Why Lost is a Great Show

First and foremost, I should admit the following. When Lost first came out, I couldn't have cared less. I had heard there was this buzz floating around about some show about a plane crashing on an island. I thought, well, maybe that is cool, but all the wrong people liked the show. Then I heard the show, for substance, went through flashbacks of all the characters and I concluded, "fuck that." This was further supported after, one Wednesday night, I watched an episode...it was horrible.

Now the only reason why I find it necessary to mention all of this, is to say, I too, like some of the readers out there, may be too be thinking, "fuck that." Others may think that it could be a good show but they just don't have the time or enough interest to invest in another show. Well, allow me to continue.

So then the year was 2006. I was in the middle of my last semester at Berkeley, working on my thesis. I borrowed the first season on DVD from a friend. Fellow blogger, Gunny McPeterson and I decided to give it chance, with the intention of justifying our preemptive hatred for the show. We put the first episode in sometime around 8 P. M. I think it was around 6 A. M. when yet another episode ended and without saying a word, we looked at each other, nodded, both well aware what we had just agreed to. Finally, taking only a couple breaks for food, sleep, and class, we were able to complete the entire first season within 48 hours. We were, needless to say, blown away. Since then, I have been a hardcore Lost fan. It is the only thing I have ever really followed the blogs on and the only show I have every truly followed. So why is Lost such a good show?

EPIC PROPORTIONS
What immediately struck me by the show, as I assume most of America, was the sheer epic extent of the show. I remember being a bit pissed off that they didn't show the actual plan crash. As it developed progressively through the seasons, I can see why. But in those opening minutes, amidst the chaos of the burning wreckage, the opening shot is simply of the eyeball of one man, clad in his tattered suit, confused as to what the hell just happened, laying down in the middle of a forest. Once he comes to, he returns to "fix things." The plane is in shambles, people bleeding all around him. Luckily, there is a doctor in the house. In the middle of this hell, characters emerge. The doctor, the fat guy, the Black guy, those Koreans, everybody shows their face. All of this on the gorgeous island (filmed in Hawaii). I read, as many of you may know, this was the most expensive pilot ever made. Money well spent in my book. As the show has progressed, the large ensemble cast has developed, each with their own story. This is no easy task for a television show to pull off, with only one hour every week, somehow keep the audience interested in every character. And then, to continue to add more characters throughout the seasons, this is one bold move. Yet the show pulls it off. Throughout the series, I am always blown away by the epic landscapes, the vast depth of the plots, and the cinematic charm the show has. It is one epic son of a bitch. A far ways from Gilligan's Island.

The Music
Now this is where you really have to watch the show as I can't convince you of it. It isn't that I am a bad blogger, but rather, ABC, like NBC as Dr. No Face has pointed out, has made it impossible to find full clips of the show on youtube. There is not some original epic score like Ben Hur or anything, consistently though, it just works.

Men Crying
I may lose some of you here (if I haven't already), but I don't know why, but for some reason, if you take a male, alpha male works best, and you drive him to the point of tears, not because he just got his balls ripped off or something, but say, oh, I don't know, 30 years ago, some wacko con-man slept with your mother, stole your dad's money, to which your dad killed your mother, then killed himself, and all of a sudden, after 30 years of searching, you just came face- to- face with the same asshole con- man, throw in some intense piano chords, and bam, you have yourself some excellent television.

Breaking the 4th Wall
What show could be good if it didn't break the 4th wall? I think The Fresh Prince of Bel- Air pulled this off best when at the beginning of one of the later seasons, Will's buddy, Jazz, asked, 'who is playing the mom this season?' Then, Nikki, who was just a baby in the previous season finale, enters a 6- year old boy, 'the same mommy I had last season.' Will, then comments, 'they grow up so fast.' Sorry, back to Lost. Once in a while, Lost makes fun of itself, usually with Hurley. There are the obvious jokes, why hasn't Hurley lost any weight. Or Sawyer's question, "who the hell is Paolo?" The fact is, the show knows what it is. From interviews and press conferences, the writers have always impressed me with their knowledge of other shows. They are well aware of the risk they constantly run of 'jumping the shark.' They know it is absurd that of the 40 some odd survivors, we only focus on these few 13 who always happen to be the center of attention. It is television after all. They might as well have fun with it.

