Found in Lost

O Great Sphinx, vision in the desert, what the hell are you? For centuries, things that inspire awe without purpose have driven people insane in search of answers. Today, a modern Sphinx — in the wasteland of television — is Lost. Like no other television show before, Lost's grand design presents no obvious purpose, but viewers still devotedly believe that no detail is random, that no mark should be left uninterpreted, that no moment is too insignificant to watch and re-watch and debate endlessly online. Lost, which has spawned a fervent and boisterous online community, is the first truly post-TV-on-DVD program. It's very nature demands instant replays and freeze frames, as well as the all-too-satisfying DVD marathon. Lost takes couch-potato to intense new heights (lows?).

The narrative structure of Lost makes each episode a piece of large jigsaw puzzle, in two flavors: there is the "flashback" episodes, like the corner or edge pieces of puzzle that gives an outline, and there are the "real-time" episodes, that actually move the survivor's time forward on the island. These episodes are the random pieces that go into the vast interior of Lost. It is the ultimate viewing experience — marathon DVD watching — that makes these pieces come together the most harmoniously. Staged like a tropical "Clue" (the polar bear; on the beach; with a claw!), the writers of Lost ask loyal fan(atics) to hunt and gather every minor detail. To find answers? Well, to find clues to answers that may be clues to further clues. It is entertainment you have to work for.

Any Lost message board (like Lost Forums or 4815162342), will have hotly competing camps of theory. Fans are known for reviewing episodes frame by frame, for memorizing the show's mysterious ten digit number, 4815162342, and creating elaborate personal theories. And all this would be impossible without TV's new best friend, the DVD. The DVD makes shows like Lost an extension of the detective novel tradition, Encyclopedia Brown or even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud.

Unlike Twin Peaks, which urged viewers to accept the strangeness of the mundane, or The X-Files, that forced viewers to ask questions, Lost has inspired its viewers to pick through every second of footage, all to get the chance to analyze everything. Because the tools exist to investigate television like never before, Lost has produced an audience of critical thinkers who take nothing at face value, who rehash everything, who would die if not for digital recorders.

And what does this small group of critical viewers mean for TV in general? Well, for one thing, if Lost doesn't end up having a satisfying "meaning", there is going to be a legion of disaffected, hieroglyphics-reading television viewers with nothing to do except criticize simpler shows. And it's unlikely Eva Longria's lingerie can stand up to such scrutiny, especially on DVD.

— Ceda Xiong (ceda.xiong [at] gmail [dot] com)