So what’s the next “Lost?” I’ve argued in the past that it’s “Fringe,” but I recognize there’s apathy toward it from the public rather than passion like there was for “Lost.” (Water-cooler discussion with other people is more fun than with yourself.)
So … how about the next J.J. Abrams show, since he created “Lost” (and “Fringe”)? Unfortunately, it’s “Undercovers,” which might have certain charms, but it doesn’t appear to be rich in mystery and mythology like “Lost” and “Fringe.”
How about shows set in Hawaii with cast members from “Lost?” Well, there’s “Hawaii Five-O,” with Daniel Dae-Kim. That’s fine if you like cop shows, but it’s not what we’re looking for here.
When I search for “The Next ‘Lost’,” I search for something that’s hard to pin down, but it catches my attention anyway. What made “Lost” great was that we didn’t know how to define it at first, although it intrigued us. Interestingly, if you look strictly at the pilot episode of “Lost,” you wouldn’t even know it’s a sci-fi show. It took a few episodes before we could safely place it in that genre.
That reminds me of when Fangoria placed “The Sixth Sense” on its cover a month AFTER the film was released in the summer of 1999. Entertainment magazines generally move copies by previewing something that is coming up. But until the editors actually saw “The Sixth Sense,” there was no way for them to know that it fit into the magazine’s horror/suspense thrust. The film company certainly didn’t tell them: It went against the marketing grain and chose mystery rather than “giving away the entire story” as its campaign, and I’m thankful that to this day — even after logging commercial failures — M. Night Shyamalan is still allowed to market his films this way (the upcoming “Devil” is the current example).
Even before movies started doing it, TV shows employed the “giving away the entire story” (at least of the first episode) approach to marketing. To get the series off the ground, networks think it’s important for viewers to easily label something as “my type of show” or “not my type of show.” You don’t want everyone to say “Hmm, I’m not sure about this one.”
That was the theory, anyway, before “Lost.” After it became a surprise hit in 2004, other shows — like the briefly great “Invasion,” the mildly engaging “Heroes,” the boring “Jericho” and the convoluted “FlashForward” — were allowed to try it, although none became “The Next ‘Lost’ ” in the purest sense of the phrase.
There is one, and only one, show on the fall 2010 slate that is aiming to fill that “Next ‘Lost’ ” slot. NBC’s “The Event,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Central Sept. 20, is being marketed in a deliciously mysterious way. The previews won’t tell us what the event is, but we do see clips that show Jason Ritter’s girlfriend disappears, something is being hidden from the president (the phrase “plausible deniability” comes up — groan — but I guess that’s to be expected since some of the exec producers have “24” roots), characters are running through the wilderness, stuff is flying all over the place and a main character begrudgingly admits “I haven’t told you everything.”
It reminds me of the pilot episode of “Lost” when it seemed like there was a dinosaur in the jungle (it turned out to be the Smoke Monster). It also reminds me of “Independence Day,” when the Area 51 dude told the president, “Well, that’s not entirely accurate.”
Except — and this is key — we knew that “Independence Day” was about an alien attack. “The Event” might be about that, but it might be about something else. It could be about anything.
It’s like when I was standing in line for the very first Mystery Mine Ride at Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America. Every ride since then has been hyped for what it is, but that first one was a pure surprise. (It turned out to be one of those theater rides where the chairs bounce around in sequence with the events on the screen, in that case a trucker driving recklessly along the edge of cliffs for no apparent reason. It was a fun ride, but the surprise element was a big part of the fun.)
Also, I think it’s a lucky break for NBC that “The Event” is the only Big Event Show on the fall schedule. The other new serials are unambiguously defined (cheerleader drama, “La Femme Nikita” remake, and so forth).
We don’t know if “The Event” will be good or not, but the marketing campaign is a home run. No one can yet say “‘The Event’ ” is my new favorite show.” But at the same time, I don’t think anyone can yet say “This is not my type of show.”
Will you be tuning into “The Event” premiere? What do you think the show will be about? Do you think it will be the next “Lost” or merely the next “FlashForward?”
By the way, I’ll have reviews of assorted new shows as they premiere this fall. To help you prepare, click here for a comprehensive guide to what’s coming up. In the meantime, if you want to weigh in on new shows before I review them, you can use this thread. Because we’re not just looking for the next “Lost,” we’re looking for the next good shows of any type.
Main image: NBC publicity photo