Three and a half stars out of four

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
'Lost' a real find,
even split in two by David Bianculli

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2004

"Lost." Tonight at 8, ABC.

Just when you thought ABC had found its way by developing "Lost," one of the best series of the new season, the network shoots itself in the foot by scheduling it all wrong.
"Lost," premiering tonight at 8, stars Matthew Fox of "Party of Five" in a tightly wound, fabulously filmed drama about a group of survivors stranded on a remote island after their passenger jet crashed several time zones off course.

The version sent to critics for preview was a tautly structured two-hour pilot, a superb movie-length thriller that generated momentum, mystery and importance as it went along.

It's the sort of program ABC should have premiered as a two-hour Sunday movie, or at least televised on any other night in one complete sitting.

The beginning hour of "Lost" gives you first impressions of the characters and the island; the second hour shreds most of those first impressions, and makes you look at almost every person, and everything else, in a different way.

So what does ABC do with this brilliant new series premiere, written by series co-creators J.J. Abrams (of "Alias") and Damon Lindelof and directed by Abrams? It chops the premiere into two one-hour chunks, spacing them a week apart.

The first half, including its brilliant opening nine-minute sequence of the immediate aftermath of the crash, is shown tonight. The second half, which looks at everyone and everything through a much darker prism, will be shown next Wednesday.

This may end up being the dumbest ABC scheduling move, and the biggest waste of a valuable TV asset, since the same network oversaturated its airwaves years ago with endless editions of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

But if "Lost" crashes because of ABC's off-course scheduling, everyone involved in "Lost" should walk away proud.

The very large cast of characters includes more than a dozen well-delineated, intriguing individuals. Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie, Jorge Garcia as Hurley and Yunjin Kim as Sun are only a few of the standouts.

There's plenty of action and mystery on the island, from threatening creatures lurking in the jungle to hidden threats among the survivors themselves. There's even more action in the flashbacks, which deconstruct and reconfigure the crash like a video puzzle, a technique "Alias" fans will recognize as an Abrams specialty.

"Lost" is the sort of rare drama that's more fun to experience the less you know about it, so I'll let you experience its twists for yourself. It's spoiling nothing, though, to say that Abrams, as director even more than writer, really delivers some intense television here.

The drama begins with an extreme closeup of an eye, and widens focus slowly until we learn who we're watching, and what really happened.

It's a fitting metaphor for all of "Lost," which unfurls its secrets slowly and tantalizingly. The only complaint is that ABC, with its stupid scheduling stunt, is making us wait even longer to learn some of them.

I'm definately checking this out
(hopefully this will live up to the hype)

It looks like an interesting show. I'll tape it.

I have never seen anything like this on network television before. It was wonderful!! By far the best new show of the season so far. I'm sure it'll stay that way too, unless Desperate Housewives gets me addicted, too. Can't wait for the next episode!! Bring on the Lost board!!!

NY Daily News has a good review of it, but I disagree about the timeslot. Wednesdays at 8 is perfect. There is nothing that can compete with it then. 60 Minutes on CBS is another audience and Lost will crush Hawaii on NBC. ABC is airing the first 2 episodes of Lost as a TV-Movie next Saturday, though. So if you want to tape it like that, then that would be better.

pavandal, I agree. This was a great show. That first scene really blew me away (no pun intended)...so intense...made me feel like I was at the movies, not watching television...

what did you think of the mysterious animal?

ABC's hit the jackpot.

Lost, in the fast national ratings, pulled an 11.6/19, coming in third for the night to CSI:NY and the 9 PM Law & Order. (the 10PM L&O finished 4th). Compared to the other shows in the slot,...no contest. Dr. Phil got a 9.0/14, Hawaii got a 5.4/9. For what it's worth, Lost's ratings were almost DOUBLE that of The Bachelor (rerun), which followed it (finished with a 6.0/10)

As for what *I* thought of the show...Sweet merciful crap. That was downright great television. Whoa...just...Whoa. (And the best part, is that ABC *STILL* has another good show in the pipe, in Desperate Housewives)

Originally posted by Van_Smack
pavandal, I agree. This was a great show. That first scene really blew me away (no pun intended)...so intense...made me feel like I was at the movies, not watching television...

what did you think of the mysterious animal?

The plane crash was the highlight of the show, IMO.
Besides that, I dont know.

