No Right Answer: Required Viewing Before You Die

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Yeah.... no. Just... no. Nope.

I watched Lost and was, at first, quite enthralled by its evident charms, its impressive cast of then-nobodies and a stream of odd, cool, unique and impressive dialogues and scenes that just made me come back for more.

After a while, though, it just went over board with its randomness, beating even David Lynch or gorram Monthy Python when it comes to unrestrained, pure Chaos with a capital C. Then the cast got expanded, the black smoke started to appear and take first place as what just had to be some of the cheapest digital fx available and things took 720 degree turns for the worse until hope, common sense and reason left the building to go hunt Elvis Hitler that obviously got kidnapped by aliens.

The plot was acting like a fluffy pink bunny rabbit in heat, afflicted with rabies and on acid. It was just all over the place, just not where you'd expect or want it.

Firefly and Serenity, on the other hand, has everything that makes TV and movies magic, excluding obviously long life and success. Just compare it to Defiance and you'll quickly realize that everything that worked quite perfectly in Firefly isn't easily replicated or aped, as it was just pretty perfect and awesome as-is, with everything just falling into place nicely. That just didn't happen in Defiance.

 

[Balkan]

Required Viewing Before You Die? Is that a good title for this episode? The most influential show would be more accurate.
If I have to follow the title, then my pick would be The Wire. I've never seen another shows that's so thought provoking, realistic and unforgiving. Breaking bad does similar things, but it's way too pulpy for me.
As for an influential show, then it's Twin peaks. I'm not in love with that one, but there are many stories that were influenced by it.
I dislike Lost. It's effective, but it achieves everything through confusion. As they said, the only selling point is the mystery.
At least Firefly died before it could take off. I'm more sad about Deadwood, since it already picked up speed before the cancellation.

 

[Hattingston]

Firefly was his origin, without it, we get no Avengers, or any of his future work that we'll still be talking about for years to come.

Actually, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was his origin. Firefly aired somewhere near the end of its run. And while he had done several things before Buffy (including co-writing on Toy Story!), that's really what put him on the map. In fact, without Buffy, Fox would've never agreed to Firefly in the first place. THE MORE YOU KNOW

Yeah, but Firefly was the first thing of quality he did on his own.

WHAT

NO

GO IN THE CORNER AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID

Seriously though, Buffy is fantastic. The first season can be kind of bleh, but after that the show gets exponentially better. The first season is just there to make you think it's a by the numbers campy action horror show so that Whedon can rip your heart out more easily later.

OT: I haven't a clue what he's talking about with people talking about LOST. I've heard very little of lost, and when he was listing off the references the only thing that sounded vaguely familiar was the hatchet, but I think that might just be me remembering seeing the book Hatchet around a lot when I was a kid. The only thing I know about LOST is the ending, that a bunch of people crashed on an island in a plane, and there's a smoke monster apparently (and those last two bits have been heavily reinforced by the easter egg in Just Cause 2).
If anything I'd argue that the amount of Firefly references has continuously grown. Hell in just the last year, Saints Row 4 included Mal's Pistol, Cold Days (a book in an ongoing fantasy series) referenced Shepard's "special hell", I see "shiny" and "gorram" on almost every show that targets geeks and every site that sells geek-related paraphernalia.

I'd make an argument for how it has influenced the media, but I honestly don't watch enough to make a valid one. Point is, Firefly has a rabid and expanding fanbase. Lost had a fanbase.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Babylon 5 by a country mile, After being drowned on the drool that was Star Trek and TNG it was refreshing to watch a well written series where they actually dared to show the humans as the bad guys and conspirators.

Exactly. Anyone on their death bed who chooses to watch a hipster space-western above the epic, majestic Babylon 5 probably deserves to die anyway. I'm serious.

And Lost is just stupid. The only other contender I'd put would be Carnivale.

 

[Trek1701a]

I don't know why he said Lost put JJ Abrams on the map, um, Alias, hello. Also, JJ Abrams had very little to do with Lost passed the first 2 seasons, it was all Cuse and Lindelof.

Lost generated 2 copycats, The Event and FlashForward, both of which bombed. After that serialized drama made sure to indicate that they were going to be the anti-Lost, or that they would give answers within a reasonable amount of time, especially after the Lost finally which either gave no answers or conveluted answers, depending on your point of view. No one really knows how FireFly would have performed if Fox handled the show better.

 

[Darknacht]

As for an influential show, then it's Twin peaks.

This. If you want a good 'WTF is going on' show that causes debates about whether or not what is going on is real, you want Twin Peaks. Also David Duchovny as a government agent in drag.

 

[jdarksun]

"I will watch the rest of LOST if you watch Firefly."
"No deal."

bwahaha.

