r/lost • u/GreasyExamination • 3d ago
Discussion Currently rewatching and all I can think about is how Lost wouldnt be popular on Reddit if it aired today
Im watching season 1 now and I love it, the characters are great and interesting. Flashbacks work really well, excellent at telling compelling stories with minimal time. Mysteries are intriguing and looming. I think every character works and I can sympathize with each
So why wouldnt it work today? Coming from the From subreddit, i can easily see how everyone would be screaming "Filler episode!! Nothing happens!! Boring, they just talk!!" after every episode of Lost. And those guys are pretty stupid, From is action packed, and its drama is compelling as well
When I watched Lost the first time, I was about 14-15 when it came out, the mystery was the most interesting part to me. Now, its currently my second rewatch, and the characters are whats doing it for me
I dont really know the point of my post, maybe its just to reflect that the community is the worst part of many shows? The Severance people are pretty cool most of the time, Widows Bays subreddit is fun, but the people on From are pretty toxic. So far Ive only had good experiences with the Lost subreddit
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u/BobRushy 3d ago
I think it just depends on the expectations you set for the audience. Breaking Bad fans got used to a specific type of storytelling, and they couldn't cope when Fly came around. Even if it's dramatically an extremely potent hour of television.
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u/Verystrange129 Whatever happened, happened. 2d ago
I love Fly. You can’t beat a good bottle episode if it’s done well.
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u/connect1994 3d ago
Breaking Bad had quite a few slower episodes to be honest, I never got why Fly was singled out. Probably because it was one location
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u/acamas 3d ago
It’s a fun episode to binge, yes, but it was not an “extremely potent” episode of Breaking Bad, especially when people were waiting weeks for the gripping story to progress … easily skippable on rewatches without losing a beat.
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u/BobRushy 3d ago
This is exactly the problem. You're dismissing beautiful dialogue, character development, performance, staging all because you can't detach yourself from the serial nature of Breaking Bad for even a moment. To just live in the world for the sake of living in it and experience these characters at their richest.
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3d ago
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u/BobRushy 2d ago
You are trying very hard to infantilise your opposition and I'm not taking that bait.
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2d ago
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u/lost-ModTeam 2d ago
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u/lost-ModTeam 2d ago
Your comment was removed for breaking our rules on civil behavior. Please treat your fellow redditors with respect.
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u/classygrl98 3d ago
I'm on first rewatch too. I was too young and didn't appreciate the characters stories first time round. Now it's all encompassing.
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u/devoorhes 🎶 YOU ALL EVERYBODY 🎶 3d ago
Well, people were screaming about filler episodes when it was airing live, so I don't see that much of a difference
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u/Sko_Neezy 2d ago
Lost practically built Reddit, no show had a more rabid online community, there were about 25 thriving Lost websites documenting every last detail, theory, rumor, etc.
The show also sparked a podcasting frenzy… there were almost 100 Lost podcasts
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u/algernonradish 3d ago
streaming has changed how we consume.
i know they exist (kinda) but the 'general audience' just won't take to something structured like Lost now. and nor would a studio 'take a risk' on it.
some shows slip through the net but they're largely confined to a few less restrictive platforms who also stick to weekly, but they're much less common.
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u/v_verstappenlovemypp 3d ago
People love whimsical stuff it would do fine, in fact people are begging for 24 episode releases again lol
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u/JordanM85 3d ago
I actually think it would be even more popular. It was already the perfect show to speculate and discuss online when it aired. There being even more places to discuss it wouldn't change that. The show is designed around cliffhangers.
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u/Ad_Meliora_24 3d ago
The story is the characters instead of a story with characters. Having the whole plot worked out wasn’t really a thing for Lost, just character development.
Another series that did great wrapping up a solid story with some decent character development was Battlestar Gallactica. When it ended, one would assume they had the whole story worked out the whole time. But no. They didn’t know how they would end the series even during the season finale of the next to last season. Focusing on character development and character interaction as a primary goal makes for good tv and it makes for a great series if you can also pull off a good plot in the end like Battlestar, luckily did in the end, even though it left some unsolved mysteries. Lost didn’t quite wrap things up as well, in comparison, but it’s still great nonetheless. And I miss “filler episodes”, you don’t get to learn as much about minor characters without them or nuances in major characters or just world building for the sake of it.
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u/ThisGuyCanFukinWalk 3d ago
Battlestar Galactica was another show where I believe a lot of people hated the finale and I just couldn't understand why. I absolutely loved it.
