It is good for Lost to have an end point. The trend is toward smarter television for adults, and Lost is a trailblazer.
Your reasoning reaks of arrogance and envy. Wish you were one of the Lost writers? If you want a quick-read why not read a book or watch a movie.
I'll be anticipating the next episode of Lost and ready to suspend disbelief and become engaged with the story. Otherwise I wouldn't watch it.

I think some of you need to go back, rewatch the second season of Twin Peaks, and think for a long time over whether all mysteries are better when they're "solved."

A big part of the appeal of this show, for me, is the mystery. There's no denouement at this point that wouldn't be anticlimactic to me. Lynch learned this the hard way -- when your stock in trade is creating these densely layered levels of enigma, sometimes peeling them away too quickly will leave your viewers feeling "cheated."

While I agree that the flashbacks have become tedious, I'd rather see eight more seasons of weirdness than two seasons of convenient closure and spotless wrap-ups. I'd be very sad to see Lost lose its Prisoner-esque 'unanswered questions' feel and become an typical "serial drama (NOW! WITH MYSTERIES!)" like CSI or something of the sort.

I agree, with all your points and hope they don't do another season split! I'm ready for all the mysteries to be resolved hopefully with 1 more season.

The last thing we need is for Lost to drag on like the last seasons of X-Files. I hope they can keep the show and story crisp from here to the end.

I'm surprised by these comments. If you don't like the show, what do you care that it has an end point planned. For those of us that enjoy the show the knowledge that the producers are planning the end of the show well ahead of time is a reminder of the forethought that goes into the show.

It's also nice to see that the show will end as intended despite the opportunity to drag it out for an extra season for a bit more money.

What sucked is in S2E9 you see the horse trainers hand. h0 h0 h0. Shoddy production if you ask me. It's clear as day! Not to mention how really crap the 'soemthing happens' 'lets go back to their previous life and build this character' like it really matters to the real plot on the island.

Can they jjust get on with it already, there has been enough character building to make data from star trek envious

This has been known since season one for most Lost "addicts", nice to see it on digg though. Here's hoping for a better season 3.

I am so pleased it has finite wrapping up point. If it dragged on with no end in sight, it would be tough to keep up the intensity. I can't wait to see if their ending can even come close to all of the hype. It better be pretty terrific or there will be a lot of disappointed Lost fans.

While I agree that the guarantee of a very intentional end is a positive, I must disagree that the stories that you call "filler" don't really matter. I think that they are the best at telling us who these people really are. They say that you are only really yourself when you think nobody is watching. When we see these characters NOT under the crazy stress of being chased by the others or being shot at or running from some invisible monster, that is when we get to see them relaxed and at a state of (at least semi) rest. That is the contrast we need in order to enjoy the stressful times and understand the character on a deeper level. It's not the big reveals that makes this show great, it's the roller coaster, and without the baseline of (seemingly) nothing happening, we cannot enjoy the click click click of climbing up the hill or the thrill ride on the way down.
People always talk about character development like they need a steady stream of thick and rich information, but true character development happens slowly over time, like ketchup, the good stuff is thick and moves slowly, you have to wait for it and be patient, while the lousy stuff comes in a plastic squeeze bottle and is runny, but you get a lot at once.
I'll take mine thick, rich, and slow, thanks.

And how exactly was the frog story not character development? Sawyer killing the frog was fantastic insight to the character.

Also, the Lostpedia theory page for the statue, http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Statue/Theories, has plenty of theories which have nothing to do with the toes. Interesting read, to say the least.