Lost Television

It’s hard to believe but Lost (the best thing to happen to TV in years) has ended more than a year ago. What’s even harder to swallow is that we are not likely to get anything like Lost ever again. Or at least in foreseeable future.

Say or think what you want about the J. J. Abrams’ creation, but it was a landmark event for television; the one show that was a welcome addition to the pantheon of instant cult classics like Twin Peaks. And it wasn’t due to high production values, superb writing and excellent acting. We get plenty of those even with the current batch of still-running series (say, The Walking Dead). No, the secret lied in the creators’ treatment of the audience.

Starting almost from the get go, viewers were fed mystery after mystery, improbable situations one after another, with heroes ending up in ridiculously improbable predicaments, and events spiraling seemingly out of showrunners’ control… This happened only to eventually reveal that producers knew exactly how the audience felt all along, and then give some answers or at least a minor nod to what the watchers might think was going on.

That’s what kept fans going – the belief that creators are playing along and not looking down on the viewers like they are a bunch of idiots. Even the most ridiculous of theories were touched upon, and in some cases, if there was time, even fully embraced, resulting in incredibly powerful television experiences, like The Constant and Ab Aeterno.

Lost writers had guts to pour out a ton mysteries on the viewer and then question what they ended up with, like an audience member would. The experience of watching Lost did not end after each new episode was over. Coming up with explanations, analyzing themes and details, as well as guessing the repercussions of transpired events, were all part of the game.  This is only possible when watchers are absolutely sure that creators will not abandon them, and are actually busy with exactly same things – explanations, analysis, and repercussions.

Oh, and don’t get me wrong, I am not blind to see that there were a ton of mysteries left unanswered. But that’s not the point. Half-way through the series a realization dawned on me that getting all the mysteries solved and all the questions answered is not the sole reason I keep watching the show. It’s the journey to get to the finale that mattered. The journey supervised by the series creators until the last minute. The answers were always sort of a bonus, like a collect-all achievement in a video game.

And that is why I believe we are not likely to get the same treatment soon. Just recently I’ve been recommended to watch Persons Unknown, another mystery-thriller that ran on NBC last year and was promoted as a self-contained one-season mini-series.

The premise grabbed me immediately (something that did not actually happen with Lost), but by mid-point watching it became a torture that I was willing to endure just to know where the hell the show was heading. I did not care about characters, whose names I couldn’t even remember, I did not care about the conspiracy, as it felt forced, and I couldn’t care less about the possible twist at the end, if there even was one. All I cared about is finishing it off, since I already invested several hours of my life in it.

Needless to say, the finale was an enormous disappointment. Leaving poor acting, cliche-ridden dialogue, amateurish directing, and disastrous casting aside, by the final hour the show disintegrated into a bunch of potentially cool but half-baked scenes thrown together without much afterthought or logic. Not only it was obvious the finale was a cliffhanger for the cancelled second season, it was clear as day that the creators had no intention of carefully crafting the journey and walking the viewer through it.

I understand that Persons Unknown was a last-minute pickup for NBC in an attempt to fill the void of the summer season. This might explain fleeting support and outright deception in marketing. But that’s even worse if you think about it.

If anything, this proves that both networks and producers of new shows are not interested in long-term commitment to structured storytelling or/and tight relationship with the viewers.

After all that’d require a lot of time, effort, and the stretching of creative muscles. Why bother, if (apparently) stupid watchers can swallow any number of shallow knock-offs, mind-numbing reality shows, or series with repetitious copy/paste plots, hoping for some real quality television to eventually grace their screens.