Editing
Again, as with the music, this is something you really need to see if for yourself. Obviously, Lost faces a major challenge by having the present story while showing flashbacks to the characters before the island. Ultimately, the goal is to show, what the fuck does this flashback have to do with today? Usually, not always, it is pulled off with flying colors.

Hand- held camera
One of the problems I always have watching a war movie is the hand- held work. I usually get a headache and scream, "stick the fucking thing on a tripod already!" Alas, Lost, due to the challenge of filming far from the typical Hollywood set, constantly uses hand- held cameras. What is amazing though, is half the time, I don't even think about it. This isn't really something to write home about, but it is just another way that Lost pulls it all off.

Character Development
This, to me, is the most important part. First, let me preface this by saying that to begin, Lost has some of the best characters of any show I have ever watched. Each in their own unique way too. A few months ago, I was reading that the writers really didn't want the audience to be so fixated on the Dharma Initiative and who the hell the Others are. Instead, they wanted people to care about, who would Kate choose? Jack or Sawyer? When I read this I thought, "FUCK YOU Damon Lideloff! Don't get so fucking full of yourself! Just fucking write what you're good at and keep this fucking bullshit out of it." Several months later, I have to admit, I care. The coolest thing about the show when it first began, wasn't really the hatch, or the Numbers. It was the 'tabla rosa,' the idea that this island was a blank slate for all of the survivors. As much the characters past has been revealed, it has come to be that each character was 'lost' in their own way. The island is that second chance. This is best exemplified by Desmond's character who now only wants one more chance with his true love Penelope as he will 'do it right this time.' The island has taken each character from hell and back again, and as the audience, we have witnessed this all the way. Only occasionally, have I thought that somebody did something out of character, and for television, occasionally isn't bad. Each character has had their own revelations and maturities that have been nothing but well executed. To me, it has thus far been a job well done.

So what do the assholes of the world say?

The show is just drawn out. The writers make it up as they go along.
Well. First of all, fuck you. Second, just watch one random episode from Season 1, then one episode, say this week's, and just try and tell me it is drawn out. Things have developed to the point that it is difficult just to recount how it all got here. Third, fuck you. Fourth, what if the writers do make it up as they go along? For one thing, if they didn't know what was in the hatch when they wrote it, then job well done for thinking that up over the summer. Because I don't care what the hell you think, what was in the hatch not only topped any 'who shot J. R. ?' cliffhanger, but it was cool and really advanced the plot. This isn't to mention that the writers have said for a long time now that they have a beginning, middle, and end planned for the show. Either way, I don't care. They have proven to me, with their ability to add characters well into the show (Desmond really only had a full episode at the end of Season 2 and is now my favorite character) and develop great plots continuously.

I don't like Science Fiction
Fuck off. Don't be such an elitist. Like you haven't enjoyed some horror movie. Just because you like Lost doesn't mean you have to attend ComicCon or learn Kilingong (I have no idea how to spell it... go ahead, correct me... dork). While I'm on that subject, I think it is great that Lost has really built on this whole television 2.0 so to speak, having show secrets revealed online and what not, but fuck, who gives a fuck? Just worry about staying on the air, don't invest time and money into this bullshit that to me, discredits the name. I'm lazy, so click this link: http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2006/03/why_lost_is_gen.html
Hyperlinks take too much work. And I have a cold. Anyway, the writers said that when all is explained, there will be nothing supernatural about the show. If they can pull that off... awesome. If not, hey, I enjoyed it. Bottom line though, as the writers have said, it is really a show about characters. Not monsters and polar bears.

Anyway, as mentioned, I have a cold. People have been yelling at me for weeks for not posting. And I need to eat before Lost starts tonight. So I'm not going to proofread this. In closing, if you don't watch Lost, you probably have no taste, and it is likely that you spend your time watching snuff films. At least I have something to look forward to on Wednesdays. What do you look forward to? American Idol? Go fuck yourself.

Check out some Amy Winehouse

For those of you who've been living under a rock, or, on the West Coast, the next great thing is Amy Winehouse (for everyone else, she was the last great thing). She's British. She's Jewish. She's anorexic/coke addled. She sings like the exact opposite of a British, Jewish, anorexic/coke addled woman. Last January this neo-soul/motown crooner had to abruptly end a concert after the first song because she was so drunk she needed to throw-up. And she refuses to go to rehab.

