Win a sneak peek at LOST Season 6!

Can't wait for the premiere of LOST on Feb. 2?

Register with www.ABC.go.com and then enter the "LOST: The Final Season Sweepstakes" by answering six LOST questions correctly. (FYI, they are pretty easy questions for any real Lostie.)

You'll then be entered to be one of 815 fans chosen to receive a "message in a bottle" with an exclusive sneak peek of the opening minutes from the Season 6 premiere, days before it airs on ABC.

Considering that the producers haven't let so much as one S6 scene be shown in any pre-season promotional material or teaser spots, that's a pretty intriguing prize!

EW's Doc Jensen interviews J.J. Abrams

Over on EW.com, LOST guru Doc Jensen has an interesting interview with the show's co-creator, J.J. Abrams, whom the magazine has named one of their Entertainers of the Decade. He gives full credit for the show's success to co-creator Damon Lindelof, executive producer Carlton Cuse, and lead director Jack Bender, who anchors the crew on location in Hawaii.

Doc J. also has a new column, in which he challenges readers to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Season 5 DVD package, which reportedly just might contain a Season 6 reveal. There's lots more, too, including an interview with super-fan Andrew Wilmar.

Spotted: Evangeline Lilly and Emilie De Ravin Shooting Lost in Los Angeles

Here's the scoop from E!Online's Watch with Kristin:

Evangeline and Emilie were reshooting a scene for the season premiere episode of Lost, which will air Feb. 2.

The scene was originally taped in Hawaii but had to be reshot, and because Evangeline, Emilie and director Jack Bender all happened to be in Los Angeles (the cast is on hiatus), they decided to shoot it at ABC Studios.

Check out this spoiler free Spanish promo for the final season

Watch With Kristin at E!Online says:

Holy kickass promo! Since ABC and Lost's producers have decided not to show a single frame of the upcoming season, at least one international outlet (Spain's Cuatro network) has busted out what boss Carlton Cuse just retweeted is the "best promo ever"...

LOST's Emerson: S6 eps so far are 'dark and bloody'

In a recent interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Lost star Michael Emerson describes the ordeal that is the Emmy Awards, and talks just a little bit about Season 6.

No spoilers from him, of course, because the producers are being more careful than ever about letting out any details about the show's final season. (Not a single scene from the new season is supposed to be used in pre-season promotional clips.)

Six episodes of shooting are in the can, and Emerson says he's "had some vintage Ben stuff already" -- but he can't figure out how the series will end: "It's still so opaque."

USA Today Q&A with Damon Lindelof

Thanks to Tim for sending along this Q&A with Damon Lindelof.

Tim rightly points out this question and answer (but click the link above for the whole article) :

I would love to know what song Damon thinks would best match the mood of Season 6. -- dmachado13

Wow. I'd say Visions of Johanna by Bob Dylan.

Why?

I have that song on my iPod, and when I hear it I think about the show. There are certain lyrical phrases in that song that are very well-suited to Lost.

From Watch With Kristin's spoiler chat:

JasonBuskin via Twitter: Lost premiere is Groundhog Day. Coincidence?
Nope! I'm told it was fully intentional. Not so much by Lost's producers but by the higher-ups (Steve McPherson) at ABC. Pretty awesome, right?

Annie B.: I don't care about alt Lost where Sawyer and Kate apparently do cross paths. Do you have any info about Sawyer/Kate on the Island, or are they doomed in the present time line (with Suliet and Jate still going strong)?
I know Team Darlton referred to "killing off" Juliet in their latest interview with People, but you've probably figured out by now that we'll see her alive somehow which my source confirms. Hence, her guest spots in a few episodes on the sixth season.

Darrell in New Jersey: It's almost December already! Lost, please!
Honestly, guys, I'm so freaking confused right now because my rock-solid source is telling me two things that seem to contradict each other. I know most of you have heard about the "alt Lost" this season (see question above), and so have I. But I'm also told that the thing that I'm pretty sure needs to happen for "alt Lost" to happen does not happen.

Back to 'Mysteries of the Universe'...

We totally forgot to check out Parts 4 and 5 of the Mysteries of the Universe mock-doc on ABC.com, but here they are. They include some interesting details about the Dharma Initiative.

Part 4 (released Oct. 15) talks about Alvar Hanso, who attended the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) as an exchange student and stayed with the DeGroot family when Dharma founder Gerald DeGroot was a child, pre-World War II. Gerald's college records have been expunged from existence. Part 4 also shows us a new photo of the ultra-mysterious Danish munitions magnate, who is the powerful financier behind Dharma. In this photo, Alvar -- whom we had only seen previously from a distance, standing behind a window in a Dharma orientation film -- is sporting a beard.

