"Shows that inspire passion, that fuel hours of online chatter, that attract a dedicated cult following are quite rare. But when viewers find their show, they tape it, anticipate it, and refer back to it. Conventions, costumes, and communal celebrations follow."The authors give examples of shows to emphasize their point. They use Star Trek, The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name three, that have this cult following.
I have never watched any of these shows. Well, that is not entirely true. I have seen episodes of all three, but I never cared for them. (Sorry, Professor, but I hate Sarah Michelle Gellar and I cannot force myself to watch her "act.")
The article was written in 2003, so the show that finally turned me into a cult member had yet to be produced. I am sure everyone knows which show I am talking about...
Yes, folks, I am a Lostie. For six seasons I followed the adventures of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hugo and all the other survivors of Oceanic flight 815. From the day I first saw them crash on that damn island I was hooked.
I am going to stop myself because some of my comments might spoil aspects of the show for those that have yet to watch it. So if you have not seen it and still plan to, quit reading. I do not want any angry comments about how I ruined Lost for anyone. So if you do not want to know what happened on The Island, then stop reading right now.
What started as, seemingly, a modern version of The Lord of the Flies turned into a hatch-opening, Others-fighting, time-traveling, Smoke-Monster-battling, Sci-Fi epic.
Watching Lost became a communal experience. Not only did I and three of my friends gather every week to watch it, we would talk about what we just saw after the show ended. I would also go to work and talk endlessly to a few of my co-workers about what had happened on that week's episode. It got to the point where I think people stopped hanging around us because all we talked about was Lost. To this day, nearly one year after the show ended, we still debate the intricacies of just what the heck happened. I bought the Blu-ray boxset when it was released in the summer, and I have done a complete rewatch of the series... twice.
In this age of DVRs and online streaming, Lost was appointment viewing. Fans worked their schedule around when Lost was on. With the way television programs are now being consumed, it is possible that Lost will be the last show to seen as "must-see" television.
before i write my real comment on your post .. lets just say I AM SO EXCITED THAT YOU WROTE ABOUT LOST! i am absolutely in LOVE with the series!!!! as you mention that fans worked around their schedules to watch lost... for my first few years at u of t i made sure to NEVER EVER have a wednesday evening class. you know why hahaha
ReplyDeletewill write a proper post back soon!
K
Hi Josh!
ReplyDeleteYet again I absolutely love your blog post (as I gushed in my post that has already commented on your article). I definitely agree that the series LOST has attracted a cult following, with viewers scheduling time to watch the show around the rest of their lives, generating debates between friends on aspects of the show, and of course, becoming attached to the characters.
To be honest, I am one of the people who scheduled by week around LOST. For the first few years of my university career I made sure that NOTHING came between me and the TV on LOST nights. Similar to me, my cousin also was an avid viewer and watched every single Wednesday (except with her, no one else was allowed to watch with her in case they talked, commented, sneezed or breathed haha). During each episode we would wait anticipating the commercial breaks to call each other and “OH MY GOD” for four minutes until the next segment came on. After the show, we would then call each other back and have a full (almost) hour (the length of an episode) dissecting every tiny detail. Upon the series finale, she actually went through each of her favourite moments on LOST and took screen shots then commented on them and posted it to Faecbook. Some people may call us crazy or obsessed, but we were sucked into this life on The Island and fell for all of the characters (she had a thing for Sawyer, me for Jack). In fact, to this day, every time we see one of the characters on another television series or movies, we either watch that series or episode (lots of TV watching, I know) and still refer to them as Jack (Matthew Fox in Vantage Point), Sayid (in Law & Order) and Jin (in Hawaii Five O… however, I have yet to see an episode of that as I really don’t like the show in general … my cousin instead is a fan).
I am just waiting for school to be over to book off a few weeks and watch the complete series over again. My cousin (as she was making the stills) re-watched it and actually created a chart of when characters first came up, how they know each other, what episode it was in, etc., etc. It actually is astonishing the connections between them and how different themes are evident throughout the entire series (not just the general themes, but for example shoes. Shoes become a symbol throughout the series either right after the plane crash when they are found in a tree, Kate stealing shoes from another passenger, etc etc).
Anyways, I am very happy to have found another LOSTie! Great Post,
K