Lost Video Island

[Brooke]

Is it too early to start talking about a Lost curse? Probably, but — aside from recent news items like Matthew Fox being arrested for DUI and Jorge Garcia's (and J.J. Abrams's, for that matter!) Alcatraz being canceled by Fox — the upcoming fall TV season and the series hopefuls that accompany it have not been kind to several Lost alums.

While Terry O'Quinn's (aka Locke on Lost) supernatural drama 666 Park Ave. has been picked up by ABC — and he has fared well overall since the beloved series ended in 2010, choosing guest-starring TV roles wisely — the same can't be said for four of his former "island" cohabitants: Emilie de Ravin, Greg Grunberg, Titus Welliver and Nestor Carbonell.

Ravin (aka Claire on Lost) was one of a few big names (Anthony LaPaglia and Ashley Greene were the others) set for the soapy fashion-centric series Americana, but it has been passed over by the same network that helped launch her career, ABC. Grunberg, who is better known for NBC's Heroes than Lost (he voiced Seth Norris in a pair of episodes), was set to team up with uber-TV producers Greg Malins and Greg Berlanti for an untitled drama, but that is no longer happening. Welliver's (the Man in Black on a trio of Lost episodes) thriller Midnight Sun didn't garner enough interest either despite a fairly marquee lead actress in Julia Stiles/ And, The Smart One, in which Carbonell (Lost's Richard Alpert) was to appear alongside Portia de Rossi, Malin Akerman and David Arquette, has been passed over as well.


Such a shame but it happens. Plus Lost was a big cast.

[tjmack1986]

Not mention Nestor Carbonell's show Ringer was cancelled on The CW.

Sidenote: I was really hoping that Midnight Sun would get picked up since I LOVE Julia Stiles. Sadness!
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[Brooke]

I tried to watch Ringer but it was a bust in my opinion. I stopped at the 3 or 5th episode I can't remember.

The problem is they put the show on Sarah's shoulders and she couldn't carry it on her own. My argument for why she was so successful on Buffy was three things; great story, great writing, and it was an ensemble cast. The cast members were given things to do rather then be furniture.

The show's premise was okay; but the promo for it made it look so awesome. It was too predictable; too nice for a show that was supposed to be mean and gritty. I think they list need too much on what the fans wanted instead of needed.

I think it would have done better on CBS; it was more of an adult themed show that ended up being bought by a network that shows teen/college kids shows.

But my biggest issue was how they underestimated the rest of the cast. That cast was AMAZING and in my opinion could easily act circles around Sarah.

[tjmack1986]

The show actually picked up about 2/3 of the way through. I think if given another season that the writers could have seen their mistakes and easily fixed the show and made it much more enjoyable.

I actually thought Sarah did a great job. She did what not many can do. She made me like Bridgett and hate Siobhan. I do think they could have used the rest of the cast in a much better way.

Though the kill move was having it be on The CW which caters mostly to teens, and not many teens wanna tune in every week for a show like this.
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[Brooke]

I think the problem was I think they banked on Sarah's Buffy fans.

I think the show was just too predictable; it didn't challenge itself; and it didn't take any risks.

They made it too happy for a show that was about revenge/murder/hatred.

I'm not a big Sarah fan. I've seen her in mostly everything she's done and I've given up on her. I was a HUGE Buffy fan; but I've come to learn that the writing was that show; and it helped that it was ensemble.

She's a much better actress with an ensemble cast; but the cast has to be used; and the cast wasn't used here; at least not in posting ways.

Ringer had potential and the writers didn't use it.

[Im1oftheOceanic6]

That's too bad that they canceled or passed on 4 of the shows starring Losties.

However, the silver lining of Emilie not doing Americana is that maybe now she'll be free to play Belle on Once Upon a Time. I'd love to see her join as a series regular.

I kind of saw the Alcatraz canceling coming. It was a good concept but it was too dark and the episodes I watched all seemed to play out in the same formula.

I think it is going to be difficult for any of them to have another sucessful show because Lost was such a unique,groundbreaking show. I think most of them will have a kind of 'Lost curse' just like the often joked about 'Seinfeld curse'.

It's kind of interesting how having a sucessful show is almost a curse.It seems to be really hard for the actors that play our favorite characters on long running shows to find another sucessful tv show or much sucess in the film industry.

Macaila

[thefilmchick]

Not to mention, Macaila, the risk of getting pigeonholed (Jorge Garcia as "funny fat guy," Michael Emerson as "creepy brainiac," etc.), so then the audience can't accept them in other roles. Some of the Losties can/could avoid that -- Daniel Dae Kim because Jin wasn't a lead role and because he didn't speak in English for half of the show; Terry O'Quinn because he was known beforehand -- but I'd argue it's harder for the less established Losties to break out of stereotype.

What I saw of Ringer was kind of flat, I agree; it needed to be creepier and it couldn't/wouldn't do that. I'm surprised Nikita is still plugging along on the CW; that show's better than it should be (although I admit I watch mainly for dumb fun and for Birkhoff's one-liners, so my sights aren't set too high).
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

[Polarbear]

I expected more from the Lost actors. Very excited for the Terry O' Quinn show, though and we get him in a few episodes of Falling Skies this summer too which will be fun.

I'm gonna get caught up with Person of Interest at some point. It's not a bad show, just not really my thing but Michael Emerson is more than enough to get me to watch it again.

I hope Josh gets back into tv at some point because he is probably my favourite of the actors. He doesn't seem to have hit it off in the film world and there's only a small window where he will still be recognisable as 'the guy from Lost.'
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[Brooke]

I love the Juliet/Walking Dead Gif.

I agree about Ringer; it was flat.

I could actually see Josh Holloway going either movies/TV. I really enjoyed his performance in Mission Impossible 4.

And again; I agree I think it's hard for actors in hit shows to find work after. A lot of the Buffy cast have really struggled.

[Polarbear]

[Im1oftheOceanic6]

thefilmchick

[thefilmchick]

I think Josh's problem for lead-actor roles is that he's too pretty, honestly (note: deliberately not using the word "handsome," because that's more easily overlooked), and it's a specifically all-American-boy type of prettiness that makes it hard to look past when casting. I mean, they grunged him up in his flashbacks, but he still didn't look hardened. And because of his looks, he can't blend into the background like some of the others can when necessary.

Ian Somerhalder maybe has a similar problem w/r/t prettiness, but in his case it's more striking/"unearthly," so he can do the teen stuff like Vampire Diaries, whereas JH can't even do that as a lead. And, with JH's blond, blue-eyed prettiness, who needs him when you have Brad Pitt or <insert another bigger actor here> who wants the role?
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.