In Part 5, which became available on Nov. 16, we hear of a Dharma food drop gone astray on a Tongan island. "Is the Dharma Initiative located on one of the 169 islands in Tonga?" Alvar Hanso, of course, is supposed to be the supplier of the food drops. Is the DI's octagonal logo perhaps connected to "Communist China?" the narrator asks portentously. "We know it wishes to remain shrouded in secrecy... Only time will tell the fate of this Mysteries of the Universe!"

ABC.com says extended versions of these five clips, plus Part 6 of the Mysteries series, will be available on the Blu-ray and DVD versions of Lost's Season 5, to be released on Dec. 8.

Lostpedia.wikia.com, in its interesting article on the Mysteries series, says the full version of the mock-doc will run for 26 minutes and 15 seconds. Since the Lost team helped create the Mysteries show, it seems that at least some of the information it contains could be considered canonical.

'The Gospel According to LOST'

Ever since the bestselling Gospel According to Peanuts, published in 1965, writers have been looking for spiritual messages in pop culture. Now, Houston writer Chris Seay has come up with The Gospel According to LOST (coming Dec. 29; Thomas Nelson, $14.99). It is illustrated with clever iconographic portraits of major series characters such as Hurley ("Felix," Latin for "luck") and Locke ("Apator," Greek for "fatherless").

If you've ever wondered why LOST's writers take so long to unravel the show's mysteries, Seay says, there's a very good reason: Series creator J.J. Abrams just loves mysteries.

Abrams' love of the unknown is hardly a storytelling fad; it is a lifelong
pursuit. As a child, Abrams would go to a quirky magic shop in midtown Manhattan with his beloved grandfather, who once bought him a Tannen's Magic Mystery Box filled with $50 worth of magic tricks. This striking box filled with surprises is the ultimate treasure for an aspiring young magician and storyteller, but young Abrams chose not to open the box -- in fact, he still has not opened it.
The mysterious box marked with a question mark sits on a shelf next to his desk,
and he continues to wonder about the infinite possibilities of what the box
contains. Abrams says, "It represents hope. It represents potential. Mystery
boxes are in everything I do. That blank page is a magic box. What are stories
but mystery boxes?"

LOST returning for final season on Feb. 2

The official word is out: Lost kicks off Season 6 with a two-hour premiere on Feb. 2, 2010, at 8 p.m. Central Time.


There also will be an hour-long recap episode preceding at 7 p.m. CT. If there are no hiatuses during this last season, it is estimated the S6 two-hour finale should air on May 25, during sweeps.


And take note, those of you who are accustomed to watching Lost on Wednesdays: Feb. 2 is a Tuesday.


Why the change? Zap2it.com says their guess is that ABC wants to pair up Lost with V (the new alien-invasion series starring Elizabeth Mitchell, aka Lost's Juliet Burke) for a one-two punch on Tuesdays when both shows return to ABC's lineup in early 2010.




UPDATE: With a little bit of a spoiler, so we're warning you: Don't click this link to EW.com unless you want to know who will be billed as season regulars, and who has been confirmed to appear as recurring characters on this final season. There's one of the latter that is just a little bit surprising, only because I hadn't already heard about it...but I had suspected we might see this person again.

LOST in Stephen King's 'Under the Dome'

Ben Linus would never approve, of course, but he's out of the book club anyway.

I've spent the last day engrossed in Stephen King's new bestseller, Under the Dome (Scribner, $35). On page 285, Big Steve pays tribute to our favorite series, which also happens to be his favorite series:

What did that Scottish guy say on Lost? "Don't mistake coincidence for fate"? Maybe that had been it. Maybe it had. But Lost had been a long time ago. The Scottish guy could have said Don't mistake fate for coincidence.

Actually, according to http://lostpedia.wikia.com/, it was Mr. Eko who advised Locke: "Do not mistake coincidence for fate," in the Season 2 episode "What Kate Did," and Locke later repeats the phrase to Desmond in Season 3's "The Cost of Living."

What did the author mean by "Lost had been a long time ago"? Well, Under the Dome is set in the near future -- sometime after the 2012 election, in which President Obama [who plays an offstage role in the Dome drama] was re-elected.

LOST producers talk about Juliet's fate

EW.com's Dan Snierson has a good interview with showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof about the fate of Dr. Juliet Burke, played by Dallas' own Elizabeth Mitchell. Although the producers confirm that Juliet's coming back for multiple episodes in LOST's sixth and final season, they also say that yes, she is dead.

