Lost - The Greatest TV Show Ever!

The Golden Miller

This could of gone into the TV section, but I think it carries a greater general appeal and interest. I remember when this came out, after a couple of seasons, it was well on it's way to being labelled the greatest TV show ever. Blew everything out of the water. Then with TV strikes and people losing track of it, it's legacy has subsequently become less favourable. Which I think is unfair. I'd still regard it as arguably the greatest show ever.

No show has ever generated the sheer mass hysteria of Lost, and this was pre-mainstream internet and forums. People wondering "what is down the hole" had people unable to sleep ha. No show has ever had cliffhangers, or people "needing to know" what happens next, to the level of Lost. It completely broke new ground in the fantasy genre, and ramping up from Sopranos, really took cinema to TV.

See I went back and rewatched it all, and the problem was back then, if you missed an episode you were gone. Now you can watch episodes back to back, and when you do with Lost, you aren't forgetting and missing the plot by season 4. People said the quality dipped, it actually didn't on rewatch, it's just everyone was "lost" by that point. People said loose ends wern't tied up etc, these were just popular soundbites to reel off by people who never actually finished it. On rewatch, the drop in quality and loose end stuff doesn't hold up.

The other thing was it became convoluted with sideways flashes of parallel lives, but again, week to week, people lost track of it. If you watch it all back to back, it all makes far more sense.

I think in certain quaters, this shows legacy isn't what it should be. If people rewatch it, you'll remember just how good it was. At it's best, it's probably some of the best TV ever, if not a level above anything else we've seen before or since. There's been nothing like it before or since imo, no show has ever been so addictive once you get going. Before I rewatched it, I was even doubting myself, "maybe it wasn't as good as I remember it". But I'm glad I did rewatch it, it's blockbuster TV. I'd strongly advise people to go back to it and finish it the whole way!

seanrambo87

Will do dropped out after season 4 for aforementioned problems.....tech etc. I really enjoyed this but then after missing out on a period was completely lost upon my return. 1st season was amazing as far as I remember. I'm always looking for something to watch with the missus when kids are asleep. Thanks for putting it on my radar again.

fritzelly

Started great then just became a meandering mess with each season getting worse where the writers just made stuff up to add more seasons to it and everyone hoping for an explanation and getting none - was still addicted to it til the end then thinking is that it?

Lot of parallels to From with producers from the same barn - hoping they don't go down the same road with this show even tho they say there is a conclusion

Buddy Bubs

It could have had its storyline from start to finish wrapped up in a 2 hour movie to be honest.

Started out well, turned worse, ended up nonsense.

Then you look back and think, wtf was that all about.

con747

^^^^^^

Yep, and then the ending……

Markcheese

Ah - no ,

Great first season,really enjoyed the second too, started to fade a bit in series 3, gave up on series 4 and 5 , because of the hype I went back for the final season , regretted that

pjohnson

The show had messy moments and clearly wasn't fully thought out at the beginning and they started making it up as they went.

But when it was in its stride it was fantastic. Walkabout and The Constant are two amazing episodes of any TV show.

Linus, Locke, Desmond, Charlie, Sawyer, Sun, Juliet and Jack were brilliant characters.

dominatinMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462134#Comment_122462134

Agree with this. I watched the whole series back during Covid and, despite it being one of my favorite shows ever, it was certainly frustrating at times. However, at it's best, it was the best. But it just couldn't sustain that peak imo.

In addition to the episodes you mentioned, Through the Looking Glass (i.e. "not Penny's boat") is one of the greatest hours of television you will find.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462209#Comment_122462209

I also forgot Eko and Hurley from the great character section.

And we've both criminally forgot Dr. Linus where Michael Emmerson gave arguably the greatest TV performance ever filmed with two utterly contrasting versions of Linus.

