Aloha to Lost 

I'm not a Kimmel fan, but have to hand it to him for creating an entertaining send-off, very well-tuned to the over-hyped LOST finale. I even watched most of it over again during the reprise broadcast the following Saturday.

Kimmel's own analysis from the podium of the meaning of LOST, start to finish, taking a decidedly Jack-centric bent, was very convincing and even got a semi-nod of approval from Fox. I also appreciated Fox's explanation of how he knew what the windup would be way back six years ago, dovetailing nicely with our knowledge that the Jack character was originally set to die at the outset of the series, before Fox rather than a big-name guest star was cast in the role.

The banter here was fun and in-jokes memorable, as in fake rivalries and feuds among cast members. Holloway's prerecorded footage was great, too. ABC successfully built up the "alternate endings" promotion, which I naturally fell for, and I was pleasantly surprised that they turned out to be Kimmel-designed spoofs of Newhart, Sopranos, etc. I had foolishly thought that J.J. and company had filmed alternate endings! To sum up, I for one had gotten tired of the increasingly pretentious attitude both from the inside (writers with delusions of adequacy) and outside (fans nitpicking endlessly over LOST's innumerable loose threads, not unlike counting Angels on the head of a pin) as LOST approached its End of the Road. The light and irreverent touch of Kimmel was the needed corrective and antidote to this, and I suspect has taken some of the sting out of the underwhelming sideways finish for the die-hard fans.

To paraphrase the helpful horror movie refrain of yore, Keep repeating: it's only a TV show, it's only a TV show...