"Lost" Weekend (and Beyond)
The increasing frequency of TV shows on DVD has affected the way I review them. I can't get through every episode of every set, as well as extras, in the time available. So I try to get through all the key extras, some of the available commentary, and a sampling of the episodes.
But I spent a big chunk of the weekend going through each episode in a coming DVD set. That's "Lost," due in stores on Sept. 6. (The new season begins on Sept. 21.) As of this morning I had made my way through nine of the set's 24 installments, so you can pretty well figure out how I will spend any free time in the days ahead.
Why go through this one when I haven't done so with others? For one thing, "Lost" — as I said in a recent column — has proven the most influential series of the past season. A bunch of new shows have made it on the air because of the success of "Lost," among them "Prison Break," which premieres tonight on Fox. That importance merits a closer look.
Beyond that, given how serialized "Lost" is, I needed to watch a lot of it to get a feel for how those serialized stories play out, commercial-free, in a DVD set.
One early impression: The show may not work as well without commercials as some shows do. "Lost" was very aware of the placement of commercials, and often put a big dramatic moment right before the ad to make sure that channel-flippers came back. But when you take out the ad, you go from DRAMATIC HIGH immediately into a post-commercial scene, creating a jarring narrative flow.
No doubt I'll have more to say by the time I write my DVD column for Friday's Beacon Journal. But for now, I am trying to figure out how I'll fit in this week's other viewing, when "Lost" is going to demand a lot of attention — and I haven't even gotten to the extras yet.
