So... you might recall about two years ago I started a support group called Lostaholics Anonymous. I ran meetings every week, where we talked about specific characters, happy moments, sad moments, favourite moments in general, the ending, etc. And then... well, I intended to keep it going, but the last meeting was on January 6, 2011, a couple of days after I'd posted the first Buffy Rewatch post. And from that point on, the work I had to do on the Buffy posts each week superseded our favourite island show, and Lost-Anon just disappeared. I think about it every once in a while, and I think I started the posts as much to chat with my old Lostie pals as much as I wanted to talk about the show itself.
A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with someone who said every fall she's hugely disappointed that she can't find a show that's like Lost. I said TV certainly isn't devoid of great shows (see Homeland, Breaking Bad) but I had to agree, there was nothing quite like Lost, which was as much about putting a puzzle together as actually being a television series with a narrative. She's not alone in waiting impatiently for the new season to be announced, waiting for another show like Lost.
There were moments of excitement this fall when Revolution came out: it had JJ Abrams attached, was about a group of survivors, and had the potential to be a show with a rich mythology without being a Lost copycat. And while reviews were mixed in the beginning, it's really starting to grow on me.
When Once Upon a Time started, we giggled with the 8:15 clock and the Astro bars and Regina living at #108... and then after a couple of weeks I thought, "Okay, enough. Let's move away from Lost and make this its own show." And almost on cue, they did just that. Alcatraz had the same sweeping soundtrack, a mystery, and even time travel, and it was hard to escape the Lost undertones. And sadly, the network cancelled it before it truly had a chance to come out from under Lost's shadow.
This season I'm liking several new shows: aside from Revolution, I enjoy Nashville, Elementary, Last Resort, The Mindy Project... there's a lot of good stuff out there. But I discovered that I've stopped looking for the next Lost. Darlton's masterpiece was unique, and anything purporting to be "the next Lost" will simply come under fire by critics and fans (as it should) for trying to copy something, rather than emulate it. Now in movies and several TV shows, there's a movement towards flashbacks and mystery and serialization, and you can see the Lost influence in there, without actually copying the show.
Recently another person told me he used to come to my blog like it was a drug, and he no longer does so because Lost is over (and much like the other person, he added that he's yet to find the next Lost). And finally, a week ago our beloved Marebabe sent me an email and said, "Do you remember Lostaholics Anonymous?"And asked if I would consider starting it up again.
We're two years removed from the end of the series, and now, I think, our emotions are no longer raw, we can look back on what we love, and choose to forget what we don't. While the show was on, we talked about it to death. When it was over, we wanted to talk about it to get our mixed emotions out. And now, new fans are picking up the DVDs and discovering it for the first time, and looking for a place to discuss the show with others.
So I'd love to come back here and start talking about the show again. Once a week or once every two weeks, whatever works best for everyone. Maybe we could combine a weekly post with a Twitter live chat? (Follow me here and we could arrange that.)
So... who wants to talk?
49 comments:
There has to be something we can do! Nothing has quite filled that void yet. A coworker was telling me the other day that she had started watching Lost on Netflix and I was so jealous that she got to watch it all from the beginning without knowing anything about it. It's been so long since I've even watched an episode, maybe even a rewatch is in order? Not as involved as the last one, but maybe something for us all to go back?
Pleaseohpleaseohplease. I neeeeeeeeed it. Like a smack-filled Madonna.
Hm... a rewatch. Maybe we could do that. I think it's time! (Although the part of me who loves perfect timing wonders if we should do it as a countdown to the 10th anniversary in 2014?)
Hm... combining some 2-part episodes, I have 91 entries in the Finding Lost books. We could do one a week over 91 weeks... hm....
LOST was such a unique experience that part of me is happy that it has been impossible to copy so far, because this proves said uniqueness (is that a word?). I have found it very difficult to revisit the show because of its emotional impact, and I even read the last Finding Lost book about a year after the finale (and I still bawled when reading about that last scene. I'm actually welling up now.).
I agree that the thing I missed the most was the community of fans, the theories and speculations (which I never made, but always loved seeing what others came up with) and passionate love/hate for various characters. But even if the discussions are no longer daily/weekly, I don't feel like this community is gone; maybe we'll talk about something else; maybe we'll reminisce on occasion. And though it seemed impossible at first, I think we did manage to let go and move on.
