La Brea: Shows Need To Stop Trying Be LOST

Season 1 of La Brea aired not too long ago and it’s already drawing early comparisons to ABC’s former hit, LOST. So much so, the writers jumped ahead of that notion with a subtle nod in the first episode. Whether or not this was intended to fill that sci fi itch, there are too many coincidences to say they’re distancing themselves.

First there’s the disaster in the first episode and waking up in an unknown place. Then comes a character who has a gun who a few other characters don’t trust to have it. Of course that ultimately leads to said character shooting an unexpected animal (a polar bear/saber tooth). One character gets accused of hoarding food. In episode 2 they even go as far to use a direct mirror of LOST with the “man of science” that echoed throughout it’s run.

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It’s easily understood why networks and writers would want to emulate the former hit. At it’s peak, LOST was one of the best shows on television and everyone was talking about it. However, the shows that try to mimic it are just letting viewers down in the long run.

As someone who had to go back and watch the show from the start when a new season came out, it’s safe to say I was a fan. Not only was there so much mystery woven into the show, but each character had story arcs that spanned multiple episodes and seasons but they were so spread out it was easy to forget. La Brea has a similar set up with a large cast, but needs to abandon a recreate with their own spin.

Survival shows weren’t new back then, but LOST had the benefit of being something most people hadn’t seen before. It changed the way we watched television. Characters we loved in the beginning, we hated at the end. Ones we hated, quickly became fan favorites. Make your characters that interesting.

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The writers teetered between science fiction and reality on LOST as well. As stated before, one of the biggest plot points was “man of science vs man of faith”. The argument between what is real and what is possible tipped back and forth consistently through all six seasons. Carry a story that keeps people intrigued for more than one season.

La Brea doesn’t need to recreate a LOST clone. They should strive to push their writing team’s creativity the same way. Yes, it already has differences. Although at face value it looks like they put some makeup on LOST and sent it back out to audiences. The potential for La Brea is there, but if they continue to check all the same boxes, it won’t be long before audiences check out.