Lost Rant
I promised myself I was not going to do this on the blog. But after this week's Lost episode, I just can't contain myself anymore.
Lost sucks. It sucks. It's sucked for at least two full years now. Season 5 was just about the worst abomination of a cool story that could possibly have been done, with the characters randomly flashing through time thoroughly confusing the viewers and leading hundreds of thousands of viewers to just tune out. Now they are back with Desmond this week, with the random time flashing, with his "constant". My god that shit is so stupid I want to scream out in pain every time I see it. And now Season 6 is following right in its foosteps.
The Lost writers have clearly made a crucial miscalculation with respect to the public's interest in the ending of the show, which ABC is obviously counting on to market several new series to take the place of Lost starting next year. These writers actually think we care about the plot of the story anymore. They really think I care about Sawyer's plan to get the Losties off the island. They think I stay up at night wondering what will become of Claire's relationship with Kate. They think I honestly care whether Jack's son likes him in Sideways World. In fact, they actually think I care anything about Sideways World.
And that's where they're wrong. We don't care about Sawyer, or Kate, or Sideways World at all. Three years ago, now then I cared a lot about getting these people off the island. But now? They already got off the island, most of them anyways. And then they willingly chose to go back (most of them, anyways). They were home, and then they decided on their own to go back. And now Lost thinks I care how they get off? Again? Come on. The mystery of escaping the island is dead to all but the most plot-blind of viewers, and the writers should have figured this out a long time ago.
Similarly, and more problematic for this season, nobody actually cares about Sideways World. What the hell do I care if Kate is a fugitive or not, if Charlie died from his overdose or lives to sing at Eloise Widmore's party. So much of this season has been worthless drivel filler to add to the roughly 2 hours worth of the only thing anyone cares a whit about on Lost anymore -- the mythology.
The mythology. That's the only reason anyone watches anymore, isn't it? We want to know what is the island? Who is Jacob? What is MIB's name, and what is his relationship to Jacob? How did these people all get here, and who put them on the island in the first place? What are the "rules" of Jacob and MIB's battle? And who made those rules? Why?
Bottom line, this is all we care about anymore on Lost. The story the writers have come up with these past few seasons since bringing the Oceanic 6 off the island have forced them into this corner, and now they keep trying desperately to fill up 45 minutes out of every show (or, more accurately, 60 minutes on 3 straight shows, and then one show almost entirely about the mythology) with filler story that nobody actually cares about.
So what gimmick have the writers resorted to in this latest episode to try to make somebody give a crap about the Sideways story? They actually believe that they can just put something in a random episode with Desmond flashing randomly through time with absolutely no explanation whatsoever (other then merely stating as fact that Desmond is "special"), and that the fans will accept it. That we will like it. It's unthinkable, really. So in Sideways world, the Widmores are married, and Charles likes Desmond, who works for him. OMG!!! My heart is palpitating at the thought. And guess what else? Wait for it...wait for it....
Desmond is flashing through time! Again!!!!!!!
[Cue heart attack....Just...too...crazy}]
I haven't been this flat out bored by an episode of Lost since Hurley found the bus. Eff you, Lost. Like apprixmately 98% of the people who religiously watched your show four years ago now, I no longer give a shit. I'm just waiting for your little story to end so I can move on to other things.
Labels: Donkery, Lost, Rant, Television, TV
posted by Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo @ 7:39 PM
14 Comments:
So you're bored and don't give a shit, but you're going to continue to watch? What's the point?
I'm honestly not sure how you made it this far in the show if you haven't even liked the last two seasons.
+1 Mike.
Always so negative. It is annoying.
Mike,
Ever wonder why factually about 4 million viewers have failed to make it this far in the show as compared to three years ago? Most people just don't have the tolerance for a week-to-week story that became indecipherable and un-followable about 30 episodes ago at this point, and the proof of that is in the plummeting ratings.
But are you honestly suggesting here that since the last two seasons have sucked mega donkey balls, I should watch the first 110 episodes of this contiguous story, and now stop tuning in just five episodes before the end when they are about to do the big "reveal"? Obviously, sticking around for the big reveal is the point, and it's the only reason that 3.2 of the 3.3 million viewers this show has left continue to watch right now.