Charlo30

Thought they made a bit of a mistake in Season 2 when in a scene they clearly showed the book The Third Policemen by Flann O'Brien. Anyone familiar with the novel would have put 2 & 2 together and released what was going on

Buddy Bubs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462090#Comment_122462090

Didn't see the end! I missed maybe last season and a half..got very bored of it

suvigirl

Lost is the reason I cannot watch anything unless it is all there, ready to binge. The end of the show made me feel like I had wasted soooo much time, and I loved it the whole way through. Very disappointing😞

Penn

The issue with Lost was they hyped up the secrets and mysteries so much and promised everything would be answered, but then the hype of the show kept building and they kept having to up the ante so much yet still try give answers in the end even though the answers were never going to satisfy people. Especially since the mysteries got so huge and complex that the only explanation possible was just "magic".

When the show focused on the characters, it was a damn good show, and when you rewatch it through that lens and stop looking for the answers to everything and just enjoy the ride, it's a great show. Not one of the greatest ever in my opinion (heavily padded in Season 3 and too much trying to give explanations for everything in Season 6 to the detriment of the characters), but a great show nonetheless.

Patrick Mahomes

I think everyone guessed the ending after the pilot episode only to be told by the makers of the show that wasn’t the ending so everyone stuck with for years only to find out they were right about the ending and wasted 5/6 years watching it.

Regards,

P.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462387#Comment_122462387

Not really.

Spoiler Warning

People guessed the island was purgatory and that they all died in the crash. I think that was the original plan but since everyone figured it out they changed it and came up with a bunch of mumbojumbo as to why the island was special, why they survived etc. So everything that happened on the island did actually happen and they were all alive. It was only the Flash-sideways in Season 6 that was purgatory.

But also like I said in my post, if you watch it for the mystery and explanations, bad show. If you watch it for the characters and focus on that, while just enjoying the crazy reveals and twists along the way without over-analysing them, it's a good to great show.

Unearthly

I fully agree it’s a wonderful show and gets a hard time nowadays. The amount of people I’ve spoken to who have misunderstood what the ending was is incredible. Even with Jacks dad spending 5 minutes spoon feeding it to the audience

Some of the best tv characters in history were in that show

FortuneChip

It's definitely one of the most influential pieces of television ever. I think it completely changed how people watch TV. Coming alongside the rise of social media,it brought the now constant theory culture to the fore. No show before it carried such consistent levels of intrigue every week.

It started out as a great TV, then the plot went wonky, but it stayed afloat because it has great characters that like-it-or-not, you became invested in.

Later seasons were fairly messy, but still had compelling moments. The Constant being an obvious one. We have to go back, etc

I've revisited it, and the criticisms, while overstated, are still somewhat valid.

I think it set a high, but achievable bar for what TV shows could be, and paved the way for the era that followed it.

BrianD3

I really enjoyed it at the start, a survival adventure with some mysterious elements and great characters. As it became increasingly complex and bizarre, I enjoyed it less but still watched to the end.

I think it was one of the last big shows before streaming/on demand took over. People would be talking about it in work etc. the next day.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462387#Comment_122462387

I was just about to post that exact thing!

First 2 seasons were fantastic. It dropped out in quality after season 2 IMO.

I suspect the original plan had been for 3 seasons, but ABC then said "No way can you end the most popular TV show in history after only 3 seasons, so write some more stuff". So they made up a load of irrelevant stuff and filler episodes, Remember Exposé?

The ending, biggest disappointment in TV history in my opinion.

As SUVgirl says, I now don't start something until I know it has finished, and hasn't been cancelled. Or the main characters actor hasn't been indicted for sexual assault.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462401#Comment_122462401

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122462425#Comment_122462425

I dont think any TV show has ever (or will ever going by the programmes since) replicate the amount of brilliant characters LOST had. Thats what kept the show going while some plot points imploded or went nowhere but the characters just carried it through.

Yeah the ending was really clear cut and I think the confusion is just from people who didn't actually watch season 6. As well as Jacks dad Linus final moments outside the church were screaming in the audience face that this (sideways) was purgatory.

Deregos.

Loved the show, everyone was watching and talking about Lost, and we had great hopes that the ending was going to somehow justify how long they drew out the whole storyline for . . . but it didn't.

