As Lost fans are keenly aware, exec producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof usually remain in "radio silence" (their term) after the conclusion of every season until their annual summit meeting with thousands of geeked-up loyalists at Comic-Con each July in San Diego. However, in advance of this year's much anticipated appearance (slated for the morning of July 25, according to insiders), Cuse and Lindelof have been giving interviews to press over in England while they attend a salute to Lost at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Not that they are saying much: in an interview with Digital Spy, the producers declined to answer questions about the season 5 finale (specifically: is Juliet really dead?) and wouldn't comment on their last season vision. But when asked what seems to be the burning question of the moment--will we be seeing departed characters like Boone, Shannon and Charlie make return appearances next year?--Lindelof teased that they do hope to give many fan favorites some sort of "curtain call." How might Lost accomplish that creative feat, given most of these departed folks are, like, dead? TBD, though Lindelof does remind us that Lost was figuratively time traveling (see: flashbacks and flash-forwards) long before it was literally time traveling (see: season 5). Then again, when it comes to Season Six, Lindelof tells Digital Spy, "anything goes." (You can also view the entire video interview at darkufo.blogspot.com,. though be warned: the clip is housed in the site's spoiler section, despite not being overly spoilery.)
There's been other Lost news recently, too. Last week, word got out that there will be 18 hours next season instead of the planned 17. The extra 60 minutes will be used to mount a two-hour season premiere. Also, ABC and the producers are asking fans to write and record their own "mock theme song" for Lost. Now this is a challenge that just may inspire me to pick up the guitar that my wife and kids gave me for Father's Day, despite my total lack of six-string experience. But it's never too late to learn. And as it happens, I work with a pretty aces guitar player: none other than "Totally Lost" co-host Dan Snierson. Maybe he can give me some pointers. Maybe we can write our own Lost mock theme song! And maybe we could even perform it... at our own "Totally Lost" panel at Comic-Con! Yes, you read that right: we're doing the panel thing. And if you're going to Comic-Con, we hope you'll come! I'll have some more details for you the week of July 20. Until then, send me your questions, theories, and funny pictures to DocJensenEW@gmail.com--I am answering email this summer!
Our special summer Must List double issue is on stands now. But you know what's not on stands? Exclusive video with many of the stars of the issue! (Everyone knows you can't put video "on stands" -- it just doesn't make any sense, for Pete's sake.) So if you were hoping to take a gander behind the scenes at our sexy Megan Fox photo shoot, spend a few moments with Lost's Josh Holloway, see what cover boy Ryan Reynolds has to say, or hang with the cast of True Blood, then have we got the video for you. What video, you ask? Why, the latest episode of Must List Live!, of course. Click on the video below to take it all in. And if you thought last night's True Blood development with Lafayette was shocking, wait till you see what trashy reality show actor Nelsan Ellis is obsessed with. The answer awaits...
The master list of possible Emmy nominees was recently announced, and we at EW were thrilled to see that Josh Holloway, who has played Sawyer on Lost since its first season back in 2004, is among the mix of potential candidates for Best Supporting Actor. Season 5 was a great year for the 39-year-old star, whose wise-cracking, morally ambiguous con man character completed a series-long shift to full-fledged romantic hero as he led the castaways through time travel peril and fell in love with Jughead-banging Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell). His grief as he watched his Dharma lady slip out of his hands and fall to her doom was one of the TV season's most heartbreaking moments. While we hope Emmy remembers Holloway when it winnows its list of Best Supporting Actor players down to a final five, we decided to move ahead and give him an honor of our own by putting Holloway's in this year's Must Issue, EW's annual summertime compendium of essential artists, performers, and assorted coolness.
In my previous trips to the Lost set in Hawaii, I have always found Holloway to be extremely cordial, charming, and curious about the mysteries of his show. He's always demonstrated a deep concern that Sawyer remain emotionally credible and compelling without being melodramatic or over the top. And he takes Sawyer's quips very seriously: When I visited at the end of Season 2, I remember watching him pace through the jungle, rehearsing his lines over and over again to himself, wanting to make sure Sawyer's new Prince-esque nickname for Ben Linus ("The artist formerly known as Henry Gale") tripped easily off his tongue. I encountered a slightly different Holloway at our Must Issue photo shoot in the Hollywood Hills late last month. He was as cool and engaging as always, but greatly enhanced by the glee and marvel (and exhaustion) of new fatherhood. (His daughter, Java, was born last April.) The guy certainly has a certain impact on ladies: At one point during the photo shoot, I spotted a member of our crew discreetly pick up one of Holloway's shirts and give it a good long sniff. Seriously.
I got a chance to chat with Holloway after the pics were snapped, which we present to you in the three parts. In Part 1, embedded below, the actor talks about Sawyer's romance with Juliet and their tragic parting. In Parts 2 and 3, Holloway talks about his bloody confrontation with Matthew Fox's Jack Shephard in the season finale and also discusses some theories with yours truly about where the castaways will finds themselves at the start of Lost's sixth and final season.