In case the rambling didn't make it clear, count me in.
I don't have the time in my TV schedule or my life in general to re-watch Lost. And frankly, even if I did, I wouldn't have the desire. I miss conversation with the old gang here, though, and I probably would try to keep up with the posts.
My lack of commenting here is way more on me than it is on you. I faithfully watch Fringe, The Walking Dead, and Once Upon a Time, the shows that you seem to write up most frequently. I blog on Fringe weekly myself, in fact, while chatting about the other shows (and more) regularly over at Teebore's. I just constantly seem to be out of sync with when you post and thus always behind in my reading.
I promise to make a concerted effort to catch up, contribute, and check in regularly. Lack of participation at Lost or even Buffy levels isn't the actual issue that you're addressing here, explicitly at least, but it's the one that resonates with me. I guess if we had a new show that inspired dissection the way Lost did we'd be killing those two birds with one stone, filling the void of the kind of conversation that Lost inspired, although while it hardly reaches the same levels of either intricacy or quality when Lost was at its best I find that Once Upon a Time prompts plenty of juicy speculation and frustration.
Like Blam, OUAT has filled my Lost void nicely.
No, it's not Lost, but it has the twists and turns of Lost and I love to debate theories on my own blog every week.
As for a rewatch--I don't know if I'm ready.
The wound is still so raw. I still cry when I even THINK about The End!
I'm afraid it would cause more pain than joy...and I can't believe I'm saying this about a frickin' TV show! LOL
Hey, all! I’m so jazzed about the mere possibility of resuming regular LOST discussions here in Nik at Niteland. But there’s a very good reason that I suggested more Lostaholics Anonymous and not another rewatch. When things get slow at work, I sometimes rummage through the archives of Nikki’s blog, and the L.A. discussions were so RICH! And we had only scratched the surface, considering how many characters and themes there were on The Island. Heck, we never even got around to talking about Hurley. Or Desmond. I love the perspective we now have, knowing the complete story, and I sincerely hope that we can jump back into L.A. meetings. My name is Mary, and I’m a Lostaholic!
Good idea, Marebabe! I'm in! I miss our talks so much :) like Blam, I don't think I could do a full rewatch... I tried on my own a few months ago but I just Lost steam.
I apologize.
I don't watch any of the other shows on Nik at Nite anymore except for Walking Dead but I get all my eps. a week late :(
@Blam - " ...catch up, contribute, and check in..."
And keep alliterating, Bosom Buddy Blam!
Hm. I honestly couldn't do a proper rewatch as college has still eaten most of my free time and I even start placement in the spring. I would just drop in and comment on things from memory. And it might get muddled if everyone here has already seen the show and right off the start wants to talk about the over-arching themes and how things looks in retrospect, we'd have to pace ourselves to still have enough to say in the middle of the show.
And I also wonder if we'd attract any newbies and have to do two posts like with the Buffy Rewatch.
I would not want a Twitter lve chat as I am not on it, and it wouldn't be the best thing anyway to fit with everyone's personal schedules. Posts work better as people can drop in whenever they want and still probably get a response if they are a day or two late.
I'd perfer the character posts or one theme at a time posts like it was before.
Just my two cents.
(Also love any toughts you'd have on the comics of Buffy/Angel Nikki. Personal thoughts: Liked ATF, hated S8, S9 is decent but fustrating in certain areas so far, love A & F so far).
Sorry for the triple-post... I blame Joan.
A thought that just popped into my head was a Firefly Watch/Rewatch. The series is a lot shorter than Lost or Buffy. I still wouldn't want to jam it into my TV schedule right now, but maybe when things thin out over December and January or even as something to plan for next summer. You wouldn't have to write or solicit any essays, just throw up spoiler-comment and non-spoiler-comment posts each week. (While I confess that me picking up a complete-series set cheap a while back and never having watched it properly all the way through contributed to this suggestion, it's been in my mind since the Buffy Rewatch and was reinforced by the great Whedonesque summer we had.)
