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Luck of the Draw

by Alex on July 31, 2011

in Daily Business,My Life 101

Next Saturday marks a full year since my move to Los Angeles.

As you may or may not know from one of my tweets yesterday, I received last night a depressing email:
an “automatic Delivery Status Notification” telling me that “delivery to writersontheverge@nbcuni.com has failed.“
Translation: my NBC/Writers on the Verge 2012 application was not delivered.
The kicker is that I’m getting this message a full month after I sent out said application (for the two people who don’t know, the deadline was end of June).
Yes, I did e-mail WOTV back, just in case, but who am I kidding here.
It’s over a month too late for any “new” application to be accepted, regardless of when it was originally sent out.

In between the tears and hair-pulling, I began to curse the heavens.
Why me?!

Don’t worry, I’m not gonna go into a philosophical debate right now.
Well, not entirely.

Let’s go back to me yelling at an imaginary person in the sky:
Why me?!
Why is the world against me? Why did the delivery notice not arrive minutes after the e-mail pinged back, but literally a month later? Why did HD DVD lose to Blu-Ray?

And then, like [insert tired simile about a bolt of lightning, a slap or a ton of bricks], it hit me:
It happened to me because it happened to me. It is what it is.
What I mean by this very generic assembly of words is that, in my case, I could as much curse my luck as bless it.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right?
And on my side, it’s plenty green.
After all, I did get my own Green Card (Green? Get it?) a little over a year ago.
Not a lot of people can say that in these neck of H-woods.
(As far as I know, only Dominic Purcell won his. No, really.)

“Why me?!” works both ways.
You can be thankful or ungrateful.
Pour yourself another half-glass of vodka and you’ll get it.

The end?
Not yet.

This isn’t a tale about how everything happens for a reason.
Hell, this isn’t a tale.
This is life.
I could whine all day about how everything’s going wrong.
Or I could suck it up.

Even if the application was never received, was it a waste of my time?
Did I really write a spec only to impress a nameless judge?
Do I have to continue asking these obvious rhetorical questions for dramatic effect?
Of course not.

I write because I want to write. Nay. I write because I have to write.
I don’t need a reason, I don’t need an excuse.
Whatever happened to my application, at least it allowed me share my writing (even to the Internet ether).

No tears will be shed at the loss of my Writers on the Verge application.
Better luck next time.

In conclusion, there is no conclusion.
You don’t have to see this industry (or life) as an everyday battle, but know this:
Fact: Setbacks happen.
Fact: You will be remembered by what you do, not by what you shoulda coulda woulda done.
Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Clearly, this long-winded (and hilarious) post was meant more for me than anyone else.
But maybe, hopefully, it was a little helpful for you as well.

Catharsis: unlocked.


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Pilot Pick-Up Review (Cable) — 2011–2012 Season

by Alex on April 30, 2011

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

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Development season is right now, and with the scripts picked to pilot about to be (or already) shot, the next best thing besides watching the finished product is reading them. As well as reviewing them.
Here is our final installment for the season, with some of the most anticipated cable pilots around.
(Given that most of these pilots have either already been picked up to series or will have their fate announced in several months, I thought it best to focus on the reviews.)


FX
Dramas (One-hour)
American Horror Story (Brad Falchuk/Ryan Murphy)
Logline: A dramatic series that explores a subversive modern horror tale.
With: Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, Dylan McDermott, Denis O’Hare
My thoughts:
I’m not the hugest Falchuk/Murphy fan (especially following that second season of Glee), but I have to admit they’ve got me hooked after reading this script.
Sure, the haunted house plot has been (virtually) done to death (yes it’s a haunted house story), and some people will continue to argue that they’ve “been there, done that”, but the pilot was not only very interesting but also not your classic “jump scare” horror flick. This is clearly angling to be a more psychological drama with supernatural elements rather than your run-of-the-mill spooky ghost story.
The biggest issue I’m having though is not with the pilot itself, rather the series as a whole. I’m having a hard time grasping how the concept of a haunted house psychologically torturing its inhabitants can last more than, well, a few episodes, let alone a full season. Longevity-wise, American Horror Story might be a gamble (depending on how serialized the show goes).
The cast however, is pretty much perfect.

Powers (Charles Eglee)
Logline: A dramatic series based on the series of graphic novels by Brian Michael Bendis. Heroes glide through the sky on lightning bolts and fire. Flamboyant villains attempt daring daylight robberies. God-like alien creatures clash in epic battle over the nighttime sky. And on the dirty city streets below, a homicide Detective Christian Walker does his job, solving murders involving superheroes, but he has secrets of his own.
My thoughts:
The closest show that comes to mind when reading the script is NBC’s own 17th Precinct, although Powers is clearly aiming to a much more, let’s say, grittier audience. Here again, you’ve got a serious cop show, and although 17th was the CSI of its genre, Powers is indeed closer to The Shield as some have described it. I would also compare it to a masculine version of Prime Suspect (albeit with superpowers involved). As any avid fan of the comic version will tell you, the world works and the story isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds. This is clearly not a lame The Cape–like series.
The disappointing side is that, since the show is so close to a cop show procedural, it ends up being not that compelling or original. Maybe future episodes will bring more interesting happenings.