However, "There's still something very significant that we have not yet learned about the character," Cuse teases. And that's what we'll be seeing in S6.

Liz also talks about Juliet's big scenes in the Season 5 finale. "I love that we got to see all of her rage, because to me, that's what's driven her," she says. "To have the calm exterior, I always had to have that underneath."

Need a season 5 recap?

Bone up on last season before the new episodes begin next year.

Yeah, it's still kind of far off, but Season 6 will be here soon. I hope.

Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly gives us the nutshell for each episode and gives them grades.

Do you agree or disagree with his marks?

First video teaser for season 6

Go here to see the teaser for season 6. It's spoiler free because there' s no new footage.

I read somewhere that there wouldn't be any new footage shown in teasers because it would be too spoilery. But I can't remember where that info came from.

Season 6 will answer 'oldest and most confounding' mystery

No spoilers here. I don't don't what the answer is or what will be answered.

But, according to Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly: "I hear Team Darlton will give us the answer to one of Lost’s oldest and most confounding mysteries. And I’m pretty sure it’s an answer none of us expected to get."

What mystery could it be? The numbers? What is smokey? Who are Adam and Eve?

Got Lost questions? They've sorta got Lost answers

Don't expect any big reveals, but showrunner Damon Lindelof answers a few Lost questions, as detailed by E! Online.

How much of Juliet will we see in Season 6?

Probably not much.

According to E!Online: (check out the video here)

Just because Elizabeth Mitchell is off fighting reptilian aliens and filming in Vancouver for V, doesn't mean she can't fly on over to Hawaii to give fans a proper sendoff for Juliet.

As Mitchell teased before, we will see Juliet "pretty immediately, and then I'm not sure after that, but I think it will be satisfactory." Mitchell actually knows exactly what Juliet's doing this season, and while she doesn't let many spoilers slip, she does tease a resolution that may make fans smile and sigh.

Which fans are smiling though? The Skaters or the Suliets? Watch the video above to get the scoop and then hit the comments below.

In other JJ Abrams' News ...

According to E!Online:

JJ Abrams' Spy Series: After a day of nonstop chaos between the major networks, NBC came out on top and scored J.J.'s superhyped action-packed spy thriller. Even better? Our favorite Lost/Alias mastermind is teaming back up with Felicity scribe Josh Reims to write the series.

How much Claire will we see in Season 6?

From Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly:

Question: Is Emilie de Ravin going to be back on Lost for the whole season or just a few episodes? And will we get to see what happened to her? —Jared

Ausiello: The answer to both of your questions is a resounding yeppers. Better prepare yourself though. My Lost mole says season 6 will showcase “a version of Claire we’ve never seen before — a Rousseau-esque version.” We’ll be in need of a Rousseau fix since the real version will be MIA.

Lost plane to crash on Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane?

Yes and no.

It's crashing. But it's a nod to Lost fans, not a crossover.

Thankfully.

Who isn't returning to Lost even though he/she was asked to return?

UPDATE: The answer, from Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly, is in WHITE, so you can read this and not be totally spoiled. Highlight the text to read it.

According to a Lost insider, the French Lady’s portrayer, Mira Furlan, turned down the show’s request to return for the final season due to a “prior overseas commitment.” Anyone know how you say “big bag-o-nuts” in français?


ORIGINAL POST: Well, it isn't Harold Perrineau (aka Michael) because he wasn't asked.

But Kristin over at E! Online reveals that one cast member was asked back and is holding out.

Well, you know we can't name names in such cases, but suffice it to say that this is a person you'd assume would very much want to return to the series.

According to my moles, offers went out to the original castmembers several weeks ago, and this particular Lost star decided to decline. While some of the other returning Losties have already filmed scenes, this Lost holdout has not been on the set or filmed anything for the series, according to insiders.

It's also not Ian Somerhalder (aka Boone).

Who do you think would want to stay away?

LOST: Season 6 title spoilers from EW.com

Don Ausiello over at EW.com has been reporting a few tasty tidbits about the final LOST season, which will begin in only four months.

If you want to know the titles of the first four S6 episodes, go check out the Ausiello Files blog:

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/09/22/lost-exclusive-episode-6-04-title-revealed/

Michael Emerson wins an Emmy!

Michael Emerson, who plays devious Benjamin Linus on LOST, won an Emmy Award last night for best actor in a supporting role in a dramatic series.

According to a wire report, the actor -- who joked that he fears the unemployment that he's facing in about 12 months when the ABC drama series ends -- said he has always enjoyed his scenes with Terry O'Quinn.

