In 2004, Oceanic 815 flight crash-landed on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The survivors not only faced the typical elements of distress you’d expect with a plane crash (you know, finding food, water, shelter — that stuff), but the island they landed on not only happened to be in the middle of the ocean, it was (still is), by far, the craziest place on the planet. They were forced to deal with island natives, a smoke monster, and polar bears, among other issues (uh, what?).
Now, before you burn me at the stake for loving “Lost,” I’ll be the first to admit that the story line is a bit far-fetched. Around Season Three, I’m pretty sure the writers threw any idea they could think of against a wall and used whatever stuck in the plot line. I see them now.
“What if we make the island magical so it can time travel? Or better yet, what if we make people come back to life?”
“Sure. Why not?”
But, despite the ridiculousness of “Lost,” I don’t care.
When I tell folks one of my favorite shows is “Lost,” I usually get two responses.
The first, and most common, is that the person starts asking my theories about time travel or who I think John Locke is. Or, better yet, they’ll explain how their theories are better than mine and that my ideas won’t work because the numbers I’m using won’t match the numbers introduced in that season with the scene I forgot about that only lasted a few minutes.
To an outsider, our conversation must appear ludicrous, but I don’t care.
The other result is that the poor soul tells me how stupid I am. They can’t believe that I would like a show with such bad acting and poor writing. They’ll tell me how there’s no point to it all, and the writers are just feasting the basic need for humans to be curious. They’ll say that they tried to watch the show once but it was dumb and I should think that way, too.
However, once again, I don’t care.
“Lost” may be infected with bad acting (Matthew Fox’s heavy breathing as the character Jack comes to mind) and poorly delivered one-liners, but one must credit the creators of the show as innovative.
Honestly, what other TV show is like it? In world infested with lame, three-camera sitcoms, “The Office” wannabes, and a thousand forensic-science crime-fighting shows, “Lost” stands alone as one of the few original television shows out there.
To all the haters, please, just give it a chance. Throw Season One on your Netflix queue, and watch a few episodes. I guarantee you will not only be hooked, you will be thankful that quality television still does exist.
And to the rest of you who can’t get over your preconceived notions that “Lost” is stupid and won’t give it a chance?
I still don’t care.