HBO
Drama (One-hour)
More As This Story Develops (Aaron Sorkin)
Logline: A workplace dramedy with political elements set behind-the-scenes at a cable news network.
With: Jeff Daniels, Olivia Munn, Alison Pill, Marisa Tomei
My thoughts:
This one is without a doubt the most anticipated series of the bunch.
Cast-wise, you can guess I’m not the biggest fan of Olivia Munn (and I’m not really sure why she’s in there anyways). I’ll however be digging the Jeff Daniels/Marisa Tomei confrontation/omnipresent sexual tension.
What’s interesting is that no one has asked the most important question about the show: when does it take place.
Is it a period piece or is it set in an alternate world?
Well the answer is: neither (sorta). I have to issue a spoiler alert here (although if you’re reading this then chances are you don’t care).
The news show is set on, drumroll please…April 20, 2010. And if you know your (very) recent History, then you know that date corresponds to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. That’s right, the big reveal of the pilot (that pretty much comes halfway through it), is that the series goes on about a year before, well, right now. What a great way to comment on the media’s way of covering recent news without trespassing on The Daily Show/The Colbert Report.
Clearly Sorkin does not venture outside of his comfort zone with More As This Story Develops, and there’s nothing you won’t be able to find in his three previous shows. This is also not Network. Yet it’s still plenty interesting and compelling.
Clearly the man knows how to write–but who am I to state the obvious.

Comedies (Half-hour)
40 (Doug Ellin)
Logline: A single-camera ensemble comedy project that revolves around four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn’t all they expected it to be. There’s the married milquetoast, the family man whose career’s been decimated by the financial collapse, a wealthy metrosexual and an impossibly toned trainer. Together, they face the terrors and joys of life past the fourth decade.
With: Edward J. Burns
My thoughts:
Four middle-aged guys living their lives. As you’d expect, it’s not that interesting. And although Entourage mainly worked thanks to the mystique and crazyness that is H-Wood, 40 doesn’t simply because of the mundane of it all. It’s never outrageous, it’s never laugh-out-loud hilarious, it just is.

Veep (Simon Blackwell/Armando Iannucci)
Logline: A political comedy centering around a female senator who ascends to the office of vice president, only to realize it’s nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned her about.
With: Sufe Bradshaw, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh
My thoughts:
I continue to find The Thick of It and In the Loop both amazing, so it is without hesitation that I jumped on the script of Veep as soon as I had it.
First the good news: Yes, it’s funny.
Plus you’ve also got Blackwell’s astonishingly brilliant insults flying around (although these ones won’t be uttered by Peter Capaldi).
With that said, the subject-matter of the show, as always with political series, brings back memories of The West Wing. And if you know Iannucci’s style, then you also know he’s not only a master of satirical dialogue, but also of quick back-and-forths, similar to Aaron Sorkin. Obviously, the storylines are not as dramatic as The West Wing, but you won’t be able to deny (at the very least) a spiritual connection between the two shows.
It’s not a strike against Veep though.


Showtime
Drama (One-hour)
Homeland (Alex Gansa/Howard Gordon/Gideon Raff)
Logline: An action-adventure drama based on the Israeli Keshet format “Prisoners of War.” In this iteration, an American soldier who was presumed killed in Iraq returns 10 years after he went missing. But after the joy of his homecoming dies down, suspicions arise as to whether he was really an American hero or if he was part of a sleeper cell planning a terrorist attack.
With: Claire Danes, Laura Fraser, David Harewood, Diego Klattenhoff, Damian Lewis, Jackson Pace, Mandy Patinkin, Morgan Saylor
My thoughts:
Sure there’s plenty to like with this pilot. It’s interesting and the story holds (for how long?). But you can’t shake the feeling that Sleeper Cell has already covered most of that terrain five years ago. And that was a mini-series–well, technically, two.
Not that I want to be that guy again, but I’m also having troubles finding a longevity in the concept beyond a single season. Sleeper Cell somewhat successfully achieved one with its second season by not only changing virtually the whole cast but going into a very different direction. I’m curious to see how Homeland will game the system.
The story of the girl that cried terrorist can only work for so long.

