That's a fantastic deal, Mike! Good buy.
That's a fantastic deal, Mike! Good buy.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
I hate when people say the creators of LOST just made it up as they went along. Sure in the first two seasons they did. But it was clear they were planning for the future in season 3 because Kate and Sawyer on the smaller island were building the runway the Ajira plan would land on, not to mention the ultimate reveal of the freighter and the way off the island for the Oceanic 6. And I've always thought the whole 'they make it up as they went along' criticism lobbied only towards LOST is so stupid...every show makes it up as they go along if there is no source material. David Chase didn't have 6 seasons of The Sopranos planned out when they made the pilot. Most TV shows, especially in the early seasons, don't have the luxury of planning ahead because they're just trying to make the best individual episodes they can and hope it makes a compelling season. It's a bit different with the more common long-form storytelling today where they probably plan the entire first season, but then they have to work out what season 2 will be.
Like Counter Culture Shock on Facebook
Yes, but, the difference between these shows is in how deftly they're able to weave the set up into the the rest of the story in a way that feels seamless/organic.
The Sopranos, Breaking Bad - these are shows that had to 'make it up' because the creators didn't know if their creation would exist beyond that first season, but they were able to to make sure those seeds they planted were utilized to their full potential.
That's LOST's problem. They over promised and under delivered on a lot of their tantalizing mysteries. Lindelof/Abrams threw a lot of cool high concept shit at the screen and then said "ehhh fuck it, we'll figure it out later".
You're comparing apples to oranges. Sopranos was on HBO and Breaking Bad was on AMC. Both shows had 13 episodes in a season. Lost, on the other hand, was a network show and, especially at that time, had to adhere to a normal order for a network show. The first 3 seasons of lost they produced 23 episodes a season!
That's insane when you think about it. No wonder it started to feel like they didn't know where it was going. It's almost impossible to keep a show fresh when you are pumping out so many episodes. There's a reason why most TV shows on cable are now 10 episodes. It gets rid of the filler and allows the creators to tell a tighter more focused story. What Lost was able to do while working within the confines of network TV is utterly astounding.
EDIT: I didn't watch the video until after my post. I'm glad they mentioned the number of episodes.
Check out my website: PopCulturedwithMovieMike
Add me on Letterboxd: https://www.letterboxd.com/MovieMike80/
BTAIM, they still committed the sin of biting off far more than they could chew. Doesn't matter if it was 13 or 23 episodes.
You all make some very salient points and I get where you're coming from and the difficulties inherent in the formats and such. I do have something to add for your consideration when comparing shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Soprano's" to "Lost". Both of those shows were crime drama's and as such didn't necessarily require an "ending" or could simply at any time be ended with murder or incarceration. "Lost" on the other hand was a Sci-Fi mystery at its heart. Yes there was drama in the dynamics between the passengers and later the others and so on, but what it sold to its audience was the mystery. A mystery 95% of the time requires a solution or ending that answers that mystery. "Lost" sold the audience many huge mysteries, but in the end couldn't solve them all or at least all to the same level of satisfaction as the original mystery that was bought by the audience.
A mystery or puzzle promises a satisfactory resolution. "Lost" failed to deliver on the hype they created in the end. They made a gallant try for it, but by the time they got there it was just too unwieldy to deal with.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Check out my website: PopCulturedwithMovieMike
Add me on Letterboxd: https://www.letterboxd.com/MovieMike80/
I thought Vince Gilligan did have a 5 year arc in his head for Breaking Bad. Not necessarily every detail, but he knew Walter’s general progression, how it would happen, and that it would take five seasons.
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Looking for SubPress Lettered::
Angel's Game and Prisoner of Heaven (Zafon)
Ilium (Simmons)