This week I turn my attention to one of the most shocking and sad moments in the history of Lost. It was a huge turn of events, particularly for the character of Ben. It was nothing more than a simple “held at gunpoint” scenario that has been used many times before. However, this time it would be different. It was such a great moment because the writers and creators of Lost decided to buck all the conventions regarding the cliched scenario.

That’s right, I’m talking about the standoff between Keamy (from the freighter) and Ben that included Alex being held at gunpoint that was featured in the fourth season episode “The Shape of Things to Come.”

For me, this was truly one of the more shocking moments from the show, eliciting an actual gasp from me when Keamy pulled the trigger and killed Alex execution style. I certainly didn’t see that outcome coming. Ben didn’t either, as he was calling Keamy’s bluff (or so he thought). What made the event even more tragic was the fact that Ben was calling the bluff by announcing how little Alex meant to him, hoping that the lies would make Keamy let her go. Instead, Alex’s final moments were full of hearing the man she considered a father saying how much he didn’t love her. Ouch.

Even though the moment was especially cruel to both Ben (not normally a very sympathetic character) and Alex, you have to give credit to the writers. By exploiting a cliche from TV and the movies, they were able to create a very powerful episode.

Alex’s death was a real turning point for Ben’s character. It was the culmination of his battle with the freighter folk (as sent by Charles Widmore) and marked the end of his time of power on the island. Ever since Alex’s death Ben has been a broken man and has gone from evil mastermind to struggling weasel. Sure, he still is constantly trying to manipulate and outsmart people, but Ben is no longer in a position of power. Instead, he is constantly trying to claw his way back into the island’s good graces.

While Alex’s death may have been one of the sadder moments of the series, it has set up Ben’s character for a great final season. I can’t wait to see what the writers have in store for us.

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Okay, I will admit up front that the title of this post is most likely an overstatement, but look at Ben. He’s very sad, and do you know why? It’s because the final season of Lost is not going to be shown uninterrupted as last season was. Instead, it will be broken up by the winter Olympics that are scheduled to occur in the final weeks of February. Ben, and I, are both unhappy about this turn of events.

I suppose it’s not such a big deal, but when I was told the news, I was a little pissed.

I understand, and appreciate, that the Olympics are a big deal. It’s great to see the world put all of our differences aside and come together for a couple weeks of spirited athletic competition. It really is. On the other hand, I love Lost way more than I like the Olympics. Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of Olympics. Sure, I love the spirit of the Olympics, but watching hours upon hours of cross country skiing and ice dancing just isn’t my bag (full disclosure: four years ago I did become a little obsessed with curling. It’s fascinating).

I would understand the whole thing a little more if ABC were broadcasting the Olympics, but they’re going to be on NBC. I would think that there are a lot of people that would appreciate a little counter-programming during the two week sporting event. Having said that, knowing myself, I will probably get caught up in the Olympics and end up watching them constantly, even after stating otherwise. I know it happened last summer.

I know it’s not really a big deal in the scheme of things, and two weeks isn’t really going to kill the momentum of what is hopefully going to be an amazing final season. It just seems like a curious and unnecessary decision on ABC’s part.

What do you think? Are you more excited for the Olympics, or the final season of Lost?

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The teaser of this week’s Lie to Me ended with the main character, Cal Lightman, seemingly shot dead. There’s been a buzz since the airing that, because there was never any doubt that by the time the end credits rolled the human lie detector would be back on his feet, the drama was all manufactured and, well, empty. Show runner Shawn Ryan has been fielding questions to that point on Twitter. The same sentiment can be found in the comments on Brett’s SG:U post. It begs the question: can television shows ever put their heroes in any realistic danger?

The quick answer — which I will largely ignore for the rest of this post — is no, because in this day and age of Internet spoilers, a main character’s departure from a show would most likely be widely known by airing. Some keep their secrets better than others — Lost, for an example — but in general, we know well before we rightly should as an audience. We actually had a running joke in the weekly Heroes Live-Blog/Chats last year about television characters being “Heroes dead.”

Joss Whedon has done a pretty good job of layering in that uncertainty. Eric Balfour was touted as a member of the cast on Buffy, but didn’t make it through two episodes. Even better was Doyle on Angel. By all reports, Whedon figured early on that Doyle didn’t really “mesh” with the other characters on the show, and decided very early on to make the change. Battlestar Galactica also set the tone well (still shocked by Dualla’s final scene).

The question, however, is deeper than if the audience has been “spoiled” or not. We knew at the end of Alias each week that Sydney would find some way, at the last minute, to get out of peril. You could go all the way back to Batman, and then well past that to the weekly pulp serials that influence so much of television today. So how can we, as an audience, buy into what’s going on on screen enough to believe that the principals of any given show are in danger?

I’ve given you a quick answer, and I’ve asked the question again. So, my real answer? I don’t really know. For me, it’s easy enough to suspend disbelief and enjoy the (hopefully) good performances by the actors and writers. For those that can’t do that, well, I don’t know what to say. Ryan’s point above sums up my opinion: if you can’t enjoy the ride for what it is, then you’re watching the wrong channel.

What do you think?

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I hear so many people say that they gave up on Lost during the third season. I will admit that the short block of episodes that opened the season was probably the lowest point in Lost’s history. The entire Jack, Sawyer, and Kate in cages story line just didn’t work. However, once the season got going it turned out to be just as great as the rest of the show, culminating in an amazing season finale.

