Lost

[Yoshimax]

->Open Spoiler<-

Anyway, on the subject of the latest episode Mr Eko looks like he might be from the downed drug smuggling plane and not from Flight 815.

Nice idea - I like that.

[Roost]

Sweeps, man. Sweeps.

What is this sweeps thing then? I've heard of it before but never bothered to find out what it was

[randombs]

well according to an issue of GamesTM i've got:

TV ad rates for the year are set by audience numbers taken during one small period. The networks go nuts trying to drum up the most possible viewers. The reason the Friends finale, last Frasier, American Idol final, conclusion of 24, ER and more occur at once is to hike the audience during this cross-network measurement, or 'sweeps'

[randombs]

->Open Spoiler<-

they're kids? no i didn't really notice that. what i did notice was walt's teddy bear. and by the look on his face, jin noticed it too. smart fella, that jin...

wow my first spoiler

[JRMacumber]

What is this sweeps thing then? I've heard of it before but never bothered to find out what it was

Sweeps is the time of the year in which the networks look closely at the audience numbers of their shows. It lasts a week, and it's when shows usually break out their biggest episodes to drive up the numbers. I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it.

[atrus]

Lost: Solved?

Ok, I know everyone has their own pet theory about what Lost is all about and everything, but I just found out some really weird and interesting information. I was doing some work researching random numbers for an experiment I am going to run tomorrow when I came accross something unexpected, and perhaps related to Lost.

In 1998 a project was set up by scientists called the Global Consciousness Project (GCP). What they did was this - set up a vast network of machines or "EGGS" as they call them, which just spit out a series of random numbers. These random numbers are fed back to Princeton University where they are analysed.

The data over the past few years shows some interesting correlations - the random numbers don't stay random. They claim (and i'm very dubious), that during world events, the numbers show patterns of conformity. They claim this may show that the world is interconnected and conscious.

A quote from the site

"The research described here points to subtle indications that we do live in an interconnected, potentially conscious world, in which we surely play an important role. We have shown immense capacities for both destructive and creative impact, and this implies that the future is ours to mold."

Ok, now read this:

"the EGG project, referring to its network of detectors, has its beginnings in a long series of coincidences that seems to manifest unusual orderliness, almost a design. Quite unlikely meetings and events have been instrumental in creating a technical structure which we think may have the capacity to register evidence of interactive connections of mind on a world-spanning scale."

Maybe it's just me but this screams "Lost" to me, random number generators all around the world, chance meetings, everything being interconnected? If this real-life experiment is not the foundation of the premise behind Lost I'd be very suprised.

Here's the site: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
NB: the writing on the aesthetic side is easier to read for non-technical types, although it gets way too metaphysical for my liking!

Or maybe this isn't real - maybe it's another fake Lost website......

[bagpuss66]

I think this could explain some of what happens in the show http://www.bfskinner.org/Operant.asp
Also there is a lot of Lord of the Flies in the show.
Even the main character in the book is called Jack.
I think the writers have taken elements from various refrence points and weaved a very well written series.
By the way unless you seen series 2 up to ep5 the above link wont make any sense!!

[charlie5]

2 quick questions guys:

(1.) I basically started watching this show about a month ago....... can you tell me how many shows I missed prior to this? How far along in the series are we?

(2.) Last night's C4/E4 combo... I watched the C4 show, and then the E4 show (next week's "First look") but the story didn't seem to follow on one bit. I was quite confused. Anyone else know what happened here?

[VR46]

there's a episode list/guide over on tv.com, should be able to find out which ones you watched last night (and recap some previous episodes) think C4 are upto about Ep. 12 so far.

Noticed there's a three week break between episodes in the States as well, was just thinking about giving it another crack and getting back into it....

[Pavey]

I take it it wasn't on last night in the US?

[charlie5]

Edit: nevermind, i've just read TV.com, and it seems they did follow on.

C4 was ep 13, E4 (next weeks C4 show) was 14.


They just seemed to have no follow-on whatsoever.

Seems I missed about 10 eps as well.

[Jebus]

I take it it wasn't on last night in the US?

No, the next new episode airs in the states on the 9th of November.

[Dezm0nd]

Damn, i hate waking up in the morning to find out my favourites are not available. Family Guy and American Dad are on hiatus too, boooo!!!

[MartyG]

I take it it wasn't on last night in the US?

You might find this link very useful: http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/

[Dogg Thang]

Well I finished watching season 1 of Lost last night. In general I really enjoyed it and it certainly hooked me in but my building feelings of dissatisfaction stayed with me all the way to the end. And actually got worse a bit.

The show seems to be a master at using secrets to build tension. Not just keeping secrets from the audience - the lack of communication between the characters, though stretched well beyond reality in my opinion at times to the point where I started to call the show 'Island of the Retardos', was crafted perfectly to allow things to blow up just at the end of an episode for a cliffhanger.

And that's where I felt Lost really let me down. There was rarely, if ever, a pay off to any cliffhanger. Huge building confrontations fizzled out in the next episode and even whole plot points ignored. Some of the endings began to seem like the end of Nightmare on Elm Street films with tacked on 'surprises'. Several episodes down the line, I got the impression that the writers were hoping you would have forgotten some of the plot because when they wrote it they had no idea what they were doing with it.

This for me really reduces any respect for their mastery of their hooks. Because it is all first acts. It's far easier to write a great first act without having to follow it up with act 2 and resolving it in act 3. And that's what seems to be going on with Lost - it's a show of first acts with no act 3 in mind.

This for me also removes any fun in theorising on what is going on in the show - because I don't believe there is an answer to be found. If I thought that it was going somewhere then the theories would fly but there is little fun in theorising on random events. In ways, I would compare it with Twin Peaks in that regard. But Twin Peaks began with one central mystery that tied it all together and, no matter how wacky things became, there was going to be an answer to that mystery. So you could form solid theories and know that they would have to be played out at some stage. Twin Peaks also seemed far better at following up what it threw into the show quite quickly, again just solidifying everything. It was altogether a tighter show. Contrast that with Nowhere Man and American Gothic, which had great hooks at the start but became quickly apparent were going, well, nowhere and Lost seems to fit somewhere in the middle.

But the show has some great characters (Hurley being a particular favourite) and had some really full-on pieces of drama which I enjoyed immensely. It's certainly an enjoyable watch, if a little unsatisfying.

Now...how are all you UKers watching season 2 then?