"Very often the scenes between Ben and John Locke are dangerous and electrical in a way that delights me. They feel theatrical and I like that," said Emerson, who collected the best supporting actor in a drama Emmy in his third attempt.

Addressing the Jacob story line, Emerson added that he didn't know if Ben really killed him: "I don't know if Jacob is killable; Ben stabbed someone, or it seems like he did. That's what I know."

AP PHOTO: Michael Emerson with his wife, actress Carrie Preston, backstage with his Emmy Award. If Carrie looks familiar, it's probably because she has been on LOST in the role of Emily Linus, Ben's mother.

More from 'Mysteries of the Universe'

It's Sept. 8, meaning it's time for installment 3 of ABC.com's Mysteries of the Universe, the '70s-style mock-TV-doc purporting to investigate the cult-like Dharma Initiative.

In this video clip, we hear of a church in Los Angeles that has received "upward of $1.5 million from a private organization." We are told the land under the church is owned by an array of shell companies, responsible for numerous invoices and purchase orders for a vast, mysterious shopping list. (What church would ever need submarine fuel, ammunition, pneumatic tubing or zookeeper supplies, not to mention "psychotropic drugs and other pharmacological supplies"?)

There is an ominous reference to "brainwashing." And, in passing, we also hear of a chemist named Oldham who was interviewed for a job at Dharma. Hmm... wasn't that the name of the guy who fed a truth serum, on an LSD-type sugar cube, to the "captured Hostile" Sayid?

24 hours in LOST land

We got back last Monday from a trip to Maui. On the way back, we had a 24-hour stopover on Oahu... meaning we were in LOST territory.

Unfortunately, I did not run across any LOST shoots that Sunday. Nor did I bump into any stars in the airport or in Waikiki -- unless you count spotting the Searcher, aka Penny's boat, in a Honolulu marina.

But I did persuade my indulgent husband to drive us to a couple of LOST sites in the brief afternoon we had to explore the North Shore, in the area around the cool surfer town of Hale'iwa.

First we checked out Papa'iloa Beach, where a lot of LOST beach camp scenes have been shot. We were very near the actual shooting site, but not as close as we would have liked. We didn't have the time (or the energy; it was hot) to trudge a mile south, down the beach and around the point, from the public-access spot where we could legally park.

But the mountains were there as a green backdrop, the beach looked a whole lot like the beach we all know and love... and if you used your imagination, you could almost see a shirtless Sawyer sitting on the rocks, looking out to sea. (Well, at least I could almost see him. My husband was probably imagining Kate or Juliet.)

Next we went up the Farrington Highway to YMCA Camp Erdman, also known as the Dharma Barracks or "New Otherton."

Almost nobody was around Camp Erdman that day, and even before we checked in at the Welcome Center, no one seemed to mind that we parked and walked around to shoot photos. As you can see from their sign (above), they seem to welcome LOST fans.

We spotted the gazebo and the Others' recreation hall (above), sometimes used as their temporary jail. You'll recall that's where Kate was kept prisoner when she tried to rescue Jack, who didn't really want to be rescued.

The mustard-colored cottages (below) were unmistakable, although the campgrounds didn't look nearly as green and pretty as they do in the show (I suspect the LOST crew does a lot of set dressing beforehand). It's obvious that the cottage interiors we see are sets; the real interiors are much more spartan.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon. If we'd had a few more days in Honolulu, we might have taken a pricey tour of Kualoa Ranch, a private estate where many LOST shoots take place, on the windward side of Oahu. Or I might even have contacted Grass Skirt Productions to see if I could finagle a backstage, on-set visit.

But for the brief time we had on Oahu, it was enough to know that we were as close to the Island as we were ever likely to get. Now when I watch the reruns and see the Barracks, I can think: "Wow...I was there!"

'Mysteries of the Universe," part 2

The second segment of Mysteries of the Universe is online, continuing the vintage pseudo-investigation of the Dharma Initiative. In this one, a neighbor worries about "Phil," who vanished after his final job interview for the mysterious outfit. Her family wonders what happened to "Olivia," a teacher who also went for interviews with Dharma.

You'll be able to see the full version of the Mysteries video on the Lost: The Complete Fifth Season DVD, which is due to be released on Dec. 8.

Season 6 preview clip is tantalizing

Today's WashPost 'Lost' Hour chat included a Season 6 preview video clip from ComicCon 2009 that I'd somehow missed seeing up till now.