I still have hard feelings over Lost's final season, to the extent that I own but never read Nikki's final book and have yet to go back and fix the episode posts on my own blog despite having reformatted much of the other stuff that Blogger fouled up during one of its supposed upgrades a couple of years ago. My disappointment over the squandered last season was that big. Yet I value the conversation here enough that I would do my best to chime in on either themed retrospective posts like Marebabe suggests or a countdown-to-the-10th-anniversary Lost Rewatch if you did one.
PS: Clearly all you have to do is put up a post of any sort about Lost to get comments flowing here again. 8^)
You know what, I logged off and was working this afternoon and the rewatch was in the back of my mind, and I was thinking, 'You do this to yourself all the time. You don't have time to watch TV on your DVRs and now you want to do a rewatch?' And I really don't think I'd have time to do it yet.
However, I'm up for rewatching other shows. I want to revisit Firefly. And The Wire.
And we can do our Lost Anons in between. ;)
By the way, to get a sense of the hole I've dug for myself, I currently have two DVRs, and each one holds 200 hours. I have 20 free hours on one, and 40 on the other.
I will never dig myself out of this one. ;)
Nikki - I'm in (but I still would rather do a "The Wire" rewatch first).
-Tim Alan
I second a wire rewatch (the fact that I get it for free and that I will finally be able to walk around saying things like "Unprecedented!" and "Enigmatic by design!" whenever people bring the show up are strong motivators)!
I also propose we do a fanfic competition. One where only I get to enter. It might go a little something like this:
Scene: A cave, like the kind Cavemen used
Players: Joan, Sayid and the disgusted, disembodied Voice of Blam
ACT I
Joan: Why, Sayid, this cave makes me feel so caveman like. And cold. In fact, I feel a little sick. Do I look sickly to you?
Sayid: No, Sexy Lady, you look like a sexy lady to me.
Voice of Blam: How in the hell did I end up here? Honest to god, now I feel sick!
Joan: What was that Sayid? *coughs*
Sayid: Nothing Pretty Pretty Super Pretty Lady. Let's watch me do things about the cave. *shirt falls off*
Joan: *wheezes* Oh, to watch you scrape that lichen off the walls... I can't tell you what it does to me *wheezes*
Voice of Blam: Improves your breathing, hopefully.
Joan: Sorry, Lover Sex Man?
Sayid: Yes, I am Lover Sex Man. Let's make good on this title. Let me see your hump and lady lumps.
Voice of Blam: Old Black Eyed Peas references? Really!?
Joan: Yes sir, Mr. HotPants, sir!
Sayid: Joan, these were the only pants I could find... you know that. *single tear falls*
Joan: *reaching for Mr. Lover Sex Man* No, no, I won't sit hear and listen to a dove cry. I like your hotpants... on the floor of my cave...
Voice of Blam: That's it. This thing is repulsive on every level. Good night!
I'm down, as always! Now my two favourite things (LOST and Star Wars) are coming back into my life! All is right with the world.
Ah, Joanie, I'm so glad you were able to get free of the Man in the Green Hat. I've missed you. And Sayid. And Voice of Blam. This is where I belong. :)
Oh man. I have missed this. Yeah, a rewatch would be really difficult, but I would definitely pop in for theme or character posts for sure!
I too am loving OUAT and enjoy reading your take on it and chiming in on some discussion. I've been posting about it weekly over on our Booksellers Without Borders blog and I have SO much more respect for how quickly you were able to get those posts up and still be so thorough! It's so much fun though :)
But it's not Lost - which it shouldn't be. But I really miss the whole gang. I honestly think I miss the group here more than I miss the show itself (which is saying a LOT because I miss the show tremendously :)
I love this! I love seeing all the old commenters commenting on this post (Hi Joan Crawford! Hi Marebabe! Hi Blam! Hi Sonshine!) and feeling like we're still a part of this fabulous community. I am so totally in for Lostaholics Anonymous every week or two!
PS: Joan- that script in the cave was awesome.
You mentioned Firefly! A really serious Firefly re-watch seems much more manageable to me - unfortunately there just are so few epsiodes:)
Spend a week on each episode plus Serenity and that's less than 4 months!
@Nikki: You don't have time to watch TV on your DVRs and now you want to do a rewatch?
I hear ya. The other week I was under the weather — more than usual — and took the opportunity to catch up on a lot of TV. I now find myself at least one episode behind on even most of my favoritest shows again, never mind the stuff that's lower-priority.
