TV Mad Man

Sometimes, you just need to look back. It has been six months now since Jack’s eye closed in that bamboo Forrest in the South Pacific, and not a week goes by that I don’t think about our fateful survivors. I thought it would be fun to look back at one of my favorite Lost interview’s with the cast. This one done all the way back in 2005, when 20/20′s Elizabeth Vargas visited the set.

Part 2: (more…)

New Man in Charge

Why do things have to seem so real? May has come and gone and I still often think about that final season of Lost, and now in August, that final season of Lost is now on DVD and Blu-Ray. The Sixth Season of 18 episodes comes on the disc with a fellow release of the complete series, with every episode and even more special features that made the Lost collection a must-have in your collection.

The final season disc-set includes some special bonuses, including an epilogue of sorts called “New Man in Charge” about what happen to the Island’s number 1 and 2 after that plane flew away. The special features a few known faces including Ben and Hurley, but a character you wished was in the finale but got a special and nice send-off here. This has gotten plenty of talk-back by fans but I for one was not phased by it. If this had not come to fruition, I would not have cared, and now is just an extra piece to enjoy.

Also on the 5-disc season, is even more Lost: On Location features, gag reel, and most of all and beautiful feature crafting the final year with the cast, creators, writers, and most of all hard-working cast.

Lost: The Complete Sixth Season and The Complete Collection is available now!

I continue my look at the past television season and doing some top 5′s for what worked in a ratings-challenged year. Up second are the returning entries that graced the screen this year and which ones worked well:

1. Parks and Recreation is easily the biggest jump from below mediocrity to so far above the bar this year. The first season of six episodes was nothing special and Amy Poehler was not her finest as Leslie Knope but back in September something changed, and we should all be so grateful for whatever it was. Leslie became a much more grounded character and with less Michael Scott qualities and more funny. The supporting cast was featured more from Nick Offerman as Ron to Rashida Jones better used Ann. Rob Lowe and Adam Scott additions can only make it better come midseason. (Why do we have to wait?!)

2. Lost, I love you. Thank you for the best finale and an overwhelmingly awesome final season. That is all I can say.

3. Survivor this year can be summer up in one word: Russell. Russell Hantz was just brilliant in both Samoa and one of the best seasons ever done, Heroes vs. Villains. Especially this spring edition, really showed what a surprising, compelling reality show it still is and once was and I can only hope this high ride will continue in the fall.

4. Private Practice is a pretty great show and not a lot of people know it. The show was not the best spinoff in its first season but after the writer’s strike the writing got better, smarter and the cast gelled and it has been smooth sailing ever since. What really makes Practice different from Grey’s in recent months is that the cases of the week are very intelligent and are still very much part of the story as much as the soap. Check this out in the fall, you will be very happy you did.

5. The New Adventures of Old Christine was cancelled and I was much more upset by it than I thought I would. While the Julia Louis Dreyfus fronted comedy was never must-see it was a consistent funny half-hour that I wish ABC would have support. This season really developed Christine as more of a dumb single woman and that’s it.

Came close: Grey’s Anatomy rebounded from a rough fifth season in a very solid way. This was the first year I have ever watched a season when it has aired and I am very fond memories from it. Most notably, the shocking, awe-inspiring, intense finale they have ever done. What a fantastic two hours, but not only was that well-done, the season’s fifth episode “Invasion” was remarkable. All told in flashbacks to a day where someone died that shouldn’t have that featured great work by the new Mercy West crew and Sarah Drew. Well done, Shonda and team again.

What is your Top 5?

This is it.

Tonight marks the end of my favorite drama and television show ever, it marks the end of a show that transcended what television was supposed to be, what it meant to the fans, the networks, the internet, and most of all the world.

Lost made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me scream, it made me travel, it made me believe that entertainment can connect us, it can make an impact, but most of all it made me think. Lost made each of its viewers think about what is next, think about what it all means, and tonight it will make us think for years to come what this episode called “The End” meant.

I did not want to write a long essay about the impact of Lost because I am sure you all know that and I know it as well. The retrospective that airs before the finale at 7/6c will cover what Lost has done to the fans, pop culture, the world, the stars, and what has actually transpired over the last 121 hours. I know someone who watched the pilot last night and said to me after, “Well I guess I can watch the finale tomorrow.” I laughed but then I realized he could. Lost is at most a drama about people, just ordinary people who are above all flawed and anybody can connect with that at anytime.

I urge you to watch Lost today the way it was meant to be experienced without texts, theories, the internet, just go about your day today without all that and then sit down tonight at 7/6c and WATCH! (Also a helpful tip, try not to read the credits in the beginning so you are not spoiled about any surprise guests.)

I leave you all, with a really tremendous scene from the first episode after the pilot, “Tabula Rasa.” which meaning is all to appropriate.

Sorry for the lack of updates but life is really going full steam right now. This is a HUGE weekend, my favorite series of all time is ending its six-year run and I am certainly having very mixed emotions. Lost has had many great moments, ones that surprised us, ones that tricked us, ones that made us cry, laugh, or just gasp. I would like to post one moment that has resonated with me for a long time, a moment in Lost, that involved to characters we really did not know but someone made it seem, so so real. It comes for the 5th episode of Season 4, the best episode of the series, The Constant.

Also, before tomorrow night’s finale, ABC is doing a full weekend of Lost events and tonight ABC is re-airing the very first episode, the 2 hour pilot. Watch and enjoy at 8/7c.