Most of the 90-second snippet is a clip that faithful viewers will remember from the Season 1 finale: the various Losties busily boarding Oceanic 815, and then Jack catching Locke's glance. But this time, as Locke sees Jack, his mind zips through a quick montage of important images from Lost's previous seasons... right up to seeing himself in his coffin. Talk about flashes before your eyes!

The scene goes briefly to black. And then we see an airplane hurtling through a darkening sky in a doomed crash landing, bursting into flames as it smashes into the ground. But: It's a Plymouth Air jet, not an Oceanic one.

Is the post-Jughead universe course-correcting itself? Are the Losties' destinies being reset on an alternate timeline? Is that really John Locke, or is it Jacob's nemesis in Locke's body?

Well, we have six months to think about the possibilities. As well as about the fact that the producers are still using the reversed, black-on-white LOST logo that we saw for the first time at the end of the Season 5 finale. BTW, the ComicCon audience also got to see a farewell video to all the notable characters who have died on Lost. Interestingly, Juliet was not shown among them, nor was Claire -- although Daniel Faraday and Charlotte Lewis were.

PS: And for all those who have wondered what Libby's surname was? The RIP video called her Elizabeth "Libby" Smith.

New LOST Season 6 poster: What a lineup!

The Lost Season 6 poster showed up at ComicCon 2009 in San Diego last weekend, and Losties are pretty excited about it, because it shows a lot of original cast members, some of whom we haven't seen in a long time, and many whose characters are supposed to be dead. Check out DarkUFO for closeups and IDs of the actors in the lineup.

From left: Faraday, Boone, Miles, Michael, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Shannon, Desmond, Eko, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Sayid, Libby, Sun, Jin, Claire, Hurley, Juliet, Charlie, Frank, Richard, Bernard and Rose.

If you look closely, you can see that in the middle is John Locke -- or rather, the UnLocke -- with his back turned to the camera.

'Mysteries of the Universe' promotion for LOST

ABC.com has just started posting "vintage" video clips, purportedly from Mysteries of the Universe, "a shortlived television series of the 1980s."

Moreover, ABC.com says, "the topics explored may be of particular interest to fans of Lost." The cult-like Dharma Initiative, of course, is one of those topics:

The Dharma Initiative: A project discussed for years in and around conspiracy circles. Once thought to be lost, this explosive documentary series has never been seen before...until now.

The first of five video clips was posted last Thursday, July 23; the second will be posted Aug. 4, the third on Sept. 8, the fourth on Oct. 15 and the fifth on Nov. 16.

And we're sure it's no coincidence those dates all correspond to The Numbers.

Zap2it: summary of LOST panel at ComicCon

For all the millions of Lost fans who couldn't make it to San Diego for ComicCon 2009 -- and the thousands who were there but couldn't squeeze into the auditorium for the panel with show runners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof -- Zap2it.com has a fabulous summary of the panel, with lots of videos included.

Pay special attention to the videos "from our sponsors" -- fake ads from Oceanic Air and Mr. Cluck's Chicken. And there's a faux segment of America's Most Wanted, with host John Walsh putting out an APB for everyone's favorite freckled femme fatale and fleeing felon, Kate Austen.

Which begs the question: Are we being given hints about an alternate timeline caused by Juliet's explosion of the Jughead?

EW.com's 'Totally Lost' at ComicCon

EW.com's "Totally Lost" gurus, Doc Jensen and Dan Snierson, took part in a panel discussion at ComicCon 2009 in San Diego on Saturday, and interviewed a number of the stars and writers. Check it all out here.

A few tiny hints about Season 6 were dropped -- all very minor, nothing very spoilery. Be sure to watch the backstage video interview with Nestor Carbonell (Richard), Michael Emerson (Ben) and Jorge Garcia (Hugo)!

And don't miss this: Elizabeth Mitchell talking about Juliet's S6 role on Lost, and her new ABC series, V.

Will fans' 15 top LOST mysteries be solved?

EW.com's Doc Jensen just posted a list of the top "15 must-answer mysteries" that fans hope will be explained in the sixth and final season of Lost.

Some seem likely to be answered, such as No. 5, "What happened to Claire?" After all, Emilie de Ravin (right) is to be back as a series regular, so we should be seeing a lot of her, and presumably we'll find out what happened after Claire walked off into the jungle with Dear Old Dead Dad.

Only Locke has seen her since then, hanging with Christian inside Jacob's cabin. He was asked not to tell anyone he'd seen Claire, and he didn't tell. And now ReaLocke's really dead, it seems, not magically resurrected after all. (Although "Esau," aka Jacob's enemy, certainly seems to know everything that ReaLocke knew, plus a whole lot more.) So, once Claire reveals herself in Season 6, we should learn more of the mystery behind her vanishing. Maybe we'll find out whether she's actually alive or just among the Island's numerous walking dead. Miles (whose Island-bred talent lets him hear the dead) certainly didn't seem to think that Claire was entirely alive after apparently surviving a house explosion -- but then, after the Season 5 finale, we don't yet know what happened to Miles, either.