Comedy (Half-hour)
Seek and Destroy (Neal Brennan/Dov Davidoff)
Logline: A mixed sitcom that will combine elements of single-camera comedy, sketches and man-on-the-street interviews. Each episode begins with stars Neal Brennan and Dov Davidoff discussing life over coffee.
With: Neal Brennan, Dov Davidoff
My thoughts:
This show doesn’t really belong on Showtime–or anywhere else for that matter. The dialogue felt edgy enough, but overall it wasn’t really hilarious. Plus it seemed more like a multi-camera comedy than anything else.


Syfy
Drama (One-hour)
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (Michael Taylor)
Logline: The story begins during the 10th year of the Cylon War, and follows recent Academy graduate William Adama. The pilot focuses on an important mission Adama undertakes with a rookie pilot. During this critical mission, which could turn the tide of the war, Adama meets a potential love interest. The series would address a young man’s initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media.
With: Ben Cotton, Luke Pasqualino
My thoughts:
It’s exactly what you’re expecting. An(other) action/military-driven series.
Gone are the philosophical, reflexive, and dare I say smart, plotlines of the mother-ship (no pun intended).
Say hello to combat in space, on planets and on ships, with monsters, aliens, odd creatures, and robots.
And it’s sadly not that interesting.
Obviously, and as always with any BSG–related stories post-season two, you’ve got some retcon thrown into the mix and (very) loose pseudo-mythological components (especially with the introduction of yet another wave of new Cylon designs coming out of Gods know where).
If you’re missing some fresh Human v. Cylon fighting action, then Blood & Chrome will be for you. Otherwise, pop-in any previous Battlestar episode and chances are you’ll be more satisfied. Heck, even Razor will do the trick.


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Pilot Pick-Up Review (NBC) — 2011–2012 Season

by Alex on April 15, 2011

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

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Development season is right now, and with the scripts picked to pilot about to be shot, the next best thing besides watching the finished product is reading them. As well as reviewing them. I’ll also venture a guess as to whether I think they’ll go to series or not (all of which is announced as usual at the Upfronts). So here goes.

On we go with NBC, and a slate all over the place.
After another exec reshuffle, Greenblatt began heading last November the original programming development, and already some big changes are getting around the network. Bigger and better seems to be the drama motto while the comedies are staying in touch with classic themes (albeit a tad edgier than usual). Once again, the Peacock wants to redefine itself.


Dramas (One-hour)
17th Precinct (Ronald D. Moore)
Logline: A dramatic series set against a magical world where the ordinary laws of science don’t apply. The action takes place in a city called Excelsior, which is run by sophisticated yet elemental magic. The police solve crimes and bring the accused before judges that offer highly subjective verdicts. But there’s a threat brewing to this way of life — a group of terrorists called The Stoics, who want to eradicate magic and replace it with the tyranny of science.
With: Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Stockard Channing, Tricia Helfer, Kristin Kreuk, Matthew Long, Esai Morales, Eamonn Walker
My thoughts:
It’s no Battlestar Galactica, that’s for sure. The best way to describe it succinctly would be to say it’s CSI, with magic instead of tech.
17th Precinct wasn’t overtly bad, it was just…okay. I don’t really know why but the world felt much less dense than his previous shows. The casting is obviously amazing but that’s never the be-all end-all.
With all of that said, I honestly doubt there’s an audience for this on broadcast television, let alone NBC. It might have worked on, say, Syfy, but it’s doubtful it’ll play well on NBC.
People don’t watch procedurals for the escapism science-fiction or fantasy provides, they watch procedurals for the nitty-gritty aspect of it and realism it provides. At the end of the episode, the bad guy is caught, and that’s reassuring because he seems more real than some wizard somewhere. We know how Century City fared on CBS (in that people don’t even remember the show).
Going to series? Yes. Despite the fact that it clearly won’t work on broadcast, NBC wants a new original procedural hit badly.

A Mann’s World (Michael Patrick King)
Logline: A dramatic series with comedic elements centering on a heterosexual male hairdresser, Allan Mann, now in his fifties, who is now looking to stay au courant in Beverly Hills, where age and experience can’t hold a candle to looks and beauty. While others might take the comfortable and predictable path, he takes the ego-driven and more difficult one.
With: Ellen Barkin, JR Bourne, Mario Cantone, Chris Crocker, Caitlin Crosby, Kelly Hu, Don Johnson, Jesse Jones, Taylor Kinney, D.J. Pierce, Sandra Vergara, Amanda Mason Warren, Christian Dante White
My thoughts:
Oh God. I can’t describe how bad this pilot is.
Literally the worst script of this season.
Obviously Greenblatt picked it up because of the financial penalty attached to it. Right? Please?
Going to series? Kill me now.

