Normally, it takes numerous auditions for producers to cast one of the leading roles in their television show. When the producers of Lost cast the role of Michael (a father trying to connect with his estranged son, Walt, only to have him kidnapped), they immediately knew Harold Perrineau was the perfect choice to portray this complex character. "Harold was the only actor we brought to the network for Michael," executive producer Damon Lindelof says. "He brings such intense dignity to everything he does. We thought that trait - a sense of honor - was needed since Michael was such a terrible father at first."
   Perrineau delivered a particularly moving and memorable performance in this season's second episode during a flashback scene in which Michael had to say goodbye to his son. Perrineau prepared for that intense scene by bottling up his emotions until the cameras rolled. "It took a lot of hours of finding what someone might feel in that particular position, as well as what I might feel in that particular position," Perrineau explains. "It's a really wacky acting thing to do. You actually make yourself feel that bad for hours before, but you keep holding it down until it's actually time to start [shooting the scene]."
   These types of poignant performances come as no surprise to Lindelof, who says the acting skills that won Perrineau his role still shine through in every episode. "I believe he's just as genius now as he was when he was first cast," Lindeolf says. "The character, however, has grown and become much more nuanced. What might have been originally construed as a little 'one-note' - at least in our writing of it - became a fully-fleshed out character who is now extremely sympathetic, all of which we credit to Harold's performance.... Read the full story here. (4:21 AM)

   At this very moment, several hard-working men and women in Manhattan are sweating over one of the nation's biggest questions:
   Who's the sexiest man alive?
   That's right — it's almost time for People magazine to declare which celebrity makes our toes tingle and our hearts engorge with lust. Rumor has it the decision is particularly tough this year: For one thing, Brad Pitt, Jude Law and Tom Cruise have been involved in some eyebrow-raising activities; for another, the mag has already crowned these men sex gods before.
   Before People makes a major mistake by selecting one of the Desperate Housewives guys or, God forbid, Rod Stewart as the sexiest fellow in the free world, I figured I should weigh in on the challenge....
   9. Josh Holloway. To me, Matthew Fox's Jack has always been the cute one on Lost; it's Holloway's Sawyer who's the sexy one. Holloway may not be a household name, but every wipe of his brow and Southern-tinged sentence he speaks oozes sex appeal. I'd take him over last year's honoree, Jude Law, any day. Read the full story here. (4:17 AM)

   Tony Danza will give five lucky viewers the opportunity to be LOST in Hawaii this November with stars of the six-time Emmy winning ABC series. Buena Vista Television and ABC today unveiled the 'LOST Hawaiian Sweepstakes,' giving viewers of The Tony Danza Show a chance to head to Hawaii this winter to visit the tropical set of LOST and kick up some sand with primetime's hottest stars.
   "We are thrilled to be able to offer LOST and The Tony Danza Show viewers the chance to win this incredibly unique prize," said Sal Sardo, executive vice president of marketing for Buena Vista Television. "In addition to a tropical vacation, winners will get a rare visit to the set of this blockbuster TV series."
   Each day during the week of November 14, viewers will tune in to The Tony Danza Show for the LOST clue of the day. Participants will then log onto The Tony Danza Show website at http://www.thetonydanzashow.com/ to submit official sweepstakes entries. The more clues viewers catch -- the better the odds of winning.... Read the full story here. (2:28 AM)

   Looking for the best shows on TV? Look no further than these four, which actually have strengthened in their second year.
   Lost (ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET/PT). Each week, this brilliant, beautiful, intricate series about life lived in doubt has strengthened its claim as TV's top series. Start with the perfectly pitched season premiere, which ingeniously negotiated the dance a series like Lost must master: doling out enough information to keep an audience involved without depleting the series' store.
   From there, it has been one high point after another — all leading to the show's Nov. 9 return and the threatened loss of one of the main characters. It's a testament to the writers and the actors that many fans would no doubt be happy if the network promos proved to be misleading. I can't think of a single castaway I'm willing to lose.... Read the full story here. (2:25 AM)

