DON’T change the channel when you see a red vintage Camaro smashing through a huge pile of mangoes when you turn on “Lost” tonight.
It is “Lost,” even if the scene, which opens the first new episode of the series since last May, seems like something out of “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
The Camaro is definitely not on the “Lost” island either, although stranger things have happened on this series, which returns tonight for its fourth season – one that will last only eight episodes unless the Hollywood writers’ strike gets settled soon.
Still, a little bit of “Lost” is better than none, especially during the current prime-time famine of 2007-08.
This series would be one of network TV’s best shows even if every other show were still up and running. However, with almost nothing but reruns on the network schedules lately, the return of “Lost” comes like a gulp of fresh air to a drowning man.
It is especially welcome in a season in which TV’s other great suspense serial, “24,” is missing in action due to the strike.
What’s a Camaro have to do with it? Without giving too much away, the Camaro winds up in a televised chase with cops and jumpstarts a series of glimpses into the future of some of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. That’s the airliner that crashed off the beach of a desert island four seasons ago and marooned those passengers who somehow survived the incident.
They’ve been trying to get rescued ever since and have faced all manner of catastrophes and mysterious enemies.
In addition, the show has had so many characters and uses so many flashbacks to fill in their backstories that it has gained a reputation for complexity that ABC fears will prevent potential new viewers from sampling the series.
To help prospective newbies, the network will air an hour-long wrap-up of past seasons tonight at 8.
While that will undeniably be helpful, the good news is that this series is just as easily enjoyed without expending much, if any, effort to learn what has already happened.
I should know since my devotion to “Lost” has been sporadic at best. I don’t tend to get cultish about TV shows anyway, although anyone who wishes to join the cult of “Lost” is welcome to go on-line and visit any number of the dozens of web sites operated by “Lost” culties who delight in explaining every last detail of their favorite show.
I didn’t find that necessary, however, to love the first two episodes of the new season that ABC sent over for
preview.
They are filled with mystery, suspense, action and the lush greenery of Hawaii, where the show is filmed.
Be there. Aloha.
“LOST”
Tonight at 9 on ABC