Am I the only person who’s been paying attention to
“Lost” the past two years?
That can’t possibly be the case; the show routinely
averages more than 15 million viewers a week since it premiered in
September 2004 and has maintained its coveted “cultural
phenomenon” status. It’s routinely the subject of
watercooler conversation, its DVDs fly off the shelves, and it may
have more people arguing over it on the Internet than the upcoming
midterm elections.
Yet suddenly, two episodes into the third season, it would
appear that the backlash has begun. The day after the season
premiere of “Lost,” TVtattle.com ran a story saying
that its season premiere was frustrating and provided no
resolution. This was followed by numerous media outlets reporting
on the season premiere’s ratings, which were down five
million viewers from the season two premiere. The kicker came this
past week when it was reported that “Lost” won its
timeslot over the CBS show “Criminal Minds” by just
200,000 viewers ““ the biggest challenge the show has seen
outside of “American Idol.”
Lately, I’ve noticed more people complaining about the
show, claiming it has (har har) lost its way. E! and Yahoo! News
both ran stories on Friday talking about the show’s decline,
and E! even used the term that all shows dread: “Jump the
shark.”
However, I would disagree with these sudden “Lost”
haters on two counts, one positive and the other negative. The show
isn’t nearly as listless as these reports would make it out
to be. If anything, the show is in much better shape than it was
during the middle of season two, which reached its lousy apex with
the incomprehensible episode where Charlie goes nuts and tries to
drown Claire’s baby. It rebounded with a stellar closing
stretch and got many skeptics (including myself) interested
again.
What these backlashers fail to realize is that
“Lost” has been shaky since the second season
premiere.
Many, particularly those on the TV.com message boards, have
complained that the first two episodes have been lackluster because
“nothing happened” and that we haven’t even seen
what’s happening on the rest of the island yet (which we will
this week).
Um, guys? Were you even watching last season? The first three
episodes of season two essentially took place over a 20-minute
period, only with events unfolding from different perspectives. I
half-expected the fourth episode to be from the perspective of a
fly on the wall.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll take Sawyer
locked in a cage and winning a fish biscuit (serious lolz) over
that any day.
So if the show is no worse than it was last year, why does it
now have five million fewer viewers?
First, many people who watched the show two years ago
don’t watch it anymore or only watch occasionally. These
people either lost interest or simply can’t watch the show
every week. My buddy Jory, who goes to the University of Missouri,
is a prime example. We both started watching the show when it first
aired and were excited about every new episode. However, season two
seriously tested his patience and he barely watched any of the
second half, only coming back for the finale. After the most recent
two episodes, however, he told me he’s taking it on an
episode-by-episode basis, ready to jump ship at any time
(we’ll see if he actually does). I’d be willing to bet
there are a lot of people in situations similar to
Jory’s.
Plus, “Lost” is one of the most newbie-proof shows
ever aired on network TV. Any true “Lost” fan will tell
you it’s impossible to just jump into the show. I normally
watch the show at my buddy Aaron’s place, and occasionally
people who have never seen it will try to watch and ask questions
every two seconds. “What’s going on?” “Who
are those people?” Or during a flashback, “Wait, I
thought they were on an island!”
Trying to suddenly get into “Lost” is akin to your
girlfriend annually attempting to grasp the rules of football
during the Super Bowl, or trying to understand Faulkner or Joyce
without Cliffs Notes, or, for my obligatory nerdy video game
reference, like trying to get the “A” ending in
“Valkyrie Profile” for the Sony Playstation without
consulting a strategy guide.
Basically, it’s impossible.
That’s the problem with serialized dramas; if you watch
religiously, they’re extremely rewarding.
If not, then you’re just on the outside looking in.
Humphrey thinks it’s fairly pitiful that he’s on the
inside looking out with respect to just about every television
show. E-mail him at mhumphrey@media.ucla.edu.