On the other hand, if I was a blog reader and my reading comprehension was so unmitigatingly poor that I thought the writer was "always negative" about a show -- despite the writer in reality having been glowingly positive about the show almost without exception for several years straight, to the point of repeatedly being insulted in the comments and in other blogs for being such a big fan -- and I found that fact annoying, now you do have to wonder why that person still reads said blog. Lord knows the blogs I read (which, in my defense, I at least comprehend correctly) which I find annoying have long since disappeared from my radar screen, and I'm willing to bet said blog writer would not mind losing any reader who obviously can't comprehend his way out of a paper bag and finds said blogger's writing annoying in any event.
Hoy - What we have here is a religious argument where you are questioning the faith of the "losties". The devout always have a bigger problem with those who have 'lost their way' than the long time non-believers.
LOL, chill dude.
First off, why not just man up and use my name. Secondly, I didn't say you were always negative about Lost (but looking at it I can see where I should have been more specific). I was simply stating that your blog has a negative tone in general (not always). In my opinion, posts often complain about something and I take it as a negative and then I get annoyed.
It is not a bad thing so fucking relax. It is just your style IMO. It gets people coming back for more and I am sure it is one of the reasons your blog has been so popular since I started reading it around 4 years ago. I have no idea how you find to write this much.
Oh no wait, it was the poker content that got me so interested in the first place.
I wish there was more of that and less of this.
"Ever wonder why factually about 4 million viewers have failed to make it this far in the show as compared to three years ago?"
Not at all. I completely understand that LOST is just one of those shows that by its very nature is going to lose viewers, not gain them, the longer the show goes on. It's not a show that you can just start watching one season, like you could do with, say, 24. If you're in, you're in from the beginning, which means you're going to struggle to get new viewers (they'll have to catchup on DVD) to make up for any viewers that you lose. And you want to talk ratings, but honestly who cares about the ratings? Once Damon and Carlton inked a deal with ABC to make the show six seasons, that gave them the freedom to tell the story they wanted to tell, and the idea of needing to worry about ratings is pretty irrelevant. They're not finishing their story with the expectation that the mainstream audience will get it or enjoy it.
And I also understand that this is not a show for everyone. It is a very complex, very detail-oriented show. There are a lot of characters, a lot of ongoing storylines, and it's a lot to take in. I get that. And the show has only gotten more complex, it hasn't become easier to follow. Each season the show becomes bigger and bigger.
The first season it was a show about survivors of a plane crash on an island.
The second season, it was about this mysterious hatch.
The third season, it became about the Others on the island.
The fourth season became about not only getting off the island, but the bigger picture of having to go back to the island.
The fifth season was all about the history of the island, and the introduction of the two main characters on the island.
And now the sixth season is all about those two characters and their battle on the island.
The show isn't about the Losties getting off the island. It hasn't been about that since the finale of Season 3, when we actually saw them off the island already. And I would argue that the show hasn't been about that for even longer. It's certainly not the point of the show now.
I don't know how you can only care about the mythology. LOST has always been a character-driven show. Yes, there's an intriguing plot, but the focus on character development, and their relationships with each other, has always been the primary focus. The flashbacks, the flash forwards, they may have given us crucial information, but they also tell a story about the characters.
I get that you want to watch to the end just to see what ultimately ends up happening. I think it would be stupid to watch 95% of a series then give up on the last 5%. I just don't get how you've managed to watch 95% of the series if you're so disenchanted with the plot, and especially the characters. If you only care about the mythology, how did you make this far?
To clarify, I only care about the mythology now. Back when this was the best show of the millennium, I cared about everything in it. But after what they've done with the plot these past few years, they've taken all the enjoyment of the plot out of it for me. And millions of others.
