Reboot fever is in full effect in the world of TV.
For better or worse, all of our old favorite shows are coming back. Nostalgia has fed audience cravings as people want to spend more time with the characters they’ve grown to love, even at the risk of altering the trajectory of the shows they cherish. It’s why Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Full House and Heroes have all been brought back from the dead, and more shows will follow suit.
However, there’s one show I never want to see brought back, and that’s my personal favorite TV show of all time: ABC’s Lost.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of watching, Lost is a drama about survivors of a plane crash who end up on a mysterious island. The series follows the group as they learn they’re not alone, and that there are many secrets to be discovered. We learn about each character through their actions on the island and through a series of flashbacks. The narrative includes Others, various hatches, polar bears, and even a monster made from smoke. The metaphysical island is a character in itself.
The show, formed mostly from the minds of Damon Lindelof (The Leftovers) and Carlton Cuse (Bates Motel) was a smash success, with audiences transfixed on the mysteries of the island. It had deeply flawed characters, tense mystery and presented fascinating story arcs. It ran for six seasons, while mashing up genres throughout its run: Lost was a drama, mystery, science fiction and supernatural show, all packaged together as one. It weaved religion, philosophy or history into its story. Above all, it was unique. Many shows have emulated Lost, but none have hit the same winning formula.
For a complete rundown, here’s the entire series in three minutes:
Many people weren’t thrilled with Lost‘s conclusion. Complaints were raised about how the writers were making things up as they were going, keeping too many things open-ended with many of the questions needing answering left untouched. I disagree with all of those criticisms, but can understand why somebody would be unhappy with how things wrapped up. But there was no way Lindelof and Cuse could wrap up everything in a pleasing way.
With so many gripes about the show, and how successful it ultimately came to be, would ABC reboot it? Last year, Cuse told Entertainment Weekly he’d be OK with that.
“I think it’s likely that at some point, ABC will want to reboot Lost because it’s a valuable franchise, and there will be some young, bright writer or writers who will come up with a great idea that the network responds to, and that’ll be great. I do not begrudge ABC the opportunity to do something more with the franchise.”
No. No. No. No.
People are so fixated on getting answers that of course they’d be willing to open up this world again to see it explored one more time. Doing so would be stomping on Lost‘s grave. The show lived a long, full life and doesn’t need to be dug up to fan-service those who don’t want to think for themselves.
I’ve read suggestions on message boards and comment sections about doing a version of the series from the perspective of The Others, going back in history and seeing shipwrecked survivors, and just doing the same thing over again, but with a different voice behind the show. I can’t endorse that.
Lost is a flawed show and tried way too hard to juggle too many big ideas. I won’t fight that. But what they accomplished in six seasons was mesmerizing and like nothing else on TV ever. There has never been as compelling of a show, one which tried to get audiences to get engage along. That’s why so many people were pissed with the ending. To try to recreate the magic seems cheap to me. Lindelof, the creative steam behind the show, won’t come back either — and he’s the one who made us fall in love in the first place. Putting someone else’s stamp on Lost is like trying to reinvent the wheel. You just can’t do it.
The show’s biggest rival, Heroes, was brought back for a revival titled Heroes Reborn this fall and has been a critical disaster. But the idea of retooling that series made sense. With only one good season, Heroes had the potential for further storytelling through re-imagining and continuing its story. Lost doesn’t have that. It had a beginning, a middle and an end. Instead of tarnishing the show’s legacy, please just let it be.
If you want to watch an amazing version of Lost, just turn on Netflix and enjoy the original ride. It’s truly an unrepeatable, one of a kind TV show. Please, ABC, Netflix, Amazon or any other network: Don’t reboot it.