   So far, 2005 is the season of the sophomores.
   Over the first weeks this fall, four second-year series have unexpectedly risen to the top of the TV class — establishing themselves as the best shows on TV at the moment. Seldom if ever has a sophomore group achieved so much in tandem.
   Who are these second-season overachievers? ABC's audacious, gorgeous Lost, which uses its complex island mystery as a peg to explore its finely drawn characters; Fox's House, which is driven by intriguing plots and a great central character; UPN's Veronica Mars, which is TV's wittiest, smartest exploration of the teenage class divide; and ABC's ever-improving Grey's Anatomy, which is as endearing and entertaining a TV hour as you're likely to find.... Read the full story here. (2:23 AM)

Who knew cult director Darren Aronofsky was a fan of the boob tube? The Requiem for a Dream helmer has just signed on to direct an episode of ABC's Lost, which will likely air at the beginning of May sweeps. "It was one of those fantastic calls out of the blue," says Lost exec producer Carlton Cuse. "His agents let us know he liked the show, and we jumped at the opportunity. Apparently, he had been watching Lost while up in Montreal shooting The Fountain and got hooked." Speaking of which, won't this interfere with completing Fountain, the director's six years-in-the-making sci-fi epic starring fiancée Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman? "I think he will be done," speculates Cuse. "We scheduled it so that [the episode] is coming on the heels of finishing The Fountain. And we will try to put together a story that will be well-suited for Darren's talents and visual imagination." Read the full story here. (10:52 PM)

   Somewhere around the time he glimpsed the shark with the tattoo, a rabid "Lost" fan named Elan Lee knew there was something different going on: This was a TV show that liked its audience.
   Really liked its audience -- enough to reward it with treats that only the most devoted viewers would catch. The shark, which appeared in the season's second episode, had a logo on its fin that showed up elsewhere in the show, a possibly significant clue in the realm of "Lost" mythology. It was the sort of thing you'd only see if you froze the frame and watched very, very closely. If you were looking for just this sort of trick. And if you had a community of fellow viewers doing the same thing....
   ..."Lost" fans do spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the show, to the extent that, for some, it's practically a full-time job. Amy Bauer, a music theory professor at the University of California, Irvine, says she spends up to 20 hours a week on "Lost"-related projects, including the creation of a quasi-academic site called www.loststudies.com. Part of her work, she says, involves reading, indexing, and archiving small essays on ever-more-elaborate general theories. Of late, the various boards have seen treatises about existentialism, Greek mythology, cryogenics, and behavioral psychology. On the site Bauer helps run, www.lost-tv.com, the "they're in Purgatory" theory, debunked early by the show's producers, has been dubbed "The Theory That One Shall Not Name.... Read the full story here. (10:49 PM)

   Zap2It has final ratings numbers for last week's fifth new episode, "...and Found." As always, the show finished fourth for the week with ratings of 12.7/19, and it was third in total viewership with 21,381,000 viewers. (10:44 PM)

   Jorge Garcia (Hurley) will attend The Florida eXtravaganza (FX for short) in Orlando, Florida on January 27-29, 2006. He is scheduled to appear to meet fans and sign autographs all 3 days of the event. For more information on this event, check out the official website. Tickets
for the event are currently available at pre-sale prices. (10:49 PM)

   I've added four new affiliates: Promise, SpoilerFix, club de fans de Perdidos, and Lost-Mania. (1:40 AM)

