evangeline lilly

Success comes with a price. That price is giving the stars of that success a bigger piece of the action.

ABC has started to quietly renegotiate the contracts of Lost stars Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, increasing their take for each episode to about $150,000. Unfortunately, "quietly" and "Hollywood" are contradictions in terms. Upon learning of this, other supporting players are also attempting to bump up their salaries.

Two things I don't understand: First, knowing that the show would last six years, why didn't the producers verify the participation of the required actors before they could potentially walk away like this? I know the show has a high mortality rate, but can they get away with killing off Jack or Kate? Second, how did ABC honestly think they could keep this quiet?

It's wonderful to see capitalism and egos at work and everybody exaggerating their worth in order to get a higher salary. I just hope Fox and Lilly remember to include their take for those Lost action figures.

It's going to be a long, long time before we see new footage of Lost again. The two-hour finale has come and gone, and viewers were left with more than a few questions. Lost blogger DocArzt has offered fans a deleted scene from "The Economist" to hold them over for the rest of the year.

The scene follows Miles, Kate, and Sayid on their journey from the jungle to the Barracks. Miles shows off his supernatural powers when the group reaches the sonar fence. There have been a few hints about Miles' abilities in previous episodes, and I was happy to learn more about him. We already know that he communicates with the dead and can sense things about the living (Michael and Charlotte, for example), and now we can add sonar detection to his list of skills. The video is available after the jump.

(S04E12) I completely understand why Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse needed an extra hour for the finale. The first of three hours had so much information and moved to so many different locations, and I still feel like we've barely scratched the surface. It's going to be a long two weeks. That's all I have to say.

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(S04E11) One of the few flashbacks of the season showed us John Locke's predestined connection to the island. Locke encountered some familiar faces before the crash, and each meeting guided him to his current situation. While Jack's mind is set on rescuing everyone on the island, Locke's focus in on saving the island itself. This episode put everyone, including the freighter folk, in place to carry out their plans. I'm already stoked for the finale.
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(S04E10) The writers gave us a break after last week's action- and information-packed episode. While Jack struggled with appendicitis, we got another look at his future off the island. Three of the other members of the Oceanic Six turned up, and Jack learned that there's no escaping a love triangle. Back on the island, Claire had an unexpected visitor.

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(S04E09) What a brilliant episode! At this point, I think all future Lost episodes should be either Ben-, Sayid-, or Desmond-centric. This episode had it all: tons of action, several big revelations, and more questions to ponder. Michael Emerson gave yet another award-worthy performance this week and showed off his action hero side.

Follow this link to join the chat. The full review is after the jump.

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Since Lost premiered about 4 years ago, fans have been active in coming up with theories (include the now-famous time loop theory) to explain the mysteries of the show. From the start, producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have debunked a few of the most popular theories (e.g., they are in purgatory) and hinted that others may be legit.

To help fans discuss theories and propose their own, USA Today's website devotes a section to fans' Lost theories. With these theories in hand, USA Today turned to Darlton (that's the common nickname for Damon and Carlton) to see if any could be accurate.

On the last episode of Lost, we learned that the Island won't let people die. Well, some people. Michael, for instance. And we can assume the Oceanic Six--Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Aaron--experienced the same inability to die as Michael.

But a lot of people have died. Some of them are missed and some of them... not so much. And there will be a lot more deaths over the final two seasons of the series, which returns with a new episode tonight. It seemed like a good time to look back on some of the island's most notorious deaths. And the strange manners in which characters died:

Lost spoilers are serious business. I know what I'm talking about since I've been roaming the web and poking my sources for spoilers about the ABC series even before it premiered on September 22, 2004. Information about upcoming episodes was rather easy to find the first two years of the hit series. But as Lost got more popular and the mysteries more and more important and... mysterious, security around the show got tighter in order to keep spoilers leakage to a minimum. Luckily for us, extras always delivered the goods. This week, Whitney Matheson, who writes the "Pop Candy" column at USA Today, relays information an extra sent about her experience on the set and the episode she will appear in. Spoilers ahead!

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(S04E08) We're going into a five-week Lost hiatus, and I'm extremely thankful that this wasn't the season finale. "Meet Kevin Johnson" wasn't a bad episode, but I couldn't have waited until 2009 for a follow-up. This episode did have its moments. We learned more about the island's connection to its inhabitants, Michael's time on the mainland, and there was (at least) one death. That should keep us busy for the next month or so, right?

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(S04E07) Well, that episode was a real tearjerker. This week on Lost, we met a few more members of the freighter crew, Sun had second thoughts about joining Team Jack, and Bernard got a little screen time. We finally got a look at Ben's inside man on the freighter, too. Things are starting to get weird on the freighter, and I'm beginning to wonder if Sayid and Desmond were safer back on the island.

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Most Lost fans have a favorite character, or even a few favorites. Now all of the Locke fans, Kate admirers, and Ben disciples can settle their differences--March Madness-style. Since March 7th, the Washington Post has been hosting Lost Madness, a bracket-like poll to determine the best all-time Lost character.

Instead of regions, the tournament sorts everyone by character type: 815ers, Others/DHARMA, rescuers and dead survivors, and other crucial players (the Smoke Monster, Danielle, etc.). The first two rounds are already finished, but you still have time to vote in the Sweet Sixteen round. New winners are revealed every couple of days and the winner will be announced on March 25th.

(S04E06) I didn't think it was possible, but the Lost writers actually found a way to make Ben creepier. All they had to do was add a "lovesick stalker" dimension to his personality. For a Juliet-centric episode, it seemed like we learned a lot more about Ben than the intriguing Dr. Burke. We also got some significant answers about who's behind the freighter mission--from Ben, of course. Perhaps the only thing Ben doesn't know is how to have a healthy romantic relationship.

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No one, not even the most hardcore Lost fan, can have more questions about the show's characters than the actors who portray them. Recently, Several Lost cast members got a chance to ask these questions in a TV Guide interview with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the show's executive producers. This was a great idea on TV Guide's part, and the answers didn't disappoint. What could be more fun than letting actors like Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, and Josh Holloway grill their bosses about issues that have been on fans' minds for months?

Cuse and Lindelof's answers contain a lot of spoilers about what we will learn during Season Four (and when), so stop reading if you want to be surprised. The juiciest responses and some speculation about what these new details could mean are included after the jump. My remarks also take rumors into account, so consider yourself warned.

(S04E05) I love Desmond-centric episodes. I never fully understand them, but I love them. Confusing as they are, I believe that they are the key to understanding the island and its unique properties. This was the one of the few Lost episodes this season that didn't flash forward to the future of the Oceanic Six. We didn't get a shocking twist at the end, but we got a lot of new information to consider. It's a relief to know that this season's storytelling won't follow a strict formula. There are so many mysteries, relationships, and settings to explore now; variety is most welcome.

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