Doc Jensen tempts our LOST taste buds with this little preview of tonight's episode...

To celebrate, you deserve a REAL tease about tonight's episode. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to welcome to the column for the first time this season...executive producer Damon Lindelof:

''Well, I don't wanna give too much away, but let's just say this episode begins with a murder and ends with the first bird's-eye view of the Island in the history of the show.''

Wouldn't it be funny if, from the air, the Island looked like a giant floating question mark?

No.

On page two the Doc stares into his magic eight ball and conjures some shocking info...

QUESTION: In the wake of the season premiere, ''The Beginning of the End,'' many fans wondered if a trail of Smokey smoke followed Matthew Abbaddon out the door of Hurley's mental institution. Should we be wondering if that was indeed the case?

MAGIC 8 BALL SAYS: YOUR ANSWER IS NO.

Er, well, OK.  WTF is this about? I didn't see any trail 'o' smoke behind the bald guy.  Maybe I wasn't paying attention close enough?

Even more about the C.S. Lewis connection (I totally missed that one!)

Check it out!

Link: ''Lost'': Decode these clues! | Lost | doc jensen | TV | Entertainment Weekly | 3

Technorati Tags: LOST, Doc Jensen, Theories, preview, The Economist

Looks like we may have to adjust the DVR schedulers yet again!  Is 10/9 too late a slot?

TV Guide reported that ABC's post-strike schedule may move Lost to another new timeslot: Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, right after Grey's Anatomy, beginning in late April.

Also rumored is a slight shift in how the remaining episodes will be split up for 'the break.'  Now it looks like There will be seven aired before the break, with the remaining after.  Apparently it makes more sense with the story.
Technorati Tags: LOST, season four, episodes, time slot

Link: Final Episodes of 'Lost' Season 4 Find New Time Slot
Link: SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel | SCIFI.COM

Thanks to DocArtz....

Too bad they couldn't find a way to bring all sixteen episodes around, but at least it looks like we'll be getting more than we hoped for when the strike started....

As for "Lost," exec producer Carlton Cuse said he and fellow showrunner Damon Lindelof would meet with ABC brass today to hammer out the plan for the rest of the season. They won't be able to finish the remaining eight segs of the show's planned 16-episode season -- five is a more likely number -- but they will be able to craft a completed storyline for the remainder of this season, Cuse said.

And whatever segs are not produced this season will be picked up down the road in the show's remaining two seasons, Cuse said.

"We're going to try to make as many as we can and do a good job of finishing out this season," he said. "We'll have to compress some of the storytelling we planned for this season, and that may not be a bad thing. Damon and I feel like we know how we can finish it off and still make it a really, really great story."

Hopefully there isn't anything important that will have to be glossed over, or worse, the story has that "rushed" feel to it.  That would hurt more than anything.

Link: Cuse: The Season 4 Story Will be Told - DocArzt's Lost Blog

Technorati Tags: LOST, season four, writers strike

Here's a little bit of meaningless and most likely irrelevant trivia.  Right now on The Movie Channel West there's a B movie on called "Men of War" (IMDB).  The satellite guide info lists it as:

"Former special forces agents hired to invade an exotic island learn they were duped by con artists."

The only reason it caught my attention was one of the actress' names.  Charlotte Lewis.  Also the name of one of our freighter folk  (Again, IMDB).  A curious little bit of coincidence (or...is it?!)  I thought was funny...

...carry on!

Technorati Tags: LOST, charlotte, trivia

My oh my.  Seems things just got a little deeper on the island!  Just getting right into it....

Faraday

OK, so his flashback wasn't much of one at all.  I suspect he'll get a bigger one at some point to explain why he was upset at the news of the wreckage.  Funny how he was so upbeat and seemingly glad to find the losties where Miles was not?  And how he waffled about when they found the biohazard case.  Any guesses as to what that was about?  Those masks sure did look DHARMA issue to me! 

I especially like the allusion to Desmond, "Are you Jack?"  Just like Kelvin's "Are you him?" to Desmond.

Personally I can't wait to see what they do with this character.

Miles

What? A psychic?  With a crooked streak?  What other secrets of the dead will he uncover?  Any other ghosts on the island he'd like to speak with? (hint hint)

Charlotte

An archaeologist?  Even more curiouser.  Two things I really found interesting here:  1) The finding of the DHARMA polar bear in North Africa (dammit! back to my Fourth Reich theory!) especially one with a Hydra Station collar on it.  Did it wind up there through some weird spacetime teleportation nonsense?  Was there another Hydra there at some point?  W.T.F!!

and 2) Why is she apparently so incredibly happy about finding the place?  What sort of things is she, in particular, looking for here?  Maybe she'll shed some insight onto ol' Mr. Four Toes and the ruins?  I'm catching a slight whiff of plot device here, but we'll see how it plays.

Frank

And then there's Frank.  The pilot.  Who should have been flying 815 in the first place.  Why didn't he?  (I smell a flashback!)  He knows that 815 was not found.  I'm sure Miles suspects it, being psychic and all....  Was that really a cow? Part of Mikhail's livestock? (I'd have to go back and look) or is he getting strange animal visions ala Kate?

Ben

So why are they after Ben specifically?  Which one of them is an Other? And is that person a native Other or an ex-DHARMA other?  Or another Other altogether! (say that three times fast!)

Naomi and Abaddon

So.  Seems our mysterious Mr. Abaddon who visited Hurley in the asylum (in the future) is in charge of this little operation. 

I wonder what the purpose of each member of the team is?  Makes sense that they each have a specific role to play, I suppose.

Prediction:  The freighter folks are DHARMA, and they're after Ben for killing everyone on the island in "The Purge."  I think we've established that DHARMA are "the bad guys" and the native islanders, "the Others" are not.

Of course I will probably be proven wrong.  I mean, if its "not Penny's boat," then its got to be someone's, right?  The nearly identical gas-masks in the box are a big tip off.  As is Charlotte's big grin as she finds the collar in the sand....

Oops

Speaking of being proven wrong, lets not talk about the "Naomi's sister" thing, OK?

Locke and Hurley

I like that Locke is being brought back up front and is back to his philosophical ways again.  But how will this thing with Hurley unfold?  If Hurley has also been allowed to glimpse Jacob, will there be some sort of rivalry down the road between him and Locke?  Obviously Hurley survives and makes it off the island, so who knows?

Looks like another of the "Oceanic Six" will be revealed next week!  They're burning through that one fast!

Everyone chime in with your opinions!  I thought the show was awesome, I've read some others thought it was terrible.  Hey, at least it wasn't Paulo and Nikki!

Technorati Tags: LOST, Confirmed Dead, theories, analysis, spoilers, characters

Weeellll, what an odd episode "Confirmed Dead" turned out to be!  Not one, but five (six?) flashbacks, all related to our new characters, the team from the freighter.  There's plenty to talk about in the analysis thread (coming a bit later) but here's the recap!

I guess the only good way to do it this time, is to just run it down like it played out, since all the different flashbacks intertwined with the story on the island... not so easy to break out the different stories this time.

Well, what a mind blower! Let's just get down to it, shall we?  There's really not a lot to cover actually, but what there is has some big implications for the future.  Both on and off the island!

Deep Inhale Heavy Exhale Ah, it's good to be seeing new LOST episodes again, isn't it? And last night's season four premiere, "The Beginning of the End" was no exception.  A lot of strange and wonderful things happened, but overall I don't think this one packed the same punch that the "barracks" or (especially the) "hatch" premieres had.  Although you have to admit the opening scene sure got your attention!!

As is the usual drill, plenty of spoilers abound.