   Damon Lindelof, co-creator and executive producer of the hit television series Lost, will bring his creative genius and storytelling talent to Marvel's "Ultimate" universe this December with Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk. And now you can own a CGC Graded 9.8 copy signed by Lindelof himself, courtesy of Wizard Universe!
   Not only will Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk mark Lindelof's first comic book writing effort, but a portion of the proceeds from the CGC Graded Signed versions will benefit the charity of Damon Lindelof's choice!
   Dr. Bruce Banner (a.k.a. the Hulk) has been presumed dead since his execution following a murderous rampage through Manhattan. But when reports start cropping up of an unidentified creature appearing around the globe, General Nick Fury - head of America's premiere intelligence organization, S.H.I.E.L.D – begins to get worried. Not because Banner can turn from man to unstoppable monster in seconds, but because Banner's existence is the one secret that can bring Fury down. So he turns to the only man he can trust: James Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine of the X-Men, to take care of Banner - by any means necessary. The series will be illustrated by Leinil Yu (Wolverine and X-Men), who recently signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.
   "I actually owned Hulk #181 when I was a kid. Then my mom threw it away. I can't believe how lucky I am to have the opportunity to re-introduce these two iconic characters to each other in the no-holds-barred world of the Ultimate Universe. I am truly honored to get a chance to fulfill my life-long dream of writing for Marvel," Lindelof said.
   Prior to Lost, Lindelof was co-producer on the popular crime drama Crossing Jordan and wrote for the first three seasons of the show. Last year, along with J.J. Abrams, Lindelof created hit ABC drama Lost. Currently in his position as Executive Producer of Lost, Lindelof shares day-to-day showrunning and writing responsibilities with Carlton Cuse.
   Signed copies are available here. Signed & Graded CGC Signature Series 9.8 are available here. (10:32 PM)

   Lost once again won its timeslot and Wednesday night with its fifth new episode of the second season, "...and Found." Zap2It reports overnight ratings of 12.4/19, while Mediaweek reports total viewership of 20.72 million. (12:32 PM)

   Lost has been the TV sensation of the year on both sides of the Atlantic, launching onto our televisions with one of the most dramatic opening episodes ever seen (and a mountain of hype off-screen). The show continues to intrigue and enthral.
   Thom Sherman is the man behind Lost. He is president of Bad Robot Productions, the US TV company he co-founded with writer/director JJ Abrams and producer Bryan Burk. The company also makes Alias, starring Jennifer Garner. In his previous job with ABC, Sherman oversaw Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.
   Sherman will be online at 3pm on Thursday, October 20.... Read the full story here. (12:30 PM)

   The influential U.S. entertainment magazine People calls her "Korea's Julia Roberts," becoming the latest American media outlet to make a beeline for Kim Yun-jin's door because of her growing popularity in the ABC hit drama "Lost". People ran a wide-ranging interview with the Korean actress, who plays the mysterious Sun in the show.
   As for being the Julia Roberts of Korea, the actress responded, "Oh, I don't know about that, but I like the comparison!" She told the magazine she did her first feature film, "Shiri", in 1999. "I played a North Korean spy who falls in love with her enemy. It was very popular all over Asia. (South Korea) was the only country where its own movie beat the record of Titanic.... Read the full story here. (12:28 PM)

   Maggie Grace sees a pattern emerging in her young career.
   For most of the year, her home base is Honolulu, the location for ABC's popular series Lost, in which she plays the rich, snobby plane-crash survivor Shannon.
   But even before Grace completed the series' first season, she was commuting to yet another island - this one off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, - for her role in the remake of the 1980 John Carpenter horror classic The Fog.... Read the full story here. (6:21 AM)

   The fifth episode of the new season, "...and Found," airs tonight on ABC at 9/8c. This is the last new episode before the show takes a two-week rerun break, so enjoy it. Discuss tonight's episode at the message board. Michael sets off into the jungle by himself determined to find Walt, but discovers that he is not alone. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Jin are ordered by their captors to take them to their camp, and Sun frantically searches for her missing wedding ring. (6:58 PM)

   Ticket buyers played their kids' birthdays, their wedding anniversaries, even a set of numbers taken straight from the TV show "Lost," in hopes of winning $340 million Wednesday in the second-biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history.
   The Powerball jackpot has been snowballing since mid-August, with 20 straight drawings in which no one won the grand prize. Stores reported heavy sales in all 27 states selling Powerball tickets.
   "We're swimming in it today," said Marianne Ward at the Cash & Dash in Little River, S.C. "We've sold more than $2,000 in tickets since 6 a.m."
   Mary Neubauer, spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said hundreds of ticket buyers were playing a set of numbers from the ABC drama "Lost," which featured a character who won $156 million by playing a string of digits obtained from a patient in a mental institution: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.... Read the full story here. (6:02 PM)