Metro (Stephen Gaghan)
Logline: A dramatic series that explores Los Angeles from multiple points of view, from lawyers to law enforcement, politics to the haves and have nots. The main character is a detective working in the Mayor’s Special Investigations Unit, who has returned to Los Angeles to re-connect with his teenage daughter and try maintain a civil relationship with his ex-wife, who is a high powered attorney.
With: Daniella Alonso, Madchen Amick, Luis Chavez, Emma Dumont, Noah Emmerich, Matthew Levy, Danny Pino, Jimmy Smits
My thoughts:
It seems that every season, NBC wants another gritty LA-based show.
Will this one do?
Well, Metro is reminiscent of Traffic. And in this case it’s a good thing.
Add Smits and Emmerich and I’m in.
Going to series? Probably. It’s both a cop and legal show, NBC’s go-to genre.

Playboy (Chad Hodge)
Logline: A soapy dramatic series that looks at the social and political tumult of the 1960’s from the perspective of Playboy bunnies working at the Playboy Club in Chicago.
With: Laura Benanti, Eddie Cibrian, Jenna Dewan, Amber Heard, David Krumholtz, Naturi Naughton, Wes Ramsey, Leah Renee Cudmore, Sean Maher
My thoughts:
It’s been somewhat widely reported that people haven’t responded all that well to the pilot. Neither did I to be honest.
How can you do about sex and drugs without sex and drugs?
The challenge was accepted by Playboy and was almost immediately failed.
The (unnecessary) period aspect of the show sealed its fate.
Going to series? Very likely. Any publicity is good publicity at this point.

Prime Suspect (Alexandra Cunningham)
Logline: A dramatic series based on the UK ITV procedural series of television movies starring Helen Mirren. The U.S. version centers on a newly promoted homicide detective, Jane Timoney, who has to deal with skeptical male colleagues who erroneously believe that that she has slept her way to her present position. Constantly ostracized and undermined, she finally gets her shot at spearheading a homicide investigation. Once she has a chance to show her abilities her astute powers of observation and scrupulousness win over almost all of her prior enemies.
With: Kirk Acevedo, Maria Bello, Tim Griffin, Damon Gupton, Joe Nieves, Brian F. O’Byrne, Aidan Quinn, Toby Stephens
My thoughts:
To be blunt, it was a snoozefest.
I know everyone loves to remake “known” property but this is one foreign classic that should have been left untouched.
For one, there is no original take on the cop genre. Prime Suspect might have actually defined the genre 20 years ago, but now it’s not so groundbreaking, gritty, or even interesting.
More importantly though, the sexism is way too blatant. One of the keys to the original show’s success was how it dealt with this (at the time) rampant problem in a way that was both subtle and realistic. The American version of Prime Suspect makes Mad Men a utopia for women.
And let me say that Maria Bello is no Helen Mirren.
Going to series? Maybe. It’s been in development since forever and this season is as close as it’s going to get to getting a green-light.

Construction (Josh Brand)
Logline: A period drama centering on Jason Edding, a Union Civil War veteran who returns from the Civil War a changed and haunted man. He seeks refuge in the border state of Missouri in a town that, despite the end of the war, is being terrorized by a mysterious Southern colonel called the Grey Ghost. He extorts money from the townspeople, and his brutal henchman maim and murder anyone who doesn’t comply. When Jason rolls into town and defeats these thugs, the people in the town embrace him as their savior and beg him to be their sheriff. But Jason’s must chase away his own ghosts before he can accept that challenge.
With: Emma Bell, Billy Brown, Coburn Goss, Martin Henderson, Robert Knepper, Rachelle Lefevre, Bill Sage, Claire Wellin
My thoughts:
I can honestly say this was a surprise hit for me. I’m no western fan (heck, it’s my least favorite genre), but this one worked for me. Of course, it’s no Carnivale, but it’s getting close to that territory.
Only problem? This is clearly not an NBC show.
First, it’s a period piece set in the civil war era, and it’s a western. Second, subject-matter is more cable than anything else (would it surprise you to learn that it was originally developed at FX?). Finally, it’s gory and violent.
Going to series? Sadly doubtful.

REM (Kyle Killen)
Logline: A dramatic series described as a procedural hybrid that centers on the simultaneous and parallel lives of a detective who cannot let go of any aspect of his fractured family after a horrible car accident.
With: Laura Allen, Steve Harris, Jason Isaacs, Cherry Jones, Michaela McManus, Dylan Minnette, Wilmer Valderrama, B.D. Wong
My thoughts:
I’ve been talking about this one for over three months for one simple reason: it’s my favorite script of the season, by far.
Amazing story, amazing writing, amazing show.
The world and the characters are very compelling but I’m afraid people are not going to tune in to watch the show, regardless of how well-crafted it is.
I have to voice my worry however about Howard Gordon show-running this thing. Why isn’t Killen staying behind? I can only guess this move shows NBC being afraid of a Lone Star redux.
Going to series? Probably. There’s no doubt that this is the most talked-about and praised original show of the season.

