Like others, we were hooked five minutes into the first episode. And if you aren't hooked at least by Walkabout you likely never will be. However, I will not say you should bail. It is an excellent show that even by your own estimation is far better than most of what is one tv. Keep going with it, including season 2 and just maybe you will find the episode/character/moment that does hook you. If not, all you have wasted is a bit of time watching a very good show with excellent performances.

Spit take

Yeah, that really irks me.

What show have they been watching?

During the second season we have learrned:



And that's just stuff left over from the first season.

It's like people are pissed off because the producers don't hold their hand and answer every little question and tie up every dangling plotline immediately.

So far, "Lost" has done a much better job of toying with the audience and answering questions in a coherent, satisfying manner than "X-Files" ever did.

I'd continue to watch the rest of the season because it only gets better from where you said you were. Like others in this thread, I finished the first season in days—I found it that damn good. However, if by the end of the season you still do not feel compelled to watch, stop watching...because IMO the second season was no where near as good as the first one.

I was hooked pretty much from the first shot of the first episode so I'm not sure I can help you. It's been a bumpy ride but it's been really reqarding. Give it a couple more episodes but it is sounding like maybe it's not your thing. Still, a lot of stuff is going to happen soon.

rotfl

Fuckin' amen to that. What Josh posted just scratches the surface.

As just a casual viewer it doesn't really get any better, but if you decide to start over analyzing everything, doing screen captures to spot clues, keeping journals, rewatching eps in slow mo, stuff like that...THEN it becomes an awesome show.
;)

No offense to the OP, but I don't understand how some LOST fans continually say they "don't like the flashbacks." The flashbacks or "backstory" as we all call them now are such an integrated part of the LOST experience, that LOST wouldn't be LOST without them (IMHO). I think some sci-fi fans want Lost to be all about "the island" and not about the people - when it's really about both. I think learning about the lives of the people before the island and how they all tie in with each other (and why) are just as entertaining as plotlines like and the "dinosaur."


PS - the flashbacks don't go away.

Well let me say that I don't care for flashback storytelling in ANYTHING. I brief little tidbit once in a blue is ok but the constant flashbacks just annoy me. That's a PERSONAL preference nothing more.

Now the FBs in LOST are absolutely critical I agree and they are well done. Without them we wouldn't crap about the characters. Therefore they are necessary, I just don't like that method of storytelling that's all.

The reason I have stuck with the show and will is because it is very well done. The characters are great, the acting is excellent, and even the writing seems to be quite good. It is a good show and certainly worth watching it just doesn't have its hooks in me like the other shows I mentioned did/do.

I am guessing I was expecting a lot from the show based on the hype. I mean I was thinking I was going to be so amped up needing to see what happens next that I would be staying up late and losing sleep over it (24 always does this to me). It hasn't done that ... bear in mind since I was home sick the other day I did barrell through the first three discs in one day.

I will keep watching mainly cause I do like the people on the show.

Ethan sure is a creepy-a$$ mofo though. But Lock may be the weirdest of all.

I do like Lock's character the best, Karen (not sure what it is about this woman but I really dig this girl) and Sawyer are also very good too.

Greg

LOST is 80% about flashbacks and character study. If you remove the flashback part of the storytelling the show dies. We would have no way of finding out who these people are unless they all sat around a campfire and shared their stories. Boring. Without knowing anything about the castaways, it would just be a drama on an island with good guys vs. bad guys. Boring. The flashbacks make the show what it is. The creators know this. They ain't goin' nowhere.

Lost without flashbacks is like........Gilligan's Island












(I crack myself up!)

I predict that if you stick with it for the entire first season, then you will go on to watch the second season as well.

You'll know why I say that once you finish up the first season.

One of the things that you have already said is what makes me think this. :)

Ther think the flashbacks were good the first season but have grown unintersting.

I agree with ever part of this post.

you should at least stick with it until you see the episode that reveals that jack once got his hair cut.

Absolutely baffling. It was longer and shaggier before, but now it's short. WTF? We can only pray that S3 will reveal that mystery. ;)

Funny..this post kinda sums me up. I didn't have a DVR yet when LOST started in Sept. 2004. As I didn't watch many shows then, I missed out on the start of the series. (Didn't look good from the previews and I somehow missed any pre-pilot buzz.) After people at work started talking about it, and I heard it was a "clues to what is really going on" thing, I caught up with the show during their many repeats during the regular season.

Coming to this Forum made me like it even more as I'd see things I missed and such.

So...maybe it'd be more enjoyable if ya had some friends or strangers to bounce theories off of as it was going on. (As it was for me.)

Wow you are a medical miracle!

Most people couldn't type coherently or find the initiative to watch a DVD after having a complete frontal lobotomy. Your lack of interest in the show though is certainly a side effect of the procedure.

Perhaps Big Chief will come along and smother you with a pillow late tonight before he flees the cookoos nest.

:wink:

Responding to what the OP is saying, I have to say I'm quite the opposite of him. I watched the first season of "24" on DVD. I was hooked pretty much for every episode up until the final one. Sure, there were a lot of preposterous situations along the way but I usually don't try to overanalyze everything. But, I was totally disappointed with the Season 1 finale of "24." And now, I'm done with that series.

With "LOST," I like the intricate storytelling and I don't feel like I need a cliffhanger every week. I don't mind an episode which doesn't further the big story arc, but rather tells something new about a character. I liked the Season 1 finale.

Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that perhaps "Lost" and "24" are two very different types of shows. I'm not sure how the OP figured that they were similar.

IMHO, the first season of 24 is the worst.

I think if you feel mildly compelled to keep watching, watch until the end of the season. If at that point you have no interest, go watch something else.

That's great to hear. I hate the mantra of "This season's not as good as the last season!" Well, I might borrow "24: Season 2" from my friend someday.

Yeah, you should definitely continue. The second season is way better overall.

Im kind of in the same boat. I watched the entire first season in the last 4 days or so. Towards the end I was really getting sick of some things.

I LOVE the mystery of the island, the creatures, strange discoveries, weird inhabitants--all of that. I LOVE seeing them cope with their environment and depict a realistic situation of surviving.

I HATE the soap opera elements. Most of the characters dont seem very realistic either (a lot of cliche). They are already well defined and I dont need to see how the hobbits music career spiraled out of control for example.

I wish it was more like 80% strange discoveries and genuine survival stories and exploration/coping with the environment and 20% flashbacks.

Does the backstory get a lot more involved in the second season? Would it hurt too much if I skipped the flashbacks?

I think some of them become more relavent to what's happening on the island. And in some eps they are left out altogether, or kind of do them in a different way.

that sounds better. At some point they will have the backstory REALLY well covered and we wont have to keep going back... hopefully.