Friday, January 08, 2010

Lost S6 Premiere Officially More Important than State of the Union

So, I was working on a long post of odds and ends that I was going to post here, and the first part addressed the SOTU thing that's going on. I was going to post it live tonight, and then the story completely changed. So, I'll just run it the way I originally wrote it, and put my epilogue at the end.

Yes, a few of you have emailed me or posted on here about the big State of the Union SNAFU that’s happened in the Lost community. If you haven’t heard, this is a campaign that started on Twitter, I believe (I saw it a few days ago) where people realized President Obama has scheduled his State of the Union address for February 2. If that happens, Lost will probably be pre-empted, and after waiting SO long for it to start, we have to wait another week, then suffer through the next two weeks of no Lost because the Olympics, where it will be pre-empted once more. There are several petitions going around by Lost fans begging Obama to change the date.

Because, I’m sure, when it comes to national security, not upsetting Lost fans is his #1 priority. Heehee...

I don’t mean to be facetious here (you guys know that I, of all people, will be sobbing like a child whose toy was just taken away from her if that should happen), but I highly doubt he’s going to change the date to appease a few million TV fans. Instead, here’s hoping ABC is the one that steps up and says, OK, let’s just move Lost to 10pm or wherever it’ll be safely away from the SOTU. Will that make MY life hell? Yes... because I watch it twice before posting, which means I’ll get to bed somewhere around 1:30am or something that night.

Or maybe Obama really IS the coolest president ever, and he’ll change the date! Could you just imagine the press conference beforehand where Obama appears, looking very freaked out and a little sweaty, “Um... my, uh... f-f-fellow Americans? I have an announcement...” he leans forward for a drink of water, and only then do you see a puff of smoke behind him... “I, uh... the, um... my State of the Union address isn’t nearly as important as... the will of the... I can’t believe I’m saying this... the will of the island.... so I will be postponing it to a Saturday night, when it will not affect Lost.” He leaves the podium, accompanied by Jacob.

So that's what I had written, and then it changed, when a statement was released by a senior official saying no, don't worry, it WON'T interfere with the Lost premiere. Um... maybe his administration really IS the coolest one ever!

YES. We have reclaimed Groundhog Day as the Official Lost Day. Hurrah, pop culture wins! The real world can wait.

Is it just me, or did my fantasy world just invade the real one?!

UPDATE: Here is the actual exchange that happened at the press briefing. Wow... Lost is even more powerful than I thought. Boo-yah!

The topic came up at today's White House press briefing when ABC Radio reporter Ann Compton asked about the scheduling situation. Gibbs responded, "I don't foresee a scenario in which millions people who hope to finally get some conclusion with Lost are preempted by the president," and then remarked that he was intrigued by ABC News reporters querying the White House on this topic on behalf of their corporate cousins at ABC Entertainment. At which point ABC White House correspondent and noted Twitterista Jake Tapper (@JakeTapper) quipped, "How about on behalf of the Dharma Initiative?"

Nicely played, sir!

As for the reaction from Camp Lost, cocreator and executive producer Damon Lindelof tweeted, "OBAMA BACKED DOWN!!!! Groundhog Day is OURS!!!!!!! (God Bless America)...Okay. So Obama didn't technically 'back down.' He leveraged Carlton and I to do something on the show. Two words. MORE FROGURT." And partner in crime Carlton Cuse tweeted, "No State of the Union conflict with LOST! We go Feb. 2!"

23 comments:

Joan Crawford said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
humanebean said...

YES ... WE ... CAN!

Best thing Obama's done in a while. Oh, sure, there's that whole 'health care' thing ...

Verification word: 'cablec': what you watch when cablea and cableb have nothing on, as usual.

Joan Crawford said...

Woah! I totally misread what you wrote - I thought we were playing fantasy-land! Yay!

Verification word: Quidlemma
This is a dilemma times four - why, it's a quidlemma!

@Humanbean - Haha! It took me minute to get it...cablec! I'm not too quick in the old upstairs you know?

Joan Crawford said...

@Humanbean again - I like your new profile pic :)

Erin {pughs' news} said...

I knew there was a good reason they voted him in! (well, a few good reasons...)

Hurrah for February 2nd. Let the countdown begin!!!

PS: Verification word is "bushterf" as in if we were all still on Bush's "terf" we'd have been out of luck!

JennM said...

Thanks, Obama! This news is so big, it made CNN. The headline was "White House throws a raft to 'LOST' fans."
Ha!

A.G.Wooding said...

Good news all round today, the UK has finally got an official air date for Lost, which is Friday 5th February. Sky 1 were dilly dallying around for a while but it seems confirmed now luckily.

