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I’m dying for January to get here.  Battlestar Galactica wraps up and Lost returns with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.

Basically, we’ve been preparing for the return of Lost for the better part of two months.  Just obssessing over its return.  Watching videos, reading interviews, talking with friends, tracking spoilers and clues all the stuff you’re supposed to do for addictive television.  I’m just hoping my excitement for the show’s return doesn’t let me be dissappointed.  The LA Times poses 48 more questions (get it?  get it?) we still have before the show resolves itself.

48. Will the WGA strike permanently disrupt the original plan to end the series with three seasons of 16 episodes apiece?

47. What is Charles Widmore’s association with the Dharma Initiative?

46. Who were those guys in the icebound monitoring station at the end of Season 2?

45. What is the significance of Claire’s baby?

44. Will Rose’s cancer return?

43. Will Sun survive her pregnancy?

42. What’s the meaning behind that crazy mural painted inside the Swan Station?

41. Where exactly is the island located?

40. What gets worshipped at the temple Ben mentions near the end of the third season?

MORE »

So with the writer’s strike, television has been a barren wasteland, but that should change tomorrow when Lost returns for about two months. Still, at this point I’ll take what I can get. That mentality served me well in college, so I’m sticking with it.

If you haven’t been watching the mobisodes, then you should do so! Thanks to the good folks at Lost Spoilers who’ve compiled all 13 of them and have allowed us to embed them for you. Not surprisingly, the final one is like a mind grenade.

And if you haven’t seen this video yet, well let’s just say it’s all about watching the plane crash from several different angles.

Lost returns Thursday night, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m. for a mondo two-hour premiere.

I feel ya Jack.  Still get shivers hearing him scream that at Kate.  Luckily audiences will be able to return to the Island with Jack, Sawyer, Kate!, Hurley and gang on January 31, 2008.  Taking over Grey’s Anatomy’s time slot Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Unfortunately it will be for only eight measley episodes.  Seems ABC needs some ratings and despite producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse’s insitences of waiting ABC to wait for the final eight episodes, that’s not the case.

As excited as I am for the fourth season to start, especially after watching the extended promo trailer, I feel like Lindelof and Cuse have earned my respect and if they wanted to wait to show all the episodes, I woulda waited until 2009 to see them all together.  I guess ABC wasn’t so virtuous with the whole patience thing.

Also, be sure to watch the mobisodes.  They’re really short but pretty awesome.

Okay, okay, you don’t have to tell me that we’re beginning to flog a dead horse around here.  But it sounds as if the writers are intent on not caving, which is good for them, bad for television watchers.  Joss Whedon shares his thoughts on striking and getting a fair deal and he makes it sound as if the WGA is going to be resolute.

This of course means that many shows will be pushed back if this drags on through December and into the new year.  TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello claims that everyone’s fav mystery show Lost, might not air any new episodes until 2009.  Holy schnikies you read that right: 2009!

If the strike extends into the new year and beyond, there is a chance ABC may opt to delay the new season until the fall. Or worse yet, February 2009. Another scenario has the network simply airing the eight episodes already in the can this February as originally planned — something Team Darlton would not be in favor of.

Says Lost cocreator Carlton Cuse, “Damon [Lindelof] and my concern about running the [eight] episodes we will have made is that it will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down. There is a mini-cliff-hanger at the end of Episode 8, but it’s like the end of an exciting book chapter; it’s not the end of the novel. Damon and I didn’t write [the ending of Episode 8] differently [with the looming strike in mind]. We wrote it to be the ending of Episode 8.”

In any case, he concedes that the decision to hold or air the episodes isn’t ultimately theirs. “It’s really [ABC honcho Steve MacPherson's] call,” Cuse notes, adding, “No one was happy with the six-episode run last season.”

Damn.  Not that I think this is a bad idea, but clearly the creators of the show had an idea for the last three seasons to each be 16 episodes long.  By tacking on the first half of what would be Season 4 to the entirety of what would be Season 5 (this would comprise the last eight episodes of Season 4 and the first eight of Season 5), ABC would then essentially be forced to air an elongated version of the final Season 6.

So all of that is to say that instead of three seasons of 16 episodes, viewers would get two seasons of 24 episodes.  Would it be worth the wait?  Would ABC dare do this to loyal viewers?