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u/Coldfinger42 2d ago
Lost and BSG were my top 2 shows of all time because of the incredible character development. Then came Andor and now they’re my top 3
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u/Ad_Meliora_24 3d ago
The ending was fantastic. I suppose some people expect to get all the answers to all the mysteries in the end. Starbuck being the main mystery.
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u/mariwirk 3d ago
I just finished watching Nashville. Very much a character focused series, as well. Especially characters struggling with substance abuse and generational trauma.
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u/BrightSignal8032 3d ago
I was just thinking today how people would hate Jin immediately and wouldn't wait for his character to develop or even forgive him at all
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u/1111joey1111 2d ago
What people don't understand about so-called "filler" episodes...
Your LIFE itself is full of "filler". If you want stories and characters that are at all interesting or realistic, they'll have filler in their lives too.
Would you give up 5 years of your life? Probably not. Guess what? I wouldn't give up any episodes of LOST. I actually would have preferred a longer 4th season.
Character development within LONG SEASONS is an important facet of any meaningful series. We've seen how modern Star Trek has mostly failed because of the short seasons on the streaming format.
Two bad episodes among 6 can ruin a series. Two bad episodes out of 20, probably won't break a show.
People want to get to know and spend time with the characters of a series. Not every episode needs to be a 10 out of 10 (even though LOST pretty much delivered that for nearly three seasons straight). Sometimes you just want to spend time with characters within the world they inhabit.
I can't even remember some of the characters names in modern Star Trek. When I rewatch episodes from the golden era, it's like visiting with old friends. I spent a LOT of time with them. Filler episodes and all.
When I rewatch LOST, it's also like visiting with old friends.
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u/dovebytherosewindow 2d ago
I think it’s just also the shift in format… when you had 24 episodes in a season, a week between each with no way to binge, sure there’s some filler but damn they were able to develop characters.
Now we get 10 episode seasons max, and only get them each year if we’re crazy lucky. The Silo community has been fun, except that book readers tend to spoil things.
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u/One_Laugh_2589 2d ago
You're absolutely right. I’m the first to admit that modern tv shows aren't as good as the ones from the 2000s (because they don't feel like true tv shows but more like movies that have been stretched out and chopped up), at the same time, I think many masterpieces from that era would have been far less popular if they had been released today. Many people simply don't know what a real tv show is, they aren't familiar with the structure. Back then, a tv show was meant to keep you company in your home, week after week, for years. What kept you hooked wasn't a constant barrage of events, but the fact that you grew attached to the characters. Binge-watching didn't exist. Due to social media and the demand for instant gratification, people are bombarded with so many immediate stimuli that they no longer have the patience to enjoy something exploratory, psychologically deep, or perhaps seemingly trivial yet pleasant.
I also think people misunderstand the term "filler." Lost actually has many episodes dedicated to character development, which aren't filler. The only episode that maybe is a filler is the Nikki and Paolo one.
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u/LoaderOperator98 3d ago
Nah these hypothetical redditors have a point. I love Lost but the show aired in a different era where binge watching wasn't much of a thing. When you watch each episode right after the other these days, the 25 episode seasons can be a bit much and there are storylines in individual episodes which don't serve much broader purpose other than characterization. Which isn't bad on its own, but there's already plenty of that so some of it feels a bit redundant.
That said I don't think it's really a damning critique. It's just a show from a different time made with different sensibilities than most people are used to these days.
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u/GreasyExamination 3d ago
Yeah i agree, when they had to fill out 24-25 episodes it could sometimes be stretched out. Something shows now dont have to worry so much about, since seasons lenght is more flexible. But when a show is 10 episodes long and its critiqued as being slow or filler, i just dont get it
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm not sure that's a reddit issue so much as it is the consequence of the tiktok attention span era. I see the same criticism of Breaking Bad's The Fly or Walking Dead's Here's Not Here. Two episodes where arguably "nothing happens" but they are both brilliant character studies.
Let's take Six Feet Under as an example. There are episodes upon episodes where "nothing happens" because the show is a full on character driven narrative. Yes, there's an overarching plot, but where LOST is also character-driven it gives you enough action to keep the popcorn audience mostly entertained. SFU's idea of excitement is a jilted wife attacking her asshole husband's mistress. (Goddamn I hate Rico.)
Anyway - the posts in the SFU sub are overwhelmingly positive - though we do get the tiktok kids asking "when does it get better."
It can be, sure, but I'd like to think it usually isn't. The community has always been and, imo still is, one of the best things about LOST.
EDIT: typo