Yes, I talked about “Through the Looking Glass” in my column last week, but the episode did include more than one great moment. After talking about the flashforward twist last week, this week I want to turn my focus to Charlie’s death.

Through a lot of season three, there was a big will-they-won’t-they dynamic going on with Charlie’s fate. Desmond was having visions of the future, with the vast majority of them ending in Charlie’s death. Every time Desmond changed his foretold events to save Charlie, he would have another one predicting Charlie’s demise. After so much build up, we pretty much knew that Charlie was going to drown. Heck, even Charlie knew that he was going to drown in the Looking Glass station, even if everyone was hoping that he wouldn’t.

The knowledge that Charlie was most likely going to meet his death in the episode didn’t take away from the impact of the scene at all. Like Penny and Desmond’s phone call in season four, I think the production of this scene was just perfect. The quiet music that played as Charlie frantically wrote on his hand in slow motion, trying to get the message to Desmond set the mood perfectly. Each little touch really worked well.

It was hard to say goodbye to Charlie, but at the same time it was great to see such a satisfying story arc completed for the character. To think that Charlie started the series as a selfish washed up rock star junkie and ended up being, most likely, the purest hero of the series is pretty incredible. In a show filled with flawed characters, Charlie’s sacrifice for the rest of the 815ers underscored how good of a person Charlie really was.

If Juliet’s sacrifice at the end of last season actually worked, perhaps she and Charlie will both get different (and hopefully happy) endings.

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The long offseason continues to march on. With each passing day and week we get closer and closer to the final season of Lost. We still have months to go, however, which is a bit discouraging. To help us get through this Lost lull, I’ve been recapping some of my favorite moments of the show. Indeed, there have been many, but this week’s was perhaps the most shocking.

Yes, this week I want to talk about the finale of season 3.

To say that the twist ending of “Through the Looking Glass” was a game-changing moment on Lost would be a great understatement. Up until that episode, the show had a very well defined storytelling structure. Virtually every episode that came before it featured flashbacks that focused on the lives of the characters before they found themselves on the island. There was no reason, then, to suspect that the finale should be anything different.

However, while watching the episode I couldn’t help but wonder where this crazy, wildly bearded version of Jack came from. Where did this episode in his life fit in with the rest of the flashbacks that we had seen? I didn’t give it too much thought as the episode went along, as I was far too enthralled with what I was seeing on screen. I think this episode was one of the most intense viewing experiences I’ve ever had. I was just mesmerized by my television.

The payoff came at the end of the episode when Jack finally met with an old friend. The car door opened and the audience saw… Kate! How could this be? What did this mean? Well, by now we all know that what we had been seeing during the episode was a flashforward, and not a flashback. It was a genius, inspired move by the writers of the show, throwing the whole Lost universe on its head.

In one brief scene so much information was divulged: people had made it off the island. The island really was just an island somewhere on Earth. All the completely far out theories involving purgatory, or other planets, or any other really hard scifi ideas were pretty much tossed out the window. A world of infinite possibilities had just been whittled down considerably.

This plot twist really did change the face of Lost, with the familiar storytelling formula being tossed out the window. It may have also been the greatest instance of a show toying with their audience, and if you’re anything like me, you loved it.

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I would be remiss to talk about my favorite moments of Lost and not discuss Ben and Locke’s trip to Jacob’s cabin in “The Man Behind the Curtain.” For so long, we had wondered about Jacob, details trickling in slowly (very slowly) over time. Heck, we didn’t even know his name for a few seasons. Then finally the moment came late into season three, when Locke had had enough and insisted on seeing this mysterious “Jacob.” The results, having been built up for three years, were spectacular, making for one of the best moments in one of the best episodes of Lost.

The entire scene in Jacob’s cabin was a huge moment of Lost weirdness. I can remember pouring over every shot and every prop in the cabin, wondering if any of them held significance to the larger Lost story. There was no shortage of interesting things in and around the cabin: an old painting of a dog, jars of unknown liquid, a curious rocking chair, a circle of ash surrounding the small wooden building.

Of course the best moment came when, for a split second, someone appeared in Jacob’s chair. At the time it was assumed that it was Jacob, but that is up in the air after the season finale of season five. Most likely it was Jacob’s nemesis, who was trapped in the cabin with the circle of ash, but that’s really only a theory at this point. I remember when I first watched the episode. I was so enthralled that I did notice the figure in the chair, but it was so quick it didn’t settle in my brain, and by the end of the episode I had completely forgotten about it until I rewound to watch the scene again.

Aside from the contextual elements, it was a really expertly crafted scene, too. The mood surrounding it was downright creepy, the interior of the cabin just light enough to make everything look slightly scary. Everything is scary in the dark. The scene built up perfectly, with Ben talking to the empty chair. Was he just pulling one over on John? Did he really see someone? Why couldn’t Locke? Then it happened: Locke heard a voice say “Help me,” turned on his flashlight, and all hell broke loose.

There’s no doubt this was one of the finest moments of Lost.

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As I continue exploring some of my favorite moments from the past five seasons of Lost, this week I get to the moment that is probably my favorite of them all. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the more polarizing scenes in the show.

I’ve never considered myself a shipper at all, in regards to just about any program, but with Lost I seem to have found my one exception: Desmond and Penny. For me, they really are the heart and soul of the show. While Kate and Jack and Sawyer and Juliet (and Ana Lucia) have spent five years playing relationship musical chairs, Desmond and Penny’s emotions have never wavered. They were always meant for each other. Even when her father orchestrated Desmond’s exile onto the island for years, they were still committed to each other.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you then that one of my most favorite moments of Lost came at the end of “The Constant,” when Desmond was finally able to reach out to Penny and talk to his long lost love, fulfilling a promise made in his altered past.

