Okay, I tuned out LOST somewhere in the second season, but this list on SLATE amused me. I still maintain that LOST is the biggest flim-flam perpetuated by television writers and producers on an audience in television history. I thought that when I tuned out, and I think it all the more so these days. Maybe they'll brilliantly pull a rabbit out of their hats, but at this point, they'll need to have a big pile of rabbits to do the trick, is my guess. I imagine them pacing around and brainstorming gimmickry to get them out of the the jams they wrote themselves into.
Also, I'm worried about IRON MAN 2 -- so much cross-marketing has been going on with it, so many ads. I see ads for Audi, for Dr. Pepper, for fast food, ads on bus kiosks, ads on the sides of buses. My rule of thumb is usually when so much attention is paid to marketing, it usually means Hollywood's got a clunker on their hands, and they're busy trying to generate a pre-premiere buzz through mass-marketing. The original IRON MAN was an unexpected hit, and didn't have nearly the marketing, of course. That they're doing so much with this one, I dunno. And having Scarlett Johansson in it seems like a risky move. I've always considered her fairly leaden in any role she plays, and having her as the Black Widow seems like a miscasting to me. Maybe it'll be alright, but I am skeptical. We'll see after opening weekend, whether the turnout nosedives, as it usually does if it's based purely on marketing.