   4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.
   Anything bad happen yet? No? Good. Inspired by the hit TV show "Lost" - and ignoring the fate of the character who played those numbers for a huge lottery win - hundreds of people selected that set of six for the Wednesday night drawing for the $340 million Powerball jackpot.
   According to a Wisconsin Lottery spokeswoman, more than 840 people selected those numbers across five states during last week's Powerball drawing, including 266 in New Hampshire alone.... Read the full story here. (6:00 PM)

   Maggie Grace, star of ABC's hit TV show 'Lost,' spoke recently with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS about her new flick, 'Fog.' The John Carpenter remake was tops at the Box Office last weekend.
   Grace talked about her new movie and the bizarre attack on her co-star Josh Halloway, who plays Sawyer on the hit TV show.... Read the full story here. (11:59 AM)

   Every couple of years, there's a show that pops out, maybe in its second or third season, and roars through the pop culture. This is going to be one of those years, and the show is ABC's "Lost."
   That's not exactly a news flash, and that's exactly my point.
   Everywhere I go, people want to talk about "Lost." No one gets what's happening on that island, or what the numbers mean, or why that guy Desmond was really in the hatch. But if you've been watching, you're transfixed.... Read the full story here. (11:53 AM)

   A 20-year-old man, suspected of robbing actor Josh Holloway and his wife at their Hawaii Kai home at gunpoint, was shot with pepper spray pellets and wooden rounds near an elementary school yesterday morning.
   Ruben Royce is a suspect in several home invasion cases, according to a police source.
   Police arrested Royce at 10 a.m. at Keanu Street and 7th Avenue near Aliiolani Elementary School, which was locked down, on a warrant. He was also arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, in which he allegedly broke into a Waipahu home Thursday and assaulted his girlfriend.... Read the full story here. (11:50 AM)

   Police yesterday arrested a wanted burglary and assault suspect in Kaimuki and said he may be connected to last week's home invasion burglary of "Lost" actor Josh Holloway.
   Holloway, who plays Sawyer on the show, and his wife were robbed at gunpoint Oct. 12 after a masked man broke into their Hawai'i Kai home at 4 a.m. The man made off with cash, credit cards and Holloway's Mercedes-Benz, which was later recovered.
   Officers with the police Crime Reduction Unit, Specialized Services Division and Career Criminal Unit were pursuing the suspect after police learned he was possibly roaming around with a weapon, said police Capt. Frank Fujii.... Read the full story here. (11:48 AM)

   In South Korea, Yunjin Kim is as famous as Julia Roberts, but thanks to ABC's Lost, Americans are finally getting to know this Pretty Woman. And Kim, who was raised in New York and got her bachelor's degree at Boston University, is getting a taste of Hollywood-style celebrity. "I come into the airport now and there's always like 20 people waiting with photographs for me to sign," she says. While on the Lost set in Hawaii, Kim, 31, who plays the dutiful yet secretive wife Sun, talked with PEOPLE about being single in real life, playing golf – badly – and her surprising wild streak.... Read the full story here. (10:00 AM)

   I've fallen down the hatch.
   Locke, stock and barrel.
   And it's weird, because I'm not that person. I get sucked into the occasional TV show, but I'm never the one who gets swallowed up in the mythology, the one who scours the online message boards for theories and connections and screen captures.
   But then Lost crash-landed into my living room, and I became an object of my own ridicule.... Read the full story here. (9:58 AM)

   I'm getting a little worried about ABC's "Lost" and its long-range prospects to appeal.
   Oh, it's plenty appealing to plenty of people right now. Last week's installment, for example, attracted 21.66 million viewers, according to Nielsen's count. Often, it's the No. 3 show of the week, behind powerhouses "CSI" on CBS and "Desperate Housewives" on ABC.
   Still, the show is starting to seem a little more confounding and a little less compelling. The episodes are so free with questions but not so forthcoming with answers. It doesn't seem like resolution is part of the plan for this show about not one, but now two groups of survivors of a crashed airliner who are marooned on a mysterious island.... Read the full story here. (9:56 AM)