@Joanie: One where only I get to enter.
And you would still lose. (Funny how both Sayid and I sound nothing like ourselves but completely like you...)
@Rebecca: I honestly think I miss the group here more than I miss the show itself
You're obviously not alone there. We're still missing a bunch of folks, but it's good to "see" you all again here even if I bump into some combinations of you at other blogs. Speaking of which, I think it'd be fun to pick a topic and soul-train our way through the blogs of all the regular commenters here — because clearly good intentions ain't doing it in terms of me finding the time to visit them all or to get back often enough to the ones I do check out.
VW: nestini — Cocktail made from gin, vermouth, twigs, and bird eggs.
Firefly? I'm down.
The Wire? It would be a first watch for me and it would give me an excuse to finally watch it. I'm totally down. ;)
Having watched Firefly and Serenity a couple months ago, I’d be tickled to participate in a rewatch. I’ve never seen so much as a commercial or preview for The Wire, and had no idea even how many seasons it ran, so I Googled it. Five seasons, with a total of 60 hour-long episodes plus 3 prequel shorts. That would take quite a big time commitment from everyone. Firefly and Serenity sounds much easier to manage. And as long as we’re tossing ideas around, I’ve recently finished watching all of Arrested Development, and that would be a hilarious and fun project, to say the least. But what I’m really hoping for next is some more Lostaholics Anonymous.
I probably couldn't commit to a full-on rewatch at this point, either. Definitely down for a second go 'round with 'Firefly,' though. (Ok, third. Dammit -- fourth.) And maybe supplement it with a run through some other one-season wonder that's widely celebrated but largely unseen, so the commitment is low but the incentive's high... (Concurrent or subsequent; dealer's choice.) Say, maybe, 'Terriers?'
I've tried lots of shows, and while some of them are great, none are great like Lost was. I'd definitely be down to join some kind of post-Lost discussion.
I agree with what seems to be the general consensus here; as much as I would love to rewatch 'Lost' all the way through, I just don't have the time at the moment. I'm totally up for some general discussion posts like before, though! I was watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother a few days ago guest starring Jorge Garcia which contained a bunch of 'Lost' references, and it got me nostalgic, so I'd be glad of any opportunity to immerse myself in this show again.
I'm also up for a 'Firefly' rewatch. It has only been a few months since I first watched it (as it was the Buffy rewatch which made me want to see what else Joss had done), so it's fairly fresh in my mind, but I didn't really have the chance to discuss it the first time around so I'd be very happy to watch it again here.
Also, if we're suggesting shorter TV shows to rewatch, I've been meaning to rewatch 'Pushing Daisies' ever since I picked Season 2 on offer somewhere a few months ago. It has 22 episodes in total, and it's first episode was on October 3rd 2007 (according to Wikipedia) so it was just over five years ago.
Oooh, Pushing Daisies!! Nice idea, Quarks! (And it was because of Miss Nikki's cheerleading for that awesome show that I finally got into it. Such fun!)
Heh. I just re-read Nikki's pro-Pushing Daisies posts from October 2nd and 28th, 2008. They'll make you smile, if you were ever a fan of that "glorious" show.
A brilliant show canned after a mer baker's dozen = "Rubicon".
For me Once Upon A Time comes very close to filling the void. I still watch Lost. I'm on my 3rd time through it and am still noticing things I didn't before. I have a friend who's never seen it before watching it with me this time so that seems to keep it fresh too.
Wow, am I ever latw to this thread. I like some of the ideas for re-watches, like Firefly and Pushing Daisies. A re-watch of any of these would be fine, a sort of warm-up before a Lost marathon.
Right now, it's just Fringe. I was worried for awhile the show seemed to have lost its way with the more underground resistance movement arc. Thankfully it is back to fringe science (or fringe special effects).
I loved Pushing Daisies — and Wonderfalls before it. (I never did get to see Dead Like Me, although Bryan Fuller has my attention for all future projects; I did a short review of his Munsters reinterpretation Mockingbird Lane earlier this month.)
I love the group conversations that dedicated rewatches bring here, too.