I guess she is also doing remarkably well for a brit trying to break into the US market, with her album Back to Black topping the iTunes and Amazon charts for a few weeks, and making it up to #7 on the billboard 200.

It also looks like she is performing at Popscene in SF on April 26 if you'd like to cruise the door for anyone selling. Apparently, in an attempt to thwart the e-bay and craigslist-ploitation of fans for ticket prices in excess of $200/ticket for her upcoming new york show (and this from what seems like a real person who is open to "trade if you have an interesting offer" as opposed to your run-of-the-mill ticket scalper who only traffics in $100 bills and/or human kidneys...) Popscene has imposed a will-call only on the day of the show photo-id policy...

Anyway, see her for free on Leno tonight. Well, not quite 'free' if you count how much you should be getting paid per hour to watch Leno. Actually, you should watch Letterman until about 12:29, and then start flipping back and forth until she comes on. I'm actually a bit upset that I am suggesting that anyone watch Leno, but we already missed Amy's appearance on Letterman from about a month ago, and it wasn't exactly exciting. At least, not as exciting as this unbelievably drunk cover of Beat It.

Here is her video for Rehab

Dear Sister: Guns + Slow-motion + Music = Awesome!

So, I'm not sure how many of you watch SNL with any kind of regularity, or if any of you are fans of the OC, but I bet most of you know what youtube is, so I'm sure you've seen several of the SNL Digital Shorts that have basically been the highlight of the show for the last two years since Andy Samberg and his writing partners/Lonely Island alums Akiva Schafer and Jorma Taccone joined the show (Most notably "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box", which became such a hit that Justin Timberlake brought Samberg on stage to perform it at a NYC concert.) Thanks to NBC/Universal, most of these are no longer available on youtube except where they have been mis-tagged due to misspellings (intentional or not) or have not been linked to/viewed enough to qualify for removal. NBC claims to have them posted on their website, but, if you follow the links on the wikipedia entry on the shorts, I don't think any of them are working. NBC is sure doing a great job of capitalizing on all the exposure these 'viral videos' could be getting them...

Anyway, last Monday I got this youtube (more accurately one like it as it was promptly taken down) in my email:

My first reaction after watching this was 'why has my old trusted friend, comrade in arms for the finer things in life like Trailer Park Boys, whisky, and post-structuralism, sent me this link? This is dumb." And don't get me wrong, I like many dumb things. Again, see Trailer Park Boys.

Then I compulsively watched it six more times. Then I did some research. Apparently, the short is based on this scene from the season 2 finale of The OC.

Now, I have never seen The OC. To the contrary, I have often made statements to the effect of "since shit apples don't fall far from the shit tree, there is no way that a show about Orange County can be good. Unless that show is Arrested Development." I still feel that this a very cogent argument, despite that infectious song that I sing every night while crying myself to sleep in my tiny NYC apartment, 'California' (performed by none other then the douche-patrol themselves, Phantom Planet.) Nevertheless, if this clip is emblematic of the show at large, I may just reconsider that position, because, as we have seen above, Guns + Slow-motion + Music = Awesome. It is funny when it happens once in the OC version, and it is funnier to the 3rd power when it happens three dozen times in four minutes.

As is often the case when an inspired individual happens across a gem like this, the youtube community of bedroom editors were quickly able to spin off dozens of spoofs faster than then Harry Potter DVDs of the new movie hit Chinatown (fyi, this happens generally the same day of the theatrical release. This lag on the part of the Chinatown dvd vendors is due to the fact that they take the trouble to make glossy cover art for the DVDs they produce.) True to this rugged, individualist spirit of copyright infringement, the spoofs take real media clips, add slow motion and music for effect, and voila! test subjects for our "Guns + Slow-motion + Music = Awesome" hypothesis! Here are two favs:

The Departed

(this is a spoiler if you haven't seen the movie)

Lost Season 2

(this is a spoiler if you haven't seen Season Two)

There it is! Hilarity! Don't you want to watch them 10 times in a row! I know I did!

Q: But can we expand this genre, perhaps let it grow into some new places? If so, how?

A: Yes! Like this: Guns The Office tribute clips! + Slow-motion + Music = Awesome + 10!

The Office

I just can't wait to see what spoofs come from last Saturday's mildly explicit "Roy Rules" short. I mean, a Roy/Jim of Office fame seems ripe for the picking...