In “The Constant” we saw Desmond jumping back and forth between the present and the past, a consequence of the island’s wacky mojo. In order to stop this, he needed to contact his “constant,” the one thing in his life that existed in all his time periods and that he cared deeply about. There was never any doubt that this would be Penny.

Throughout the episode we saw Desmond changing his past, trying desperately to get back to Penny whom he had broken things off with out of desperation and weakness. Finally he reached her and begged for her phone number, promising to call her on Christmas Eve in 2004. She was skeptical and pretty much brushed him off, giving him her number just to get rid of him.

Finally, however, the moment came when she picked up the phone and it was Desmond on the other end. For me, it was perfect, the acting, writing, the music, the whole production, it all came together to make an epic moment in Desmond’s story arc. I’ve embedded the scene below for your viewing pleasure.

It’s been my experience that people were either blown away with the scene, like I was, or they think it was a little overdone and bordered on cheesy. I suppose being so invested in the characters helped me, but I honestly don’t understand how people couldn’t have been moved by the phone call. Rewatching even now I still get goosebumps, and my heart is usually a shriveled little ball of ice, so that’s saying something.

In any case, as the series comes to a close, I am very curious to see what roles Penny and Desmond will be playing in the end game, if any. They pretty much got their happy ending last season and I would hate to see that messed with. At the same time, though, I would still like to see the characters on the show in some capacity. With Sonya Walger anchoring FlashForward, I’m not sure Penny will be appearing in the final season or not, but I can’t wait to find out.

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Last week I began talking about some of my favorite moments of Lost with a piece on the first big reveal of the show: Locke being in a wheelchair. This week, I turn my attention to the second season of the show, specifically the Eko-centric episode “The 23rd Psalm.”

Since the pilot episode, viewers knew that there was something living in the forest on the island. We had seen it knock down trees, eat the pilot, and try to drag Locke into a big hole, but we had never really seen the monster. In this episode, though, everything changed….

Yes, we did get a glimpse of the monster in the season one finale, but that was fleeting and ambiguous at best. In “The 23rd Psalm” we got to see the monster up close and personal as Eko stared it down in the middle of the forest. It was an outstanding moment and a great reveal for the smoke monster. It was a real step change in terms of what the audience knew of smokey. Not only did we get a great view of it, we got to see that it was showing Eko images from his past, seemingly judging him.

Even now questions remain about the nature of the monster, but we know that it does indeed judge people, as it judged Ben last season. Clearly, it was doing the same here with Eko. As we later found out, Eko was not shown the same mercy that Ben was shown, as the monster killed him early in season three.

There have been other great monster moments throughout Lost. When Ben summoned it to take out the invading freighter crew, the aforementioned judging of Ben in the temple, and when it was repelled by the sonic fence stand out as some memorable appearances. The first good look that we got at the sentient smokey cloud, however, still stands out as one of the best moments of the show for me. It was definitely a water cooler moment and I can remember heading into work the next day, eager to discuss it with some of my fellow Lost lovers. I’m not sure if we will ever know the exact nature of the monster, but hopefully we can get at least one more great smokey moment like this in the final season.

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With the final season of Lost approaching (ever so slowly), I’ve been getting a bit nostalgic. Add to that the fact that I have many weeks of columns to fill before we can start digging in to the final mysteries of the show, and I thought it was the perfect time to look back at some of the best moments of the show. Each week, when there isn’t any big news to discuss, I’ll be writing about some of my favorite moments on the show.

To start us off, I want to talk about one of the earliest jaw-dropping moments on the show, and there have been several over the years….

Of course, I’m talking about the final moments from the first season episode “Walkabout,” when it’s revealed that John Locke was in a wheelchair before landing on the mystical island with the rest of the castaways. “Walkabout” was only the fourth episode of the show, and for many, this was probably a Blow the Hatch moment, even though that whole phenomenon was named after the hatch blowing at the end of season one. If you ask me, I don’t think Lost had a Blow the Hatch moment at all, I think it was stellar and fascinating from the opening scenes.

The scene definitely added a whole level of intrigue and mystery to the show, however. Sure, the monster had already been introduced at this point in the show, and it was clear that there was some crazy, unexplainable stuff happening on the island, but when the camera panned out at the end of the episode, revealing an angry Locke, bound in his wheelchair, yelling at the tour guide who wouldn’t let him go on the walkabout, the game changed. It’s like the writers threw down the gauntlet and told all the viewers that they should hold onto their seats. Anything could happen on this show, and boy howdy, just about everything has happened on this show.

Locke has been a pivotal figure on the show throughout its run and this revelation set up so much about his character. It was a great twist ending, and informed the character moving ahead, as well as moving back in flashback episodes that would explore his relationship with his father. I think this was pretty much the quintessential Locke moment, and definitely one of my favorites in all of Lost.

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Well, everybody, a lot of our favorite new shows are premiering this month. Unfortunately, Lost is not one of them. We have to wait until early 2010 to dig into the final season of Lost. I know I’m eagerly waiting for it, and the return of new television on the networks just makes me all the more anxious.

Luckily ABC knows that we Lost fans can get pretty rabid, so they usually have a little something for us to occupy the time between seasons. This off season is no different.

