By participating in and perpetuating the theory-school of Lost fandom, the show’s creators no doubt think they’re fanning the flames of the Lost phenomenon. But this afternoon I got thinking that maybe they’re actually doing the show a disservice. Not because I don’t personally go in for theories, mind you–I mean that they might think they’re building buzz, and therefore ratings, for the show when in fact they might be driving potential and actual audience members away.

Here’s the thing: How many times have you heard people say they can’t follow the show, that they have no idea what’s going on, that it’s over their head? But I don’t think Lost is over anyone’s head. Strip away the intriguing sci-fi elements and occasionally baroque flashback/flashforward structure and it’s an action-adventure show about sweaty sexy people shooting things and Frenching each other on a tropical island–a very very compelling and well-made one, of course. I think the greatest trick the show ever pulled was convincing people it was over their heads by making people think that instead of simply watching and enjoying it, you need to “figure it out.” As I’ve said, you can never figure the show out based on what you’ve seen because there are still two and a half unseen seasons chock full of information that will change the big picture. So if that’s the level at which you’re engaging the show, you will always feel outsmarted by it, and for many viewers that’s going to drive them away from watching it at all.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.