Is ABC stranding potential new Lost fans? New York Daily News critic David Bianculli thinks so. In a scathing column published today, Bianculli complains about ”the maddening way ABC is rerunning episodes of Lost this summer,” and as a result, ”really upsetting long-time fans who have tried to bring new viewers to the series during ABC’s ‘See it all, from the very beginning’ summer cycle.”
The problem, says Bianculli, is that the network is not, as advertised, showing every one of the first season’s 24-episode run; for example, ABC is skipping from episode 11 last week to episode 14 this week. Because the suspenseful series ”relies on an intricate sequential story structure,” says Bianculli, the rerun policy makes characters’ story lines very hard to follow.
Are you among the Lost neophytes struggling to keep up? Post your burning questions here and see if folks in the know can help you out. Either that, or check out EW.com’s season’s worth of TV Watches.
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I am pissed!!!! I am from NY and I read the article in the paper this morning. I thought that last weeks episode was a little off. They were mentioning things that I thought I couldn’t have missed….for ex. Claire claiming someone attacked her and Jack not believing her. That apparently was in episode 10, which was never re-run. UGH!!!!! And now i find out that they are skipping 2 more episodes!!! I missed the boat to the Lost island in the beginning and right now, i don’t know if i will ever catch it again!
Eh, the complete first season will come out in like a year.
Get a grip, people… the entire first season comes out on DVD in September!
Sigh. ABC’s done this before — this is the same reason why I didn’t end up watching Homefront. After seeing ads hyping the show’s praise, I checked out a summer rerun of the pilot and was impressed. The next episode skipped ahead to the point that some major storylines not in the pilot were in full swing.
UPN has done virtually the same thing with Veronica Mars. They showed the pilot, then the third episode, then the sixth … they’re on continuity now, but it’s pretty late in the season. I can’t wait for the DVD to come out.
I don’t think the networks really do a good job at summer reruns and continuity, ever. It does make it hard for those of us who play catch up.
I don’t care if the season is coming out on DVD in Sept. If they had told us this in the beginning of the summer, I would have not watched and waited for it. NOW i don;t want to watch it on TV OR buy the DVD. it’s like watching 24 and skipping 3 hrs. POINTLESS
Well I for one am glad he came out with this article. I have about 8 episodes saved right now on the ti-vo from summer reruns. I will not waste my time or my memory space now and wait for the dvd to come out since we all know a cleared ti-vo is a clear mind.
I know it’s not the same as seeing it, but televisionwithoutpity.com has incredibly detailed recaps of all the episodes. I missed a few episodes during the season and kept up that way.
Thank God I found this blurb, because I was so confused. I kept checking my DVR to make sure there wasn’t an episode on there that I somehow missed. So when does the 1st season DVD come out?
That article is so on the money! I watched almost every episode the first time around, & loved it so much that I talked family members into watching the re-runs. I couldn’t figure out what in the heck happened last week. I was having to try to remember what had happened before, without giving away something that would happen later. I was sooo frustrated! I don’t remember who’s back stories were told when, & those have some really important things in them.
YES!! I HAAAAAAATE THAT I’m missing important info…. yeah, I can catch up when the DVD comes out, but by that time, some of the surprises will be ruined, and I won’t be able to appreciate the build up. To make things worse, ABC’s Video channel will let you play recaps and highlights from the reruns already aired, but not the episodes that were skipped! I mean, give us some opportunity to catch up
Actually, right at the end of last season ABC made no bones about the fact that they would not be running every single episode. There were whole articles out on the fact that they would be skipping the slower moving episodes. They had also announced when the DVD would be coming out. Is it their fault that some people didn’t pay attention to the entertainment news around that time?
I am also watching summer reruns to catch up after missing most of the show last fall. I thought I was losing my mind when they mentioned the Claire attack. I will continue watching just because the show is good, but I will definitely keep up with the new season!
Honestly, I’m a little sick of these whiners. Have they never watched television before? When has there *EVER* been enough time during summer to repeat every episode of a series in order? Do the math – it just can’t happen without doubling up episodes, and ABC can’t afford to do that. No network could! Considering the large number of series that don’t get any repeats in the summer, people who missed out on LOST the first time should feel lucky that they’re getting anything at all! We live in a time where people have more options about catching up on television than ever before – internet recaps, friends who have TIVOed the series, *cough* downloading *cough*. Not to mention that the DVD set will be out before the new season starts. If anyone involved in this “debate” was proposing a new television distribution model, an “On Demand” service for the networks, we’d be getting somewhere, but pretending like ABC is somehow deliberately alienating audiences is petty and laughable. If watching the whole series was so important to these viewers, then they should have made an effort to try and watch it during the regular run – exactly the way TV has worked for the last four decades. Not doing so is obviously going to have consequences, and unless you’re willing to do something real about it, quit whimpering into your blog and suck it up.
Amen Sean! Very well put.
All I have to say is: DVD in 30 days. F*** ABC, wait until it comes out on DVD, that way you get to skip all those annoying commercials. Check Netflix or Amazon, they both have a Sept. release date.
Calm down people, it’s only tv. I too am just catching Lost for the first time this summer and was perplexed when all of a sudden things jumped ahead by an episode. All this meeans to me is that I can start watching the DVDs from Disk 3 instead of Disk 1.
I have to agree with Bianculli’s comments. The choice to not play all of the episodes is so obviously a ploy to force people to buy the DVD. TV on the mainstream networks is supposed to be available to everyone who has simple cable. I don’t know why Lost gets to have a different set of rules. Those who caught on to Lost late should not be punished by having to purchase an unwanted DVD. I don’t quite understand the point of purchasing a DVD of a television season anyway. Once I watch it, I don’t really need to see it again. So, I guess I’ll live without seeing those episodes not included in the reruns.
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