This year, as in years past, the bonus summer material is covering the always mysterious Dharma Initiative. There are a series of videos beings streamed from the ABC Lost site (as well as Hulu) that feature a fictional television show from the ’80s: Mysteries of the Universe. The first three episodes are already available online, with the remaining episodes coming out over the next two months. Finally, all the videos, plus additional footage will be released on the season five DVD set.

I’ve checked out the first three installments and I have to say, I’m not that impressed. I feel like the dead horse that is the Dharma Initiative has been beaten enough. After spending a good part of last season exploring the inner workings of the organization, I’m just not as intrigued with it as I previously was. Moving forward there is probably going to be very little Dharma stuff as the focus shifts to old school island mythology (or that is my assumption, at least).

If these videos were revealing any new information or tying up loose ends I think I could get into them, and maybe they will with the remaining installments. As of now, however, there is nothing new in the videos. It is simply rehashing how mysterious they are and giving shout outs to characters (Olivia the school teacher) and locations (the church where Eloise was) that we’ve seen on the show.

What I do like is the presentation. I think it was very clever to dig up this fake documentary from the ’80s, complete with grainy picture and cheesy graphics. I’ll plan on keeping up with them just to make sure nothing important comes out of it.

Have you checked them out? What do you think of them?

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Yesterday, I looked at the five new shows that I’m most looking forward to this season. It’s a pretty short list, unfortunately. Heck, I only had one on the “Honorable Mention” list. Thankfully, there’s quite a bit of good stuff returning to the network schedule this season. I could, however, come up with just as long of a list of stuff that I wish was coming back that’s not. I should, as Brett has been known to tell me, “shut up and quit my whining” (my words, not his).

First, a cheat. I know I said that this was about the upcoming TV season, but we cover Web Shows here on the ‘Clack, so I’m taking a (very appropriate) liberty. The third season of The Guild started this week (or last week, if you’re an Xbox Live Gold Member), and I can’t wait. I only found The Guild after Dr. Horrible introduced me to Felicia Day, but I’m glad that I did, as it’s one of the most consistently funny things out there on any medium. The addition of CliqueClack favorite (and my hero as a kid) Wil Wheaton to the cast is only going to ramp things up for the third installment. If you haven’t seen it, head to www.watchtheguild.com right away.

10) The death of The Unit is my loss, but Lie to Me’s gain. Show-runner Shawn Ryan joins the FOX drama that I thought was already pretty good last season (especially Tim Roth), but additions like Ryan and Mekhi Phifer are really going to drive this show over the top this season. Plus, Kellie Williams deserves a winner after making it through thirteen episodes of Medical Investigation.

9) My favorite surprise from last season was Castle. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nathan Fillion, but I doubted Stana Katic from the way her character was written in the pilot script I read in advance. Thankfully, I was wrong about that. Plus, they tweaked the character over time. I think they’ll build nicely on the first season. And hey, I’ll bet the poker games are back!!

8) Three shows on this list had incredible finales , but I don’t think any of the endings on TV last season could compare to the mind-frak that was Fringe . Between the revelation that Peter Bishop, at least ONE Peter, had been dead for a while, and the fantastic voyage that must have been Olivia’s elevator ride, I was left speechless — or as close to speechless as I could be at any given time. The show started slow, but definitely finished strong. One can only speculate what is going on in J.J. Abrams’ latest world.

7) Chuck was one of two renewals that, honestly, I just didn’t see coming. Not that I’m not glad … far from it. I just lost so much faith in NBC with this whole Leno thing, that I figured the spy comedy would have its bubble burst. Now we get to see how the crazy happenings in the finale will continue to change the life of Chuck Bartowski.

6) Next on the list of great cliffhangers last season was NCIS. Ziva, separated from the team, was sent undercover, and the final shots were of her getting tortured. There’s a good concern about how splitting the crew (for the new NCIS: LA) will affect show quality this year, but I’ve got faith that it will be another great season.

5) Dollhouse’s renewal came as an incredible shock to anyone who can read the daily ratings report. At first thought, I figured it might have been FOX’s way of apologizing to like every fan of Firefly, Wonderfalls, The Inside, and every other cult show they ever canceled. Then, the world was able to see “Epitaph One” (My review, Brett’s review), which I think was the decision maker, and a great setup for the second season.

4) Once, there was this incredibly badass super agent named Jack. Then, after awhile, he turned into a more reflective version — some would even say a ” wimpy Jack,” though he still did manage a perfectly executed “Bauer-Slide” during the First Husband rescue. I think this might be the last season of 24 for our favorite CTU agent, and if the new characters don’t catch on, I say dump them all next year, and just give us Chloe saving the world!!

3) It’s funny … I almost never gave Bones a chance. Procedurals, especially in the CSI vein, aren’t really my cup of tea, or at least weren’t at the time. But, thanks to a little rule I have about actors/writers from my favorite show, I’ve watched. Thank goodness, as there hasn’t been better chemistry between two leads since Moonlighting.

2) We won’t get to see the final season of Lost until January, but it’s probably, in general, the most anticipated show on TV this year. There was such an incredible ramp-up in both pace and story at the end of last season, and it literally ended things with such a bang that you can’t help but be dying to know what happened to Juliet, and the rest of the gang.