And yes, thank you Mr. Obama, for letting millions of Lost fans keep their sanity.

Ambivalentman said...

I was in between classes when I got the news that Obama might preempt the show. Devastation probably couldn't accurately describe my expression. So my students are in their seats, the bell rings, and I stand up and say:

"Guys, this is a bad day to be an American. By the end the day I might just hate our President."

"What'd he do?" They all begged me.

"He might cancel LOST on Feburary 2nd. Something about wanting to give his annual speech about how f***ed up our country is."

Everyone looked at each other quizzically, then one of the preening, popular girls at the front said, "This is why you'll never get remarried, huh, Mr. Dollins?"

asiancolossus said...

Great news! February 2nd already seems like an eternity away.

So what happens, Lost is on for 2 weeks then it is off for 2 weeks for the Olympics?

Rebecca T. said...

I was seriously having a panic attack when I read the comment about the possibility on one of the other threads. Seriously.

Wait! What? I already requested to leave early from work that day! I can't change it! haha. Big sigh of relief.

Fred said...

But Nikki you didn't get the rest of the press scrum.

When asked about Gibb's change of heart on Febuary 2nd, John Locke said, "It's destiny." A slightly unshaven, and intoxicated Jack Shephard was heard to add, "I can fix this." In the back of the scrum, Sawyer was overheard muttering to himself through that smooth southern smile, "Son of a bitch. That's why I never voted Democrat."

LA talk shows were abuzz when news broke that Hugo Reyes threw another burrito at a wall when he first heard the news about pre-empting LOST. Mama Reyes, whom everyone adores, scolded her son, saying, "Burrito's are not a weapon." With Gibb's update, Hugo corrected the earlier impression with the sound byte, "What the President did was a Jedi moment."

Nikki and Paulo were not available for comment, and it is believed they are buried somewhere warm away from evil fans. Well-wishers such as Juliet, Miles and Jin have given no comment as they are unsure of who the president is at the moment. Meanwhile Sayid was last seen dressed in a purple shirt looking for a disco.

Adam David Dodd said...

was it really because of the lost premiere that this was altered or was it a coincidence...?
"don't mistake coincidence for fate"

is the Olympic postponement thingy for sure or speculation at this point?

Robert said...

Yes, somehow this is more hopeful than any other bit of political news I've heard in a while.

crazyinlost said...

@Fred-ROFL! That was awsome!

Obama had to do something to get his approval ratings above 50%!

humanebean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lee said...

Seeing as how I took off from work on February 2 for that specific reason (to revel in three hours of Lost-related AWESOMENESS), I, too, was worried that I would be sitting at home, using up a vacation day, only to be watching President Obama trumpet on about things I've already heard. "I wonder if I can unschedule my vacation day?" I was wondering. This was quickly turning into a pain in the you-know-what. Thankfully, it looks like that won't be happening now. Tuesday nights are the only nights I'm NOT home, so I was less than thrilled when I found out what evening Lost was on. I have to tape it. But at least, for the season premiere, I can watch it live in all its HD glory.

humanebean said...

Score one for course-correction!

@Joan - you are too kind, m'lady. As a HUGE fan of Rome I have always enjoyed your avatar, as well - just hadn't gotten around to telling you yet. Plus, I've read your posts for some time now - you are quicker in the "upstairs" than most!

Verification word: "slati" - It's fun! It's wacky! It's SLATI! New from Ronco, it slices, it dices, it even makes julienned fries!

Jazzygirl said...

HOLY CRAP! Where the hell have I been this past week?? LOL! This is possibly the best, coolest story I have EVER heard/read. Like ever EVER EVER!!!! I am almost speechless about it!!

Jazzygirl said...

Oh and Fred....LMAO!!!

JS said...

I heard about the pre-emption, and then read almost immediately afterward that the SOTU address would NOT pre-empt LOST. Is it me, or is this kind of crazy? Is there another show where people would actually make a deal of this and the white house would care? Or maybe it's just THIS white house.

That said, while I could wait for the SOTU, I absolutely CAN NOT WAIT FOR LOST!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, wonderful! I also took that night off work and was on pins & needles! Way to garner my vote, Obama. ;)

Unknown said...

I was so mad when my sis told me it might be changed to a later date. I was ready to gather my friends into a posse and go kidnap the president while wearing neckerchiefs.

@crazyinlost:bwahahahahahaha...

snoochies said...

So, Lost's final season starts on February 2nd . . . Groundhog Day, hmm? Wondering if this has any implications on the story!!!! OMG!

Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be awesome if the cast had to read their scripts a second time to figure out what was going on!