The fact that Time Warner couldn’t get their shit together on THAT night is crazy.  I could almost understand it if the weather sucked last night… but it didn’t.  About half way through the show we got a “We’re Experiencing Technical Difficulties” message.  No shit.  Next we got a message that said, “The season finale of Lost will re-air in its entirety next Saturday…”  Great.  So I get to watch it the way it was intended to be seen a week after it’s original air date.  The only comparison I can make would be if they were having these kinds of issues during the Super Bowl.  “Attention, Super Bowl XLV will be re-aired in its entirety next Sunday…”  Really?

Don’t worry… this post contains no spoilers.  I couldn’t spoil you if I wanted to.

The series finale of ABC’s Lost airs on Sunday evening and so (hopefully) does my confusion.  I consider myself a Lost fan for sure, but I’m not a Lost geek.  The distinction is minor, but one that’s important to make between fans.  As an example, I have no problem sitting in a bar talking theories with my buddy Pat about who did what or what’s going to happen and I do listen to the Official Lost Podcast as well as The Lost Podcast With Jay and Jack.  However, I’m not one of these folks that looks at the books on the shelves in the background of a scene, I don’t care what the significance of the rabbit’s name is and I sure as hell don’t know how the two time lines are going to come together.  And therein lies my enjoyment of Lost.

I can’t remember the last show where I was completely and utterly confused while watching… and KEPT watching it.  This is one of the few shows that the wife and I can watch together (I roped her into ABC’s V as well) and regardless of the outcome on Sunday evening, I’m going to be sad to see it go.  I really do hope though that they give us some closure.  I’ve been confused long enough folks.  Damon/Carlton… thanks for the memories.  It’s time to bring it home.

1. Show the damn aliens – At this point the only look we’ve gotten at the V’s that shows us their true nature is when Erika’s partner got killed and when Anna decided to munch on her baby daddy.  Part of what made the original AWESOME was that we as the audience knew what we were up against.  If you had only been exposed to V through this version you don’t even know what they look like.  That’s gotta change.
2. Give the 5th Column a win – So far, their claim to fame is some “John May Lives” message and killing a V soldier that no one knows existed.  In the first incarnation, the 5th Column unmasked the supreme leader on national TV for Christ sakes!
3. Show the V’s as “bad” – during a recent episode, a character said something to the affect of “Tell me something bad that the Visitors have done”.  With the exception of spying on us and the fact that they’re concealing who they are, we don’t REALLY know why they’re so bad at this point.  It was pretty early in the original when we found out that they were here for FOOD.  If the audience is going to care, we need to build the V’s up as a REAL threat.
4. Lose the CGI – I understand that this is TV and not the movies, but just about every shot from the mother ships are just terrible.  This includes interior shots.  We’ve got to do better.

I hate to continue to compare to the original but that’s all I’ve got to go on and that was a hugely successful cult classic.  The fact that after tonight it WON’T be following Lost is actually a good thing.  Lost is a phenomenal show, but as a lead in to another sci-fi I’m not sure it’s all that great.  When Lost is over, people either run to message boards or blogs to chat or they’re too wiped out to try and get into another intense show.  I’m not saying that it should follow a comedy, but Lost isn’t the best choice.

While I have listened to some podcasts during the break I’ve tried to stay away from plot predictions and spoilers for the last season.  Sure I’ve had a discussion or two with some fellow Losties but when it comes to what’s going to happen this season I’m completely… lost. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist at least one pun).

Based on the buzz on the web and in the paper it seems like the long layoff between seasons hasn’t turned anyone else off either.  It’s looking like we’re in for a hell of a last season and I can’t wait.  It’s going to be so awesome to see how they finish off some story lines and which ones they leave dangling cause you just KNOW they’re not going to be able to tell us everything that we want to know.  While I’m sure there are some things that I’ll be disappointed in I’m willing to accept that.  The show is just too good to miss.  And now… finally.  It’s time for Lost!

Honestly I was expecting some huge cliffhanger.  Elizabeth Mitchell’s character Erica dying or pregnant.  A Visitor “unmasked” on national television like in the original.  Hell, even a big fight between the Visitors and the resistance.  Unfortunately we were given none of that.  We were shown the fact that there were a shit ton of ships waiting in orbit.  Um… OK.  Did we honestly think that it was JUST these 29 ships?

I’m not suggesting that this episode wasn’t good because it absolutely was.  In fact it was probably my favorite of the first 4.  But when it ended I had a distinct “That’s it?” feeling.  The wife has actually gotten into this show with me (which rocks cause there’s little on TV that we both like) and she said the same thing.

Like I said.  I’m going to be on board regardless of when it comes back.  I’m really curious as to how many of these new V fans will come back in the new year.  Time will tell.

