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October 07, 2005
Loving “Lost"
Recently my husband bought the first season of “Lost" on DVD. He bought it on a whim, knowing next to nothing about the show.
We were quickly hooked. At the end of each episode, we’d look at each other and ask “One more?" Sometimes we watched as many as three or four episodes in a day. The show is like a book you just can’t put down.
The show reminds me of “Firefly" (another favorite) in several ways.
First, based on the advertising of the show, I never would have watched it. I didn’t watch a single episode of “Firefly" when it was on TV, only giving the show a chance when a friend handed me the DVD set and said “trust me."
The marketing of “Lost" didn’t appeal to me either. It looked like a reality show, like a knock-off of “Survivor" or something. I didn’t realize it wasn’t a reality show until I was flipping channels and recognized Mira Furlan in an episode. (Furlan played Delenn in “Babylon Five," another favorite show.)
The marketing of “Lost" didn’t give me any sense of the many things I would love about the show, which brings me to the second similarity – the brilliant writing.
It wasn’t until I actually watched some episodes of “Lost" that I realized it had these things going for it:
• depth of story-telling
• an intricate web of connections between a seemingly random group of people
• a strong ensemble of characters/actors with complex characterizations
• an island that itself becomes a character in the story, one that may even at times be orchestrating or manipulating the story, one that has moods and perhaps a will of its own
• strong themes of faith and love and loyalty and sacrifice
The only good thing I got from the ads was the mystery. And frankly that wasn’t enough.
I’m glad I found the show and I can hardly wait to get to season two.
I also wish the marketing people would do a better job.
Why is it that the marketing of a show or movie so often doesn’t match the actual product?
I wish someone could answer that for me.
Posted by Selena at October 7, 2005 04:47 PM