Thursday, November 08, 2007

I'm Alive!

Hi guys.

Remember me? I used to write about a little TV show called “Lost”. Then the scheduling gods decided to put it on hiatus for nine months (or more?), resulting in this Blog becoming a desolate wasteland used for the sporadic TV rant / wedding proposal. Do you realize that I only posted ONE TIME in the months of September and October? That’s unacceptable, and I apologize.

But somehow, you guys have stuck with me. Somehow, I’ve still gotten twenty thousand hits over the course of the past two months (crossing the 400,000 mark!). This either means you guys need a hobby, or you are desperate to talk television.

I’m going to assume it’s the later, and am here to do something about it. We’ll see how this goes.

With the ongoing writers’ strike, we may be only a few weeks away from having absolutely no original scripted television on TV – a frightening thought. The good news is that those Lost “mobisodes” (mobile episodes – not mob / mafia episodes) start up this Monday, providing us the first fresh tastes of Lost that we’ve had in ages!

Expect them to be posted, and commented on - even if they are only three minutes long. Hey, at the very least, it’ll give us something new to talk about.

For now, I leave you with this priceless picture. This pretty much sums up why we should all be behind the writers in the strike:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

18 comments:

Stef said...

Brian! How the hell are ya? :-)

Thanks for the post... the writers' strike is a scary thing, if it means we may soon have nothing but American idols and semi-smart 5th graders. I'll be upping my Netflix, thank you.

I am waiting desperately to see how this will affect LOST... any word on how many episodes they have "in the can" already?

Brian said...

Allegedly 8 episodes in the can already - but the problem is that the producers / ABC may determine that they want to wait and air the episodes "nonstop", a la 24.

If that's the case, we might not be getting Lost for quite some time. I know that the next season of 24 is currently postponed indefinitely for the same reason.

Keep your fingers crossed. I'm guessing this all gets resolved by year end, but who knows.

Anonymous said...

Brian, welcome back!! - i have been one of the ones checking in from time to time to see if there may be some random postings but there's no LOST news to be had.....

If anyone finds a link to be able to watch the 'mobisodes' please post asap for us poor aussie suckers who have no chance of seeing them.

CANT wait till february!!!!!!

Dennis.

Anonymous said...

http://www.lostblog.net/lost/tv/show/lindelof-interview-regarding-season-4

So, either we get eight episodes next year, then nothing until 2009, or maybe we get nothing until fall 2008 now?

I'm gonna need a serious recap show to remember everything.

Anonymous said...

And it had finally started to seem like February 2008 was not an ETERNITY away...

They talk about how many millions the industry lost during the last strike--it'll be their own faults if they don't settle this and get on with business.

Did anyone see the great Saturday Night Live parody last week of an alleged studio executive addressing the issue? He talked about writers making $200,000, whereas he himself makes "only" 2 million. It's on Youtube now.

So, Brian, I hope the wedding plans are proceeding. Will you be visiting any tropical islands for a honeymoon?

Sawyer5665 said...

While the writer's strike will definitely suck for us unless they get it resolved, I totally understand and support the writers. New media technologies such as DVD sets, ITunes downloads, and streaming video (such as watching full episodes on ABC's website) haven't been around that long. They need a new deal. Writer's aren't getting residual checks from profits that come from those things. Studio executives are making hundreds of millions if not billions from these areas and the writers are not seeing any additional money from it. Is that fair? No way. The writers are the people that are creating this stuff...they deserve their fair share.

Anyway...I saw the first "mobisode" the other day. It's a scene between Jack and his father Christian. It is set in Hawaii just before Jack and Sarah's wedding....circa Do No Harm. I won't spill the beans on their conversation because I don't won't to ruin it for anyone. It's really nothing huge.

As for what the strike means for Lost.....I am torn. As of now, ABC is planning on airing the 8 episodes that they have "in the can" starting in February and then the final 8 episodes of season 4 will be postponed until either the Fall or Spring '08. I would of course love to see those 8 episodes, but I read an article with a quote from Carlton Cuse that makes me want to wait until we can see all 16 episodes in a row. He said that he would rather wait as well because it would be like reading half a novel. He said that there was a small cliffhanger at the end of episode 8, but it is not something that he would not want the audience to have to wait so long to see the next episode. He likened the cliffhanger at the end of episode 8 to Ana Lucia and Libby getting shot.

interesting stuff, eh?

