“Me, I’m with the creators here. I’ve had a blast watching Lost, and I trust that the final season will be entertaining at times and frustrating at others. (Such is the appeal of the show; it’s fun to get mad at it sometimes.) I’ve never been one to get overly dismayed by the notion that the Lost writers have improvised a lot of the show on the fly. There’s a place on TV for the kind of pre-planned, tightly controlled narrative (as seen on The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc.), but the trade-off is that those kinds of shows are often slow-paced and largely uneventful on any given week. I like that the Lost writers think about what will entertain and surprise an audience from episode to episode, even if that means introducing elements that that prove to be dead-ends. As a pastime, I certainly have no complaints about Lost.

But as a piece of art? Well, I’ll be honest: I look forward to Lost as much as any show on TV, but I don’t think that it rises to the lofty literary level of a Wire or Mad Men or Breaking Bad. The acting’s up-and-down, the writing’s often overheated and/or slipshod, and I tend to be on the side of the fans who think that Lindelof and Cuse are kidding themselves when they downplay the mythology and say that character development is the heart of Lost.

On the other hand, I’m not sure that the mythology is the heart of the show either—at least not for me. I dig the mythology more than the Sawyer/Kate/Jack/Juliet love quadrangle (and I do have questions I want answered), but I primarily love Lost for its thematic concerns and ambitious genre-play. I’ve already talked about how much I get out of the predetermination/freedom business, but I also like that Lost has always been a celebration of storytelling, from the arcane to the archetypal. It’s a genre-hopping story that pays direct homage to nearly every text that’s ever influenced its creators. It’s one long story, made up of a bunch of little stories. It’s a story about how backstories encroach and affect the main narrative, whether it be via time-travel or flashbacks (which are a kind of time travel). And, finally, it’s a story about the repetition of stories, and about which elements can be altered and which can’t.”

1.The Tatta Hitotsu no Koi soundtrack. I never listen to instrumental music – it depresses me – but I’ve been obsessed with the soundtrack to this Japanese drama for the past two days. So lovely, wistful and delicate and yet not sad. Ethereal maybe.

Download the entire OST from here(one file) or single mp3s from here. Not uploaded by me.

2. The Glass of Time, by Michael Cox.

Excellent if flawed Gothic mystery with tinges of romance. Riveting and deliciously atmospheric from almost its first page. It’s not perfectly written – the romance in particular fell a bit flat toward the end – but it’s so rare to find a good period thriller. Very Rebecca-like.

3. Dramafever.com

For obvious reasons if you know me.

4. This Kate and Sawyer video from Lost.

5. Evernote.com

So useful for inveterate web-surfer/saver/bookmarker me.

6. Little Dorrit

This 14(!) episode BBC adaptation of the Dickens novel promises to be lovely, romantic, and as broodingly dirty a picture of London as every Dickens novel ever written. Though based on the first episode there’s going to be a lot of exposition going on before we’re allowed to start figuring out what’s actually happenning. Dickens’ stories always function on some level as mysteries. Plus, Matthew MacFadyen!

Sci Fi

Dark Angel – 4/5

Firefly-5/5 – Star Wars with grit and bootstrap flair. Uneven, but awesome.

Fringe-4/5 – flawed, but better than most recent television. Vintage JJ.

Haven -3.5/5 the supporting characters are either dull or constantly being killed off in this very loose take on a Stephen King story, but despite its limitations, the show has gone beyond an initially dull premise and built up a relatively complex and spooky set of overarching mysteries over the course of its two seasons. Oddly endearing, and the likable leads help.

Kyle XY-3/5 – a lot of potential and the first season was good, but deteriorated afterward

Lost – 4.5/5-schizophrenic, brilliant, innovative

Roswell-4/5

Stargate SG-1 – 4/5

The Sarah Connor Chronicles – 3.5/5 – now canceled. Watchable.

X-Files – 5/5

Spook:
24 – 4.5/5

Alias – 4.5/5

Chuck – 4/5 – funny, with heart, humanity, and flair

La Femme Nikita – 2/5 – had a few good scenes/moments and a lot of potential but killed by poor acting and loose plot

MI:5- 5/5 – brilliant spook series starring a constantly-changing roster of Britain’s best television actors

Forensic/Crime:

Bones – 4/5
Standoff-3/5
Touching Evil – 4.5 stars – brilliant Brit show, only flaw is that the episodes are a bit too similar to each other
Wire in the Blood – 4/5 – another Brit show, the pilot episode of this was brilliant (criminal profiler who plays Lara Croft playstation?oh yes), much more so even than Touching Evil, but so gruesome

Comedy:

Friends -5/5

How I Met Your Mother – 4.5/5

Seinfeld – 5/5

Other:
Veronica Mars – 4/5 – first season of this cult favorite is wonderful, but it does deteriorate has it goes on. Deeply likable characters and the wit and crime-solving are great, but the plot sometimes got buried under too much teen angst and melodrama.
October Road -3/5- sweet and oddly intriguing, with flashes of brilliance
Pushing Daisies-4/5 – a show with an oddly British feel, it’s a mix of wryly delightful, tongue-in-cheek banter and romance and unexpected gallows humor. Wholly original.