Lost is my favorite show on TV, even though the final season so far has been a little slow and disappointing. But the other night it was practically unwatchable, because for nearly the entire hour there was this bright red “V” at the bottom of the screen along with a countdown clock, promoting an upcoming episode of, well, V. The first scene of the episode was tinted green, because the characters were being seen through night-vision lenses, which made the ugly red V stand out even more. This episode also had lots of subtitles and a couple of scenes where a character was writing on a pad, and some of the words were obscured:
[image via Alan Sepinwall]
The TV executive who came up with this idea should be fired, though it’ll never happen. I’m used to bugs by now, but, really? Bright red? It couldn’t at least have been translucent? And you needed to include a countdown? We don’t have clocks?
And apparently it worked, because now for an aside about V.
I watched the first episode of the V remake last fall and was underwhelmed. Perhaps I’d have liked it better if I hadn’t seen the original as a kid. First of all, on the new series, the characters refer to the aliens as “the V’s,” which is totally ridiculous because in the original story, “V” stood both for “Visitors” (the aliens) and for the hoped-for “victory” against them; it wasn’t their frickin’ nickname. But I guess in the 21st century we have to dumb everything down.
I also actively hated a couple of the characters. I haven’t watched the show since.
So some big stupid red V is not going to make me tune in to your stupid remake. Lost is practically a religious experience for some people — me included — and we don’t want any distractions. You want to put garbage on the screen during something like Dancing With the Stars that doesn’t require any brain cells, fine, but don’t interrupt me when I’m trying to watch Lost.
The Hulu.com version didn’t have the V at the bottom, but that would have required waiting a day and trying to avoid spoilers.
Here’s more on the stupid red thing. And Alan Sepinwall went on a long rant about it, which made me feel better because it meant I wasn’t alone in hating it.
I’m just waiting until the night my dreams start to have TV logos in the bottom corner. Dude, what if someday they invent a sleeping pill that has in-dream ads for cola and TV shows?
I’m enjoying V. It’s not brilliant, but it’s fun.
Perhaps if I had started watching Lost from the beginning I would share your enthusiasm, but as time has gone it’s become more and more impenetrable to the unitiated. I hate that. I’ve not been able to find a website anywhere that gives a straightforward explanation of what the fuck is going on. Do you know of one?
Oh man, anyone trying to watch without starting from the beginning would be totally screwed. It’s completely convoluted and byzantine and pretty much hopeless. I don’t know of any straightforward summaries out there. Anyway, it’s more enjoyable to watch the show from the beginning and experience the episode-by-episode what-the-fuckness of it. All the episodes from the beginning are on Hulu this year, and seasons 1-5 are available for instant watching via Netflix.