Other mysteries may never be completely explained, such as No. 14, "What's Libby's backstory?" For one, Doc says, the Lost producers have said that actress Cynthia Watros is unlikely return to the show. For another, the show runners are going to do extremely well if they can just unravel the major plot points in the 18 hours they have allotted to finish the Lost saga. Compared to the larger Island mythos, Libby's backstory is relatively small potatoes.

My theory is that Libby went into a depression after her husband David died, and that's when she went to the Santa Rosa mental hospital to recover. She remembered Hugo from Santa Rosa, but he doesn't remember her. After she was released, she met Desmond and gave him David's boat, the Elizabeth, to compete in the Widmore solo-sailing race. Three years later, she boarded Oceanic 815 and crashed on Craphole Island. She survives with Ana-Lucia, Bernard and the Tailies, then treks to the Losties' beach, where she makes friends with Hugo, hypnotizes Claire, and gets tragically shot by Michael in the Hatch. End of story. (Sorry, Libby.)

UPDATE: Doc Jensen's also presenting a short Lost-related course on "The Cult of 'Cult TV' " --with the option of a fun but tricky "Final Exam" on Season 5. Its 26 multiple-choice questions will determine if you've really been paying attention.

And there's more... ABC.com has begun signing up participants -- er, make that "students" -- for "LOST University", and Doc J explains what that's all about. He says:

Included among the many real-life academics on staff is actor Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), who proved himself something of a science egghead the last time I interviewed him.

Lost U's mascot is, of course... a polar bear.

You may go to the http://lostuniversity.org/index.php site and sign up now to be notified by e-mail when "enrollment" beings in two months.

LOST and Emerson get Emmy nods

It's great to see Lost back on the Emmy nominations list for Oustanding Drama Series, and equally nice to see the fabulous Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) up for an award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

In both categories, the competition is fierce. The other nominees for best drama are Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Big Love, Damages, Dexter and House. (I've watched four of those six and can tell you they are all super shows.) The other nominees for best supporting actor in a drama include two of my personal faves, Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul and Mad Men's John Slattery, either of whom also are worthy rivals for the award, IMHO. Other supporting-actor nominees are Damages' William Hurt and Boston Legal's William Shatner and Christian Clemenson.

Only thing I'm not so happy about is that I would have loved to see a couple more Losties nominated in the supporting categories. As EW.com's Michael Slezak points out, both Josh Holloway (Sawyer) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) deserved the recognition for the great work they did in Season 5.

UPDATE: In the non-acting Emmy categories, show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are nominated in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, for "The Incident." (You'll recall, that was the two-hour season finale.) Team Darlton's competition? Four different episodes of Mad Men.

In the technical categories, "The Incident" also is nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing (for a one-hour comedy or drama) and for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.

The 2009 Emmy Awards will be broadcast on CBS Sunday, Sept. 20 at 8 PM.

Doc Jensen chats with Josh Holloway

Check out this interview of Josh Holloway about being Sawyer.

What was it like to play a different Sawyer this year?

What does he think about Sawyer and Juliet?

What does he think of Sawyer and Jack finally beating the crap out of each other in the season finale?

This and more in a three-part video interview.

Doc's Jensen's back with more theories!

Extra! Extra! Readallaboutit!

We would have brought this hot news to you sooner, except we got busy and didn't check the EW.com "Totally Lost" website all weekend. Thus we totally missed seeing it ourselves, until today.

The inimitable Doc Jensen has been pondering time travel, paradoxes and all things Lost for the past month, and he has some thoughts to share. In fact, he has many thoughts to share, because he has not one, not two, but FOUR possible scenarios for how the Lostaways will get back together in Season 6.

Says the Doc:

Additional reasons for my delay: 1. Wanting to finish the equally tardy season finale of Totally Lost, which you will find at the close of this column, as if some freaky four-toed foot to this monument of ruinous, airy talk; 2. Finding the right words to articulate the large swath of theory below, particularly Scenario 2. Describing this time-travel paradox stuff — dudes, that s--- be hard! And I'm still not 100 percent confident I nailed it. You shall be the judge.

