Jonathan posted news recently that J.J. Abrams is in talks with HBO to direct and produce a show through his Bad Robot Productions. That's all well and good, but let's play junior programming executive for a moment. How would you feel about buying a show from Bad Robot, given their history.

Are you making a deal with the brilliant team behind the top 20 hit Lost? And does the fact that we have now switched that qualifier from top 5, to top 10, to top 20 cause any concern? Or are you making a deal with the team that so bungled Alias that by the end of the run it was almost an act of charity for ABC to even air the show? Seriously. May 17th, 2006, Alias is the #5 show in its time slot behind Deal Or No Deal (NBC), Bones (Fox), The Amazing Race (CBS), AND Next Top Model (UPN), only managing to beat out the movie Final Destination 2 (WB).