1) If I were a betting man, I’d lay down money that How I Met Your Mother will probably pay off two long running bits this season. Obviously, the time is nigh for Barbin? … Robney? … Swarl-in? And if you don’t think the idea of the domestication of Barney is funny, then, well, you just don’t get good comedy. Plus, I think all of the pieces are in place for us to finally meet the titular mother. We know she is in Ted’s class this year, and I think it’s now only a matter of time before the audience gets clued in.

(Honorable Mention: Friday Night Lights, the first two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, NBC’s Day One, watching Heroes hopefully not fail, wishing I won’t hate the “new” Scrubs, and maybe a little bit of The Mentalist).

Which shows are you looking forward to most? Wondering when they premiere? Check out CliqueClack’s guide to the 2009-2010 fall season for all the info.

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Unless you dwell inside a deep volcanic chasm or have been in a medically induced coma, you’re aware the Walt Disney Company has purchased Marvel Entertainment for a whopping $4 billion smackeroos. Disney’s not-so-hidden agenda to own the universe in nearly complete.

Before they mandate that we all don Mickey ears while singing Hannah Montana songs every morning after we rise, there should be plenty of big budget entertainment for us to enjoy. Such a mega merger got me thinking about some interesting Marvel/Disney crossovers. Here’s one I quickly conjured:

The Incredible Hulk vs.

The Smoke Monster

The Smoke Monster from Lost gets a kick scaring the turd out of the denizens of its island. After chasing around the likes of Kate and Locke, it will be forced to step up its game once the Hulk hits the beach.

Good luck dragging Mr. Mean Green into your underground chamber, Smoke Monster.

I’d like nothing more than to watch the Hulk smash the elusive black cloud into oblivion. At the very least, he could take a deep breath and blow that ashy annoyance into the stratosphere.

Speak your mind CliqueClack readers. What crossover would you like to see?

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This time around, it was a list of the Top 100 science fiction/fantasy shows of all time that pissed off produced a lively debate at the CliqueClack offices. Here are a few of the comments made by our fine staff of writers.

KEITH: What a weird list. Some make sense, others are way out of left field. How can they even include a show like Warehouse 13 in the list at all, when the show’s so new? And to put Dollhouse in the top 20 so soon?

BOB: I love Firefly, but number three on the list seems like a big stretch, especially with X-Files only at seven? The more I look at it, the wronger it seems. Twilight Zone is only 12? And if Buffy is at 6, how the heck is Angel way back at 26? Makes no sense….

KONA: I’m not even a sci-fi/fantasy fan, and I can tell this list is bullshit. The Twilight Zone is one of the GREATEST SHOWS EVER MADE. Fuck Max Headroom.

ANNIE: Stuff like Jake 2.0 seems kind of out-of-nowhere (unless it’s just me that didn’t really care for it, despite really liking Christopher Gorham). Also, is it safe for Alf and the Thundercats to be that close together on the list?

IVEY: The list is jacked, and some of their explanations are just as bad. In the bit about Angel they use Gunn’s addition as a positive. Way to take the least developed character on the show and use him as justification. And Kona has it right. Max Headroom?

SCOTT: Twilight Zone should be number one. Fringe is way too high at #18. And Airwolf was neither sci-fi or fantasy. It was a fuckin’ high-tech helicopter!

BRETT: On the one hand, the list is very good, for the simple fact that it’s an “Internet” list. And as the Internet always does, everything related to Joss Whedon has been over-valued. Seriously, put up a poll about anything, and put something vaguely Whedon related in it. Look at Dollhouse. Top 20 of ever, and even the people that make the show have basically agreed that half the episodes are not good. Fringe’s oddly high ranking signals that Abrams is the next coming of Whedon in that regard.

Looking at it objectively, it’s just a frickin’ train wreck. Worse, even their attempt at an explanation doesn’t help. “We did try to look at a show’s popularity at the time it was on the air, how much of a cult following its garnered since it ended (if it’s already ended), and how much influence it had on other TV shows and pop culture as a whole.” And then LEXX is 34?

I loved LEXX, but fuck if I’ve ever met anyone else who watched it. It actually fails at all their qualifications. Nobody watched it when it was on. There’s no cult following since it ended. And the only thing it may have influenced was the “made for no money” SciFi Saturday movies. Yeah, the LEXX legacy is Aztec Rex.

The one omission that stands out to me is Invasion. With so many one and done shows on the list, I don’t know how that one didn’t make it. Or is my copy of the Internet missing that overwhelming Jake 2.0 cult following?

JASON: They missed Woops!, too. And The Charmings. If Max Headroom can be that high, then those can be on the list! Misfits of Science?

BRETT: Since ratings success and longevity are not concerns, I’d put Global Frequency on the list too.

RICH: I’m surprised they had Get Smart and not Man From U.N.C.L.E. And, they had SeaQuest, but not Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which moved so far into sci-fi/fantasy that it was a totally different show at the end.

KONA: I used to watch Get Smart on Nick at Night all the time. I never would have said it was a sci-fi show. Why is it even on the list? Because he had a shoe phone? Who doesn’t have a shoe phone? That is Science FACT.

Finally, to sum it all up, a comment by the young and beautiful Julia:

JULIA: Yes, I, uh, am totally enraged! About! All these shows I’ve never watched! How dare they…. or…. something.
Rar!

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The new television season is so close. Finally. As we get ready for the premieres to start, the media machines are powering up, bringing us things like the picture above (click it for full size). Heroes, in a desperate last grasp to get some of their viewers back, are apparently basing the new season on Claire’s boobs.  The hope is that you’ll be mesmerized by them, unable to turn away. It seems to be working on Hiro. He’s positively transfixed.  In other news this week….

