On Lost, and other such shows
Okay, I’m a little late on the Lost train. My dad and sister have come to love the show, so I gave it a shot. In about 5 days (one a sick day in which I spent all day watching past episodes while in bed) I caught up with the series. It is a great show, but it made me think about shows like Lost. Shows such as Lost, Surface, and Prison Break are a tough sell to new viewers. If you weren’t watching from the beginning, it’s hard to catch on as the story is in-depth. Now, I don’t watch Prison Break but I did watch Surface. Surface was good until I got sick of seeing the previews for the upcoming episodes and then the scenes wouldn’t even be in the upcoming episode, but an episode way down the line. They catch you like this to keep you watching, but I got sick of it. It was because of this, and its long hiatus, that I quit watching the show. Lost I was able to get into because I was able to watch all of the first season and all the episodes that have shown up until this point in season 2. The problem with these shows, for the networks anyway, is that their life spans are short. People aren’t going to want to watch season after season to see someone break out of prison or people get rescued. These shows are in for the short run. If networks try and extend them longer, they lose viewers and that leads to an un-climactic ending that most are disappointed with. I hope lost doesn’t go this way. I seriously see Lost only lasting another season. I don’t know how much I could take of seeing what these survivors go through for much more than that. Prison Break is another example. People are waiting for the guy to break out of prison. Keep leading them along and it’s only going to hurt the show. Maybe this is the way of network series now. No longer do we have the Cosby Shows, West Wings, and MASHs that are able to last season after season. People’s attention spans are shorter and shorter each season it seems. How I Met Your Mother was another such show that seems to have climbed past the “waiting for an ending” stigma. It started out with each episode dealing with a new girl that may or may not be the “mother” of the title. They have since somewhat abandoned that and started developing rich characters and amusing story lines. (Neil Patrick Harris’ Barney is a great character). Shows like Lost, Prison Break, and Surface won’t be able to do this, so what will become of them? Hopefully, networks realize that even though they are hugely popular, that they must end at an appropriate time to do the show justice. Anyway, there is my little rant on TV. I hope that Lost doesn’t outstay it’s welcome and won’t last past its third season.
I feel that it’s the very plot of the show that makes you feel like this. Shows such as Lost, Prison Break etc have a very definate story… they really have to have a beginning, middle, and end, whereas shows such as MASH didn’t. You could dip into and out of it, and worry about missing an important plot point, by and large, and you could join the show at any point, and still get a lot from it. This is why (IMO) shows such as MASH, Frasier etc did so well. It pleased the hardcore fans that had grown to love the characters, as well as those that liked to dip. It was the same with Star Trek (to a lesser degree in the later shows).
Once the hype is over, I doubt there’ll be much left (Desperate Housewifes has gone off the boil over here in Ireland already for a similar reason).
Or maybe we need tivo so we can record without thinking and watch back later… :)
Great post. I’ve wondered about these same issues as well. I tried watching Surface but just wasn’t interested and I’ve never watched Prison Break though I hear it’s good. I love Lost but I agree I think it should end after the third season. I think, in essence, these shows are simply extremely drawn-out mini-series. J.J. Abrams will surely have something great to give us once Lost is over though. He’s the guy that did Alias and now Lost. As long as they keep good writers they can always have shows like this, even though they don’t last long.
Sweet theme.