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10 Years Later: LOST

by Jason Hellerman on September 25, 2014

It was the show that captured hearts and minds across the globe. Before the bubble of network television burst (some would argue with this show's end), before cable and Netflix became powerhouses, there was LOST.

Twenty-one million people tuned in for the pilot, over the course of the series the show average almost 15 million viewers weekly. Water-cooler talk was dedicated to what was going on with the island, the smoke monster, and if you were on Team Jack or Team Sawyer.

Lost was a phenomenon. An icon that stayed with us. For the next six years, Lost stayed strong in ratings and the cultural lexicon. The phrase #NotPennysBoat trended on Twitter this week, reminding us that while Lost is gone, it has certainly not been forgotten.

What made Lost so incredible? Was there a formula? A strong hook? Dumb luck?  It seems like a mixture. One thing is for certain, Lost's staying power was reinforced by its uncanny ability to give us characters we cared about, and a mystery that continuously unraveled.

Every TV exec has spent the last decade trying to find their "Lost," with brief detours trying to find their "Breaking Bad" and "The Office" in between. The idea of writing complex science fiction for an audience that doesn't flock to quotes by famous philosophers and physics professors isn't the nosiest hook, but what helped Lost stand apart was that it really focused on people and their relationships. The broken marriages, lottery winners, ex-cons, father/son con artists, and doctors. Don't forget the yellow lab.

Everything, even the island disappearing, the smoke monster, and Dharma was seen through the light of the personal relationships surrounding it. Incredibly, Lost spent a lot of time tricking us into examining the annuls of the physically impossible by focusing us on the stakes between people.

Penny looking for Desmond, Jack performing spinal surgery on Ben, Rousseau's message, and even Walt's premonitions would be wild if proposed on their own, but seen as connections between people we've come to care about on the human side made us disregard the science / wonder.

So if you plan on writing or developing your own Lost, I suggest you start with the people and not the island. Build out from complex, relatable characters and see where their lives take you.

If you find yourself stuck underwater remember one thing . . . that may not be Penny's boat.

 

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