Smash (Theresa Rebeck)
Logline: A dramatic series based on an idea by Steven Spielberg. This one-hour musical series follows a cross section of characters who come together for the exhilarating ride of putting on a Broadway musical.
With: Christian Borle, Jaime Cepero, Jack Davenport, Megan Hilty, Anjelica Huston, Raza Jaffrey, Brian d’Arcy James, Katharine McPhee, Debra Messing
My thoughts:
Another cable-like show for NBC (this one originally developed at Showtime).
People are saying the network is riding on Glee’s coattails with this one.
Wrong.
If anything, it’s closer to HBO’s Miraculous Year than FOX’s tween show.
Smash wasn’t a mega hit for me, but it was definitely entertaining.
One thing I’m struggling with however is the longevity; it definitely seemed more like a mini-series than anything else. Once the musical is all set and done (probably in the first season finale), then what?
Going to series? Yes. Big cast, big producers, big show.

Wonder Woman (David E. Kelley)
Logline: A dramatic series based on the DC comic book series Wonder Woman, about Diana Prince, an Amazon who possesses superhuman strength, speed and stamina, flight, and super-agility. In this reinvention, Wonder Woman is a corporate executive and vigilante crime fighter in Los Angeles who works to balance all of the extraordinary parts of her life.
With: Justin Bruening, Cary Elwes, Adrianne Palicki, Pedro Pascal, Tracie Thoms, Brett Tucker, Elizabeth Hurley
My thoughts:
What more is there to add to this train-wreck? You can’t quite look away from the mess going on in front of you, although viewers won’t tune in beyond episode two.
I feel bad for Palicki who deserves better. Much better.
Going to series? Oh, my, yes.


Single-camera Comedies (Half-hour)
I Hate that I Love You (Jhoni Marchinko)
Logline: A single camera comedy series on a straight guy who lives with his best friend, who is a lesbian and a straight woman who lives with her best friend, who is a lesbian. When all four meet and the straight and gay couples get together, the ordinary issues of new relationships get a new twist. The straight guy and his gay best friend slept together in a fit of drunken despair a month before everyone met, which neither have discussed since it happened. But they all need to talk about it, because she now realizes she’s pregnant.
With: Danneel Ackles, Anna Camp, Jaime Lee Kirchner, Nick Thune
My thoughts:
Nothing new under the sun. Yet another standard dual couple comedy show, albeit with two lesbians.
Going to series? Possibly. This is another attempt at NBC trying to recapture a good “friends with benefits” comedy.

Untitled Lennon Parham & Jessica St. Clair Project
Logline: A single camera comedy series about an extremely awkward triangle — a woman and her new live-in boyfriend find themselves taking in her distraught (and pushy) best girlfriend who ends up on their doorstep after a divorce.
With: Lennon Parham, Stephen Schneider, Jessica St. Clair
My thoughts:
Not really my sensibility. I honestly don’t see the series appealing beyond the LA demographic (story isn’t really compelling). And the dialogue was too on-the-nose for me.
Going to series? I don’t see it.

Stay tuned as we conclude next time our pilot pick-up review with a cable medley.


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Lost Finale Thoughts: From The End to the beginning

by Alex on May 28, 2010

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

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Once upon a time, author Stephen King issued a challenge to the Lost writers:

Minus the continuing presence of David Duchovny, X-Files blundered off into a swamp of black oil, and in that swamp it died. If J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and their band of co-conspirators allow something similar to happen with Lost, I’m going to be even more pissed, because this show is better. Memo to Abrams and staff writers: Your responsibilities include knowing when to write The End.

Flash-forward to five years later: the 100-minute long Lost series finale, abstemiously entitled The End, airs on ABC.

Before I go into my in-depth look at Season Six and the series finale, let me get something out of the way:
Saying that people didn’t like The End because “there were no answers” and “it’s about the characters, stupid” is hypocritical.
If you flashback to a couple of years ago, I am betting Montand’s left arm that you were interested in knowing ‘what the hell is that black smoke’ more than ‘what the hell do Jack’s tattoos mean.’
In season Three, you were interested in knowing Juliet’s and Ben’s backstories not only because they were intriguing characters, but because they seemed at the time to hold key pieces of the Island puzzle.
And people tuned in en masse to the Season Two premiere not to see Jack’s divorce, but to discover what was in the hatch.
Don’t tell me otherwise, because that is either a blatant lie or misguided faith.
The only exception to this rule is the first half of Season One, which indeed delved more into the characters than the (not-yet-fleshed-out) mythology.
Lost drew a cult following because of its mysteries and original storytelling, not because the 815ers were the greatest characters on television at the time. If you disagree with this statement, then you’ve never watched, let’s say, Six Feet Under (2001−2005), The Wire (2002−2008), The Sopranos (1999−2007), or Battlestar Galactica (2003−2009), and the list goes on.
Like Lordy said in his own review, the fact that Lost did not answer any of its main mysteries is completely irrelevant to most people’s quarrels with the series finale.
Why? Newsflash: Darlton had 120 other episodes to answer questions.