   Honolulu police have arrested a man described as "a possible suspect" in the home invasion-robbery of actor Josh Holloway.
   Captain Frank Fujii says the man matches the general description of the robber who held the star of the A-B-C series "Lost" and his wife at gunpoint last Wednesday at their home in Hawaii Kai.... Read the full story here. (9:52 AM)

   Tonight's Powerball jackpot is a record $340 million dollars, and people are stopping at gas stations on their way home for tha t1-in-146,107,962 chance to win. As if those odds aren't enough, imagine winning, only to share your winnings with more than a thousand people.
   ABC's new hit "Lost" has complicated the odds by popularizing a specific combination of numbers that people are using in real life to play the lottery. In the show, the unlucky character, Hurley, used the so-called cursed numbers four, eight, 15, 16, 23 and 42 to win, leading to a string of endless bad luck leaving him stranded on the mysterious island on which the show is based.
   And though Hurley's superstitions might raise alarm on the show, many people are banking on the bad-luck numbers in reality by playing them in lotteries around the country.... Read the full story here. (3:57 AM)

   No one was more surprised about "Lost" star Josh Holloway and his wife getting robbed at gunpoint last week in Hawaii than his co-star Emilie de Ravin, who has "always felt safe in Hawaii. You really don't hear about things like that going on much. It's such a laid-back community," adds de Ravin, who plays Claire on the hit show.
   Though original reports had it that the robbery was at random, de Ravin says, "I personally would think it was planned out, that they knew [the Holloways] lived there. Everyone knows that we shoot in Oahu. It's a small island. It would be quite easy to follow someone home." De Ravin admits, "I'm sure it will be on all of our minds so we'll be a little bit more aware of security, I suppose, but I don't think I'll feel unsafe.... Read the full story here. (3:55 AM)

   Yes, your office has turned into the land of the Lost.
   Last season, the show about plane crash survivors on a mysterious island became one of ABC's two saviors (the other being Desperate Housewives). Off to a blockbuster start in season two, it's now that rare commodity in TV: It's got the fanatical following of a cult show, and the ratings of a hit.
   The cult part has manifested itself not only in Thursday morning watercooler chats, but in the discussion boards of the online community. The devoted, the passionate and even the mildly curious are making habitual pilgrimmages to sites like Lost TV (www.lost-tv.com ), Lost Media (www.lost-media.com ) and Sledgeweb’s Lost Stuff (www.lost.cubit.net ), to feed their need....
   ...Lost TV (www.lost-tv.com ) Serious message board action and one of the most satisfying fan sites for clue hunters.... Read the full story here. (2:19 AM)

   ABC's upcoming miniseries of "The Ten Commandments" promises to push quite a few buttons, reports "Lost" regular Naveen Andrews, who stars in the epic project with Dougray Scott, Omar Sharif, Linus Roache, Mia Maestro and Paul Rhys.
   Andrews predicts it will stir up a hornet's nest. "What was unusual about the way we did this version of 'The Ten Commandments' was we treated Moses like he was a lunatic. If somebody came and told you today, 'I've just been talking to a burning bush,' you would try and have him put into a hospital, wouldn't you?"
   And as if that's not enough to convince us this is nothing like the reverent Cecil B. DeMille "Ten Commandments" starring Charleton Heston, Andrews adds, "I think what we've done is question the nature of religious dogma.... Read the full story here. (2:17 AM)

   There are few things Maggie Grace likes less than talking about herself for an hour. The soft-spoken 22-year-old, who plays spoiled brat Shannon Rutherford on ABC's Lost, only begins to relax her body, unfold her arms off her chest and come out of her protective shell as she strolls through the tropical grounds of the oceanfront Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel, petting a dolphin along the way.
   With her grown-up looks, it is easy to forget just how young she is. She is oblivious to a 75-year-old TV legend lunching nearby — longtime Oahu resident Jim Nabors, aka Gomer Pyle. "I think I've heard of him," she shrugs.
   "When we first met, I thought of her in an Amish costume," says her Lost love interest, Naveen Andrews (Sayid).... Read the full story here. (2:15 AM)