Sawyer5665 said...

I meant spring '09...sorry.

Unknown said...

OH OH OH! I am so very excited to see writings from the BRIAN!

OH OH OH! I am so scared about the strike!

This affects our resident stunt woman Heather Arthur (and hubby Jon) too! UGH!

I am so stressing the advent of LOST and the fact that this could push it all back further...NO! I nearly can not breathe NOW!

Seriously, I do hope the big wigs pull their heads out and just give in because there is plenty of money being made, THEY CAN SHARE!

Now, where are we in the story anyway? Something about a boat off shore as I recall?? Oh geez!

Unknown said...

OH YA, and PLEASE answer about the nuptuals...I have been anxious to hear how all that is going!

Adam said...

haha, oh man. I was feelin some lost fever coming on, and went to this site-- to find that you had posted a new post YESTERDAY! SO obviously I'm not the only one missing Lost.

I've been giving my Lost theory (http://sokpuppet.blogspot.com/2007/05/new-super-simple-lost-theory-warning.html) a lot of thought, and the more I'm hoping there's a lot more twists on the way. Am I the only one who wants MORE questions?

Basically, I can't wait. I didn't even know the short episodes were airing. I'm excited to see what's next.

Congrats again on the husband and wife thing...

Anonymous said...

I'm wearin glasses, so you must apologize if I'm wrong...

This is not Carlton Cuse on the picture, isn't he?

Stef said...

I agree, joey, I'm totally on the writers' side on this one... and am just keeping my fingers crossed that the studios bend sooner than we all fear, so that we can keep enjoying the great work that those writers do. LOST is a whole story unto itself, of course, but I'm also concerned for some of these new series that might really lose out in this timing. I hope shows like Pushing Daisies are still able to come back after this is all said and done.

Anonymous said...

Random side note- I just read Francis Bacom's "The New Atlantis" (from the 1600s) and it IS the story of LOST. Sailers get lost on this strange island in the south pacific which is supposed to be a utopian society where science rules but faith is still important. There's the "foundation" that does scientific experiments and lots of miracles that can actually be explained by science.

You should check it out- it's online for free.

Anonymous said...

Francis Bacon*** (sorry for spelling that wrong)

Brian Leonard said...

Good to have you back "on the job", Brian!

I eagerly await your analysis of the first "mob/webisode". It doesn't seem very important to the storyline to me, but I'm sure I'm missing something.

(NOTE TO DENNIS: the first one is available now on abc.com, with a new one to be released each Monday till they're done.)

The "other" Brian

Brian Leonard said...

GOOD (kinda) NEWS:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6498735.html?industryid=47168

Alphabet Network to Air Eight Episodes Even as Fox Benches Partial Season of 24
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/7/2007 11:46:00 PM

ABC said that as of now, it is sticking with its plan to air the eight episodes it has of Lost -- this coming on the day that Fox announced that it will bench its own serialized midseason thriller, 24.

Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof said Wednesday that the final episode that has been written ends in a cliffhanger that will not be resolved for viewers until after the strike.

But Fox decided not to run a partial season of 24, instead benching the Monday-night drama pending the outcome of the strike.

With few expecting the strike to conclude anytime soon, the network decided that it would rather wait than air the beginning of the seventh season of the heavily serialized drama.

Of course with American Idol poised to return in January -- and probably against much weaker competition than usual due to the strike -- Fox is in a better position than most to rest one of its top assets.

calhoon said...

Anyone have a link to a download of the 'mobisode' that i can view here in the UK? I've tried the usual routes but to no avail.

Cleverly ABC.com only plays in the americas !!

Welcome back Brian btw, I've missed your bloggingness.

Anonymous said...

hi brian!
will Lost ever be found?
sigh.
- webuffy