On a related note the first mobisodes shot for Lost won’t be aired on ABC.com until Nov. 22, but the first one has already popped up online in crappy quality.

“Lost: Missing Pieces are 13 two-to three-minute stories of compelling, new, never-before-seen moments from LOST. These newly-created scenes (not deleted scenes from previous episodes) reveal answers and new details about your favorite characters. For each story, we leave it up to the you, the fans, to figure out where these pieces fit into the overall mythology. Watch new episodes on ABC.com”

So we’re impossibly biting our fingernails until the new season of Lost starts up.  Nothing on television right now has us even remotely excited as the prospect of the island.

DarkUFO, which is one of the premier destination for all Lostphanatics, has taken the time to put up the video for DriveShaft’s “You All Everybody.”  What I always thought was funny was that they sounded curiously like Oasis with a similar backstory to boot.  They were one of Locke’s favorite bands and for any Alias fans out there, in one particular epsidoe Syd Bristow threw a party at her house and she was a fan of Driveshaft, as their hit single “You All Everybody” was playing in the background.

All pretty funny stuff if you ask me.

Mp3: DriveShaft - “You All (Everybody)”

From the upcoming DVD release.  Nuff said.

So actress Kristen Bell won’t be joining the cast of Lost next season. Lindelof and Cuse officially offered her the part of Charlotte, but Bell turned them down. Apparantly the idea of relocating to Hawaii to join the ensemble cast for the best show on television was too much for Bell.

There are rumors flying everywhere that she’ll be appearing on Broadway in Legally Blond starting in February. Which, I suppose you’ve got to follow your heart and all, but still. It would have been a great marriage, especially because Lindelof and Cuse have been extremely gracious to actors/actresses that want to leave the show. Most of the cast seem to come and go as they please, with the exception of the major island players.

There’s no doubt Bell could have come in filmed her parts, gone back to LA to do film work or even New York to do Broadway. Either way, here’s hoping Kristen Bell ends up doing some work sometime soon. We miss her already.

Update: Bell can be seen next in the upcoming film Fanboys.

The end game looks like it will have any actual end. Though it makes us sad to live in a television world without the 815ers, we applaud the decision by ABC and Touchstone to bring back the hit show for only 48 more episodes after the third season.Instead of the traditional 22 episodes per season, when “Lost” returns for their remaining three seasons, they will be shortened to 16-episode arcs. Probably all shown in one straight shot. I kinda wish other networks would do this. Viewers can actually see the difference in quality between HBO and FX, which only allow their serial dramas to have 13 episodes per season. There’s less filler and more killer. Er… can’t believe we’ve resorted to puns this early on Monday morning.

Anyway, the good news is that executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, i.e. the brain trust, will return for all three seasons to ensure the highest quality going out. Recognize.

Cuse added that he hoped more shows will be able to follow the “Lost” lead and declare an end date.

“I think for story-based shows like ‘Lost,’ as opposed to franchise-based shows like ‘ER’ or ‘CSI,’ the audience wants to know when the story is going to be over,” Cuse wrote. “When J.K. Rowling announced that there would be seven ‘Harry Potter’ books, it gave the readers a clear sense of exactly what their investment would be. We want our audience to do the same.”

Amen to that brother.

So today is Wednesday and though it’s only 1:30 in the afternoon here in Oysterland, we’ve decided to call it a day. Afterall it’s almost 65 degrees here in Boston. In March fer christsake! There’s just down right evil. And it makes being a productive member of society nearly impossible absolutely impossible. So we’re gonna go have an afternoon pint or drive around with our car windows rolled down. Are you feeling jealous? Probably not. Anyway, today is Wednesday and that means today is all about “Lost.”

Tonight’s episode has a Claire centric vibe to it. And by all indications the rumors of Jack and Claire being half-siblings are no lie! Crazy. Seems like Jack’s dad is connected to every island member in some way. Or I guess the survivors. Regardless Claire’s gonna be all gothed out tonight and Emilie de Ravin is just as sexy with black hair. Maybe even more so.

Aint It Cool has a nice little episode spoiler thingie. It’s worth checking out to wet your whistle. And we’ve got photos of Evangeline Lilly and Josh Halloway to do the same! We don’t discriminate. It’s too bad these two fine DNA specimens aren’t having sex in real life, since their child would be devestatingly beautiful.