So, no, my problem with Season Six does not reside in the lack of answers, it’s more in line with gross character neglect and unjustified fan manipulation.
The “character-only” approach of Lost is first untrue, but more importantly distorted. This point of view was only shaped last year when Lindelof and Cuse began to realize that they couldn’t satisfy fans with answers and needed to go back to a cleaner slate.


Cue the flash-sideways.
As they themselves admitted, the writers wanted to bring to the final season some symmetry in regards to Season One. Though admirable, the effort was pointless and quite frankly disappointing.
First, the idea here was to bring a new sense of mystery and discovery to the characters we had come to know throughout the years. Since doing a flashback on Jack’s ankle-tattoo seemed ridiculous at this point, they chose to do an altverse and switch things up a bit.
The only problem here, and it’s a big one, is that these are not our characters. They haven’t lived through the crash, they haven’t lived through the Island, they haven’t lived through six seasons of tumultuous events. Ergo, we do not care about them.

Of course, this whole ordeal was made irrelevant by the final revelation that, not only did none of it matter, but nothing was actually real. This was quite literally the metaphysical equivalent of ‘it was all a dream.’ Perhaps it wasn’t Vincent that dreamed Jack’s son, David, but this doesn’t mean I didn’t waste an hour watching his pre-adolescent angst towards his father.

There’s also the lack of any character development. Even if you were to assume that the flash-sideways actually happened and mattered, the finale rendered them nonexistent.
Paradoxically, this even impacted ‘our’ characters. For me, the whole emotional effect of Juliet and Sawyer’s reunion was nullified by the fact that, mere seconds ago, she was very content with being in a family with Jack and David. When she ‘remembered’, it was as if an instant brainwash had occurred. Now that Juliet was exchanging fluids with Sawyer, I was left to wonder if she recalled having a son and being with another man, or if her ‘old personality’ had crushed this new life.
Bringing back Julie Bowen as the mother would have actually made things better. And before you comment on her unavailability, allow me to remind you that Modern Family was actually shooting an episode in Hawaii at the same time! Talk about a wasted opportunity…

There is also all that happened on the Island.
The episode felt more to me like a season finale than a true series finale. There was no real farewell to the Island, contrary to what was alluded to since the season premiere (a cataclysmic event involving either a nuke or the volcano). The dramatic reveal of the Island being underwater now makes no sense at all.
As for the characters in peril, I’ll here quote Charlie Jane Anders’ great review of the finale:

Probably the greatest weapon in Lost’s arsenal was always its ability to make you care, desperately, feverishly about what happened to these people.
And in the end, I just didn’t care if that rock went in that hole or not. By extension, I had stopped caring whether the island sank. I had stopped caring about the fate of the Man In Black, long before he got kicked out of the episode prematurely. I didn’t care about any of it.

I do still have chills watching Through the Looking Glass or There’s No Place Like Home, but similarly to Anders, I have stopped caring about Jack & Coe for some time now.


Now about that ending.
What I found interesting about the ending of Lost was that it was thematically related to the series. It echoed two main components of the show as a whole: the fact that everyone was connected and the Island was the most important part of their lives — with one difference.
Whatever the timeline, Lost had always shown events directly (flashforwards) or indirectly (flashbacks) linked to the Island. Even when the Oceanic Six were on the main land, Lost lingered on how the crash and the on-Island events had impacted their lives. Sayid was working for Ben, Jack was suicidal because he wanted to ‘go back’, Kate was raising Aaron, Hurley had to lie about the crash, and so on.

For the first time, the flashes this season were neither about what preceded the crash, nor what followed it. The flashsideways were never narratively connected to the Island. This may be why some were let down by the ending. Basically, we were led to believe all along that, like the flashbacks and the flashforwards, the flashsideways would prove to be important to the understanding of on-Island events.
They weren’t. And, as we’ve seen, most of them were made irrelevant.

Beyond that, the end was also more abstract than some people appear to say. Though you do get some sort of a spiritual conclusion to the characters, you certainly do not get closure of what we might call their “corporeal selves.” You don’t know for instance Sawyer’s ultimate fate.
However, I accept that since, as pointed out above, what will happen in their lives onwards won’t have much to do with the Island.

