LOST: Why tying up a serialized TV show is tougher than you’d think

My roommate and I had a few people over for a LOST series finale get-together last night. I told people to bring one of their “desert island” or “death row” meals – something they couldn’t live without. And bonus points if they tied it into LOST. People played along. I channeled my beer label design skills into some Dharma Initiative beer (which was really a lot of Oskar Blues and Ska canned craft beer).

(pssst: download and print this PDF to make your own Dharma Initiative labels!)

Other people brought some tasty and very creative stuff! I really enjoy spending time with other creative people:

• Jin and Suns – Gin & tonic + Sunny D (my favorite Sunny D ad)
• Little Smoke Monsters – Smokey Franks
• eClaires – pretty obviously eclairs (which we didn’t eat)
• Michael’s Traitor Tots – Tater Tots (flavored with the mouthwatering flavor of redeeming oneself after committing a few horrific murders)
• CupKates – like 3 dozen cupcakes (they were oh so delicious!)

My house doesn’t hold that many people, but we crammed out small group in and watched the finale. I thought it started out really strong, but by the end we were reduced to something akin to the Battlestar Galactica finale*. Don’t get me wrong, I loved BSG, but the last 30 minutes of the series finale was beyond terrible. When you look at series finale episodes, they’re often pretty bad. Seinfeld, BSG, and the Sopranos are among my most notable shows that ended in a less-than-stellar fashion.

Given the evidence, tying up these shows is a really tough thing to do.

My question is this: wouldn’t you want to figure out the ending pretty much first? And all the while work towards this ending to achieve your vision? That’s how I’d probably do it.