Back in March, when Disney and ABC announced that they were finally releasing the first two seasons of Lost on Blu-ray (both are on sale today), I was both elated and frustrated. On the one hand, I was imagining how neat these two box sets would look stacked up alongside my Lost season 3 and 4 Blu-rays. On the other hand, I wasn't looking forward to a dilemma that all Blu-ray addicts like me go through regularly: the double-dip decision. I already own Lost season 1 and 2 on DVD -- how much do I really want them on Blu-ray, too?
My brain goes through a series of intricate, sometimes irrational, calculations to determine if it's worth investing in Blu-ray versions of standard definition DVDs I already own. In cases like these Lost Blu-rays, which have the same bonus features as their lower-def DVD counter-parts, double-dipping is even more painful. But Lost is my favorite show on TV by a country mile and Disney has done an exceptional job with the other Lost Blu-rays (the image quality is even better than that of the high-def broadcasts), so ultimately, I went for the upgrade. With other video releases -- I'm looking at you 12 Monkeys Blu-ray coming out next month -- the answer isn't as easy.
What about you PopWatchers? What criteria do you use when you decide to double-dip with a Blu-ray purchase?
Okay, the juicy news first. Matthew Fox has reportedly spilled some intel on Lost's top secret sixth and final season. Appearing at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, the actor--whose character Jack Shephard is presumed obliterated by a hydrogen bomb called Jughead (see: the Season 5 finale)--fielded some questions about the narrative structure of next year's episodes, and even went so far as to guess how audiences might react to it. You can read TV Guide's summary of Fox's comments here--and you can read my extensive analysis in my much-delayed Doc Jensen column, posting at long last on Monday.
In other Lost news, exec producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof will be breaking their post-season-finale radio silence on Wednesday, although probably not in the fashion you were expecting. Still, it sounds entertaining: The producers will be appearing on an episode of Top Chef Masters. Contestants will prepare a meal for Cuse and Lindelof, using only foodstuffs one might find on the Island: seafood, tropical fruit, and--ugh--boar meat. (Seriously: Check out the boar's head in this sneak peek of the episode.) I don't normally watch the show, but now, of course, it's on my radar, as I have no doubt the episode will be encoded with clues and studded with oblique literary references that require my obsessive scrutiny. My guess is that it's probably going to be pretty entertaining, too.
But as entertaining as the season finale of "Totally Lost"? Man, I would have to say it's a toss-up. Yes, kids: It's done. A monstrous, madcap opus, featuring the resolution of the big mystery everyone is talking about: Who shot Pig E.? (Key: "everyone" = 36 people) You'll get Pig E.'s orientation video, plus the character introduction of the year, that international man of mystery, Ben Svetkey. Come back here Monday for the goods and the crazy. In the meantime: Who knew Al Trautwig of "Al Trautwig's Lost Thoughts" was actually THE Al Trautwig, the famous New York-area sportscaster! I didn't! But now that I know, I'm totally obsessed. Check out his stuff here--dude is smart!
Attention,
Lost fans! Planning on seeing Will Ferrell’s comic remake of the kid cult
classic Land of the Lost this weekend? Then here’s something fun for you to
think about—maybe more fun than the movie itself, which hasn’t received the
best of reviews. One of my favorite Lost bloggers out there, a guy who posts
under the handle Vozzek69, has posted a pretty extensive comparison of Lost to
the original Land of the Lost. It’s an entertaining read, and when you get to
the stuff about time loops in the episode called “Circle,” you realize that
Land of the Lost was pretty heady for Saturday morning kid pop. Certainly more
entertaining than your average Smurfs episode.
And
speaking of my colleague Michael Ausiello, I’m sure many of you have been
reading his ongoing coverage today of the new ABC promo featuring Dominic "Charlie Pace" Monaghan
playing foosball with Patrick Dempsey of Grey’s Anatomy and Courteney Cox and
Ed O’Neill, each of whom will be headlining new ABC sitcoms this fall. Like
many of you, when I saw the promo, it got my wheels turning—and it reminded me of the Ghost Claire theory I shared with Michael's readers the other day. It also reminded me anew of my promise, as yet unfulfilled, to file one more Doc Jensen column that
offers some theories about Season 6. Alas, this column is not yet complete—just as the fabled last episode of "Totally Lost" remains unfinished. This epic comic fantasia—involving extravagant special
effects, a strange film-within-a-film, and a complex narrative structure that
might be likened to David Lynch’s Lost Highway meets Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From
Outer Space—is still in post-production, and we ain’t letting it out until we gets
it right! Although personally, I like the idea of never putting out, and having
it fade away into legend—the fabled “lost episode” of "Totally Lost"…
The week has reached its end, and there should be a new Doc Jensen column here for you to read. Right? After all, I promised you as much a couple days ago when I posted an item in this space apologizing for the absence of my promised Wednesday column. Well, guess what? I'm here again, in this space, to offer you yet another apology. You see, a funny thing happened since I made my Friday pledge, something I like to call ... work.
