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TV Connections ‘Lost’: How We Sacrificed Common Culture for Convenience
My latest CA Post column starts with four words that, for a time, millions of Americans instantly understood:
“We have to go back.”
If you watched “Lost,” you know exactly what I mean.
There was a period when television did more than entertain us. It gave millions of Americans something in common — the same episode, the same cliffhanger, the same conversation the next morning.
“Dallas” did it. “Seinfeld” did it. “Friends,” “ER,” “Survivor,” “American Idol” and “Lost” all did it in different ways.
Then technology gave us something better: virtually unlimited choice.
We could watch whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, on whatever device we wanted.
And almost nobody would choose to go back.
But in my full California Post column, I look at something we may have surrendered along the way — and why the change from appointment television to streaming and personalized algorithms matters beyond television itself.
My 96-year-old father grew up gathering around a radio. My generation gathered around a handful of television networks. Today, two people sitting next to each other can consume completely different entertainment, news and culture without ever crossing paths.
That is an extraordinary technological achievement.
But did we lose something important when the whole country stopped watching the same thing at the same time?