   What does it feel like to have the No. 1 movie in America and to be in the cast of TV's most talked-about show?
   This week, only Lost star Maggie Grace can answer that question. With Grace's fright flick, The Fog, taking in $12.2 million, she topped veteran movie actresses Kirsten Dunst (Elizabethtown, $11 million) and Keira Knightley (Domino, $4.7 million) at the box office. And with an average of 23 million viewers a week, Lost is this season's No. 3 series, behind only CSI on CBS and ABC's Desperate Housewives.
   After tonight's episode (9 ET/PT), ABC's Lost goes on a two-week hiatus with reruns, but then Grace, 22, will get the spotlight when new episodes resume Nov. 9. In that show, her character, Shannon Rutherford, flashes back to the death of her father, Donald, who appeared in a season premiere hospital scene with Matthew Fox's Dr. Jack.... Read the full story here. (2:13 AM)

   Lost-TV is now available as an RSS Feed. Powered by FeedBurner, you can now subscribe to this site and read it on your feed readers and even add it to My Yahoo!. Check out subscription options here. (12:29 AM)

   I've added four new affiliates: LostTalk.info, The Black Rock :: A Lost Fansite, The Tail Section, and LostHatch. Be sure to support these new affiliates and check them out! (12:26 AM)

   Final ratings for the fourth episode of the new season are out from Zap2It. Lost continues its domination of its timeslot and Wednesdays in general. The show is still 4th for the week in ratings (12.8/19) and 3rd in total viewership (21,665,000). (9:30 PM)

   ABC has rescheduled episode 6 of the second season, "Abandoned," from next week (October 26) to a yet-to-be-determined date. In the meantime, a rerun of the second episode, "Adrift," will air next week, while a rerun of the third episode, "Orientation," airs on November 2. (10:46 AM)

   David Spurrier is relying on divine providence to strike it rich.
   The Connelly Springs man was among the North Carolinians who headed to South Carolina yesterday to buy tickets for Wednesday night's Powerball lottery. There's a record 340 million dollars in the pot.
   Spurrier used his church bulletin to help pick his numbers. One of the numbers is 12, the last of the verses from the fourth chapter of James that apparently came up during yesterday's worship.
   A Concord woman says her son picked numbers based on an episode of the A-B-C television series "Lost." In the show, the character Hurley won 156 million dollars.... Read the full story here. (6:53 PM)

   Those TV show fan sites and discussion boards littering the Internet are meant to be quite separate from mainstream daily newspaper journalism. So sue me. And join me, fellow "Lost" geeks, for a bit of trolling and deciphering.
   Visitors to the lost-tv.com site are by now aware of "the Dharma Initiative Countdown Clock" available for download. This is an imaginative replay of the countdown machine at the heart of the series, which requires the folks stranded on the island to push a button every 108 minutes for 540 consecutive days. Why? That's among the central mysteries.
   The series is intentionally dense, with plot points hidden in previous episodes that the producers won't address until much later. That makes it ripe for deconstruction. The Internet is the perfect laboratory.... Read the full story here. (10:20 PM)

   Alarm bells sounded for Brigit Wampler while watching an episode of Lost one day last spring. She noticed that Boone, a pretty young man stranded on the island with his sister, was wearing a red shirt. Of course, Wampler knew, he was going to die.
   She remembered the old Star Trek cliche that any character who didn't have a last name and was wearing a red shirt would be dead by the end of the episode. Sure enough, two weeks later, Boone was checking out a plane trapped in a tree canopy when the plane fell to the ground. Boone was killed....
   ...The Lost obsessives have formed communities on the Internet, where endless debates rage about the meaning of certain numbers and symbols that appear on the show. Thefuselage.com, which Wampler moderates, has 20,000 registered members, while lost-tv.com has 11,000 members....
   ..."We know that there's very little that occurs in Lost that was not planned by the creative staff," says Kit Cleary, a San Diego financial adviser who helps run the lost-tv.com site. "They're not just throwing pasta up against the wall and seeing what sticks. They know what direction they're headed in. They know what the mythology of the island is, and that's key.... Read the full story here. (10:17 PM)

