Why LOST is the Best Television Show Ever

This post has been brewing a while. I suppose I needed to wait until the end of the season to write it. There was one episode about midway through the year that melted my mind enough that I woke up the next morning wanting to do nothing but write about it. I rather irresponsibly set aside my day’s work and wrote several thousand words on the awesomeness of LOST.

Finished, I sent it to Blogger Dad who returned my email many minutes later. “Errrr….” he said,”that was a nice summary of the last four seasons and everything, but what are you trying to say?

It was an excellent question. I ended up scrapping the post and dragging it to the folder called, “MISC. Writing – never throw away.” I got some of it out of my system when I wrote the post, “What Lost Taught Me About Writing Great Copy,” over at the Inkwell. But still, the itch isn’t scratched.

What I was trying to say is that LOST is the best show ever, at least for me. For my money and the way my mind works, no show has ever engaged me quite so much. In a way, it seems a disservice to simply label LOST as just another television shows. Though it will undoubtedly hit the pop culture history books as one of the finest shows ever sent to syndication, it’s elegant beauty lies less in it’s episodic television nature than it does in the total mind frolic it gives to its viewers once a week.

It’s tough to commit to such a statement as, such and such is the best show on television, but I feel like I need to commit. I won’t allow the argument to drift to cable, there are just so many boundaries they’re able to cross, but as far as network television goes, I’m confident that elapsed decades will declare LOST as one of the best stories told in any medium ever. I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to see the story unfold as I have.

Here are 5 reasons why I declare LOST as the best TV show ever. I promise, no spoilers.

1) Total unpredictability. The elaborate fractured narratives about a handful of plane crash victims surviving on a not-so-deserted island intersecting like star crossed lovers is only the beginning. There’s also a smoke monster, a taciturn international organization, and enough threads to fully unravel the tapestry of what we’ve come to expect from everyday TV. Each season has ended with a game changer that ushers in adventure you could not have predicted without driving a Delorean at 88 MPH.

2) The content of its character. Some fair weathered fans complained the second and third seasons moved too slow. That might be true when compared to the amazing action and intoxicating exposition, peeling layers of mythology like skin from an onion, but I’m a writer and would prefer to use a different description: character development. LOST has never been afraid to spend time with its characters. By showing us who these people are, and how their individual actions influenced the others by either butterfly effect or accidental fate well before the crash of Oceanic flight 815, they become more than the wallpaper in motion that so many other shows are so content to settle upon. Six years after the pilot, I’m more interested than ever, and not just in what will happen, but how the next string of impossible events will affect the lives of characters I’ve come to care about. Like the best literature, I’m still left lingering long after.

3) An elegant cocktail of science and mythology. Readers can correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe we’ve yet to see a single thing that couldn’t be explained by science. LOST leaves its viewers with far more than the sum total of 42 minutes. When that bone white logo floats to the top of the black behind a single beat of percussion, I’m always left with a head saturated by the staggering sum of mysteries, so deftly juggled. The multitude of mysteries, hints, red-herrings, literary and historical references, and elaborate science rarely fails to invite further research and repeat viewing, along with the occasional freeze frame (yes, I’ve done this and no, there has never been a show more riddled with Easter eggs).  No other TV show, for me, has ever begged for more reflection, discussion, and dissection than LOST.

4) Unafraid. While it seems as though networks are by in large terrified to support challenging material, LOST has proven that millions of viewers will support a sometimes difficult, always intelligent, and occasionally frustrating narrative, so long as it’s handled well. LOST marches to its own beat and in five years has never fallen victim to dimming the material. LOST rewards patience and those viewers who are more curious about the continuous questions than they are eager to arrive at the answers.

5) Confidence. It could be argued that this is little different than number four, but I’m not talking about the show this time. I’m talking about me. A turning point for me as a viewer was at the end of the 3rd season. It felt like the show was about to drive a robin egg blue VW right off the bluff (island humor). Viewers were abandoning the show as if Fonzie was strapping on water skis. The writers had no idea where the show was going, they said. Turns out, the writers knew exactly where they were going and knew precisely how much story they had left to tell. They wanted to pull the plug after two more seasons, but the network said no. The writers threatened to walk and ABC caved, agreeing to three abbreviated seasons. The show’s been on fire ever since. When was the last time you watched a show that gave you an end date three years ahead of time? Any doubt I had, instantly evaporated like midday dew.

I think I’ve managed to write this without a single spoiler. Believe me, the show is infinitely better if you go in knowing nothing and allow it to frolic you. There has never been a better time to start from the beginning. There are 96 episodes to watch before the final 16 air, starting in January. When you get to an episode called, “The Long Con,” pay attention. Not only is this one of my favorite episodes, but I can practically see the writers’ smiles spreading across their face as they twiddle their thumbs, twirl their mustaches, and think about their endgame.

Question: Do you watch LOST? If not, what’s kept you away?

Writer Dad

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