And for one crackpot theory that I’m hoping desperately comes true…

John May will be played by Marc Singer.

I can only hope.  How damn cool would that be???

• First off… it LOOKS great.  I recently re-watched the original and the special effects were TERRIBLE.  This show isn’t movie quality CGI but I’ve got to say it’s some of the best that I’ve seen on TV.
• The updates to the story are well done – and necessary.  They’ve brought the story into current day scenarios by using references to terrorist cells, universal health care, etc.
• Political stance – I don’t buy it.  The 406 blog has historically been apolitical and I intend on keeping it that way.  There have been many stories that V is social commentary on President Obama.  Quite frankly I don’t buy it and I’ll leave it at that.
• I miss Mike Donovan but I’m thrilled with Elizabeth Mitchell as the choice of the lead and think that she’ll do a GREAT job.
• I LOVE the fact that the V’s have been on Earth for years before the series has started.  A nice update on the original tale.
• Time line – this is a bad thing.  For those that don’t know V is going to have 4 episodes and then take a break until MARCH due to the Olympic games on ABC.  Not sure if this is yet another tactical error on ABC’s part or not.  I hope that the show gains a large following that will indeed return after such a long hiatus.

All of that being said, after one episode I can say that I’m very happy with where the series is going.  There’s some GREAT potential there.  I just hope that they really knock it out for these next 3 episodes to really get people hooked.  Time will tell.

There has been quite a bit of press about this show (both good and bad) but I have to say that I’m really jazzed to watch it tonight.  From what I’ve seen it’s going to be drastically different than the original miniseries which I can’t say is necessarily a bad thing.  After all it’s been over 25 year since that show was on the air!

I won’t go into plot here but suffice to say its an “us against them” story that (at least in the original) had quite a few twists and turns along the way.  Sure I’m a geek and I’m showing my age but I can tell you that tonight I’m going to be tuned into ABC!

I (like countless others out there) am a HUGE fan of the ABC show Lost.  There are certainly others out there who are more fanatical than I am.  For example I’ll listen to a couple of podcasts about the show but I’m not one to re-watch an episode looking for stuff I’ve missed.  If I missed it, I missed it.  Part of the reason I love it so much is that it’s one of only a few shows that both the wife and I enjoy.  That said I’m thinking that executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have made a great tactical error.

The last new episode of Lost was aired on May 13, 2009.  As of this writing that makes 121 days since we’ve last seen any new content.  The sixth and final season isn’t scheduled to air until February of 2010 – at least 265 days or over 8 months since we’ve last seen our heroes.  The decision to wait so long was made for a variety of reasons including ensuring that there would be no gaps in the final season.  They had also considered two parts to the final season but decided against that as well.

Here’s the problem as I see it.

1. Fans will forget – Sure it’s been dubbed as one of the best shows in history but when you don’t SEE IT you tend to forget what’s going on… especially with a plot as difficult to follow as Lost.  Hell, I watch it every week and STILL have no idea what’s going on half the time.
2. People will get impatient – waiting this long for something in the “give it to me now” society that we live in will turn some people off.  I stopped watching HBO’s Sopranos for just the same reason.  Sure it was a great show but if I’ve got to wait years between seasons what’s the point?  I’ll wait for video.
3. Expectations – With so much time between seasons, super fans out there have nothing to do but come up with what ifs.  There’s simply NO WAY that the writers will be able to answer all the questions and keep everyone happy.  This will only be intensified by the fact that fans had to wait so long for the conclusion of the show.  I’d hate for Lost to be tarnished at all simply because of a tactical error in scheduling.

The bottom line is I can’t wait… but actually now that I think about it, I HAVE to wait.

I’ve heard about this for quite a while now and to be honest with you I can’t believe I’m as behind as I am on following this story (Thanks Jason!)  The series is going to premiere on ABC November 3rd at 8:00 PM.  For those of you un-familiar with the original story (and subsequent sequel), V tells the story of alien visitors who visit Earth under the guise of peace all the while plotting to “harvest” humans for food.

Everything that I’m reading continues to use the term “re-imagining” rather than reboot, remake or sequel.  This certainly isn’t a continuation of the time line from the original series (which is totally a good thing).

The cast looks great including Elizabeth Mitchell (of Lost fame playing a female Mike Donovan), Morena Baccarin (playing the lead Visitor made famous by Jane Badler’s Dianna), Morris Chestnut, Scott Wolf and others.

Check out the official stuff from ABC here: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/v

Note:  Over the last couple of days it’s been reported the V is taking a “creative hiatus” starting Wednesday and will shut down production for a couple of weeks.  This shouldn’t affect things for the premier in November unless there are HUGE issues but this type of announcement is generally not a good thing.  Stay tuned.