One thing I don’t really get is the whole “moving on/letting go” part. Beyond the obvious meta comment, I don’t really understand what they have to “move on” from/to.
As far as I can see, virtually every single one of the Lostaways is finally happy, and has moved beyond his/her issues to a new realm of bliss.
Let’s take a look: Ben is a father figure to Alex, Jack is in love and has a son that cares about him, Sawyer stars in a ‘buddy cop’ drama with Miles, Hurley is lucky, Sun and Jin are finally free and about to have a baby, Locke is with Helen and can walk.
If one were to argue that the flashsideways had a point, it was to show that the characters had “moved on” from their (literally) otherworldly problems. Yet, now they need to abandon this wonderful world.
Would this message of “letting go” be present in the episode if it were not the series finale? I’d say no.


During the first four years, Lost was about rescue.
That was Jack’s purpose: to get his fellow castaways off the Island.
It was never about “moving on”, it was never about “letting go”, it was about “getting the hell off this damn rock” as Sawyer would say.
Season One ended with the raft launching, season Two ended with Penny discovering the Island, season Three ended with Jack communicating with a potential rescue team, and season Four ended with the actual rescue of the Oceanic Six.
Mission accomplished.

Personally, the show concluded with season Four. There’s No Place Like Home, the 2008 finale, does offer what I believe to be a great conclusion to the series.
Sure, some questions would have been left open-ended (how did Locke end up in that coffin?), but no more than the amount of mysteries further multiplied by the last two seasons.
Seasons Five and Six brought in unnecessary drama and one-sided debates. Indeed, once Jack is converted by Locke, there is no scientific counterpoint. Plus, since both MiB and Jacob appear in the flesh, no one is here to doubt their existence.
It also tried to solve major philosophical questions (Fate vs. Free-Will, Science vs. Faith) that, despite being part of the show from the very beginning, certainly did not need to have a clear-cut answer (you can guess which one).

Even though The End thematically resonates to the show as a whole, it certainly is not a true conclusion to the series’ ongoing purpose, only its last season. Ultimately, it ended with a tribute to its own completion. Whether this will shape the way Lost is viewed for generations to come remains to be seen.


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How Lost revolutionized storytelling

by Alex on May 19, 2010

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

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Before telegraphed flashsideways and magical caves, there was a time when Lost told its complex and often surprising story through other means. The mythological show brought to television seldom used attributes to entertain and mystify its audience.
Here’s how the groundbreaking series revolutionized television storytelling.


The first thing to notice about Lost is undoubtedly its unusual use of flashbacks.
At the time (and dare I say still to this day), it was a groundbreaking way to tell a story.
No, I’m not talking about the flashback itself, rather its use in network primetime.
Could viewers keep up with two simultaneous narratives involving the same characters at different times of their lives?
Since its first inception, flashbacks have not only become the staple of the show, but also populated the television landscape.

So much actually, that fans quickly grew tired of what appeared to only be a gimmick.
I guess now we can peak behind the curtain and reveal that, yes, it was at first an opportunity for the writers to stall.
Don’t take my word for it, here’s what Damon Lindelof had to say on the subject:

We knew early on that the flashbacks were going to have to be a prominent aspect of the series but we didn’t use flashbacks in the pilot other than to tell the story of the crash. We knew as we were shooting the pilot though that the only way to do the series would be to use the art of the stall. In any given season of 24 there’s not that much happening, but they give the illusion of constant suspense. On Lost if every episode were about discovering the mysteries of the island than we would be sunk, because there’s an inevitability to that where if the characters decided ‘we’re going to explore this island and figure out what this place is’ whereas if it’s ‘we’re going to figure out how to live with each other and figure out what this island is’ and we’re going to learn about the characters before the crash so that they’re emotionally compelling, that was the only way we saw to do the show.

The bottom line of it all is that, beyond its apparent uselessness, flashbacks on Lost (save for, let’s say, Fire+Water and Stranger in a Strange Land) were compelling both narratively and emotionally. You can’t say that about Damages’ flashforwards (more on that in a minute).
One of my personal favorites is the final flashback of Walkabout where it is revealed Locke was in a wheelchair.
The tour de force of Lost was to intertwine two narratives and therein create a seamless emotional journey that could resonate both in the past (off-Island), and in the present (on-Island). Those “flashes” were actually useful to the show.
As revealed by Lindelof, this back-and-forth between present and past was partly based on the storytelling method of the Watchmen graphic novel as well as Slaughterhouse-Five.


And since we’re on the subject, if you’re going to talk about one, then you’ll need to talk about the other.
I am of course referring to flashforwards (or prolepses).
Remember the time when you had never heard the term “flashforward”?
Me neither.
And yet, before the twist ending occurred during the Season Three finale (Through the Looking Glass), only a few people knew that the technique existed, let alone its usage.
You could say the series finale of Six Feet Under, The O.C., or even Star Trek: The Next Generation used flashforwards to offer viewers glimpses into the future of the show’s characters, but those were just that: glimpses. Like with flashbacks, Lost juxtaposed its timelines in such a unique way that you couldn’t look at prolepses as ‘just that’.

