Confessions of a "Lost" American

Confessing my shallow interests in television is not a proud moment, but I'm not alone in my interest in the "Lost" series. It is a rather finely constructed web of deceits and mysteries which can both follow typical TV conventions as well as distort them, reminding me of such other great programs which I became addicted to like "Twin Peaks" and "The Prisoner".

Thanks to Big Orange Michael, I read a most interesting theory about the Real Meaning of the events on the show in Entertainment Weekly. (Side note: Being caught reading EW is akin to someone catching you reading US Weekly and as I rule I read neither. Honest-to-Pete I don't.)

Writing here about a TV show is a feat of sheer Geekiness, but thanks to Bill Gates and bad reality television, Geek is In. Embracing your inner (or outer for that matter) Geek is the hallmark of the moment.

Apologies aside, the above-mentioned theory calls into importance the writings of Charles Dickens, master storyteller and the man who perfected serial storytelling. I'm sure the writers of "Lost" have more than a passing admiration for Dickens, as most good writers do. And you can read the book which the character of Desmond, one-time hatch-inhabitant, holds so dear in the last episode, "Our Mutual Friend", by clicking here.

Speaking of television viewing - I did not realize at the time that I had chosen to watch the 3-hour movie of Stephen King's "Desperation" rather than watch the finale of "American Idol" -- wouldn't watch that anyway, unless someone was holding a gun to my pointed little head. It was a fine peice of work -- and Stephen himself was most annoyed the suits at ABC put his gem up against the Idol finale.

And that leads to one other noteworthy event for summer viewing - TNT has made a mini-series of his "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" which will air in July.

OK, enough of this attention paid to television. A writer has no place discussing it - or does he??