   Two stars of ABC's "Lost" may soon be borrowing from the TV show's script and become more secretive with their personal lives since a home invasion and a possible stalking incident.
   Josh Holloway, who plays Sawyer on the show, and his wife were robbed at gunpoint Wednesday after a masked man broke into their Hawai'i Kai home at 4 a.m., police said. The man made off with cash, credit cards and Holloway's Mercedes-Benz, which was later recovered.
   Police spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii declined to discuss other details of the case yesterday, citing an ongoing investigation.
   "My family and I are fine and appreciate everyone's concerns and good thoughts," Holloway said through a spokeswoman yesterday.... Read the full story here. (11:56 PM)

   The Honolulu Police Department released a sketch of a man they said robbed actor Josh Holloway and his wife early Wednesday morning in their Hawaii Kai home.
   Holloway, who stars as "Sawyer" in the ABC hit TV series "Lost," and his wife were awoken at about 4 a.m. by a man who held a gun to Holloway's head. The masked man demanded money and took off in their Mercedes, according to police.
   The couple was not harmed. The car was later found.... Read the full story here. (11:53 PM)

   ABC's hit TV series Lost has captured the imagination of its viewing audience since its phenomenal pilot episode. There are at least 8 different official and fan-created websites (one of which we reported on before the summer) to explore for more clues and fan-fiction about the Lost universe.
   Centered around the survivors of a plane crash, the show takes place on a mysterious jungle island somewhere in the Pacific inhabited by wild boars, polar bears, a French woman who has been stranded there for 16 years, a castaway athlete who's been isolated in a bunker for the last few years, and a group of antagonists known only as "The Others". The numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 - show up everywhere from coordinates to lottery numbers to the hatch buried in the ground to retired Yankee jersey numbers. Fertile ground for speculation to run wild.
   Appropriately, many websites have sprung up around the show; some are official, some are not.... Read the full story here. (11:51 PM)

   So far, there's no new hit as big as Desperate Housewives, no new mystery as gripping as Lost. But the new season, which officially began Sept. 19, is providing reasons to cheer.
   And viewers are responding. The seven broadcast networks averaged 48.9 million in prime time for the first three weeks, up from 47.7 million a year ago. That nearly 3 percent increase is even more impressive when you consider that this summer's movies were off 8 percent at the box office.
   Cable is bolstering television's stock with several scintillating series. It's an encouraging start for the oft-ridiculed small screen. Here's a look at some of the brightest features....
   ...The sprawling plot: A serialized show rises or falls on how well it doles out its twists. ABC's Lost (Wednesday) deftly explained the mysterious hatch and added characters, such as a passenger played by Michelle Rodriguez.... Read the full story here. (11:50 PM)

   According to the boppin' composers of "Schoolhouse Rock," three is the magic number.
   But I've got a bulletin for you: Three is yesterday's news.
   If you are a fan of ABC's "Lost," you know the real magic number is 108. That is the sum of the other, only slightly less magical numbers four, eight, 15, 16, 23 and 42, which keep appearing in various combinations throughout the show and only sometimes observed by the characters themselves.... Read the full story here. (11:48 PM)

   A cast member of the Emmy-winning TV series "Lost" and his wife were robbed at gunpoint in their Honolulu home, police and a spokeswoman for the actor said on Thursday.
   A spokeswoman for actor Josh Holloway confirmed that he and his wife had been robbed.
   Honolulu police declined to identify Holloway but said a couple living at his property was awakened at 4:10 a.m. local time on Wednesday by a man wearing gray-and-black shirt and baseball cap holding a handgun.... Read the full story here. (11:47 PM)

   Zap2It reports that the overnight ratings number for last Wednesday's episode stands at 12.6/19. Mediaweek pegs total viewership at 21.66 million. (10:17 PM)

   Tonight, ABC airs the fourth new episode of the second season at 9/8c, "Everybody Hates Hugo." Disturbing memories from Hurley's past cause him to struggle with a task he's assigned inside the hatch. Meanwhile Sawyer, Michael and Jin discover the identities of their captors, and Claire uncovers a shocking piece of information about the fate of the raft. (7:43 PM)

