So I figured it was time for me to weigh in on the whole discussion of whether the writers creating Lost in fact have any idea what they are doing. I'm a little late to Lost - you can thread back some of my previous posts starting here. There seems to be a movement to reject Lost as being a big shaggy-dog story and they they'll never be able to make it all hang together. I don't understand it though, in that I don't see what it is in season three that is making people claim that. It's plausible and I can admit the possiblity - but I don't think anything that has happened recently strengthens the argument. I also don't know why you'd sit down and sat "I'm going to watch this show", agree to take the ride as it were, and then start assuming partway through there's a huge bait and switch afoot. There are a lot of unanswered questions, some of which stretch back to the beginning of the show, but I've seen web commentary about how they keep introducing new elements to distract the viewers. I don't agree with that - they introduce new elements to move certain plots forward and in some cases to introduce new elements that may be needed later.I'm not 100% convinced they know what they are doing, but I'm still comfortable just enjoying the ride and seeing what happens. It's not as good a show as it was, but it's still pretty good - better than most of what's available.I also have to extend a lot of credit to Lost because I very much think that we wouldn't have Heroes without Lost. Lost proved that mainstream America will watch a sci-fi show (if it's properly concealed), watch a show with a strong story arc, and watch a show where not every little detail is spoon-fed to the viewer. There are a lot of shows this year that trace a direct lineage to those realizations. Back during the first season of Battlestar Galactica I said it was the best show on TV at the time, and I stand by that (for the first season mind you - boy what a letdown that show has become this year), but it was a basic cable show that caught a basic cable audience that was already pigeonholed into a sci-fi ghetto. Lost broke out of that and got a mainstream audience and I think you can see a direct lineage from that to Heroes or even Jericho this fall. And Heroes holds the crown of "Best show on TV" right now, so I'm glad that Lost broke the way to that. It hasn't been that long since all of network TV was a wasteland of stupid "reality" shows, I'm glad to see real scripted TV make a comeback.Even if turns out they have no idea what they are doing at the end of it all :-)

technorati tags:Lost, television

Blogged with Flock

Last night Karin and I went to San Francisco to see One Man Star Wars Trilogy. I was pretty sure I would enjoy it of course, and I thought Karin would but that's a dicier proposition. I'm happy to report that it is very funny and she enjoyed it throughly. It's surprisingly faithful to the movies (he didn't actually do Greedo so I can't say who shot first), but has enough sly digs at all the cheesiness to carry it. And when he gets up to Kenobi's "What I told you was true, from a certain point of view." he elaborates on it with information from Revenge of the Sith - "I cut off his arm. And his legs. And then he fell into a river of lava. So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view."

Charles Ross is a very talented actor and mime - he can really carry Chewbacca's vocalizations and Yoda's motions well. His AT-AT and AT-ST were impressive - those are images that are graven on my brain and his evocation was as note-perfect as I can imagine a human body can get (including the ridiculous Ewok fights from Jedi.) Jabba pretty much brought the house down - he had to pause for a moment because of laughter - although I personally thought his Nien Nunb was funnier but you have to be a geek to even know who that is (he's the goofy guy with the huge jowls and ears who copiloted the Falcon during the battle at the end of Jedi).

The show is in San Francisco for another couple of weeks, and if you can get there I recommend it. It's right off of Union Square - you can park there in the underground garage, get some dinner, and see the show for a very nice evening out.

technorati tags:StarWars, CharlesRoss, OneManStarWars, entertainment

Blogged with Flock