Those final scenes in the (Catholic?) church with the statues looking on . . so disappointing.

Agent Coulson

It's no where near the level of The Prisoner 40 years before Lost or Twin Peaks 20 years before Lost which it stole ideas liberally from.

I'd also disagree….

No show has ever generated the sheer mass hysteria of Lost, and this was pre-mainstream internet and forums.

Twin Peaks 20 years before and The X-Files 10 years before it did the same when they caught the zeitgeist of their times.

Mister Vain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122463004#Comment_122463004

True, and The X-Files was consistently good for 11 seasons. Lost was good for 2 maybe 3 seasons at the most.

AMKC

I remember this coming out alright and my Irish Civil Instructor going on about it. Would not have heard of it except for him. I watched maybe to season 3 and got bored of it.

I don't think it was the greatest TV Show ever.

Maybe you have never seen Star Trek DS9 but I would class that as way better or ever Battlestar Galactica the remastered version. I guess it's what your into.

Strumms

came to it late. Couldn’t get into it. A lot of more recent commentary has it as somewhat overrated / overhyped compared to its critically elevated status at the time…I’m inclined to believe….or agree with anyway having tried to get into it and failed…

Then again I’m inclined to compare anything in the realm of TV series to my favourite…The Sopranos, which I believe is stunning.

Buddy Bubs

The mystery/theories about what the island was and why they were there was about the only thing that kept it going.

There's not a hope that anybody would give this a rewatch because it was good tv, or even well written.

Generated a bit of interest but that's it

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122463854#Comment_122463854

Binging Sopranos right now.

I was hooked on Lost from episode one, but I really don't know if they did have a plan for how to end it, or if they were just making it up as they went along. Part of me suspects the latter.

Back in 2005, J.J. Abrams promised that one of the most popular theories about Lost was not true. In 2006, Damon Lindelof did the same. They were so convincing in their denials.

Then in the end.

Spoiler Warning

Turns out, they'd been in purgatory or a kind of purgatory all that time.

After vehemently denying it for so long. Makes me think, they didnt know how to end it, and then went with that option.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122463941#Comment_122463941

Except there was no purgatory until the "sideways" timeline which was purgatory. That was pretty clear so they knew that part.

They undoubtedly started making it up as they went to fill episodes out, the 2 fùcking disaster characters (Nikki and Phillipe?) that were introduced, despised and immediately killed off and never mentioned again being hilarious proof of that.

They did know their ending though and that was never a lie. Its one of those weird mandela effects when people claim that quote.

NIMAN

One of tvs biggest disappointments ever.

They got everyone hooked, and we all kept watching because the writers said all the guesses were wrong, despite them being right all along.

My final disappointment over how it ended changed how I approached a lot of later longer series. I quit many early if I wasn't enjoying, having less patience for ones which could potentially do another Lost on me.

PressRun

I think people are generally quite revisionist about this show nowadays. It was certainly a 'moment' when it first came out and lots of people were talking about it, but I also remember the consensus being that the show had great potential that it failed to fulfil and I would tend to agree with that. It certainly lost its way after a certain point. In contrast to something like The Sopranos, which during Covid seemed to go through a period of being "discovered" by viewers who were too young for it first time around - that has aged wonderfully and is as resonant as it ever was, even with a whole new audience. I don't think Lost is anywhere near that standard.

Also, the X-Files was a huge TV moment too. Watching it back now, it's certainly a 90s time capsule, but it's quirky and unique and you can easily still see why people were obsessed.

L Grey

Dallas - The Greatest TV Show Ever!

ejmaztec

Given the "suits" cancelling series at the drop of a hat, I avoided getting engrossed in it from the start, and only ever watched the last few episodes. 😛

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464025#Comment_122464025

I never finished House of Cards so started a rewatch of it recently, but I could see the quality going down hill, so I read some reviews and apparently the ending was unsatisfactory, so I gave up and switched to Sopranos.

There are a load of series I never finished and other series Ive watched repeatedly.