The animal-aspect is what really turned me off

Just watched it (recorded it last night). First off, wow, has any new show ever had an opening like that. Both the opening on the island, then later when they showed what was going on inside the plane as it was going down were great scenes. The rest of the episode had a nice amount of suspense to it. I'm kinda looking forward to this show to be along the lines of a "I can't wait to see what happens next" type of show, like "24".

As for the mysterious animal, it'll probably be there for awhile. If they conquer the monster, the only tension left would be if they're ever rescued and their relationships with one another. The animal/monster will be there to keep the suspense going. It'll be interesting to see how it all unfolds. So far, so good.

Now you all got me wanting to see this show :lol: The commercials looked pretty good & I forgot about it being on last night. Don't they usually repeat pilots later in the week, especially ones that did as good as "Lost"? I've pretty much given up on current TV shows in the past few years, so I didn't really think much about tuning into any of the new shows this month. The only thing that gets me is - how many people do you know of that have survived a plane crash? Not many. That guy from Lynyrd Skynyrd is the only one I can think of right off.

Originally posted by Dr. Jazz
Now you all got me wanting to see this show :lol: The commercials looked pretty good & I forgot about it being on last night. Don't they usually repeat pilots later in the week, especially ones that did as good as "Lost"?

I don't know if it's on the schedule yet, but I would assume ABC would rebroadcast the first episode before the next one next Wednesday. They might make some last minute change and stick it on somewhere if the buzz builds.

Originally posted by Dr. Jazz
Now you all got me wanting to see this show :lol: The commercials looked pretty good & I forgot about it being on last night. Don't they usually repeat pilots later in the week, especially ones that did as good as "Lost"? I've pretty much given up on current TV shows in the past few years, so I didn't really think much about tuning into any of the new shows this month. The only thing that gets me is - how many people do you know of that have survived a plane crash? Not many. That guy from Lynyrd Skynyrd is the only one I can think of right off.

They are repeating the first two episodes on Saturday, Oct. 2 as a TV-Movie from 8 to 10 p.m. This show is just too good so far. J.J. Abrams is brilliant.

This is a good sign:

“Lost” built audience throughout its telecast, gaining 1.4 million viewers (17.3 million to 18.7 million) and 15% among Adults 18-49 (6.1/19 to 7.0/19) from its first half-hour to its second.


ABC's last drama that premiered well, Kingdom Hospital, did NOT build from half hour to half hour. Building on each half hour is always a good sign.

yeah I read they crushed everything with their ratings...

I wonder which character will die first?

An interesting pilot but a few things I'd like to bring up:














SPOILERS
1. Where did that cocker spaniel puppy come from? He looks well groomed and tame so was he already on the island or did he belong to a passenger and somehow got out of his crate during the crash?
2. How did Jack land so far away from the others- and even away from debris?
3. The African-American middle-aged woman seemed to recover from going without oxygen for several minutes without any ill effect but will we learn what happened to her husband Keith she said was going to the bathroom before the crash? She looked towards the back of the plane but if it was the front of the plane could her [late?] husband have any connection with that Brit rocker?
4. Jack said that his first operation (on a 16-year-old girl) had the catastrophe of having spinal cord matter pop out of the sack 'like angel hair pasta' and spinal fluid gushing out but, after allowing himself five seconds of panic, he continued the operation and 'she was fine'. Excuse me but losing spinal cord strands means she would have had at least SOME paralysis. It's like ripping out a few random cables from a phone line- there'd be a few connections lost forever!
5. Is the Korean husband abusive or is he merely being WAY overprotective of his wife and/or xenophobic of non-Koreans in keeping her from attempting to communicate with the others. He seems unable to speak English but since we didn't hear her speak could SHE be able to?
6.Wouldn't a wound like Jack's need some kind of cauterization and/or dressing instead of just alcohol poured over it and sewing thread? I'd think in a tropical environment if those measures weren't taken it would be impossible to keep it from getting infected especially in a situation where there's a great deal of decay.
7. Has any system been worked out for sanitation? Even after a few hours things could get VERY nasty very quickly unless something's worked out for everyone to agree to (e.g. a latrine pit).
8. The BIG question: why can we HEAR the monster but can't SEE it (and why did it murder the pilot who was the sole survivor of the front section)? Is the monster linked to the puppy?
Comments?

