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[Doom85]

The pilot was a ratings juggernaut, and the show enjoyed solid ratings throughout the entirety of its six season run. Production value was top notch (minus a few hiccups, we don’t talk about that CGI submarine!), directing was great, and holy shit, what a cast, not just solid performances from pretty much everyone but honestly most of the characters were enjoyable to follow.

While the answers to the mysteries may have led a lot of people down (assuming they even paid attention to what was being said, the “so the Island WAS purgatory” people must have hearing comprehension issues), I personally didn’t mind the fantasy/mystical angle they ultimately went, but more importantly, I didn’t feel my time was wasted due to loving a lot of these characters. That’s what honestly keep most people I knew watching, from my college friends, my mom and sister, and my friends after college who got into the show later on, they showed up for the mysteries but ultimately stuck around because they wanted to know what would happen to the characters. Almost every death hit us in the feels, and there’s so many unforgettable moments for me. I can’t call it one of the best TV shows of all time, but it would certainly be one of the most enjoyable TV shows of all time for me.

Happy 20th anniversary, LOST! Thanks for the good memories!

 

[mitch1971]

I remember people trying to figure what is was about right from the start. People suggested it was purgatory quite quickly and the producers denied it. This i think led to several spun out mysteries introduced in the later seasons to throw viewers off the scent. Most of these mysteries ultimately fizzled out with no relation to the main plot and, in the end, made no difference to the resolution. For me, the journey was far better than the destination.

 

[Bojji]

I remember people trying to figure what is was about right from the start. People suggested it was purgatory quite quickly and the producers denied it. This i think led to several spun out mysteries introduced in the later seasons to throw viewers off the scent. Most of these mysteries ultimately fizzled out with no relation to the main plot and, in the end, made no difference to the resolution. For me, the journey was far better than the destination.

Pretty much, me and my school homies were there day 1 for every season - discussing plot, theories and so on. Last season was a bit shit but still better than GoT season 8, hahaha.

 

[ScHlAuChi]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but Lost was one of the worst written shows ever.
They just made shit up on the go with no plan or logic behind it or any intention to resolve it.
They constantly implied a bigger meaning behind everything when that was non existant.
They basically fooled the viewer and that is inexcuseable!

 

[AJUMP23]

The first season was great. The finale was less so. They should have mapped out the show more. I do remember going to work and everyone talking about it.

 

[Bitstream]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but Lost was one of the worst written shows ever.
They just made shit up on the go with no plan or logic behind it or any intention to resolve it.
They constantly implied a bigger meaning behind everything when that was non existant.
They basically fooled the viewer and that is inexcuseable!

Completely agree, the only people more lost than the characters were the writers, it seemed. Without a satisfying and well thought out conclusion to the mystery, you're just stuck with watching folks wander around the jungle for 8 years.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Love this show, really was a landmark in TV. Especially paved the way for shows that need bigger budgets to tell their stories.

 

[clem84]

All things considered it was an enjoyable show from beginning to end. My main criticism was that from the beginning the show leads you to believe that it is a show with a realistic story, but the further you get the more you realize it's science fiction. They took a lot of liberties and they were clearly making it up as they went.

Still overall it was a fun and enjoyable show.

 

[Mistake]

 

[MujkicHaris]

The greatest TV show ever made, for me. Well... LOST and Battlestar Galactica (2004) since they share the first place.

I love everything about it, the pilot episode, the events, the setting, the mystery and especially the final episode(s). I don't think we will get something like LOST ever again. 10/10

I am currently in the process of fasting from LOST and BSG, my goal is at least two years. One year is gone and it's really tempting to go back.

 

[Rentahamster]

I haven't watched a single episode of this show, and the only thing I know about it is from memes.

 

[Laptop1991]

I really enjoyed the most of the season's, it was really good and the 1st time i noticed Michael Emerson who is a great actor, i'm a fan of his work, he is really good no matter what i've seen him in, Person of Interest/ Evil etc, but the last one and ending wasn't good, but when are they , when it's a really popular shows.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but Lost was one of the worst written shows ever.
They just made shit up on the go with no plan or logic behind it or any intention to resolve it.
They constantly implied a bigger meaning behind everything when that was non existant.
They basically fooled the viewer and that is inexcuseable!

