Angry Lost Fans Claim False Advertising
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/25/2007 11:21:00 PM
It’s no secret that fans of ABC’s Lost have grown increasingly impatient with the show’s creators for ladling mystery upon mystery while tossing them mere scraps of revelation. Now Losties are blaming ABC’s promotions department for stoking those frustrations.
After last week’s installment, angry fans lit up message boards at ABC.com and other online forums complaining that a promo spot for the episode had over-promised when it trumpeted that "answers to three of Lost’s biggest mysteries are finally revealed."
Many agreed that the three "mysteries" alluded to in the promo were hardly central to the supernatural drama about plane-crash survivors that has unfolded ever so slowly over 2½ seasons.
To be sure, ABC and Lost’s creators have attempted to reassure impatient viewers that their questions will be answered—particularly now that ratings have been off since the show returned in a new time slot after a grueling three-month midseason hiatus.
But at The Fuselage, the site sponsored by Lost creator J.J. Abrams, one poster fumed that ABC had "lied to the audience" by promising what the episode failed to deliver and likely alienated many viewers.
In an e-mail statement, ABC Entertainment’s marketing chiefs Mike Benson and Marla Provencio maintained that the "show delivered the answers to the three questions that were posed in the promo, which we believe are questions on our viewers minds.
"We have the utmost respect for Lost viewers," they added. "Our intention is never to alienate, only to entice."
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Now that Lost has officially ended, its clear that the creators had no intention of answering the shows questions. Which would be fine if that is what they had said all along. But realizing that telling the truth would cost ABC millions in lost viewers and ad revenue they went a different route. Now that show is over the creators could care less about the viewers. The ad time has been sold and paid to the network. Wake up and realize that lying to viewers was the ultimate save the pay day move. That's what ABC and the creators cared about. Now they want to drop this and let you forget so they can do it all again.
Jim Milburn - 6/30/2010 1:13:50 PM EDT -
I'm sorry, Charles, but everything you said about people irrationally bashing Lost at The Fuselage could be said about people irrationally praising Lost at The Tail Section, for example. Every forum will have its quota of, uh, overly passionate users, but that does not automatically dismiss said forum as a reliable source of fan opinion. In my experience, The Fuselage's users are demanding, no doubt about that, but most of them are also very intelligent, well-informed and reasonable people. And, if you ask me, the only reasonable response to a situation in which you have been BLATANTLY LIED TO by a network's promo is to be angry about it.
Rob - 3/1/2007 9:42:00 AM EST -
I understand fan''''''''s frustration. I too feel that ABC and the Lost producers constantly raise fan''''''''s expectations about the show to unobtainable levels.
However, The Fuselage is not that credible of a source when it comes to fan feedback. The people who post at The Fuselage are among the most negative and bitter people I have ever seen in ANY fan forum. These are the most hardcore "fans", the certifiably obsessed. Look at the posting history of those people. These are the fans who literally post on that board every hour of every day. How can a socially functioning person do that? These people seem to devote their entire lives to this show and they complain constantly about it. They are never happy and never will be happy.
I know its cliché (and kind of mean) to say that someone needs a life. But unfortunately, this truly applies to the posters at The Fuselage. I wouldn''''''''t take their constant griping seriously.
Charles Whelan - 2/26/2007 4:37:00 PM EST -
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the two producers, said in their latest podcast that the advertising people at ABC made a mistake about the promo in question, as they themselves could not think of three questions answered in the episode.
Claire - 2/26/2007 2:52:00 PM EST
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