I can't imagine fitting a rewatch in during the thick of the TV season, however, which is why I suggested December/January or, even better, next summer for Firefly. I'm watching more current shows than ever right now and struggling to keep up. I'd also like to think that the reaction this post of Nikki's engendered, in reminding us how much we all enjoy one another's virtual company, has perhaps caused some of us itinerantly AWOL participants to rededicate ourselves to chiming in on her Fringe and Walking Dead and Once Upon a Time posts. I know that it has for me. (Actually, I was visiting the blog to catch up on such posts when it so happened that this latest one about reviving Lost-Anon had just gone up, and Voilà !) I am engaging in a fits-and-starts personal watch/rewatch — never did see it all when it aired, for various reasons — of Arrested Development in advance of the new material next year, so if our beloved blogmistresses wanted to ringlead that I wouldn't complain, but what with that and new TV and wanting to catch up on over a season's worth of Grimm when most new TV goes on holiday break I'm kind-of booked.
@Page48 — I was one of the proud, few Rubicon champions, and I definitely wanted another season, although I thought that the Season One finale was completely bollixed up.
I'm up for some Lost discussion, but I don't really feel the void it left. There's too many great shows out there now to fill it, like Fringe, Homeland, and my current favourite show, Sons of Anarchy. I'm definitely up for some other rewatches (Firefly and The Wire in particular - if you haven't seen the Wire, then you've never seen the best cop show ever made). Anyone up for a Deadwood rewatch? The Shield? (2nd best cop show ever made.) Oooh! Oooh! BSG???!!!
Oh, and I'm ALWAYS up for some Arrested Development! It is, in my opinion, the funniest show ever to come from the US.
@Blam: I LOVE Dead Like Me! If you ever decide to watch it, though, avoid the TV movie that was made a few years after the series' end, even though it features Henry Ian Cusick.
So, this is a post about LOST and we're talking about pretty much any other show we have watched/are watching. We have indeed moved on.
I'm with Marebabe: discussions on characters and themes would be great, we don't necessarily have to do a rewatch.
OK, confession time. I don't want to do a rewatch. I don't even want to talk about Lost anymore. I was just posting this to get our Joanie back.
;)
But seriously... I agree with the comments about no rewatches. We did one, and even thought it was only the first 5 seasons, it's there for all posterity over on that other blog. And maybe some day down the road we'll do one, but it's a LOT of work and I don't think I could add it in.
But look at you guys all coming back! I agree that what I miss most about Lost is our discussions, more than the show itself, and I've said that many times (including in my keynote in New Orleans last year). I quoted many of you in that, by the way. ;)
Sigh. Maybe just once a week I simply post this:
Lost. Lost Lost Lost Lost.
Lost.
And see if everyone will comment and we'll just talk about other shit in the comments that has nothing to do with Lost. ;)
Part of my problem is Facebook. Ever since I joined that, I'll explain something my kids did in a 2-line status update where I used to post it over here in more detail. Maybe I'll go back to doing that over here. As long as everyone who has posted in this comments section PROMISES to post something underneath it just so I can hear your voices again. In my head, of course.
Which... would just be joining all those OTHER voices in my head. I blame Joan. With love.
I'm in, and might have time for a rewatch, although my DVR is almost as full as Nikki's. And with the storm last week, I have to go to On Demand and Hulu, and the network's web sites, to catch up on 2 weeks worth of TV. Sandy left me without power for 10 days :(
Nikki, I agree. Rewatches are a lot of work for everyone involved, but especially for you, our blogmistress and host. But because we all groove on our lively discussions (we ALL hear the voices in our heads!), we could easily do a little Lostaholics Anonymous with no more effort from you than posting a character picture and typing underneath it: “This week’s character spotlight is on (whoever). Go!” And everyone (including you) could chime in (or not) as time allows and the spirit moves.
I miss Joan's comments too. I always have to hunker behind my monitor at work so no one will see my smiling at my computer.. Yes numbers are pretty funny!
I would like to see something else Joss Whedon did- I did the Buffy rewatch and really enjoyed it.
It is good to see all the names again- I was more of a lurker if someone is wondering who I am...
Hi all, would love to discuss Lost with all of you. Be it a rewatch or just a general weekly discussion. I enjoy reading Nikki's posts on other shows and other things (BTW Nikki, congrats on the new job/house/office - most awesome office ever! I'm very happy and excited for you), but definatly miss Lost and all of your wonderful insights. I also would love to hear what Nikki and all of you think about this season of Fringe - I am really enjoying this season. BTW It took me two days to get yourblindspot's "smack-filled Madonna" reference - I think it's time to go baaaaaack!
