The ultimate reality show

[Diceman]

Did you ever consider that perhaps the sole purpose of LOST is to indulge the fantasies and prognostications of the viewing audience? Think about it! The produces start with several well acted, entertaining, well written episodes and then raid the fan sites for continuing themes.
How could you protest, imitation is the highest form of flattery. Even if the content was subtlety couched who would be offended to see their own ideas brought to the screen. So in the end the product you watch is influenced by your own ideas.

[Azriel]

Well, as long as it's MY ideas. :p

Seriously, it would be a good idea in a way, but I think it would be hard to keep continuity going if you were trying to incorporate too many outside ideas into a show. I think the idea would work better on a reality show that was in real time like Big Brother.

[azteclady]

hmmm.....


This sounds like a variation in the latest pinnerman theory... You may want to read what was said in the "Bad news and Good news" thread, here in this forum.


Beto

Posting and lurking traffic increases the cost of renewing the board. Become an ezsupporter and bring the cost down!

[cccourt]

Diceman: This was bandied about a month ago...and is the number one idea which would cause the show to jump the shark. In fact...we even thought of Vanuatu as THE island..and that the actors would go around the island to find the survivors!!
ccc:hat

[mnemosyne23]

A very neat idea, and if only it could be true! But I really think what was mentioned earlier regarding continuity would be a deciding factor. There's no way you could take in EVERYONE'S opinions, choose the most interesting and popular ones, and keep everything running in a smooth, orderly fashion. This strikes me as the type of show that has a very clear sense of where it is, where's it's going, and how it intends to get there, with a little elbow room left open for minor changes and course corrections as the show and characters grow.

Then of course there's the legal repercussions. If it WERE to come out that something they used on the show was taken from a fan's insights or suggestions on a messageboard or online journal, then there's always the possibility of a lawsuit by that person to get monetary reimbursement. Silly, perhaps, but in this day and age, hardly something to laugh at. The whole idea of "intellectual property" would be put to the test.

Which isn't to say I don't think it would be ridiculously cool to know that, on some level, I'm helping influence the direction of the show. ;) Perhaps if I do some more embarassing fangirl squealing about Charlie and Claire, I'll see some concrete results? *blush/cough* Actually, I think the embarassment would be too much. LOL!

:D M

[16L43]

I'm a member of another series board where stars and writers for the show visited frequently. The writers had to tread carefully when going through the various posts due to fans posting ideas and the like. In the litigious society that is America these days, someone who thinks they have exclusive rights to an idea, could create havoc for the creatives in charge. Though most such plagiarism suits are thrown out as meritless claims, the bad publicity [alone] can be damaging to a series' reputation...

[BJLK]

I had thought about this, especially after reading the article in the latest TV guide about the show. Here's an excerpt: "The castaways may actually be dead and stranded in an island purgaroty. At least that's one theory that has fans buzzing, though, naturally, Abrams will neither confirm nor deny."

I would think these boards would at least give the writers some ideas to springboard from. I would be okay with that as long as they read the "What Would Ruin It For You" thread. But as was stated before, we live in a very litigious society, unfortunately.

[Diceman]

Hey, thanks everyone for the insights and conjecture. I hadn't looked at any of the other similar earlier posts on this topic. I do believe that entering into an open forum such as this automatically negates any claim to IP. Let's hope so or we'll have attorneys camping out on the site. More than anything else I was trying to point out how credible many of your ideas are.

Thanks and keep up the good work.