Did You Stick With Lost?

By the time you read this on Monday, the five-and-a-half year-long TV phenomenon Lost will have come to an end. (Don't worry, this post contains no Lost spoilers!) I'm a big fan of the show, but it's been interesting to hear others' opinions on sticking to such a drawn-out, complicated TV show. For some, television is meant to be a mindless activity; something that lets us tune out and relax after a stressful day. For these types of TV-viewers, a show like Lost, which requires a commitment to watching each episode, the recollection of details of previous episodes, and sometimes heavy thinking to understand plot twist and turns, defies the very essence of what television should be.

But if you look at a story-driven show like Lost through a different lens, it's a little easier to understand the passionate fans and cult-like following the series has gained. We often praise works of literature and film for their excellent storytelling and character development, but too often we lump all TV shows, along with other media like video games and animation, into the "mindless junk" category. I think the plot, characters, and storytelling of shows like the Lost series have proven to be comparable to those of the "higher" and "finer" storytelling arts. Sure, Lost might be more on the level of Harry Potter than War and Peace, but it should still be spared from being classified as mind-rotting. If you remove those types of media from their "mindless" stigma and look at them more like works of art or literature, it's easier to understand why so many people have invested so much time and energy into their consumption.

No matter how great the artistic merits of Lost may be, however, six years is a long time to commit to anything, especially a piece of media. My husband and I were lucky enough to experience Lost in a unique way: we watched all of the previous seasons over the course of the month of March, and we've been able to experience the excitement of watching the new episodes as they air since we got caught up.

After experiencing both methods of viewing the show, my conclusion is that I might not have lasted if I started watching five years ago. I've heard from a lot of people who got frustrated with the storyline after two or three seasons and stopped following the show. Watching entire seasons all together makes the story feel much more cohesive, and it's easier to just keep watching when you don't have to wait from week to week. And while there is definitely something fun and electric about being up-to-date with the latest episode, anticipating and theorizing about what will happen next with fans around the world, the wait for each new episode is exhausting. By the time the next episode comes around, I've often forgotten what happened in the last one, much less what happened three seasons ago.

A show so complex and demanding really puts viewers in a tough spot. Do you commit to it, give the show your ratings and support so it keeps airing, be part of the excitement, but agonize during the break between episodes and seasons? Or do you wait until the entire show is finished, enjoy it in one, cohesive chunk of episodes, and pray you don't accidentally hear any spoilers? There may not be a best way to enjoy an unwieldy series such as Lost, and its inaccessibility might turn some viewers off. Nevertheless, it's been exciting to see Lost push the boundaries of its medium as a storytelling platform.