Flashforwards in Lost gave weight to something that was rarely used, or at least not for their sake, but just to give hints of the future. It was the ABC show that truly revealed the potential of such a storytelling technique. The series had showed again that audiences could follow simultaneously two very different timelines. Not since La Jetée have we had such a complex array of timelines, combining both analepses and prolepses. One could argue the writers are trying to catch the lightning in the bottle once more with this season’s flashsideways technique. But all they’re actually creating is a fake sense of nostalgia.

This true revolution gave way to a few series that probably would not have been green-lit had it not been for Lost.
Damages certainly succeeded in using flashforwards with its first season, but could have gone without it with its following seasons. They were as well only used as glimpses into the season finale, not true parallel storytelling. In addition, we can talk a bit about the now-canned FlashForward (based on the 1999 book of the same name) that proved a show could not sustain on mythology alone.

Ultimately, Carlton Cuse describes his show as “a giant mosaic”:

At various points in the journey you’re going to be standing in various spots and you can define them as past, present, or future. We like fractured storytelling, and the way we’re going you’ll be looking at various aspects of our characters’ lives in the story we are telling. We want to explore that from various perspectives.


Another revolution in the network landscape is the scope of the show.
And I’m not just talking about the size of the Four-Toed Statue.
From its cast and sets, to the score and cinematic visuals, Lost was pretty much unprecedented as a network drama. The show is de facto massively expensive (large crew and Hawaii shoot), but it also premiered during a time where networks were slowly moving away from scripted dramas into the realm of cheaply-produced reality shows. Whatever you might say about the mythology of the show, you can’t deny that the series had a lot of layers.

Comparing the show to video-game storytelling, Carlton Cuse went on to say:

We also felt that since Lost was violating a lot of rules of traditional television storytelling, including having a large and sprawling cast and having very complex storytelling, we felt that videogames were one model that showed that if audiences get invested, they love complexity. In fact, the more complexity the better, and the challenge of that complexity was an asset as opposed to a liability. Those are the games that people actually respect, you know?

As for the characters, even though an ensemble cast is far from being new, Lost distinguished itself from others thanks to the innovative “centric” aspect.
And regarding the mythology, well it seems to span literally thousands of years, though we’ll have a lot of things to say about that in the coming days.

Television storytelling was also revolutionized in another surprising way when, after a few months of back-and-forth talk between ABC and the Lost execs, an end-date for the series was announced on May 7th, 2007. Clearly, this move was done as a gesture towards the fan that both answers and the end were in sight. It was also an unprecedented move in network history that is unlikely to happen again, though it shaped in many ways other mythological series. Finally, the announcement led to three shorter seasons (around 15 episodes each), and, as we can see from the current renewals, such “cable seasons” are now becoming more and more in vogue.


Last but far from being least, we can now talk about the final two fundamental changes Lost brought to television storytelling: Crossmedia & Transmedia.
Simply put, crossmedia is distribution of one “story world” across multiple platforms, and transmedia is the usage of said platforms to tell the story.

Think of it this way: the ‘Lost world’ has many stories told through various mediums, the main one being the mothership (the television show on ABC). The rest of the (less important) side-stories can be told through, for instance, a series of books. This is crossmedia.
The show explored Information technologies as a way to distribute its stories. Case in point in December 2007 when Lost: Missing Pieces was launched on the Internet and mobile phones. The thirteen short videos (about three minutes each) were actually mini-flashbacks comprised of mostly deleted scenes. It wasn’t the first foray into mini-episodes (see 24 and Battlestar Galactica), but it certainly was the most effective of its time.

You also have transmedia, which is basically a more engulfing version of crossmedia. The most obvious example is what is called “Alternate Reality Game” (ARG), or, as Wikipedia describes it, “an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions.“
One of the best ARG was The Lost Experience in 2007. I won’t go here into the dirty deets of what made TLE so great (Ivan Askwith deconstructed the ARG pretty thoroughly in his paper), though I have to congratulate one of the masterminds behind it, Javier Grillo-Marxuach.
Though their later attempts were much less successful (Find 815, the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project), what you had with TLE and other Lost crossmedia was a unified viewing experience that allowed the audience to decide on which level it wants to be involved with the series.
You could be an über-fan and follow The Lost Experience, or just a casual viewer and simply watch the series on TV.


At the end of the day, Lost may be most remembered for complex mysteries or lack of answers, but its most overlooked aspect will certainly be the one that will have the greatest impact on television: groundbreaking and timeless storytelling.


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