• ABC announced the celebrity contestants for the new season of Dancing With The Stars, but they held off announcing the partnerships until next week. Screw that, the internet is your friend.You can now look forward to 1000s of comments on the internet, 78% of which will be either “Why even put Tom DeLay on the show?” or “It’s not fair! Mya is a professional!”

• We saw the return of Project Runway this week, now on Lifetime. It worked out well for everyone. Well, everyone but Bravo. The debut was the highest rated premiere ever for Lifetime, and dwarfed last season’s Bravo premiere.
• Good news for the folks down at Warehouse 13 HQ. The surprise hit of the summer is on pace to be the most watched first season ever for the network, and has been picked up for a second season.
• We still have quite a long wait before we see ratings for HBO’s Game Of Thrones, but they are finally rounding out the cast. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is the latest addition, as Jaime Lannister. You’ll also see Tamzin Merchant as the best character in the whole series, Daenerys. And someone named Sophie Turner as Sansa, who is not the Sophie Turner from Dr. Who, as has been widely reported.
• Lost is doing some casting as well, adding John Hawkes. You may remember him from Deadwood, or Eastbound & Down, but I always think of him as Pete in From Dusk Till Dawn. They’ve also added popular Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada.
• Longtime CBS executive Don Hewitt died at the age of 86. He was best known as the creator of 60 Minutes, and also served as executive producer of the show from 1968 to 2004.
• The Ryan Jenkins case just keeps getting more bizarre.
• Getting back to the fast approaching new season, Nikki Finke has the list of the new shows viewers are most, and least, aware of. Aware of NCIS: Los Angeles I get, but not aware of Community? What kind of rock do you have to hide under to not see that thing everywhere?
• Perhaps those people saw the NBC promos for Community, and wiped it from their mind. They’re just terrible. A hint for the NBC promo department: Yes, we like Community. But we like it because Joel McHale is funny. Show Joel McHale in the promotions.

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So you had to figure that sooner or later I was going to bring Lost into my summer long discussion about MacGuffins, mysteries, and storylines, right? After all, I’m a little obsessed. Beyond my own fascination with the show, however, it is a perfect program to look at when talking about MacGuffins — after all, a new one is introduced just about every week on the show.

Being, at it’s core, a mystery show, it’s really not a surprise. The question is, how does Lost manage their mysteries? I think it depends on who you ask.

Personally, I love the slow burn of Lost. I’ve never been one to complain about not getting answers to one of the many questions on the show. I’m patient enough to enjoy the ride and theorize along the way. Of course, that isn’t the case with everyone. I know many people who just couldn’t take it and gave up on the show, frustrated with the seemingly endless pile of mysteries. I may love the show (nearly unconditionally), but I understand where the haters are coming from.

Honestly, I believe that Lost really turned the corner (as so many others do) when the producers were able to set an end date. I tend to believe them when they say that they’ve known the full story of Lost since the beginning. I’m not quite sure what they would gain from lying about it. In setting an end date they were able to intricately plan how each of these many, many mysteries will wrap up and tie together.

The big question remains, however: how is everything going to wrap up? I think that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are either going to end up complete heroes, or they are going to have an angry mob of fans hunting them down if the end is not satisfying. I’m hoping for the former.

There is one point that I want to bring up. I think that the writers should get credit for how well the show has managed their MacGuffins up to this point. Over the course of the series, the mysteries and mythology has not gotten in the way of the storytelling like it has on other shows (Alias, for example). In fact, I think Lost has perfectly used the mysteries of the show to tell the stories of the characters. During the first few seasons, the show featured flashbacks, informing the audience about the history of the characters while mirroring the action on the island. Some examples include Locke’s miraculous recovery from his back injury, Hurley’s experiences with the numbers, and Desmond’s past with Widmore – just to name a few.

As time went on in the show, these flashbacks turned to flashforwards, which were equally effective. Again, more often than not the mysteries of the island served to advance the arcs of the characters rather than stifle or confuse them. This was seen as well in season five when time travel became a prominent part of the show. By employing time travel, the show was able to probe the depths of several characters (including Daniel and Charlotte), that I don’t think the show could have through flashbacks alone.

All the mysteries make for fascinating and intriguing stories that almost always focus on the characters of the show before the mythology. Perhaps that is why the burn is so slow. Unlike other shows, Lost has kept in mind that “it’s about the characters.”

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Lost in Lost has been absent for a while now during the very quiet off-season, but with San Diego Comic-Con in full swing this previous week, radio silence was broken and a ton of little spoilery tidbits have been rolling in. If you’d like to go into the final season completely fresh then stay away. Certainly, there isn’t anything Earth shattering in this information, but they are spoilers none-the-less. I am, however, dying to talk about some of them.

If you haven’t seen any of the Comic-Con panel videos, you can head over to DarkUFO, where they are collected. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are certainly entertaining, as anyone who listens to their Lost podcast already knows. The Lost panel was very entertaining with jokes, bits, pre-recorded videos, and lots of special guests (make sure to head over to www.damoncarltonandapolarbear.com).

Jokes and fun aside, there were some very interesting details that were spilled. First, the producers said that the final season was going to mirror the first season in many ways, capturing the feel of the first season and featuring characters that we have not seen since season one. Entertainment Weekly is also reporting that Boone (played by Ian Somerhalder) will be back on the show in the final season. It was also revealed that Faraday and Juliet will appear in the upcoming season, and with Dominic Monaghan’s surprise appearance at the very end of the panel, I have to wonder if we will see Charlie again too.

