In case you missed part one and two of our Lost hiatus relief story: Lostalikes is that last bastion of hope for those weirdness-starved Lost fans whose hearts are about to implode at the thought of the slowly  shrinking vacuum between season 3 and 4 of their favorite show, Lost.   Here we try to uncover obscure movies and television shows from yesteryear with the capacity to evoke a little of that feeling you get when a mysterious hatch is found in the ground, or you discover your abandoned island is occupied by disembodied voices and sentient clouds of smoke.  This week we throw obscurity to the wind and dig into the closets of Lost's kingpins of the bizarre themselves to see what freaky skeletons hide amongst the lava lamps, Louis L'Amour novels, and Star Wars lunch boxes.

How it happened, I don't know, but both J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof were involved in the writing of a very cool episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender titled “The Drill.”  In the episode, which is season 2 episode 13, Ang and his crew arrive at the wall of Ba Sing in time to prepare for the arrival of a giant drilling machine dispatched to carve a passage through the gigantic wall for the Fire Nation's armies. Scoffing at a cartoon alternative to Lost?  Avatar is a grand, sprawling epic with very intelligent integration of lofty social themes.  Worth raising an eyebrow at.

Carlton Cuse was no stranger to creating skewed worlds populated by characters who seemed strangely out of place when he came to Lost.  His western series The Adventures of Brisco County Junior has the same brand of casting and performance excellence as Lost, with stories that often drew on a surreal blend of anachronistic dialog and technology.  Sure it's an homage to Wild Wild West, but it stars Bruce Campbell – and that alone galvanizes Brisco's legacy of cool.

Sorting through the rest of the gangs credits, you can find more Damon Lindelof and Stephen Williams' collaboration happening in Crossing Jordan.  Lost's seminal director and producer Jack Bender has an IMDB page full of credits with shows like Alias, Carnivale, and The Sopranps all the way back to an acting gig on the Mod Squad – I can't attest to the Lostness of that. 

Of course, yet to be released to DVD - hound the network - is Carlton Cuse's successful, Don Johnson renewing Nash Bridges.  Not exactly 'Lost' like, but did serve as Cuse and Lindelof's first collaboration - Cuse producing, and Lindelof a fledgling writer - and ran for six seasons. If you're lucky enough to have Superstation WGN, Nash Bridges will be airing this fall.  Otherwise, feel free to tell CBS it's time to bring this gem to home video.

Next up:  Books.


- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image by Jon Lachons, Logo Copyright ABC)