Everybody who misses Joan's insane comments here? She has a whole blog full of insane posts. It hasn't been updated since the summer, but there's plenty of crazytalk over there.
I'm not endorsing the thing, mind you. As we all know Joan has the mind of a wildly inappropriate 3rd-grader*, so if I say anything remotely nice about her she thinks I like her and throws rocks at me.
[*yes, in a jar]
@Blam, the finale of "Rubicon" was definitely not very satisfying. All the more reason for some Season 2 course correction, but what do we know?
Why waste a name like Truxton Spangler on a 13 episode show?
Wow, nice to see you again, Pamalamb! Seems like forever. (Wait. I guess that’s because it HAS been forever!) I’m also enjoying this final season of Fringe. See ya around! :)
Wow, the comments they are a flyin'! I'm coming to this a bit late, it seems, and I was never a huge comment-poster anyway, but I remember when the idea of Lost-Anon was floated and I am still in.
As far as the rewatch idea goes, I understand many peoples' reluctance. It's a major commitment, after all. But here's another idea some might like to consider. About a year ago, having watched the entire series myself three times (not even counting multiple viewings of many episodes the week they aired) was looking for a way to watch LOST in chunks, without doing full rewatches. Just watching favorite episodes is flawed, because you miss the contextual stuff of the surrounding story that makes it so much more deeply involving.
What I came up with is my new favorite way to re-experience the show. I now choose one major character at a time and watch that character's "centric" episodes from all six seasons. There are generally about 10 or fewer to get through, and you can do it over the course of a few days if you double them up. It's a new and fun way to experience the show, because unlike the original viewing (which involves the island story unfolding contiguously while the flashbacks/forwards/sideways are separated by many episodes, you get the flashbacks/forwards/sideways contiguously and the island story broken up.
If you're someone who has rewatched the show to death like I have, it really gives it a fresh impact.
Aw, you guys! I've missed you too! Nikki has something really special here on her blog and it's good to see the Original Crew coming back together :)
@Blam - I can tell you like me by the way you never respond to my emails* ;) And let me say that I apologize for not giving you an authentic voice in my play... maybe more "Zoinks!" and prolonged silences would feel truer to the Blam that I know?
*Also, all my brain-in-jars agree; you like me. You really like me! And like I always say: if you can't trust the murmuring of 37 brains-in-jars, who can you trust?
Where have I been? How did I miss this??
I miss LOST, still see references in places where it isn't done on purpose, and was just telling someone the other day they weren't ready to commit to the show, because it is a commitment (they gave up after Tabula Rasa. Seriously...). So LOST is still very much part of my consciousness. I have watched it through 5 times (I think), most recently this summer, and am finally ready to let go. Of re-watching, that is. I resisted watching The Constant on the 24th, but I thought about it. I do find myself getting jealous of people watching it the first time, and practically throw Finding Lost at anyone I have a relationship with.
But the idea of a character study sounds cool.
You guys. I missed you guys. I vote for more Joan centric fan fic.
That said, I am watching other shows. For some reason, I actually got very scared watching The Walking Dead’s pilot, and already have those images in my head anyway for other weird reasons so that is the only major show I am missing out on. I am holding on to Fringe, and cannot wait for BB.
In conclusion, Yes to something, no to re-watch (for now).
And, oh yeah, YES to whatever you decide on THE WIRE. I wasn’t successful in finding a companion and the only recapper I found wrote 20 (yes TWENTY) pages per episode.
PS – thank you Nikki for the Buffy /Angel study. My television education started here and I have since enjoyed many former and current shows differently because of what we did here, including Arrested Development, The Wire, Doctor Who, The Prisoner... I was reading a review of the Homeland finale on EW and the recapper/reviewer referenced both LOST and Buffy. I feel I have now met the minimum pre-requisite for all future awesome shows.
Count me in, Nikki! We have to go Back!! I think a Lost re-watch is essential for all the fans to reflect on what it was that we saw and its impact on our lives. Please don't let the show fade from the public mind as happens with so many tv shows.
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