And although you're clearly right that this kind of long-term plot-driven show isn't going to gain viewers the longer it goes, your response ignores the fact that the show literally is watched by less than half as many people as watched it just a couple of years ago. There's been a massive dropoff, one that surely goes far beyond the regular expected shrinking of the fan base over time. I don't care about ratings of any show any more than you apparently do, but the fact that people are dropping this show like flies is meaningful in the sense that much of the free world appears to share my view of things and that my view is not some isolated case. Far from it.
I get it that you and Goat really still love the show, and that's great. The vast majority of people though are just so damn turned off after the last couple of seasons, myself very much included. The time-flashing last season was the final straw, and now Sideways World this year has just tipped this into "Heroes" category for me and many others.
It's not just that it's a big show with lots of characters and lots to take in. It's not like only geniuses can appreciate the science behind the time flashing. Bottom line, the writers of Lost clearly bit off more than they could chew a few years ago, and the show has seriously suffered as a result.
And btw Mike, you commented that:
"And now the sixth season is all about those two characters and their battle on the island."
If only that were true! One of the big complaints and big problems with this year is that it's only been about 2 1/2 hours TOPS relating to Jacob and MIB, and about 12 hours of meaningless filler about an alternative universe that never existed before this season and isn't going to exist after this season either, with a bunch of coincidental relationships among our characters with no special meaning other than the shock value.
If only this were actually a season about Jacob and MIB. You haven't heard me complain one bit about those episodes. That's all most of us care about in the least bit anymore.
"your response ignores the fact that the show literally is watched by less than half as many people as watched it just a couple of years ago."
Which year are you referring to?
The show is averaging 10.2 million viewers in the US this season. A far cry from what it was pulling in the first two seasons, but not significantly worse than where it was a 'couple years ago'. Here's the average viewer breakdown per season:
Season 1 - 18.38 million
Season 2 - 18.91 million
Season 3 - 13.74 million
Season 4 - 14.60 million
Season 5 - 11.41 million
Season 6 - 10.17 million
The casual viewer tuned out in Season 3, which isn't any secret, but most of the people that were watching then are still watching now.
And I don't look at the Sideways World as meaningless filler, mostly because I just don't know enough about it to claim it as such. I don't really feel like you can cast judgment on this show until it's over, good or bad.
Oooooof! 4.5 million fewer viewers halfway through Season 6 just since Season 4's average doesn't qualify as "significantly worse"? (!!) That translates to roughly 200,000 viewers lost for every episode that aired during Season 5 and Season 6. I would hate to see what you do call significant if that isn't.
They shoulda just quit after Season 4 me thinks. End it with Jack saying to Kate in the first flash-forward they ever showed "We have to go back!", and then that's it. That right there was the pinncale of Lost, and the show has never even come close to that, or the mystery and intrigue of the first two seasons, ever since.
That was the end of Season 3, not 4. And the show is not about them getting off the island, so I don't know how you could end it there.
And you claimed that LOST has lost over half its viewership in the last couple of years, I was merely refuting that point.
Fuck you you guys! All of you FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKS! I'll take those 10 million viewers and shove em up your ass! You fucks! It never was about the mythology you freaking morons,MY ANGER IS SOOOOO FAKE RIGHT NOW!! and you THINK SEASON 6 IS A SHITLOAD OF FILLER??? REMEMBER SEASON 2 AND ALL THAT BUTTON PUSHING THAT HAS NO RELEVANCE WHATSOEVER ANYMORE?? wHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT SHIT?!?
mannnn....IF THIS RANTING WAS GENUINE I WOULD INCLUDE YOU FUCKS IN THE 5 MILLION THAT DROPPED OUT AS THE ONES WHO "STAYED BEHIND ON THE ISLAND" BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL TO BE A LOST FAN TO THE CHICKS AND NOW YOU ARE BITCHIN CAUSE NOW YOU REALIZE YOU ARENT GETTTING ANY.
I disagree with your synopsis of season 5. I thought the story proved Lost to be the best TV show ever! Then came season 6, which does suck. HOwever, I thought it was SAVED by the Desmond episode this past week. In fact, throughout all the seasons, the Desmond episodes have been the best.
No need to take the show so seriously though. It's just a TV show.
Are you sure? I thought I read somewhere that's it's actually real.
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