With all these appearances planned, it leads me to believe that history was rewritten with Juliet’s actions in the finale. (As a side note, the producers certainly made it seem like that bomb went off, no big fake out there, thankfully.) Whether or not the past was changed, I think they certainly want us to believe that. As part of the panel they showed a clip from a fictional episode of America’s Most Wanted featuring Kate on the run.

My theory on the final season: the past was indeed changed, but the 815ers are still going to find themselves on the island in the exact same situation. So much of this show has been billed as “fate” and “destiny” that I think no matter what happened in their lives, they are supposed to be on the island. So, some smaller details may change along the way (like Boone being alive, perhaps; or Juliet never coming to the island), but all the events surrounding Jacob and his enemy will still be in place. I think that we will see flashbacks in the new season filling in the changed details in the lives of our favorite characters.

If I’m right, I have to say it’s a very risky move. To try to rewrite a lot of the history that we have seen over five seasons, with only one shortened season left, is a highly ambitious task. Lost has excelled in virtually everything leading up to this moment, so I have faith that they can pull anything off.

Well, only about six months left until the final season premieres. Not that I’m counting the days or anything….

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Since the 21st century kicked off, I’ve changed my tune considerably. Television, for the most part, has usurped cinema as my go-to entertainment medium. Movies have lost their edge. They rely too much on overrated stars and overblown special effects to pull in audiences. This strategy may work at the box office, but the number of quality films has been in severe decline since 2000. Meanwhile, the TV product has dramatically improved.

Here are ten reasons why TV beats the movies:

10) It’s serialized – At least the shows I watch are. If I’m really into a narrative, I want more of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed the exploits of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and the crew of 62 Truck over the last five years.

9) Multiple characters – Ensemble casts in movies work, but normally there are two to three central characters who get the majority of face time. Series like Lost and The Wire are able to ping pong between many disparate personae, which prevents matters from getting stale.

8) One bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch – A shitty movie is a shitty movie. There’s no going back once you fork out your ten bucks. If your favorite series drops a couple clunkers, no biggie. Just wait until next week and everything will be hunky-dory.

7) Cliffhangers – Unless you’re in the middle of a trilogy, like The Empire Strikes Back, big screen cliffhangers are usually taboo. Being ambiguous is fine, but leaving the audience hanging in a stand alone flick would be career suicide for all those involved. Television can conclude an episode or a season with a whodunit with zero complaint.

6) Loyal fan bases – Lots of movies have avid followings, but I dare you to pick a fight with a Lost, Battlestar Galactica or Seinfeld loyalist. They will defend their show to the death should you utter a disparaging remark. I like that kinda attitude.

5) Cast turnover – How many actors appeared on ER during its forty-year run? I stopped watching after Clooney exited, but I was in the minority. No matter how many new faces showed up each new season, the series kept chugging along.

4) Killing a major character is cool – Imagine if Han Solo got whacked during the first ten minutes of Return of the Jedi. George Lucas would be more hated than he already is by the Star Wars faithful. Dispose of Detective Bobby Simone and the show goes on.

3) It’s recyclable – This applies to reality series like The Real World, Survivor and American Idol. A new season means a new set of characters, but if you’re a fan of these shows you’ll keep coming back for more. It’s the premise, not the cast that makes these types of series appealing.

2) Awful shows get canceled – If only horrendous cinema could get canceled, maybe we wouldn’t have been subjected to numerous mind-numbing Friday the 13th and Scary Movie installments.

1) Cable – Whether it’s HBO or FX, cable television has leveled the playing field with movies. Unfettered by the same restrictions as Network TV, cable has been able to produce excellent adult entertainment such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Nip Tuck (first two seasons), Rescue Me and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Movies have taken some shots in recent years, but they’re not completely dead and buried. I’ll be back next week with some reasons why the big screen trumps its little brother.

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• The big story of the week was the funeral for Michael Jackson, which turned into a star-studded three-hour event broadcast worldwide on way too many channels.
• Continuing his meteoric second coming rise, Neil Patrick Harris is tapped to host The Emmys.
• The group Little People of America have called on the FCC for a ban of the word midget on the airwaves, as the word is as offensive to them as racial slurs.
• Hulu is heading to the UK. The site is working on a deal to bring its wide range of streaming television across the pond.
• Sci Fi rebranded itself Syfy with the debut of new series Warehouse 13, and the world still thinks the new spelling looks stupid.
• Former House actor Kal Penn officially started his new job for the Obama Administration in the Office of Public Liaison. Look at that, a Hollywood star who actually gave up acting to pursue politics, rather than just talk about it constantly.
• In a bizarre but fun publicity move, Lost producers have asked fans to create a theme song for the show, which will debut at San Diego Comic-Con but probably not really on the show.
• Robin Williams is coming back to HBO to scream and yell a lot in a new special … wait a minute, is Robin Williams the Dane Cook of his generation?

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At present, no one has successfully traveled forward or backward in time, or if they have, they must be stuck wherever the hell they went. If you read the Weekly World News, there are thousands of individuals roaming the planet from either the past or future. Although, I’m told they aren’t a very reliable source. Wink.

