Lost

Lost, American television drama that aired on ABC. The show, which ran from 2004 to 2010, was one of ABC’s most successful series, enjoying top-20 Nielsen rankings and winning a number of Emmy Awards, including best drama series (2005).

Lost was a fast-paced, suspenseful, and surreal series about a group of people who survive when their commercial passenger jet, Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, crashes on a remote island in the tropical Pacific. As the survivors work together in an attempt to stay alive, they discover many mysteries about the island. It is a place of supernatural wonders and grave perils. Among the oddities and menaces they discover are a mysterious hatch, the occasional appearance of ominous black smoke, a population referred to as “the Others,” and the bunkers of scientific researchers who appear to have recently occupied the island. The many threats force the survivors to cooperate and rely upon each other, but conflicts arise as they turn against one another or disagree on the proper course of action. The show featured a large ensemble cast: in season one, of the 72 marooned passengers (71 people and 1 dog), 14 actors had regular speaking roles.

Lost featured a convoluted plot in which nothing was as it seemed, and new story lines could erupt without warning. Each mystery typically wove into a larger one that perpetuated the plot and implied that there might be one underlying explanation for all of the island’s vexing curiosities. The show regularly employed flashbacks and flash-forwards that revealed telling or foreboding aspects of a character. Each episode ended in a signature cliff-hanger. The final episode, which revealed that one time line was actually a form of purgatory, was lauded as a well-designed resolution by some critics, while others found it unsatisfying and disappointing.