Watching LOST on DVD is really the best way to watch it. I almost wish that I hadn't found LOST, no pun intended, until the last season was over just so that I could have watched it all the way through. Not that I won't do that anyway.
Or abc.com I started watching at the end of season 1. I think I watched all of Season 2 before I got the Season 1 DVD and was able to catch up. And when I did, I watched Lost for 4 hours a day. It'd be harder to catch up now. I think I missed 22 episodes that first season, only saw the finale. Somebody brand new to Lost would be 92 episodes behind right now. If somebody got really into, they could probably plow through a season a week and be caught up in month if they didn't burn themselves out. If somebody watched 2 episodes a week starting now, they'd be close to catching up in time for the start of the final season. But I don't think people want to put in that much effort. If they haven't been inclined to watch the show yet, they're not going to all of a sudden go hardcore and watch 2 or 3 episodes a week.
I watched using abc.com as well as streaming sites. I started watching at the end of season 3, I was able to catch up all 3 seasons in less than a month. I was consistently doing 3 episodes per day, sometimes more if I can't wait to find out what happens next.
My cousin watched all 4 seasons and caught up in the 5th season in like 2 1/2 weeks. He just caught up like two episodes ago.
LOST & ratings: there was a lot of factors involved in LOST's ratings roller coaster: -LOST being such a continuity-driven (only somewhat episodic) show, like 24, that airing it in a continuous manner is necessary or it will drive people away. The first two seasons, they aired ~9 fall episodes, than reruns, then ~8 episodes in Jan/Feb, then reruns, then the final 5 or 6 episodes. On other shows, it was livable, with this show, again like 24, it was frustrating and easy to get confused. -The producers absolutely put the plane in a holding pattern during the second half of S2 until ABC had it out with them halfway through S3. They really earned a rep for being overly mysterious and leaving viewers out dry with the "make things 3x more confusing anytime you reveal something" gameplan. I can't blame anyone that quit watching during this period. I also warn anyone about to watch the DVDs about pushing through that patch. -ABC kept flip flopping the nights and times, mostly out of fear of American Idol. This is never good for shows. -The whole live ratings vs DVR angle. I believe LOST's numbers remained very strong when DVR was added in. Watching LOST on DVD: I'm a big fan of this in general, LOVING it for FX shows like Sunny, Shield, Rescue Me, and Damages. But I'd actually say it's not the ideal way to watch LOST, unless you really take your time doing so. This is a show were they stuff in SO much, so many subtle bits, that if you watch straight through, you miss or forget 90% of it. You're just plot-gazing. This show half-demands that you chew and digest each episode for a while. That you hit discussion boards or LOSTpedia. There's too much for any single person to catch in a single viewing. There's things like the blast door map that you need a screenshot and a translation to feed off of. If you're watching straight through, you almost need to watch each episode twice - the second time with a notebook handy. Looking forward to tonight! Probably another slow episode, two more before they ramp up for the mega-finale.
You might be right about this. I had my girl watch all of the first four seasons over the summer and fall, and now she just lost interest. Kinda ticks me off, but you can't make someone watch something.
I swear that it was the other way around. That the producers knew how they wanted to tell the story but were forced to tread water because ABC just wanted them to pump out more episodes and wouldn't agree to a timetable for when the show would end. The pacing of the show suffered because ABC wanted it to go longer than 6 seasons and the producers had to throw in a bunch of filler to try to slow down the already set story. When the producers finally got ABC to agree to a timetable, then they were able to plot out exactly how the rest of the story would unfold and the pace picked back up.
Cannonball's description is the way I heard it too (on a LOST podcast with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof).
Was just gonna post that....LOL @ Tim Heller. And he did that update in a rush too. 13 must be gettin calls from angry Lost fans, unfazed by a Tornado Warning....
I can't believe he's actually dead. But if I were Sayid, I would have put a couple more bullets in the back of his head just to be sure.
Im confused....did Sayid kill young Ben and he's a ghost or did he fail in his murder attempt. Or did he kill young Ben, and thus the Ben we all know is now no more?
