Over the month-long semester break between Fall and Spring, I watched as my friends back home developed an all-consuming addiction that chewed up entire days and nights of their lives.
They discovered LOST, one of the greatest TV shows of all time ever. At the time, ABC had every single episode on their website, where you could watch as many as you could stomach interrupted only momentarily by 15-30 second ads dispersed amongst each episode in about five places.
They lost themselves in it and they didn’t offer to take me along with them. I would come over to a friend’s house, and there they were, huddled around a screen in a dark room, flailing violently in response to enigmatic plot twists as if they had completely lost control of their limbs.
Some nights I would pepper them with pesky questions about what was going on in the show. “I thought their plane crashed on an island and they were castaways. Why is there a cloud of smoke that is murdering people?” “Why is he having sex with her? I thought they were brother and sister.” “You’ve already seen this. What’s in the damn hatch?”
I tried so hard to stay away. I told myself it would never be me, but then the teasers for Season 4 began airing. The survivors were going to be rescued!
In January of 2008, I tried watching LOST for the first time. I was immediately addicted. Every spare minute of every day I spent in front of my computer. I had to catch up before the next season began!
Homework fell by the wayside. New Year’s Resolutions of getting out of my dorm room and making new friends were forgotten. LOST had taken over my heart and soul.
I’m not proud to say that the addiction was cut off cold-turkey. It wasn’t a decision of my own. I just ran out of the stuff. I had to wait until season 4 was aired, one episode per week. Three seasons of 20+ episodes each and I had managed to chew through them in less than two weeks.
With my LOST addiction no longer occupying so much of my time, I actually did get around to that homework and friend-making.
LOST was moved to Thursday nights. My Spring schedule gave me Fridays off from class. I had a beer pong table, a fridge full of cheap beer, and an amazing TV show to celebrate my three-day weekends. It was perfect.
It became a ritual for my new found friends, even ones who didn’t watch the show (they were put in the corner and shushed when they asked questions about what the hell was happening). When those white letters popped onto the black background with a triumphant horn and percussion combination signaling the conclusion of that week’s episode, we would explode into speculation as we returned the couches to the common room and unfolded the ping pong table.
Beyond just the incredible, intricate, philosophical journey that LOST took me on, it also served as an inauguration for weekends of binge drinking and getting out of my shell to make friends. It wasn’t just a profound narrative experience, it was a big part of growing up for me. For that reason, I will always hold the show dearly in my heart.
Do you have any TV shows or movies that you associate with important periods in your life?
The Brantley Blog 
Doctor Who, and Black Butler. Great people turned me on to these.
X’D I love these Brantleyisms! So perfect!
Thanks!
I feel like this about The Sopranos. Summer in Ireland is virtually non-existent so I got the box set and watched it through in weeks. Best decision I ever made.
For me, when I first started my phd program at berkeley i brought a group of people together at my 300 square foot apt to watch south park. It was all a fab social science experiment
I was a religiously devoted South Park fan for years and years. Haven’t watched it in a really long time, but the creators were always so outstanding at keeping it fresh, I’m sure it hasn’t decayed at all even though it is getting up there in age.
Binge watching introduced me to Downton Abbey. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Now I am hooked. And I don’t watch TV! (except now for recordings of Downton Abbey and Person Of Interest)
I understand the Main Character on POI was also on Lost. Maybe I should just go and check out ….
You definitely should! That actor did an incredible job on LOST. He was an extremely juicy character with several dimensions.
I don’t have to reply; I’m too busy watching Sherlock.
Those Brantleyisms are so true. Went through this with “Breaking Bad”.
I tried getting into Breaking Bad and I absolutely see what all the hype is about, but the storyline was too stressful for me. As I cringed through those first 3 episodes, I could literally feel my hair graying and falling out of my head.
Somebody did their job too well and vicariously experiencing the life of a screw-up meth dealer noob is just too much for me to take on at this point in my life. I hope to try again some day though!
I was obsessed with Lost for a while as well! Then I gave up 😉 I never miss Criminal Minds 😉 Linda.
I watch fringe regularly
I tried getting into that show because it’s from the same guys that made Lost, but it just wasn’t for me.
Thanks for reading!
Never watched LOST. Glad I didn’t. I might’ve fallen under it’s spell like you. DOWNTOWN ABBEY is my weakness.
Lost began in 2004 (I had to look that up), whenever it came out on DVD my bestfriend Niccole (Nicc as you read in the other blog post) demanded that I watch it with her, it seemed like a good show. So it became a “ritual” that only we shared… boyfriends be damned. That night we watched two or three episodes and a week later when I went to her house to watch the next one, she and her boyfriend were already on episode twelve. I tried to catch up but so much had happened, and so my affair with LOST ended as quickly as it began.
As stupid as it might sound a show called Dance Academy had me roped in, I would blow off school work (this past semester) to watch episodes I had already seen on Netflix (which means I could have watched it any time I wanted to, or just thought of the episodes in my mind). The acting isn’t very good, the storyline was kind of unbelievable, but the dancing is pretty darn awesome.
I’d have to go with The West Wing. I know I’m in too deep when I start dreaming about the characters. That’s when I know it is time to read a book for awhile. But once a year I start all over and get at least through the end of season 5.
Btw, thanks for visiting my blog! I’m new to this.
I’ve heard so many good things about The West Wing, but it aired before I would have been old enough to appreciate its depth. Don’t you just wish you could experience it for the first time over and over again though?
Thanks for the comment! Keep publishing great content and check out other people’s blogs and soon enough you will have a full flock of followers to appreciate your hard work!
>Girl put in corner and shushed when asking questions about what the hell was happening<
Just you wait until I do a post about Sketchesaurus. I already have it written, and I will get to that one in the next couple of weeks!