Basically this.

Also...that's how all JJ Abrams shows were. ALIAS was the same.

 

[John Marston]

While the answers to the mysteries may have led a lot of people down (assuming they even paid attention to what was being said, the “so the Island WAS purgatory”

Hey man SPOILERS!!!

Just kidding

 

[Doom85]

Hey man SPOILERS!!!

Just kidding

 

[Shake Your Rump]

This show made me realize that Korean women are hot.

Also, Evangeline Lilly... goddamn.

The show was a mess. I remember the beginning had some sort of polar bear? Then it was never mentioned again. I believe the producers admitted that they were just making it up as they went. I watched almost the entire series as it aired. I think I stopped a season short.

 

[Trunx81]

The first few seasons were great, then it got boring later on. The Jacob actor also threw me out of the loop, as I just saw him a bit earlier as Lucifer on Supernatural. And now he’s the good guy? Come on.

For the polar bear: There is a short video that explains it, released after the shows ending.

 

[adamsapple]

Still one of the most effective reveals of all time.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Never watched it but with the massive spoilers in the OP I guess I don’t need to. All I know is that there’s a meme lord called John Lock or something who generates memes to keep the other people on the island happy and that one of the survivors posts here crying about Concord being shit and got banned defending concord’s honor (guess he didn’t leave purgatory).

 

[Lunarorbit]

Great pilot. Living in Tucson in an apartment building and my friend had come to visit a week before.

Saw the pats best the cardinals then he got mono. He could barely keep his eyes open as I watched the pilot. He ended up in the hospital the next day for dehydration

 

[Sakura]

I watched a couple seasons.
I couldn't stand how half of almost every episode was just flashback shit of what the character was doing before becoming stranded on the island.
It felt like most of the time nothing was really happening outside the start and end of each season.

 

[GymWolf]

It ended in a bullshit way but first 3 season were magic.

 

[clarky]

It ended in a bullshit way but first 3 season were magic.

Season 4 was peak for me.

The last season was dire.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Havent watched the show. Maybe I should?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

And I have still yet to see a single episode.

 

[kurisu_1974]

The show was a mess. I remember the beginning had some sort of polar bear? Then it was never mentioned again. I believe the producers admitted that they were just making it up as they went. I watched almost the entire series as it aired. I think I stopped a season short.

I think the scientists from the 70s had a zoo on the island, this was explained much later.

Why the bear only appeared once is anyone's guess.

 

[jason10mm]

LOST is the show that killed serialized TV.

Suddenly every wanna-be writer could sell their nonsense script as "LOST + XXXX" and everyone stopped caring about internal consistency, it was all "then this happens WOW and then this happens WILD and then this happens WACKY and then this happens WOWZERS!" and everyone decided that none of it had to actually make sense when looking back.

This attitude was kind of ok with episodic "reset to zero" type shows that had proper ensemble casts and a show structure that could accommodate plot shenanigans like this, but heavily serialized shows MUST HAVE internal consistency and a proper narrative roadmap to reward audience investment in the loony shit they throw in the last 5 minutes of each episode to try to get folks to watch the next one.

 

[Doom85]

And I have still yet to see a single episode.

Nah, I could see the show being harder to appreciate for some now with how television series has evolved. At the time, the production quality and such was rare for shows outside of HBO and such. Now, it’s more commonplace. I do think the characters, acting, and other elements make it worth it, but the show being six seasons long and the story’s ultimate direction being divisive can make it a tough pick to recommend for newcomers at this point. It was somewhat one of those “you had to be there” things.

 

[Big Baller]

I started watching years later but gave up halfway

 

[Mossybrew]

I unapologetically love Lost. It was a different time as well, it was fun discussing each episode, speculating about all the weird shit, living with a cliffhanger season ender for months. I'd love to do a rewatch at some point but that feels like a big commitment.

 

[ScHlAuChi]

LOST is the show that killed serialized TV.

