LET'S VOTE ON THE LOST CLIP SHOWComplications Ensue
Complications Ensue:
The Crafty Screenwriting, TV and Game Writing Blog




Archives

April 2004

May 2004

June 2004

July 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

September 2006

October 2006

November 2006

December 2006

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

June 2016

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

December 2017

January 2018

March 2018

April 2018

June 2018

July 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

January 2019

February 2019

November 2019

February 2020

March 2020

April 2020

May 2020

August 2020

September 2020

October 2020

December 2020

January 2021

February 2021

March 2021

May 2021

June 2021

November 2021

December 2021

January 2022

February 2022

August 2022

September 2022

November 2022

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

July 2023

September 2023

November 2023

January 2024

February 2024

 

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Okay, I want a show of hands. Who thinks Lost did a lame-ass clip show because they:

a. went over budget?
b. went over schedule?
c. or figured no one can keep the damn story straight any more?

And why wasn't Hurley's numeric surprise in it?

I wonder if the l.a.c.s. will be on the DVD.

10 Comments:

What makes it lame?
Other than the all-important all clip shows are somewhat lame rule?

I watched this show last night even though I'm caught up since I've seen LOST since the beginning. I watched it mainly because I wanted to see how they did it differently from the Desperate Housewives: Sorting out the Dirty Laundry show that ABC aired Sunday.

The LOST show didn't do backstory - it just caught everybody up on the basics of what we know about what's happened on the island since the crash. Since Hurley's whole thing really isn't important unless you know the backstory, I probably would have left it out too.

The only thing I can say about this show is predicated on the results of that DH clip show. That one for those who didn't see it, took a character per act and ran down everything that happened to them up to now.

Now, I watched 2 DH's earlier in the season and then stopped. Figured I'd seen it enough. But the thing is such a phenomenon-pig that I've been feeling lately like maybe I should have gone further, that I can't be that out of touch with such an out of the box hit. I mean it's not like someone asked me to watch JAG.

So I watched. And guess what? I feel now like maybe I could watch the last 4 eps of DH and know what the hell is going on. I might watch the next new episode.

Now, I'm sure that's what they're doing with LOST too. If 5% of the people watching were people who hadn't watched up til then, and were tuning in knowing that ABC heavily promoted this as the way to catch up with these shows -- well, if even some of that 5% continue to watch, that could translate to 10 million or more viewers. That doesn't strike me as a lame ass move at all.

It worked in Reality with Survivor --the finales usually uptick from episodes preceding it. I think this may just turn out to be the way that highly serialized dramas get to have their cake (rewarding intricate stories) and eat it too (attract new viewers in time for the season ender.) And that's not lame either.

In fact, how much do you wish Arrested Development had tried something like it?

By Blogger DMc, at 4:10 PM  

Lost and Desperate Housewives didn't create their own clip shows; they were created by two companies that mostly create promos, including some of the promos for Lost and Desperate Housewives. And the shows both remain really popular. So I don't think it's a matter of being over budget, over schedule, or too convoluted. They're preparing for May sweeps, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if their ratings next week are a bit higher as a result.

I'd prefer a new episode...but with DH's clipshow bringing in almost as many viewers as a new episode, and Lost's episode bringing in a bit less (after weeks of no new episodes), I expect clip shows to be an annual event now.

By Blogger Peter, at 4:52 PM  

Since ABC isn't running repeats on Saturday Nights like they should be. I'd go with Plot. My DVD box saw it as a new episode and taped it.

Just need to wait till next week to get our LOST fix....

By Blogger R. K. Bentley, at 5:44 PM  

Re. your previous post about comedy writing in your new book... are you also going to write about the various styles of comedic writing ? Like black/dark humour, sophisticated humour ?
Ofcourse I can't at the moment think of any TV examples.. I think maybe most shows have glimmers of these styles every now and then, but I don't think an entire show has been based on these comedic styles... or am I mistaken ?

J

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:58 PM  

Well, dark humor, sure. Any Joss Whedon show. Sophisticated humor ... I'm trying to think of an example but it sort of depends on what you mean by sophisticated...

By Blogger Alex Epstein, at 6:13 PM  

The best clip show I've ever seen was Stargate SG1's. The clips were short, clear and consise and the "plot" of the episode was very believable. It covered the major plotpoints over the series' life-span and addressed questions that fans had been asking for quite a while, in a humourous way.

Arrested Development and the OFfice are two examples of sophisticated humour IMO. They rely on clever writing and awkward pauses

(beat)

to convey the joke. Also, they both force you to pay attention to the show because many of the jokes are related to a phrase someone said or a seemingly minor event...

Ok, I'm rambling here but my idea of sophisticated humour is something that may use a punchline (or lack of one) for furthuring the audience's enjoyment, but ultimately gains its laughs from clever writing and acting.

By Blogger Jason Sanders, at 6:54 PM  

ABC just wants to see if they can capitalize on the ten tons of extra hype Lost is getting and suck more people into the vortex. There is a few stragglers congregating at the water cooler complaining that they have no clue what has been going on (but they wished they did so they could see Sawyer with his shirt off again) so the catch-up episide is just one giant Suck-In Promo

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:37 PM  

I didn't read all the other comments yet, so maybe someone already addressed this.

It's an ABC thing. Desperate Housewives did the same thing this week.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:59 PM  

Ah. And now I see EVERYONE addressed this. Sorry. I deserve the dunce cap of the day.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:02 PM  

I tried to keep my eyes glued to the screen, thinking I might catch something I'd missed, previously. But I've seen every episode to date, so this clip show was boring me to tears by the second commercial break. I FF'd the tape to watch Alias, instead.

I'd completely forgotten about the whole numerical mystery that Hurley discovered. Why the heck wasn't that included in any of the clips? At any rate, I thought it was a wee bit better done than the DH clip show.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:34 PM  

Post a Comment

Back to Complications Ensue main blog page.



This page is powered by Blogger.