Lost Television Program

Well, it could have been worse. It could have all been a dream. Actually, that might have been better, if the finale of "Lost" had ended with some alien life form or surprising human — Ray Bradbury, say, or Terry O'Quinn in a pre-audition nap — opening his eyes from the craziest dream ever. Instead, it turns out the passengers of Oceanic 815 are all dead, victims, if the end-credit imagery is to believed, of the same tragic plane accident that started the whole thing.

Well, it could have been worse. It could have all been a dream. Actually, that might have been better, if the finale of "Lost" had ended with some alien life form or surprising human — Ray Bradbury, say, or Terry O'Quinn in a pre-audition nap — opening his eyes from the craziest dream ever. Instead, it turns out the passengers of Oceanic 815 are all dead, victims, if the end-credit imagery is to believed, of the same tragic plane accident that started the whole thing.

Editor's note: Spoiler alert! If you have not seen Wednesday's episode of "Lost," stop reading. -- It was the sigh of relief heard 'round the "Lost" universe: Jin is alive! He's alive! When "Lost" viewers last saw Daniel Dae Kim's Jin, he was standing on a freighter that exploded, as his wife, Sun, watched from a helicopter. Viewers immediately related to Sun's hysterical reaction, delivered by Yunjin Kim. Certainly, Jin would not have been the first "Lost" character to be mourned by fans.

They came from the land of sheep and the place where the tango was born. They left behind fjords and the Eiffel Tower. They crossed oceans and continents, drawn together this weekend for a single purpose -- to get " Lost." They are the faithful legions of ABC's hit show "Lost," one of the most active, diligent and fervent fan bases in television who had to be here Saturday night for a special preview of their favorite program, which begins its inexorable march toward a long-awaited conclusion after six riveting seasons.

When J.J. Abrams turned in an outline for "Lost" last year, Lloyd Braun, then ABC Television Group's chairman, bragged excitedly to a buddy, "This, my friend, is 'ER.' " Braun was so convinced by the 25-page outline in his hands, a hybrid of "Survivor" and "Cast Away," that he ordered a two-hour, $11-million pilot with no script, just the creators' vision of plane crash survivors on an eerie, not-so-deserted island.

Hollywood is notorious for its meetings, but even by L.A. standards this one was unusual. A few steps away from the CTU set of Fox's "24," an unlikely alliance of human rights activists, the dean of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and veteran interrogators with experience stretching from Saigon to Abu Ghraib gathered around two tables in mid-November.

Editor's note: If you are planning to view Wednesday night's episode of "Lost," stop reading. -- Excerpts of a question-and-answer session with Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte Staples Lewis on ABC's "Lost." How did the producers break it to you that Charlotte was going to die? I've known since June of '08, because that's when we negotiate contracts between seasons. Originally when I started on the show in August 2007, I was only supposed to do eight episodes. I ended up doing 20. I was on the show a lot longer than I thought I was going to be. A lot of it has to do with the writers strike.

"Lost" seems to breed obsessive types who are a study in devotion and intelligence. And now, they have another place to congregate: their own school. As the famously perplexing and mysterious series heads into its final season, its creators have launched Lost University, a multimedia experience that delves into the fields of study touched on in the show's five years. Real university professors will teach short video courses on a variety of "Lost"-related subjects -- and it's not exactly a light curriculum either, with philosophy, physics and hieroglyphics, among others.

At this stage of "Lost,""%20mystery no one actually believed that John Locke would remain dead, but still, it's satisfying to see him alive again. That is, alive in the way that you and I are -- not in flashbacks, and not in the way that the ghosts of Charlie and Ana Lucia appear to Hurley or the ghost or some supernatural semblance of Christian Shephard roams the island.

MAGGIE GRACE sees a pattern emerging in her young career. For most of the year, her home base is Honolulu, the location for ABC's popular, Emmy-nominated series "Lost," in which she plays the rich, snobby plane crash survivor Shannon. But even before Grace completed the series' first season, she was commuting to yet another island -- this one off the coast of Vancouver, Canada -- for her role in the remake of the 1980 John Carpenter horror classic "The Fog."

"Lost" seems to breed obsessive types who are a study in devotion and intelligence. And now, they have another place to congregate: their own school. As the famously perplexing and mysterious series heads into its final season, its creators have launched Lost University, a multimedia experience that delves into the fields of study touched on in the show's five years. Real university professors will teach short video courses on a variety of "Lost"-related subjects -- and it's not exactly a light curriculum either, with philosophy, physics and hieroglyphics, among others.

At this stage of "Lost,""%20mystery no one actually believed that John Locke would remain dead, but still, it's satisfying to see him alive again. That is, alive in the way that you and I are -- not in flashbacks, and not in the way that the ghosts of Charlie and Ana Lucia appear to Hurley or the ghost or some supernatural semblance of Christian Shephard roams the island.

Editor's note: If you are planning to view Wednesday night's episode of "Lost," stop reading. -- Excerpts of a question-and-answer session with Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte Staples Lewis on ABC's "Lost." How did the producers break it to you that Charlotte was going to die? I've known since June of '08, because that's when we negotiate contracts between seasons. Originally when I started on the show in August 2007, I was only supposed to do eight episodes. I ended up doing 20. I was on the show a lot longer than I thought I was going to be. A lot of it has to do with the writers strike.

Editor's note: Spoiler alert! If you have not seen Wednesday's episode of "Lost," stop reading. -- It was the sigh of relief heard 'round the "Lost" universe: Jin is alive! He's alive! When "Lost" viewers last saw Daniel Dae Kim's Jin, he was standing on a freighter that exploded, as his wife, Sun, watched from a helicopter. Viewers immediately related to Sun's hysterical reaction, delivered by Yunjin Kim. Certainly, Jin would not have been the first "Lost" character to be mourned by fans.

"Lost," which returns for its fifth season tonight on ABC, is like a troublesome but attractive friend who comes into your house and talks a lot of nonsense that you tolerate because it's entertaining and because you aren't completely sure it is nonsense. It might make sense in some form of the language that you do not personally understand.

IT'S DIFFICULT to keep track of all the spiraling story lines in "Lost," but this much viewers know about the enigmatic Benjamin Linus: As a young man, he gassed his father to death along with the rest of the Dharma initiative, and as a father himself, taunted a mercenary into shooting his daughter in the head. Heartless? Definitely. But a psychopath? Michael Emerson doesn't think so. "I think of Ben as a man whose mission and responsibilities are so grave that he cannot allow himself much humanity," says Emerson of the role that this year earned him a second Emmy nomination for supporting actor.

It's been eight months since the island moved us. Yes, we know that's not island time -- because we also know that we have no idea what island time is. What we do know is that we, the "Lost" couch potato castaways, saw Ben turn the wheel hidden in a room below the unfamiliar Dharma Orchid Station, the sky white out, and the island vanish.

The "Lost" monster is back. The billowy black smoke that ambiguously frightened the castaways in past seasons returned with a vengeance on Wednesday, pummeling the island's favorite "tailie," Mr. Eko, the priest. In the most affecting death scene on the ABC drama thus far, Mr. Eko, who once had confronted the monster and forced it to retreat, this time surrendered, reciting the 23rd Psalm. Mr.

"Lost's" fourth season ended in a flurry of action, a few major revelations and some familiar beats. As a season ender, it ranks below last year's game-changing flash-forward and Season 2's four-toed statue and listening station surprise. But it's well above the disappointing hatch-opening at the end of Season 1. The biggest shock, of course, was the identity of the person in the coffin at the end of last season. As we learn at the beginning of the episode, the bearded Jack exists three years ahead of the just-rescued Jack.