Obligatory Lost Finale Post

But wait, this one's different: I haven't seen it yet!

Three big-time series had their finales this week: Lost, Law & Order, and 24. Though the latter two were some of the most hyped and successful drama series of our time, it was Lost that got all the buzz, and it is only Lost that I am interested in eventually seeing. (I couldn't handle the weekly cliffhangers when trying to follow it on TV.)

24, I gave a chance to, having heard it was intense and addictive. I watched Season 1 on DVD, found it over the top and uncompelling, and never went any further. I'll give it credit for trying something new, but found it to be an over-hyped bunch of silliness, for the most part. Maybe the later seasons got better; I don't particularly care to find out.

Law & Order is a much more traditional series, featuring mainly self-contained episodes that use a rigid formula which basically resets at the beginning of each show. So I hear, anyway: I've never made it through an episode. I fail to see how you can "follow" a show whose entire point seems to be that there's nothing to follow: you could tune into any episode from any season and see pretty much the same things happening. I suppose if it's an entertaining formula, it could qualify as an adequate time-waster, but it's not even that, really. Somebody kills somebody and gets caught, questioned, and put on trial, while drably lit detectives mope through dim halls and occasionally shout at said suspects or each other. That goes for its interminable spin-offs, too, which are indistinguishable from the original, each more boring than the next. Good riddance. Clunk-clunk.

And then there was Lost. Borrowing from the X-Files and The Twilight Zone to create a spooky blend of sci-fi and spirituality, its over-use of cliffhangers can be forgiven if it pulls the threads together to weave its way to a satisfying finale. I wouldn't know...yet. What I do know is that it accomplished the tremendous feat of getting the mainstream TV audience (including women!) swept up in a paranormal/sci-fi-heavy storyline. The X-Files was a cult phenomenon, but it faded in popularity as it lost its direction and ended with a whimper. Kudos to the creative team behind Lost, by contrast, for picking an endpoint and sticking with it for story's sake. Many ambitious drama writers would do well to follow your lead.