Newsweek's "Why LOST Got Overlooked"

Here's a snippet of the Newsweek article on the 2007 Emmy Awards nominations announced last Thursday, 19 July 2007.

After winning the best-drama Emmy for its first season in 2005, "Lost" has now been shut out of the category two years in a row. But this time around, "Lost" didn't lose because its producers submitted the wrong episode. The show's third season was bumpy to say the least. About halfway through, many fans came close to writing it off entirely. But "Lost" recovered with a thrilling run of episodes at the end of the season, culminating with its instant-classic finale, titled "Through the Looking Glass." This was the episode that "Lost"'s producers submitted for Emmy consideration.

So what happened? You got me. The Emmys' odd, single-episode nominating process does put serialized dramas such as "Lost" in a tricky spot. It's impossible to appreciate an episode like "Through the Looking Glass" if you missed everything that led up to it. That's why so-called procedurals—programs with self-contained story lines that wrap up in an hour, such as "Law & Order," "CSI" and, more recently, "House"—have tended to fare well at the Emmys. But the process's natural bias against serialized shows didn't hurt "The Sopranos," or "Grey's Anatomy."

And here's the weird thing about this year's Emmys: it didn't exactly hurt "Lost," either. "Through the Looking Glass" earned well-deserved nominations in both the writing and the directing categories, but the show still failed to earn a nomination for best drama series. In other words, the academy decided that "Lost" was beautifully written and directed, but other than that, they weren't impressed. "Boston Legal" and "Heroes," meanwhile, earned only a directing nomination. And "House" was shut out of both writing and directing honors. Yet all three were nominated for best drama.

And this is supposed to make the LOST fans' feel better?

Fine. I admit, I feel a little better.

But then, does it mean that some changes in the Emmy Awards criteria are necessary? Considering that recognition for LOST's accomplishments (most importantly, it being the outstanding drama in the past season) suffers because the show's concept and format do not fit with the awards criteria, shouldn't the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tweak its nomination criteria? Primetime television is changing, with unique shows such as LOST becoming popular. I think the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences should go with the changes.

That said, even if the Academy are not impressed with LOST's third season, I was. That's important, because this was the first season that literally glued my bum to the couch. Heck, I've become so involved with Season Three that I cried so much during Greatest Hits and Through the Looking Glass.

For me, LOST rules!!!

Ahem, ahem.

If you're interested in reading the full article, please click here.