Seriously, Firefly is great. Unless you hate Joss Whedon. In which case you hate entertainment.

 

[Shjade]

...am I seriously the only person who never hears anything about LOST anymore? 'Cause this "debate" certainly made it sound like I was missing out on all the references drowning pop culture in LOST material. I don't think I've ever gone to a con and seen people running a LOST booth or dressed up as LOST refugees. If I hear someone shouting about "what's in the box," it's usually a Se7en reference.

I dunno. I just don't see it, guys.

That said, I don't think I'd call Firefly "required viewing" either. I love the show, but I also recognize that it's not for everyone.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Wow EVERYONE in this thread hates Lost huh... well didn't expect anything else but still. Such a great show to be so universally panned, mostly by people who haven't even seen it, who just heard someone badly explain the ending. Great ending, great show, absolutely worth anyone's time.

I haven't seen Firefly yet but I mean to do so as the internet won't ever shut up about it.

 

[DRTJR]

Firefly was his origin, without it, we get no Avengers, or any of his future work that we'll still be talking about for years to come.

Actually, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was his origin. Firefly aired somewhere near the end of its run. And while he had done several things before Buffy (including co-writing on Toy Story!), that's really what put him on the map. In fact, without Buffy, Fox would've never agreed to Firefly in the first place. THE MORE YOU KNOW

Yeah, but Firefly was the first thing of quality he did on his own.

WHAT

NO

GO IN THE CORNER AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID

Seriously though, Buffy is fantastic. The first season can be kind of bleh, but after that the show gets exponentially better. The first season is just there to make you think it's a by the numbers campy action horror show so that Whedon can rip your heart out more easily later.

I don't like Buffy nor do I like Angel. At first I thought that Firefly was going to be tepid at best, then my mind was blown. The only Character I liked was Seth Green's, it's hard to pull at my strings by messing with characters I don't care about.

 

[Sande45]

Wow EVERYONE in this thread hates Lost huh... well didn't expect anything else but still. Such a great show to be so universally panned, mostly by people who haven't even seen it, who just heard someone badly explain the ending. Great ending, great show, absolutely worth anyone's time.

I haven't seen Firefly yet but I mean to do so as the internet won't ever shut up about it.

My thought exactly, on both shows. People are watching Lost with the wrong mindset if all they care about are the mysteries and will completely shit themselves if the explanations aren't entirely to their liking. The characters were great, the setting was fascinating, and writing mostly better than 90% of other stuff on TV. Sure it lacked direction at times but was hell of an entertaining ride with an ending that I found great. Best show I've ever seen (I'm holding judgment on GoT until it's finished and have Wire waiting on my DVD shelf).

 

[nitrium oxide]

"So Lost wins this not because it's a better show, because clearly Firefly is more entertaining, Lost though keeps the debate going even now, so you want to be in this discussion"

So please explain how that would matter to you if you're about to die - which is the whole premise of this episode. The admitted additional entertainment of Firefly would surely trump the "debate" about Lost that YOU'RE NEVER ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE!

 

[GebGuy]

I WANT TO BELIEVE that there is a good reason you guys did a "Required TV Viewing Before You Die" episode without mentioning a certain show that happens to be celebrating it's 20th anniversary this very week. A certain show that without, JJ Abrams wouldn't have a career and many more fantasy/sci-fi shows wouldn't exist.

I think you are being too subtle with your reference.

 

[Blackout62]

Woah! When was there a sexy photoshoot of the cast of Firefly? I'm turned on by all of them, even Ron Glass!

 

[Cav415]

Never watched a episode of lost but after hearing the premise I said its a Jacod's Ladder and I was right LOL. took 8 years to say told yea so

 

[Rene Overweter]

And it seems Everybody also forgot about Babylon5 and Red Dwarf and and and well the List is Soooooooo Long Anyways the pick this week was a bad one ...

 

[fangclaw]

I am glad to say that I have not watched either Lost or Firefly and will now specifically avoid watching either one for the rest of my life.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Firefly is quicker. Lost is a greater time investment. So the choice is easy. FIREFLY.

 

[cyvaris]

God, you couldn't pay me to sit through all of Lost. I managed to finish the first season before I said, "Nah, this is stupid", and turned it off. It's one thing to have a mystery, it's another to bullshit around for seven years so you dont have to explain anything.

Battlestar Galatica beat them both, though only by a very narrow amount. I could never get into Lost because it just seemed so gimmicky. Tune in next week and find out worthless clue number five that may or may not be relevant!!

Seriously the entire show felt like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdhhQhqi_AE

Well, the first two and a half seasons of Battlestar are definitely required viewing. Everything after the Battle of New Caprica, well...

Yeah the quality drop off was rather sudden.