I wouldnt go that far, but it certainly had a bad impact for a while.

Suddenly every wanna-be writer could sell their nonsense script as "LOST + XXXX" and everyone stopped caring about internal consistency, it was all "then this happens WOW and then this happens WILD and then this happens WACKY and then this happens WOWZERS!" and everyone decided that none of it had to actually make sense when looking back.

A good example for that was "Under the Dome" a series that I hatewatched becasue it was so dumb.
Oh, what is that silly dome going to do in this episode? Turn people into Pizzas? Find out!
Just like LOST it was writers throwing random shit on the wall and see what sticks!

But to name a positive example - DARK is the exact opposite of these shows, its everything LOST should have been!

 

[daffyduck]

Under the Dome? It even had a scapegoat character, like a cartoon.

 

[GymWolf]

I wouldnt go that far, but it certainly had a bad impact for a while.

A good example for that was "Under the Dome" a series that I hatewatched becasue it was so dumb.
Oh, what is that silly dome going to do in this episode? Turn people into Pizzas? Find out!
Just like LOST it was writers throwing random shit on the wall and see what sticks!

But to name a positive example - DARK is the exact opposite of these shows, its everything LOST should have been!

Lost was orders of magnitudes better than that shit tho.

The mistery, the acting, everything was light years better.

 

[Doom85]

The show was a mess. I remember the beginning had some sort of polar bear? Then it was never mentioned again.

Well, the polar bear was shot dead by Sawyer in the pilot episode, so given plenty of other crazy stuff happened following that, it made sense it wouldn’t be mentioned much afterwards, but it definitely was mentioned a few times (I mean, Michael questioning it after Hurley brings it up is right there in one of my gifs in the opening post).

IIRC, the DHARMA station that Locke, Sayid, and a few others encounter Mikhail, one of the Others who pretends at first to be with DHARMA, was designed specifically to be a “zoo” for animal life and to test the effects of the Island (which had crazy effects on magnetism, paralysis, pregnancy, etc.) on said animals, but obviously with DHARMA more or less gone by this point the animals got loose at some point. Hence why there was a polar bear running around on the Island, also presumably where the horse seen in Season 2 came from.

 

[E-Cat]

We have to go back

 

[Aesius]

I unapologetically love Lost. It was a different time as well, it was fun discussing each episode, speculating about all the weird shit, living with a cliffhanger season ender for months. I'd love to do a rewatch at some point but that feels like a big commitment.

The weekly episode threads on GAF were amazing. They are actually what prompted me to finally register an account and stop lurking.

I was lukewarm on the ending and really the entire final season, but now I realize that the writers simply overpromised and underdelivered if you were solely watching it for answers to the questions they posed.

But it wasn't really about that. Not every mystery needed to be explained, and often the explanations (the Temple, the smoke monster, etc.) ended up being underwhelming. Some mysteries are best left as just that.

 

[jason10mm]

But to name a positive example - DARK is the exact opposite of these shows, its everything LOST should have been!

Yeah, DARK is a great counter example of how meticulous plotting can reward you with an insane level of "HOLY FUCK!"

And even that can be weaponized by bad writers into having seemingly random scenes that meant to be "paid off" 2, 3 or even 4 seasons down the road. "See! That waitress he bumped and she spilt the drink all over that guy is why he turned bad and began a single minded quest to destroy the hero and he's been masterminding IT ALL!!!!!Muwahahahahaha!"

 

[EverydayBeast]

Watched lost right until “the others” arrived than I got addicted to lost again when it landed on Netflix

 

[SlimySnake]

I knew it was going to be bullshit from day one and didnt bother watching it despite my friends and family raving about it. From 24, i knew how tv shows are made up on the spot mid season and when they start the season, they have no idea how the mid season finale is going to end, let alone the season finale. It might work for a procedural show like Law and Order, but when you are planting mysteries and have no idea where they will pay off, I am not going to bother.

I was proven right some 6-8 years later when every single person i knew admitted that the ending sucked and the writers had no idea what they were doing.

