Stephen McPherson, ABC's president of prime-time entertainment since April, is in his honeymoon period, both literally and figuratively.
   On a voyage with his new bride in Paris, McPherson appeared before TV critics at the summer press tour via satellite. Nobody minded, mostly because McPherson's at the helm of the strongest lineup of new series in years and there's no way he can mess the place up more than his predecessors.
   Many years have passed since ABC has been a real attraction. The network hasn't has a hit drama since the outgoing "NYPD Blue" premiered and its comedies have had the perfume of last week's tuna casserole.
   The former regime's attempt to become family friendly resulted in a series of pedestrian misfires on every front. Granted, there are a few of those this season in the guise of ABC's new comedies. "Rodney" might make it on the strength of Rodney Carrington's blue-collar appeal, but "Complete Savages," a mortal sin visited upon us in part by Mel Gibson, deserves to see the afterlife sooner rather than later.
   But most of the 2004-05 season shows signs of a drastic turnaround from the top down. McPherson has given the fourth place ABC exactly what it needs -- an extreme makeover. The trick will be persuading people to watch....
   ...ABC's cream is in its bigger ticket items, including one from "Crossing Jordan" supervising producer Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams, the conjurer behind "Alias." They've created "Lost," which takes the kind of attractive people you could only dream of sitting next to for hours on end and crashes them on a far-flung island.
   It gets better. There's a jungle on that island and it's hiding a monster.
   You'll have to trust Abrams; it looks much better than it sounds.
   "My favorite movies are movies in which, if you describe the premise, they're not very good," he said. "But they're executed in a way that you really care about the characters. ... I think the idea is to take a premise that is maybe a B premise and, you know, whether it's the spy world or characters who crash land on an island, and say, '... How do you do this so you actually care about the people?' To me, it's always at least trying to get into the characters first."
   That's a very tall order when there are more than 40 characters to "get into." From the interest "Lost" is already generating, though, Abrams has a lot of true believers in his corner. Good thing, too. The pilot was outrageously expensive, reflected in the high productions values and lush tropical setting.
   SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Permanent Link | 10:35 AM