I started a rewatch of Lost a while back. I was enjoying it and then I remembered, there is a lot of sh1t to come with flash sideways bollox, a whole load of stuff left unresolved, so why bother. No need to be disappointed twice.

GHendrix

One of my favourite shows ever and I loved the ending.

Hard for me to understand why so many don’t get the ending…

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464099#Comment_122464099

Feel free to explain it.

LambshankRedemption

Except there was no purgatory until the "sideways" timeline which was purgatory. That was pretty clear

It was not clear to me.

Itssoeasy

I remembering loving this when it came out first. I know I got to season 4 and then gave up. Maybe the criticism was overblown but I’m not against shows that make you have to think while watching it, it’s when it doesn’t make any sense in the issue.

prison break is another show that started out really good. The first season is really good and I watched it all the way to the end, but it really was a chore to get through by the end. I watched the new season and wish I hadn’t now. It requires you to forget a HUGE part of the end of season 4. We did get another episode in Ireland which makes the new season even dumber.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464129#Comment_122464129

It's in the discussion between Jack and his father in the very last scene. Emphasis mine

Spoiler Warning

JACK: You...are you real?

CHRISTIAN: I should hope so. Yeah, I'm real. You're real, everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church...they're real too.

JACK: They're all...they're all dead?

CHRISTIAN: Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you, some...long after you.

JACK: But why are they all here now?

CHRISTIAN: Well there is no "now" here.

JACK: Where are we, dad?

CHRISTIAN: This is the place that you...that you all made together, so that you could find one another. The most...important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.

JACK: For what?

CHRISTIAN: To remember...and to...let go.

JACK: Kate...she said we were leaving.

CHRISTIAN: Not leaving, no. Moving on.

The point being, they didn't know each other before the plane crash, so it wasn't purgatory from the start. The time they spent on the island together and the relationships they formed was the most important part of their lives. The flash-sideways in Season 6 was purgatory, where they dealt with their outstanding issues (Jack's issues with his father meant he now had a son in the flash sideways, Sawyer was a cop, Locke felt guilt because of what he did to his father etc), and then learned to move on together.

Buddy Bubs

Did you ever see the scene in one of the recent terminator movies where you're meant to believe Arnies character the T800 accomplished his mission of killing John Connors but stayed around in this timeline, became a curtain salesman named Karl, drove a van with Karls drapes on it and was living as a family man with a woman and her kid for years? Far cry from the original film.

You just say to that would ya ever f**K off with your nonsense.

That's what the storylines in Lost were like. Flash sideways, alternate purgatorys mean to look like real life and then someone says no, that's real purgatory and the island was real.........and all the other storylines that never made sense, I remember a polar bear at one stage in early seasons and all that dharma initiative rubbish, can't remember where any of those stories went. Not to forget the others, who were they again? Why did the plane crash again? Why were the people chosen?

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464192#Comment_122464192

And why Linus didnt move on at all or at least not yet. He wasn't ready to leave Alex. He was never part of the plane group so that wasn't his journey. But Locke and Hurley were huge parts of his life (and he theirs). He got to apologise to Locke and say farewell to Hurley finishing his story with the plane survivors.

It was spelled out ridiculously clearly. I think some had just gave up watching long beforehand having decided they were dead all along and then just kept repeating it for years until others started believing it.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464292#Comment_122464292

A lot dont get the ending though which is hilarious it was the clearest part of the whole show.

I do however agree and think it was a 3 season story originally and when it became such a hit the studio demanded more and the writers just scrambled desperately to strech out the material for 6 seasons. And thats why you'd have a sudden classic episode in the middle of a severe lull and so much irrelevant meandering nothingness scattered throughout.

