Feeling Empty Inside?

As we often do, Maggie and I have been emailing back and forth today. Perhaps it's the influx of new and returning shows this week that has us pining for the all-too-distant return of LOST. Or as we like to put it:

Excerpt from email conversation today
Me: With everyone getting excited about their shows coming back on, do you kind of feel like it’s the first day of school and everyone but you has a new bike? But in the back of your head, you know you’re gonna get a new bike in a few months and it’ll kick everyone else’s bike’s asses?

Maggie: Yes, your analogy to what today feels like is right on target. It also feels like we go to Catholic school and everyone else goes to public school…and they are all excited for their 6th grade roller skating party at Skate Zone tonight, but since we go to Catholic School, we have to go to Bible Study tonight. But we know that in the end, we’ll be the ones going to heaven…unlike those public school heathens. Yeah, that is what it feels like.
End of excerpt

Well played, Maggie. Also, our apologies to public school heathens. Wait, Maggie and I were public school heathens. Oh well, at least we got to go skating.

For those of you thinking LOST is coming back this fall, allow me to violently rip the rug from beneath you... February 5th. Yeah, that's the probable return date (give or take a week) for Season 5. Oh, and the first episode's title: Because You Left. Noodle that one for the next 5 months, because lord knows Maggie and I will.

Now, back to coping mechanisms. I'm not advocating cheating on LOST by getting intimate with any poseurs this fall - but a man has needs. And I need me some addictive TV. So here are a few little nuggets that you might like if you're a LOST fan (and let's face it, if you regularly read a LOST blog, you're a fan).

Fringe. (Fox, Tuesdays)
The new offering from LOST-God J.J. Abrams is a trip. Biological warfare - which is caused and cured by the experiments of a pair of mad scientists with differing motives - is at the center of everything from conspiratorial global terrorism to the murder of a local hooker, and it appears to be permeating the highest levels of governments and mega-corporations worldwide. It's also got several eerie similarities to LOST:

• Ominous black guy played by Lance Reddick – Check
• Pseudo-sciences – Check
• Previously unknown hottie – Check
• Former teen drama star – Check
• Plane crash opening – Check
• Crazy underground laboratories – Check
• Knife-throwing shaman/box salesman - Not Yet
  

I could go on and on, but I won't. Here's the skinny on Fringe, as I see it: Yes, it's classic Abrams mind games. But whereas LOST draws out a mystery for weeks, months or years at a time, Fringe introduces and explains whole mysteries within single episodes. As a complement, bigger-picture mysteries serve as the backdrop for these weekly offerings. It's an interesting formula, and certainly more palatable to the "LOST never answers anything" crowd. Me, I like a show that rewards the audience for staying tuned and thinking about it. I like how LOST gives me something to think about, then gives me weeks or months to let the thoughts marinate before (partially) explaining itself. But Fringe is great, and it's only been two episodes. Lest we forget, LOST got exponentially better as it got older and developed its characters further. If Fringe can delve deeper into its complex characters and not get stuck in the quicksand of the "Blow it up, show something gross and do a sex scene" Fox Network Formula, it could be excellent.

Heroes. (NBC, Mondays)
Heroes is money. And if you think LOST is hard to follow, you'll need a PhD or a background as a comic fanatic to stay totally on top of Heroes. But even without fervent following, Heroes is damn enjoyable. The arcs are brilliantly spun and woven together so intricately that a LOST fan can easily get hooked. Characters' lives intersect in cool, weird ways, and everyone's motive is allowing or preventing the demise of the world (not in the cryptic LOST way, but in an, "Oh shit, a bomb/virus/bad guy" way). The special effects? Not terrible for network TV, but if there's a romantic teenage flying scene on a green screen this season, I'll be upset (if you watch, you know what I'm talking about). Added bonus: lots of hot chicks. Plain and simple.

The Office. (NBC, Thursdays)
Yeah I know, totally different genre than anything else listed here. But if you don't think The Office is funny - or if you're one of those insufferable elitists who can't avow often enough how much funnier and subtler the British version is - then you, my friend, have no soul. Beer me that show.


What about you? What fills your LOST void? Serious TV Shows? Funny TV Shows? Spending time with your family?

Charlie