I had previously billed this column as the last of the year. I originally envisioned an epic, filled with theories, illuminating research, and the results of my Lost Must-Solve Mystery Survey. But stuff has happened. Developments have occurred. Things have changed: This here collection of fractured thoughts and ill-considered wordsmithery won't be my last Doc Jensen column of the year — not by a long shot. More, soon.

And as Doc J. mentions, there also are some interesting hints about Season 6 from star Matthew Fox, over on TVGuide.com. However, that one's a bit spoilery, and we would not recommend that you click and read the Fox article unless you don't mind some broad, general hints about what is to come in the final season of Lost.

Rumors about who will be back for Season 6

NOT A SPOILER BECAUSE IT'S A RUMOR!


File this under "Oh Please Let it be True:" Rumor has it that Dominic Monaghan (aka Charlie) will be back for four episodes.

And then Emile de Ravin (Claire) will be back for the full season and that Maggie Grace (Shannon) will return for six epsiodes.

No deals have been made, according to Watch with Kristin at E!Online. But is that true or are they just saying that?

I've wondered how they can reset everything (if they indeed do) without bringing back the original cast.

Stay tuned.

What character who died do you want to see most next season?

Whose eye was that, anyway?

At the end of Lost's Season 5 finale, we saw a brief teaser for Season 6, which is supposed to run approximately from February 2010 into May. The only hint we were given for the final season (which the producers are calling "Destiny Found") was a closeup shot of someone's eye -- as seen above left. Such a closeup shot has been a recurring visual motif in Lost since the very first shot of the pilot episode.

But whose eye was shown?

Well, most often when we have seen it in Lost, the closeup shot of an eye has been Jack's, which is also whose it was in the pilot's opening shot at the very beginning of the show. And my guess is that the eye we saw this time, teasing Season 6, was also that of Doc Shephard the Younger.

Partly this is because producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have acknowledged a sort of mirror effect taking place in the series' structure, wherein Season 6 will contain certain resemblances to Season 1 -- and will at last answer any big questions still lingering from the first season.

But part of it is just the fact that if you compare the eye seen in the teaser with a previous closeup of Jack's eye, as seen above at right, the resemblance is hard to miss.

What do you think? Is it in fact Jack's eye? If so, will he awaken after "The Incident" to find himself lying in the jungle on the Island, just as he did post-Oceanic 815's crash in the very first episode? Or will he wake up... somewhere else?

And when will he wake up -- in 1977 or 2007? Or perhaps even back in 2004?

Which LOST character will get a spin-off show? (Just kidding!)

The satiric minds at The Onion ("America's Finest News Source") have "revealed" that one Lost character has been such a monster hit with audiences that he will be getting his own spin-off series. You'll see him in an ABC family comedy to be called Where There's Smoke:

ABC sources reported that the series will transplant the evil black cloud from the island of Lost to the suburbs of Chicago, where it works as a sports radio host, surrounded by "a whole new group of crazy characters." Actress Lea Thompson has signed on to play the monster's long-suffering wife, who must put up with her husband's screwball antics while raising the couple's two rambunctious children, Tanner and Smoky, Jr.

...Lost producer Jack Bender has confirmed that the smoke monster will no longer be part of his show's regular cast. However, ABC has promised that Where There's Smoke will feature a number of guest appearances from Lost regulars. Sources said the pilot episode will feature an appearance by actor Michael Emerson as a slobby houseguest named Benjamin Linus who overstays his welcome, much to the chagrin of the smoke monster's wife.

Claire's Season 6 return: Is she alive, or un-dead?

We all knew that Emilie De Ravin is supposed to return as Claire in Season 6 of LOST. But EW's Michael Ausiello offers some intriguing theories, courtesy of Doc Jensen.

No real spoilers here, just lots of speculation on Doc's part. He says:

"Any scenario that brings Claire back to Lost must address the mysterious
circumstances of her disappearance at the end of season 4, in which many of us
were led to believe that she was as dead -- or rather, undead -- as the Ghost
Christian that's been haunting The Island since season 1. So here's one thought:
Juliet changed time in the season finale by detonating Jughead, and season 6
will tell the story of the new timeline, one in which Claire is alive. Another
thought: In light of the revelation that John Locke was actually a supernatural
impostor for half of season 5, perhaps in season 6, we'll get a storyline in
which Claire just emerges out of the jungle, with no memory of what happened to
her -- just like season 1 -- and we and the castaways will be left to wonder: Is
this the real Claire or another impostor infiltrating them a la Locke? Heck,
maybe that's going to be the major idea of next season: Who's really alive and
who's really (un)dead? It really will be the fabled zombie season of
Lost!"

If the LOST cast hung out with The Simpsons...

