Lost - The Greatest TV Show Ever!

Started great then just became a meandering mess with each season getting worse where the writers just made stuff up to add more seasons to it and everyone hoping for an explanation and getting none - was still addicted to it til the end then thinking is that it?

Lot of parallels to From with producers from the same barn - hoping they don't go down the same road with this show even tho they say there is a conclusion

^^^^^^

Yep, and then the ending……

The show had messy moments and clearly wasn't fully thought out at the beginning and they started making it up as they went.

But when it was in its stride it was fantastic. Walkabout and The Constant are two amazing episodes of any TV show.

Linus, Locke, Desmond, Charlie, Sawyer, Sun, Juliet and Jack were brilliant characters.

I also forgot Eko and Hurley from the great character section.

And we've both criminally forgot Dr. Linus where Michael Emmerson gave arguably the greatest TV performance ever filmed with two utterly contrasting versions of Linus.

Didn't see the end! I missed maybe last season and a half..got very bored of it

The issue with Lost was they hyped up the secrets and mysteries so much and promised everything would be answered, but then the hype of the show kept building and they kept having to up the ante so much yet still try give answers in the end even though the answers were never going to satisfy people. Especially since the mysteries got so huge and complex that the only explanation possible was just "magic".

When the show focused on the characters, it was a damn good show, and when you rewatch it through that lens and stop looking for the answers to everything and just enjoy the ride, it's a great show. Not one of the greatest ever in my opinion (heavily padded in Season 3 and too much trying to give explanations for everything in Season 6 to the detriment of the characters), but a great show nonetheless.

Not really.

But also like I said in my post, if you watch it for the mystery and explanations, bad show. If you watch it for the characters and focus on that, while just enjoying the crazy reveals and twists along the way without over-analysing them, it's a good to great show.

It's definitely one of the most influential pieces of television ever. I think it completely changed how people watch TV. Coming alongside the rise of social media,it brought the now constant theory culture to the fore. No show before it carried such consistent levels of intrigue every week.

It started out as a great TV, then the plot went wonky, but it stayed afloat because it has great characters that like-it-or-not, you became invested in.

Later seasons were fairly messy, but still had compelling moments. The Constant being an obvious one. We have to go back, etc

I've revisited it, and the criticisms, while overstated, are still somewhat valid.

I think it set a high, but achievable bar for what TV shows could be, and paved the way for the era that followed it.

I was just about to post that exact thing!

First 2 seasons were fantastic. It dropped out in quality after season 2 IMO.

I suspect the original plan had been for 3 seasons, but ABC then said "No way can you end the most popular TV show in history after only 3 seasons, so write some more stuff". So they made up a load of irrelevant stuff and filler episodes, Remember Exposé?

The ending, biggest disappointment in TV history in my opinion.

As SUVgirl says, I now don't start something until I know it has finished, and hasn't been cancelled. Or the main characters actor hasn't been indicted for sexual assault.

Loved the show, everyone was watching and talking about Lost, and we had great hopes that the ending was going to somehow justify how long they drew out the whole storyline for . . . but it didn't.

Those final scenes in the (Catholic?) church with the statues looking on . . so disappointing.

True, and The X-Files was consistently good for 11 seasons. Lost was good for 2 maybe 3 seasons at the most.

came to it late. Couldn’t get into it. A lot of more recent commentary has it as somewhat overrated / overhyped compared to its critically elevated status at the time…I’m inclined to believe….or agree with anyway having tried to get into it and failed…

Then again I’m inclined to compare anything in the realm of TV series to my favourite…The Sopranos, which I believe is stunning.

Binging Sopranos right now.

I was hooked on Lost from episode one, but I really don't know if they did have a plan for how to end it, or if they were just making it up as they went along. Part of me suspects the latter.

Back in 2005, J.J. Abrams promised that one of the most popular theories about Lost was not true. In 2006, Damon Lindelof did the same. They were so convincing in their denials.

Then in the end.

After vehemently denying it for so long. Makes me think, they didnt know how to end it, and then went with that option.

One of tvs biggest disappointments ever.

They got everyone hooked, and we all kept watching because the writers said all the guesses were wrong, despite them being right all along.

My final disappointment over how it ended changed how I approached a lot of later longer series. I quit many early if I wasn't enjoying, having less patience for ones which could potentially do another Lost on me.