I really liked how AMD did their finale seasons. Split them into two 8 episode seasons to ensure writers had 2 years to come up with a satisfying finale. Both had two of the most satisfying finales on tv still to this day.

 

[GymWolf]

I knew it was going to be bullshit from day one and didnt bother watching it despite my friends and family raving about it. From 24, i knew how tv shows are made up on the spot mid season and when they start the season, they have no idea how the mid season finale is going to end, let alone the season finale. It might work for a procedural show like Law and Order, but when you are planting mysteries and have no idea where they will pay off, I am not going to bother.

I was proven right some 6-8 years later when every single person i knew admitted that the ending sucked and the writers had no idea what they were doing.

I really liked how AMD did their finale seasons. Split them into two 8 episode seasons to ensure writers had 2 years to come up with a satisfying finale. Both had two of the most satisfying finales on tv still to this day.

I mean even if the end was shit, people enjoyed the journey all the same, you can't erase that, in the end it was still a positive experience more than a bad one.

 

[Gp1]

The first 3 or so seasons were great. When they begun with the time travel, my bullshitometer exploded and it became clear that the producers didn't want or know how to explain things (classic JJ and Bad Robot).
I'm glad i didn't watched a single episode after.

 

[Sonik]

Despite its cynical nature because Lindelof is a hack the show's characters were very well written and their story arcs were great. I love the show despite the fact that the mystery was just the cynical asshole making shit up until he invented some vague Deus Ex Machina. The ending for the characters was great too if, again, you ignore the mystery

 

[NuclearDiarrhea]

The season 2 and season 3 intros are still some of the most holy shit moments in television for me. The show really was incredible for the first three years, then the show dedicated an episode to the mystery of Jack's tattoo...

 

[Muffdraul]

I remember seeing previews for the pilot and thinking it looked interesting and wanting to watch it, but I forgot. This was pre-streaming and I didn't have a DVR, so I just shrugged and went on with my life sans Lost. It knew it became super popular and I was very aware people were butthurt about the ending. Eventually I watched it and it worked in my favor that I was braced for a crappy ending, which it definitely was. Just flat out lame.

 

[DKehoe]

I might not consider Lost as being up there as one of the best shows ever but the ride was a lot of fun. The week-to-week speculation about what might be going on is something we've, no pun intended, lost with shows that do the binge model of dropping a whole season at once. The time in between meant most people watching were at the same point and so you could talk about it with your friends more easily. The threads on here for the show were so much fun too.

 

[BillMaxwell]

Still one of the most effective reveals of all time.

Don’t tell me what I can’t do!

 

[BillMaxwell]

It ended in a bullshit way but first 3 season were magic.

Yes!

Season 3 was my favorite.

The reveal of Michael Emerson as Ben Linus in the opener was perfect.

 

[Doom85]

Yes!

Season 3 was my favorite.

The reveal of Michael Emerson as Ben Linus in the opener was perfect.

“So I guess I’m out of the book club?” - Ben

Good shit right there. I remember that being a pretty epic shot getting to see all The Others see the plane split apart above them. Also, Juliet was a great addition, honestly almost everyone they added after Season 1 was great (I think Ana Lucia, Libby, and Charlotte could all have been better, but they were written out before they could really develop. Eko and Daniel did pretty well for the time they had. Miles started off as a frustrating asshole but got way better. And Frank Lapidus was barely focused on, but the actor made him a lot of fun).

 

[LimanimaPT]

I'm watching the show for the first time and I'm already sorry to have entered this thread... Spoilers...

 

[OneBigPuss]

Lost is my "comfort food" show to watch. I can watch the whole thing and then i can start again and enjoy it as much or even more than before.
Im not gonna talk about mysteries, what was and wasn't explained because people just like to hung on it but for me the thing that was and is the essance of the show is the interactions between characters and dialogs and the island itself. It's just feels right in every way and i only see it as a whole experience and not episodes or seasons.
I will revisit it and enjoy it probably for the rest of my life and have as much fun as the first time i watched it in 2010 (i only started watching it when it ended). Its one of the few shows that i fell so strong about.