Check out "Springfield Punx," a Blogger website by Dean T. Fraser, a LOST fan from Canada.

This week he's done the coolest series of LOST characters, drawn in the style of The Simpsons.

Dean's done lots of other pop-culture pieces -- movie classics, TV characters and superheroes, too -- but it's the LOST series that we especially love.

Click on the link to see his versions of Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Locke, Ben and Charlie!

Right: James Ford in his Dharma days as Jim LaFleur.

(By Dean T. Fraser, "Springfield Punx" )http://springfieldpunx.blogspot.com/search/label/LOST

So is Juliet, uh, dead?

So, there was supposed to be a major death in the Lost finale.

Is Juliet that death? She did trigger the bomb. But everyone else would have "died" as time was reset, right?

Well, Elizabeth Mitchell's show, V, was picked up.

But don't count out our Juliet, says Michael Ausiellio over at Entertainment Weekly.

What did you think of the finale?

UPDATE: Here's Doc Jensen's review of the episode. It's definitely worth reading.

So, they're all dead? Or did they save themselves? So much to ponder and break down.


Did Jack's plan work?


Will next season mirror season one? Will the plane still crash? Or will they board Ajira and crash later in time?


There's no way they're done with the island. Or that it's done with them. Of that, I'm certain.


And so now that guy in the beginning of the show is Locke or in Locke's body? Or has Locke always been that guy?



Will the hiatus, as Michael Emerson (aka Ben) predicted, make you eat your soul?


What do you think is coming in Season Six? Claire will return. We've already learned that.


Discuss!

Doc Jensen previews the finale

Here's the last Doc Jensen preview of the season. Enjoy.

Since ''LaFleur,'' I have argued that season 5 has been modeled on season 2, and
I believe my theory has held. Season 2's finale, ''Live Together, Die Alone,''
hinged on a Big Picture binary question: Does the button really do anything: Yes
or no? The season 5 finale, ''The Incident,'' hinges on the resolution of a
similar, black-or-white issue: Can the past be changed: Yes or no?

He makes three predictions of the finale. Not spoilers. He's just speculating.

Why does Locke want to murder Jacob?

Why does Eloise Hawking know so much about the castaways' destiny? Is she stuck in a self-aware, open-ended time loop, or does she have flashes of the future à la Ben?

What is the significance of the Ajira storyline?

The J.J. Abrams-verse: Lost, Fringe, Alias

While you're waiting for tonight's blockbuster season finale of Lost, enjoy this fun feature from the folks at Television Without Pity (which has great recaps of Lost and many other favorite shows). It's all about how many of the characters from creator J.J. Abrams' various hit TV series bear some uncanny resemblances to each other. Like Dr. Walter Bishop from Fringe and Dr. Daniel Faraday from Lost -- two wacked-out but endearing geniuses.

Speaking of J.J., have you seen his new Star Trek movie yet? Not only does it have Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof as producer, and Lost composer Michael Giacchino scoring the film, it also has at least one in-joke that only devoted Lost fans will likely catch.

Which is: When future captain James T. Kirk is born, his father, George, is acting as captain of a Federation starship: the USS Kelvin. The Kelvin -- as in Kelvin Inman, the Gulf War vet-turned-Dharmaite who rescued a shipwrecked Desmond and then kept him cooped up in the Hatch for years, punching in The Numbers and pushing that dang button every 108 minutes. And neither Kelvin, let it be noted, comes to a happy end.

What is the "fork in the outlet" and will it make the audience "eat its own soul?"

NO SPOILERS HERE!


The showrunners are calling this season's game changer the fork in the outlet, as we told you in an earlier post.

What do you think it is? How will it change the show forever?

E!Online is reporting that Michael Emerson (aka Ben) is saying: that the ending is : "enough to keep an audience eating its own soul for the whole hiatus."

We've had the bagel and the snake in the mailbox. Both weren't literal.

But last season's frozen donkey wheel certainly was.

Speculate in comments!

Sneak peaks of the finale

Check out four sneak peak videos of the season finale.

No major spoilers. Just tiny tidbits.

How well did Lost 'Follow the Leader?'

What did you think of 'Follow the Leader?'

Post your observations, theories and rank speculation in comments.

A SPOILER FREE note about handling season finale spoilers

This message is spoiler free and only addresses the handling of spoilers for the season finale.

We will not be spoiling the game changing "fork in the outlet" or any deaths.

While Joyce and I don't mind finding out little tidbits in advance, we don't want to know who dies or how the show changes after the season finale.

That said, if I can find out where the information is, I will try to post without reading.

There are spoilers and then there are SPOILERS.