For when the last season of Lost concluded two long weeks ago, my editors took me aside and said, Look, dude. We know you'd like nothing better than to spend the next nine months sitting in your office eating Ding Dongs and swilling vodka while combing through Wikipedia for ideas for new theories -- but not this year. In this economy, you gotta earn your keep, or we gotta cut you loose. So here are your options: You can clean the toilets, or you can write about summertime reality television. What's it gonna be?
About 20 hours of scrubbing and bleaching later, I have found time to file this item, informing you of yet another delay.
The good news is that I do a lot of my best thinking while I'm in the bathroom. And so, during the course of my janitorial work, I have had a of couple epiphanies that I intend to share with you in my final column. For example:
It has been two weeks since the season finale of Lost, and my mad, murky mind is still whirring and pinwheeling with thoughts and theories and assorted tomfoolery. For example, I find myself seriously entertaining the notion that the famous Lost phrase "Don't tell me what I can't do!" -- uttered frequently and in various forms by headstrong heroes John Locke and Jack Shephard -- has all along been a coded reference to Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant. "Don't tell me what I. Kant do!" Get it?!
Then again, such musings may be evidence that the Doc Jensen brain needs to go on a restorative, sanity-healing hiatus, too. But I promised you one more column, and I intend to deliver...very, very soon. By the end of the week. Why the delay? For starters, I want the season's last official column to include the year's last official episode of "Totally Lost" -- and we're still fine-tuning it.
In addition, I am still sifting through the results of my survey question: What are your top three "non-negotiables" -- the mysteries Lost MUST resolve during its final season in order for you to be satisfied? I got thousands of e-mails -- and I must say, rather scoldingly, that many of them didn't quite follow the rules I laid out. For example, many of you got confused, and instead of giving me three mysteries, you gave me, like, 39. Also, some of you wrote each of your three questions in the form of 700 word mini-essays that included, like, 10 other mysteries embedded within it.
But at least I can be grateful that you took the survey seriously. To reward your patience, I'd like to share with you the top 10, in no particular order, based on the surveys I've tabulated so far:
Where did Claire go? What's the deal with The Island's Egyptian-themed ancient history? Where are stewardess Cindy and the kids? What's the deal with The Numbers? What's Libby's backstory What's Richard Alpert's backstory? What is the secret of The Island's power (time travel, healing properties, etc.) What is The Monster? Why could Walt do the weird things he could do? What is Jacob's backstory?
I'll reveal the ranked top 20 for you when my Doc Jensen column posts.
One more thing: Have you heard that Lost has quietly announced the identity of the Four Toed Statue? Nope, it ain't the Egyptian gods Anubis, Sobek or Set. If you wanna know, click here. I'll have some analysis for you in the Doc Jensen to come.
If anything, last night's season finale of Lost made two things crystal clear to me: (1) The show is coming to an end pretty soon, finally; and (2) Josh Holloway is definitely the best thing about Lost's top-notch acting ensemble. Apropos of both points, then, here's my question for the guy who plays Sawyer/James/LaFleur: Isn't it about time you became a big star already, my man? C'mon! Get on with it! The show's ending, game on!
I'm serious here -- besides being the justifiable subject of many a woman/man crush (sure, I'm guilty as charged), Holloway proved in this breakthrough season that he really is a terrific actor with depth and charisma to spare. I mean, why did everyone respond so well (and so quickly) to the out-of-nowhere Sawyer-Juliet romance? Why did it seem to resonate so much more than pretty much every other love affair on Lost this side of Rose and Bernard? As Jon Lovitz would say, "Acting!" (Yes, credit is also due to Elizabeth Mitchell, though we already knew she was great.) All season long, Holloway totally sold it, making us believe that Sawyer truly is a lover and a fighter. And in the season finale he completely cemented his status as a leading man-to-be.
This guy has got to become a movie star. And now, with one year remaining on Lost, it's the perfect time to begin. Holloway had once been slated to appear as Gambit in Wolverine, and while he'd be a good choice for most any superhero character, I can see him in a range of movies -- from romantic comedies to thrillers -- playing good guys and bad. Certainly, he has what it takes to be the show's big breakout; after all, none of the other actors have managed to seriously capitalize on their fame.
Don't you agree, PopWatchers? What should be Holloway's next move? Think maybe George Lucas should consider starting up a Han Solo spin-off franchise for him?
It has been two weeks since 
If anything, 
And so this is how season 5 ends,...