Hangdogroad

FIrst series was good but at some point it lost it bigtime and I never finished it.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464067#Comment_122464067

Ahh feck, you got there before me 😁

I read the OP and wondered what age they are that they don’t remember phenomena like The X -Files, Twin Peaks (if you know, you know 😂), Dynasty wasn’t as good as Dallas, Joan Collins though was a piece of work, but nothing like the question that was on everyone’s minds for months:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_shot_J.R.%3F

There was V too, ‘twas like a scare before bedtime 😖

L Grey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464451#Comment_122464451

Fxxk Im old. haha

LambshankRedemption

Well that was inevitable. The "But its so obvious, you just weren't paying attention / smart enough to understand / had given up on it" comments. I watched it in entirety, and watched it all again before watching the final episode and I still felt disappointed, and didn't really get it.

As another poster said, so many storylines that went nowhere.

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464096#Comment_122464096

Trump destroyed House of Cards (before Spacey did for many). I remember watching it and thinking it was really good, but so far-fetched. Surely nobody like this could get into the Whitehouse? Then along came Trump, everything in hindsight seemed so tame after he arrived

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464662#Comment_122464662

Spacey was acquitted of the charges. Instead of rewriting the ending, NetFlix should have held out.

But before Trump and before the Spacey thing, it had already lost its way.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122463004#Comment_122463004

I suggest you have to go back even further.

M*A*S*H would surely still be the gold standard. To this day, the most-watched broadcast episode in history was its finale, a record set in 1983, back in the day when you had to actively make an effort to watch a show. No video on demand, most folks didn't have VCRs, you had to make a hole in your schedule and keep it. Game of Thrones? "Sure, I'll watch the finale when I get around to it."

To get to that level it becomes a matter of being a cultural cornerstone. The only other single broadcast to beat it was a Superbowl, itself a national cultural fixture in the US. You can almost guarantee that M*A*S*H is in broadcast syndication somewhere in the world right now, I'm not sure I could say the same for Lost or Twin Peaks. You could for Star Trek, but that has its own flaws.

That's not to say there aren't enduring shows which may not make the grade due to smaller audiences. Monty Python is also a global phenomenon. Blackadder or Father Ted similarly have had proportionally huge impact within their own cultural reference points (i.e. UK and Ireland respectively). Even cultural popularity may not be as good an indicator with that reference: Was Blackadder actually a better show, in terms of writing, acting and production, than the contemporary Yes, Minister/Prime Minister? I submit probably not. But it did have broader appeal and quotability.

Yet M*A*S*H managed to do it all. You could post a screenshot from almost any moment in almost any episode, and people would identify the show correctly. See a civilian Bell 47, and you think "Mash helicopter". The show was in production for twice as long as the war it portrayed. It was well written, well acted, well produced. Its appeal crossed international and cultural boundaries (a particularly difficult issue for a comedy). It's in very rare company.

Agent Coulson

M*A*S*H would definitely on the list for sure.

Not a good series however one that took over the world in the 90's was Baywatch it was cultural phenomenon all around the world like no other series.

"Run Yasmine, run like the wind" which is a quote from another series about Baywatch that generated real sheer mass hysteria like no other for it's time.. Friends.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464351#Comment_122464351

It's the clearest part as long as you accept the fact that the show creators knew the show jumped the shark long ago and they had written themselves into a hole that was hard to get out of.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122464451#Comment_122464451

I was actually going to mention the X-Files as something that was so revolutionary in terms of popular culture. Someone made the point that Lost suffered with revisionism, which is probably my biggest gripe, and whatever criticism many have, it simply isn't as bad as many make out.

Another poster made the point, that when it was at its best, it was without doubt the best show, possibly ever. Nothing has come close to capturing the imagination of the western world in terms of TV, the way lost did. It was an event, something people around the world discussed the next day. No show has ever reached those heights.

It's become the popular thing to put it down, and for that reason people do forget how good the first 3 seasons were. Whatever about criticism later on in the show, it's unfair to suggest the first 3 seasons weren't some of the best and most riveting TV ever.

Sopranos is my favourite show ever, but Lost at it's peak had a higher peak imo.

As an aside, a few other shows came out just after Lost and were largely overshadowed, the likes of Prison Break. But do people remember the show "Invasion" that TG4 were showing at the same time from America? Got cancelled before it finished its first season, but was brilliant aswell