I'm a little worried about ...
Question: I'm a little worried about all of the new characters that will be introduced in the upcoming season of
Lost. It seems to me that most successful shows tend to revolve around a consistent group of characters:
M*A*S*H,
Friends, etc. I know
ER has some success with a rotating cast, but
Lost seems to lend itself to singling out each character and telling that person's story. But it feels like they're slowly giving up on some of the original characters and introducing new ones for the sake of more flashbacks. What is your take?
Answer: My take is that it's way too early to judge, and that I lean toward giving
Lost a chance to prove itself before we jump to conclusions. What's safe to say is that
Lost will get hammered no matter what it does. Too many stories about the original characters, and there will be griping that the show isn't moving forward fast enough. Too many new tangents with new characters and story lines, and there will be griping that the show has changed too much. For
Lost to survive and thrive, my feeling is that each season needs to redefine itself, which means expanding the universe of characters and the dramatic context in which they operate. If the third season is going to give us more insight into the Others, and give us a better sense of what's really happening on this island (and perhaps beyond its borders), then I'm OK with that. The real challenge will be for the writers to continue to service the original characters that got us hooked in the first place. It's always a tricky balance on this show to juggle the character and island stories, and that will likely get more complicated as time goes on.