It was only 44 minutes without commercials. I'd assume some of those questions will be answered eventually.

Originally posted by vashti1999
It was only 44 minutes without commercials. I'd assume some of those questions will be answered eventually.

Likely so but I thought they'd be interesting for us to ponder until if/when they DO get answered!

I think it was smart...they left us at the edge of our seat, so to speak....the second half of the pilot is Wednesday...and I bet we'll all be watching bc we are so curious.....

Part 2 was once again great. This half focused on the secrets of the characters. Very well written.

Crap. I forgot to tape it last night!

Now I'm lost too.

;)

Originally posted by pavanbadal
Part 2 was once again great. This half focused on the secrets of the characters. Very well written.

I agree! We learned the answers to a few of the questions I'd asked before- and even something totally unexpected about the leading lady!:eek:

Originally posted by TJL
Crap. I forgot to tape it last night!

Now I'm lost too.

;) Both parts are being rerun on Saturday, 8:00-10:00 p.m.

This is a surprisingly good show. I'd expected it to be all action/adventure, but it's turned out to be a well-crafted, suspenseful, character-driven drama instead. Part two of the pilot (and I don't mean the unfortunate fellow in the cockpit) was even better than the first. I only hope they can sustain this level of quality.

One thing I was thinking about watching the show last night was if they even intended from the start for this to be a long running series. I don't see them realistically carrying the story out for like 4 or 5 years. I think today's audience is too sophisticated to believe that a number of these characters would survive that long in that situation, or would stick with it that long. It made me think maybe this is just a one or two year concept, then they'll have a whole new cast and premise, but still following the concept that a group of people are "lost" somewhere. That would make sense to me. I couldn't imagine watching season 4 and saying, "damn, Matthew Fox didn't get off that island yet?!?"

my guess is that the quality will be sustained. whether or not it's a long-running series or not, who knows. but jj abrams is really good at continuing plot twists and plot turns so I don't think we'll be getting bored any time soon...I would make a wager that they have plenty more in store for us with this story...we'll see

What a great show. I enjoyed part 2 even better than part 1. Judging by the ratings so far it looks like ABC finally has found a hit.

Lost is the only ABC show I'm watching this season but it is right up there with the best shows in primetime.

did anyone watch last night? talk about twists and turn and sustaining interest - I liked last night's episode the best so far! What do you guys think will happen next week based on those intense scenes for the next epi?! No more food....that's a bit of an issue...

Didn't watch it yet. had to tape it to check out the baseball playoffs, but I'll be watching over the weekend. Good to hear it was a good episode.

Originally posted by vashti1999
Didn't watch it yet. had to tape it to check out the baseball playoffs, but I'll be watching over the weekend. Good to hear it was a good episode. It was a great episode. Its getting very addicting.

It was very good. It dominated its timeslot once again, with well over 16 million viewers and the number one show for the entire night among viewers 18-49 (take that CSI: NY!) and a close second for the entire night among total viewers.

And the third episode was back up over 17 million viewers. It's very rare for the third episode of a new series that already premiered very well to show such a jump. Tomorrow we'll find out if DH gets the same kind of bump, I'm better it will, especially with the ladies being on Oprah last Friday. Oprah actually raved about the show.

I read in tv guide that Hurley the heavy set curly haired man would not be losing weight. Unless they have a Maryann (Gilligans Island reference) who can cook many things this seems unrealistic. So far I haven't seen the survivors eat much. Then again, they did eat the boar. If you eat, you can live.

WOW... ABC re-aired Part 1 of the Pilot tonight. :eek: That was the BEST hour ever(sorry DH). Now... whether it holds my interest is another story. I'm big into disasters like that but the sci-fi stuff and the slow-moving plots may turn me away soon.

WOW... ABC re-aired Part 1 of the Pilot tonight. :eek: That was the BEST hour ever(sorry DH). Now... whether it holds my interest is another story. I'm big into disasters like that but the sci-fi stuff and the slow-moving plots may turn me away soon.

Brent, glad you liked it. There isn't really Sci-fi stuff in this series, it's all based on the characters and the island. The plots move at a respectable pace, well except for one thing, but I won't spoil that for you since you a re new viewer.

spoilers ahead for those who have not seen the entire first season or are new to the show.......................














What's with the black smoke? http://forums.newyork.craigslist.org/?act=Q&ID=28470085