What's Next?

We are just a few episodes away from the series finale of "Lost," one of the most original, challenging, uncompromising series in television history, and the race seems to be on to capture the Island's lightning in a different bottle to market to the viewing public.

With the exception of "Twin Peaks" and a few others, there has never been a television series that demanded such close attention and yet managed not to sink into ratings oblivion. "Lost" does us the honor of not assuming we're all mouthbreathers, that we might just possibly be interested in something beyond watching B-list celebrities learn to dance or C-listers work for the Donald.

Sure, there are occasional "catch up" specials that give you the bare bones of the plot, but those are akin to reading about the perfect lasagna as opposed to diving into a slab of the real thing. "Lost" is one of the most recorded and most downloaded shows every week because fans know they dare not miss an episode lest they be, well, lost.

The series has been by turns creepy, spooky, thrilling, infuriating, hilarious and awe-inspiring, but it has never pandered or sought to please the lowest common denominator.

Of course there are obvious influences from TV history on the show. There are echoes of everything from "The Prisoner" to "The X-Files" in abundance, but none of them predominate or look like crutches.

Perhaps most impressive, creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had the respect for their storyline to set an endpoint for it. The plot is designed to run a certain length and then end, not to spawn spinoffs or be brought back for one or two more limping, unnecessary seasons. This has given the writers the freedom of knowing the size of the sandbox in which they're playing, and it's also gone against everything network series television has been since the dawn of TV.

Think of all the great series that have gone out with a whimper rather than a bang. I won't even attempt to list them, as everyone has their own favorite examples. The cancellation graveyard is littered with corpses of shows that were thrown back before the cameras long after they should have been allowed to gracefully fade away. Like so many zombies, they lurched about, usually on their sixth or seventh crew of writers, slowly feasting on the brains of loyal viewers.

Sorry, I just can't resist a good (or mediocre) zombie reference.

The great thing, from a network executive point of view, about a show like "Lost" is that it provides a fairly steady ratings draw. Sure, it may not top the Nielsens every week, but the suits can count on a faithful cadre to show up just about every week without fail. Between product placement deals and regular advertising dollars, that can make such a show a gold mine.

I've often wondered if Cuse and Lindelof had Dharma Initiative-branded beer, snacks and other foodstuffs on the Island just to frustrate potential product placement deals. It's not a question to which I'll ever get an answer, but I'd like to think the idea crossed their evil little minds.

Television is nothing if not a highly derivative medium, so the search is on for the next "Lost." In past seasons, we've seen shows like "Surface" and "Invasion" that tried to construct similarly dense plot structures only to sink beneath their weight. ABC's own "FlashForward" is even now trying to make a go of it, but the cancellation rumors are already running thickly.

If there is an heir to the Island throne, my vote would be for "Fringe," which has a similarly dense mythology. However, it's a far more episodic show that's a good deal more friendly to new viewers.

As a side note, if you want proof that TV eats its own, try finding any full-length article about "Fringe" that doesn't reference "The X-Files." Go ahead. I'll wait.

Now here's the newsflash, kids: There won't be a next "Lost." Cuse and Lindelof have realized their vision so thoroughly that any pretenders would come off looking like "Gilligan's Island" with polar bears and smoke monsters.

Thus my message to anyone in network-land who might be reading is this: STOP LOOKING. Stop trying to reinvent this particular wheel and go find a new one. I'm sure buried somewhere under that pile of "Desperate Housewives" clones and "CSI" wannabes is a truly original pitch, a show idea that might not look like it's going to plow "American Idol" out of its time slot but that just might gather to itself a corps of viewers in search of something meatier.

Network TV viewership is declining year to year as the profusion of cable channels offering really great fare like "Burn Notice" and other entertainment options draw away viewers. The nets are not going to save themselves by floating more reality series or cheesy laugh-tracked comedies. The solution, and salvation, lies in those slightly odd but relentlessly creative shows that get people talking and get minds percolating.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some Web research and find out the significance of the number of times Hurley cleared his throat in front of the Black Rock on last week's episode.

A Random Thought

This isn't quite enough for a column on its own, but I've got to say how heartening it's been over the last week to see that in spite of all our technological advances, in spite of GPS tracking, radio communications and computer-guided flight, something as elemental and uncontrollable as a volcano can stop us in our tracks. I surely wouldn't want to be one of the poor folks stranded at an airport with no hope of departure anytime soon, but the fact that Mother Nature can still throw up a roadblock to our relentless to and fro is encouraging. I think when we finally are able to ignore such things, we will have lost an essential part of being an Earthling.