Lost, Inc.

It's back next week. It's back next week. It's back next week.

The above is my new mantra. As I'm sure it's yours.

In the meantime, Variety reminds us that Lost isn't just a Thursday-night, one-hour viewing experience, its also a multi-platform phenomenon.

It's still a hit TV show, first and foremost. But "Lost" has also spawned mobisodes, videogames, books, viral videos, interactive Internet sites and much more.
For the exec producers who run that enterprise -- Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof -- the show's timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Lost" came along right when the ability to create video for multiple platforms exploded. Among primetime series, few shows are better suited than "Lost" to embrace the brave new world.

Sure, some of the attempts outside of the world of TV fell a little flat (loosely connected novels, anyone?), but some were mega-hits ("Find 815" was pretty genius). And few prime-time hits could pull any of it off. Probably because of the layers of mystery and the unknown. I rarely walk away from an episode of, well, anything else, wondering what the hidden meaning of a character's name/book choice/etc was. Honestly, I stop thinking about most shows the moment the end credits start rolling. But not Lost. I want more.

"Our criteria is, everything you need to know about 'Lost' is contained in the mother ship," Cuse says. "There are definitely large segments of the audience that want more. And the ancillary media platforms give us opportunities to put out stories that might be interesting to some but not all."
For example, the show's first alternate reality game centered on the Hanso Foundation, the shady "Lost" organization responsible for the show's "Dharma Initiative." Rabid fans -- particularly those on the Internet -- feasted on that more in-depth mythology.

Those off-season interactive experiences also specifically feed into that season's plot points. This year's focus on the mysterious discovery of Oceanic Flight 815 at the bottom of the sea was foreshadowed by the "Find 815" campaign.

Um, I think we're the rabid fans he speaks of. Scratch that. I KNOW we're the rabid fans.

It's back next week. It's back next week....

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