There are several ways to discuss time travel. The majority of fictional treatments posit the future can be altered by screwing shit up in the past. However, paradoxes and parallel universes can muddle up the proceedings. Truthfully, attempting to wrap your head around all the concepts can lead to severe headaches and regular visits to the local asylum. I’m not smart enough to delve into time dilation and the theory of relativity; I’m just here to compare and contrast Back to the Future and Lost. If you want things like facts and intelligent discourse, look up Stephen Hawking.

I love me some Back to the Future. Marty McFly and Doc Brown are one dynamic duo. Is there a cooler time machine than a 1982 DeLorean? I think not. To recap the plot, Marty is shipped back to 1955 and manages to screw up pretty much everything, which in turn threatens his own existence. His mom gets the hots for him (creepy) instead of his dad George, so Marty has to ensure his parents fall in love before he himself fades away into nothingness. When you stop to think, the movie is damn ridiculous, but the fun factor makes up for obvious gaps in logic.

The movie adopts the principle that a person can affect the past by his/her actions. In this case, Marty actually changes things for the better. Before hurtling through time and space, he and his family were of bunch of pathetic losers. Biff berated his old man and lasciviously drooled over his mom. Thanks to Marty’s presence in 1955, George learns how to stand up for himself. By punching out Biff, George changes his path and becomes a confident, successful sci-fi author, rather than a pocket-protector-wearing pussy. (Off topic: I still find it odd that when Marty returns to 1985, his old man is keeping Biff around as a man servant, even though the guy tried to rape Lorraine at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.)

Now, the absurdity of Marty “disappearing” is where BTTF falls apart for me. It makes sense that if his parents never got together he wouldn’t have been conceived, but watching Marty watch his own hand fade away makes me laugh, and not in a good way. Other than that, I think Zemeckis and Spielberg do a credible job employing a variation of the “Grandfather Paradox” theory. Marty’s potential vanishing serves as a dramatic work around to the paradox. It’s silly, but in the context of the film, it fits.

Time travel on Lost dominated season five. The notion of changing the past to prevent future events, i.e. the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, surfaces in the final few episodes. Daniel Faraday believed wholeheartedly that detonating a nuke at the Swan Station would disrupt the timeline. Was he right? Unfortunately, we have to wait until next January, and even then we might not get an answer (I dig the show, but the writers/creators can be real assholes). If we are to believe Faraday – who was a pretty sharp fella – then the previous seasons of Lost were all for naught. The crash, the hatch, Sawyer and Kate hooking up, Charlie, Mr. Eko and Shannon dying; none of it happened. What the hell?

If the writers decide to go this route, it will make for an intriguing and equally enraging final season. Maybe we will get to see where all these disparate characters would have gone if the plane crash had not occurred. A host of pesky paradoxes must be accounted for, but I digress. Leave it to Lost to steer me off track. My relationship with the show is of the love-hate variety.

At any rate, both Back to the Future and Lost tread similar territory in terms of time travel lore. By surmising that a human variable is capable of disrupting a specific timeline, thereby changing future events, both the movie and series take a common fictional stance, ignore scientific paradoxes, and instead elect to operate under a many-worlds type model. (Consider adult versions of Juliete and Sawyer were living in the same year (1977) as the child versions of themselves. Wild.)

George McFly’s uppercut to Biff’s jaw and the hydrogen bomb’s detonation at the Swan Station are singular events that permanently altered the futures of all individuals concerned. Maybe. I’m certain someone who hasn’t eradicated countless numbers of brain cells by consuming mass quantities of alcohol will correct the inaccuracies in my inane ramblings.

Next week, I’ll broach the subject of parallel universes. The season finale of Fringe ventured down this road. Of course, I’ll require a hallucinatory aid to properly prepare myself. I know people. Just keep it under your hats. Hmm… I think I’ll go watch Back to the Future. It never gets old.

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• FOX released the schedule of fall premiere dates and they’ll be giving an early start to a few shows. Bones, Fringe, Glee, and Dollhouse will all get their feet wet before the flood of new programming makes our DVRs groan from the stress of keeping up. The CW also announced premiere dates. 9-10!

• Kristen over at E! has some rumors about who might be returning to the island on Lost. Personally, I’m hoping for Niki and Paolo, just to see the reaction. Twitter was in its infancy the first time, and I feel like an opportunity was missed.
• Bullz-eye has a very candid interview with Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine about the future, or lack thereof, for Reaper. By candid, I mean… Tyler Labine:  “I was not happy with the storyline with me trying to fuck my stepsister.”
• It looks like casting news for Grey’s Anatomy has totally spoiled the big cliffhanger at the end of last season. So, don’t click that link unless you really want to know a character’s fate. Or, this one.
• The season two premiere of True Blood was huge for HBO, marking their largest audience since the Sopranos finale. It was also up some 157% over the season one premiere. To paraphrase Mars Blackman, “Money, it’s gotta be the boobs.”
• NBC continues to insist that Conan’s demo numbers are fantastic, and they couldn’t be happier with their decision. Of course, they forget to mention that last week was the least watched week of the show since 1995. Jay Leno probably just laughs, and laughs.  James Hibberd has all the numbers, with charts!
• USA stepped in it this week. After releasing a very official looking press release saying that Donald Trump had purchased WWE Monday Night Raw, the truth came out. It was all a part of the ongoing story on the show. Some people were not amused.
• Finally,  FOX released a 12 minute preview of Virtuality. Reactions have been mixed in the backchannel here at CliqueClack, but have a look for yourself. The 12 minute preview is embedded below, and there are 9 more videos available at Movieweb.

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