Friday, May 25, 2007

Lost in the NY Post
I was interviewed for the NY Post yesterday, and I assumed it would be the same as past print interviews -- I talk for 10 minutes to give the journalist background info they need, and then they print a couple of words that I said. But happily, I checked it out this morning and that wasn't the case at all! In fact, most of the article's quotes are from me, which was awesome! The reporter who talked to me kept pushing me throughout the interview and playing devil's advocate (and he's a Lost fan), which was a great way to make me keep defending my position over and over again.

And I just wanted to say a quick thank-you to all of the readers of this blog; I had my biggest day ever traffic-wise (and comments-wise!) yesterday, and today is shaping up to be even bigger. Thanks for taking the time to leave comments and read everything, and I hope you keep coming back over the summer! I have LOTS more to say about Lost (and Buffy, and Sopranos and Entourage and everything else that will keep me busy this summer). This weekend: I'm doing a full season Lost marathon. Gulp.

You can go directly to the article here on the NY Post site. Here it is:

PEEK SHOW
By DON KAPLAN

May 25, 2007 -- 'LOST" may not be so lost after all.
The ABC drama was derided all season long as losing its way with its increasingly confusing plot and long mid-season hiatus. It turned a corner during its season finale Wednesday, fans say.
"I saw the finale as a turning point away from the past," says Nikki Stafford, the author of "Finding 'Lost': The Unofficial Guide."
"Of course it didn't really give us a lot answers," she says. "But what it did, at least for me, was provide pure entertainment. By the end of it, I wasn't feeling gypped that I didn't get the answers. I was feeling 'Wow, that was such a great two hours that I forgot that there were even questions. I just enjoyed it for what it was."
Stafford believes that between good word-of-mouth from the finale, DVDs and ABC scheduling, an uninterrupted run next season should be enough to bring viewers back to "Lost."
"I think more people are going to jump on board," she says.
Since its debut in 2005, "Lost" has lost about half of its audience. Many viewers have complained that the show provides no resolutions to its increasingly complicated plot. Others have been turned off by its repeats and twomonth hiatus from ABC this season.
On the finale, producers appeared to have traded in their usual practice of using flashbacks to tell the back-stories of how various characters arrived on the mysterious island for a flash forward. The final moments of the episode revealed that Jack (Matthew Fox) appeared to be on the verge of a mental breakdown after being rescued.
"The back-stories have been told," Stafford says. "We get it and [producers] know that we get it so now it looks like they're going to start looking at the future: 'This is what could happen, let's lead them in that direction.' "
Also during the finale, yet another favorite character was killed off. This time it was Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), who gave his life to prevent a disaster. Charlie, aware of his impending death, as foretold by another character, was able to pick his moment and take fate into his hands.
"Charlie's always just wanted to have a purpose, and do something," Monaghan told E! Online. "To have achieved that is an amazing thing. . . to have sacrificed himself for the rest of the people on the island is a great way to go out."
It's a theme that Stafford believes will be prevalent for the final three seasons of the show.
"The cohesiveness of all three seasons is the idea of fate versus the notion that our decisions can alter things," she says. "I'm still not convinced that future flash-forward that we saw is something that's written in stone."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Nikki! I bet it is so nice to be interviewed by a Lost fan instead of someone simply "assigned" to do a Lost story for an article.

I'm not sure if you have ever seen this site, but it raises interesting questions regarding future Jack's flight on Oceanic on April 5, 2007 and his golden pass. Apparently "Oceanic Airlines" is out of business since the crash, which leads me to believe that this is an alternate universe and not a real future.

www.oceanic-air.com

And by the way, have a great summer Nikki and thanks for the wonderful blog postings on Lost and also on Heroes over the season, you worked hard on those and we appreciate it!

The Chapati Kid said...

Congratulations Nikki! This attention is well-deserved. In my opinion, the best "Lost" discussion blog on the internet.

Anonymous said...

First of all congratulations!

I just wanted to let you know that I just recently stumbled upon your blog on Wed. night after the Lost finale. I, like many other fans out there, was hungry for more information and insight. I'm so happy to have found your blog! Thank you :)

Nikki Stafford said...

Thanks Carolyn, and welcome! There's a great group of people here, and I hope to see you back. :)