I don’t like, and what I can argue to be bad art. While a debate over that is a multi-martini endeavor, I will say that at least a part of the equation is the depth of engagement from the audience. The fans of Lost are not fools for watching and enjoying, and there is no rhetorical or logical way to prove them so. Read Aristotle if you disagree. You can argue very cogently why you don’t like it, or why for you as audience its flaws overwhelm its virtues, but that is not the same as being bad art, bad storytelling, or bad entertainment.

On a side note, I would like to mention that part of the art form of serialized storytelling is the space between chapters. Watching all of the shows in a row is not the way it was intended to be watched. While I have marathoned shows in the past (Season 1 of Weeds, Season 4 of The Wire), it is not how the creators envisioned the story being told. I rather doubt that watching it the way it was intended would change your mind, or the minds of my friends and colleagues who have written off the show as well, but it is a factor to consider (Linzy McC made a similar point.

Hope you find something you love for its own virtues and don’t punish yourself by trying to like any work of art just because other people tell you its good. It never works out.

The guy has a point. His article does make sense, and it IS well-articulated.

The storyline is preposterous. It would make a great comedy, but they take themselves so damn serously. Even the actors do, and many of them are boneheads.

To all the obsessive viewers of this series — cool. I’m glad you like it.

But to rage against and harangue the writer of this article is simply demented — and hilarious. Reminds of the classic “girl with the abusive boyfriend who is obsessed with him and viciously defends him against all criticism.” Some of y’all are suffering from a TV version of Stockholm syndrome.

I like this litmus test — if you’re into Kabbalah you like “Lost”, and/or vice versa.

“De gustibus non est disputandem’ the Romans said — don’t argue over matters of taste. If you like soap operas or reality shows, fine, but don’t make yourself red in the face trying to convert me to “The Bold and the Beautiful” or “Top Model” or whatever. They aren’t logical choices but largely arbitrary emotional reactions, often backwards rationalized.

If so many viewers of this program experience Cognitive Dissonance Rage when it is criticized, I’m glad I’m not like them and not among them.

Great television, FOR ME — “Extras”, “The Office”, “The Daily Show/Colbert Report”, “Arrested Development”, “Seinfeld” and to a much lesser extent “Curb”, and of course “The Simpsons”. “The Sopranos” and “Entourage” are among my rare favored dramas, along with select episodes of “The X-Files” and “House”.

A special note on “Scrubs”: hated it at first for its manic camera-work, then grew to enjoy it for its rapier wit and Python-esque verve, then grew annoyed with it for its fundamental flippancy and recyclable sentimentality. Great actors though.

And one near and dear to my heart (no surprise given my maxim quoted above): “Rome”, the two-season collaboration between HBO and BBC. Marred by some weaknesses and poor casting in the second season, but still an extraordinary achievement in historical immersion. Now THAT was a cultural event, albeit one missed by far too many. See it if you want to be outraged, entertained, and educated all at once.