   ABC has struck a deal with Apple to offer five series, including megahits Desperate Housewives and Lost, to users of the soon to be released iPod, which for the first time includes a video screen.
   ABC series will be offered to iPod users through the newest version of iTunes software for $1.99 per episode. In addition to Lost and Desperate Housewives, ABC will also offer the episodes of Night Stalker, as well as two series from the Disney Channel-- That's So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody--for purchase the day after the air on TV.
   "We're delighted to be working with Apple to offer fans a new and innovative way to experience our wildly popular shows like Desperate Housewives, Lost and That's So Raven," said Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger in a statement announcing the agreement with Apple.... Read the full story here. (7:41 PM)

   Zap2It released the final ratings numbers for last week's episode, "Orientation." The episode got final ratings of 13.1/20, 4th for the week, and total viewership of 22,377,000, 3rd for the week. (9:50 AM)

   Want to see what it's like to input the numbers ever 108 minutes? Download the Dharma Initiative Countdown Clock for Windows and try it for yourself! Kalrac wrote this program that simulates the clock of The Swan. Every 108 minutes, the user has to input the correct restart code. Get it right, and the world is safe for another 108 minutes. Fail to input to the code and... well, it's up to you to try it out. The program needs the .Net Framework to run. Most Windows XP machines should have that. If not, it can be downloaded here from Microsoft. Download the Dharma Initiative Countdown Clock for Windows. (11:05 AM)

   Do you read the Official LOST Magazine? Then here's your chance to win a year's subscription! Every issue they have hidden a special message somewhere within the magazine. All you have to do is find it and send the message to lostmagboard@titanemail.com. Good luck! (11:02 AM)

   During the three years it took Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, quite a few people must have stopped in for a peek. It seems entirely possible that curious onlookers saw his work in progress and loved it, but wondered whether the finished product would end up a masterpiece or a mediocrity. I'd say roughly the same thing about ABC's "Lost," which after three new episodes this season has ramped up its storytelling to new levels of inspired lunacy. With 24 million Americans watching each week, "Lost" has become to this generation what "The Prisoner" was in the 1960s - an innovative, brain-tingling suspense thriller with the hint of larger questions at play. One crucial difference: "Lost" has become a huge hit for ABC, which means its story will stretch out over at least 100 episodes, and maybe even longer. Can its producers possibly sustain its current level of quality for that long? "The Prisoner" only lasted 17 episodes over one season, and I doubt if even Michelangelo could have produced 100 straight hours of brilliant television, though I'm sure he would have enjoyed the syndication money.
   The enterprise is still running smoothly, as evidenced by the hugely entertaining "Orientation," this season's third episode, which aired last Wednesday. The producers unveiled several bizarre and provocative new strands of information for us to contemplate. At its center, a Kubrickian instructional film called "The Dharma Initiative, 3 of 6, Orientation" purports to lay out their new purpose on the island: to push a button every 108 minutes for 540 consecutive days. Or what? No one knows, and that becomes the central question of "Lost." The 108-minute time span, as any "Lost" aficionado knows, represents the sum of the numbers that won Hurley his lottery millions, and seem to have since cursed everything in his path. Hurley - the show's comic relief and, at times, its conscience - played a pivotal role in the recent, crazed events that have placed the island's main characters in mortal jeopardy, or at least fear of it.... Read the full story here (subscription required). (10:21 AM)

   I've added four cool new affiliates: The Losties.com, Losttalk.net, Lost Investigations, and Perfect Grace. Check them out! (11:44 AM)

   Down the hatch.
   My parents used that expression whenever we balked at swallowing some dreadful-tasting vegetable or medicine, which probably accounts for why I was as leery as Hurley when "Lost" ended its splendid first season by blowing open that mysterious manhole cover-like thing the castaways had stumbled upon.
   Would the season-opening voyage down the hatch bring on that old familiar shudder of distaste?
   Happily, of course, it didn't. Far from disappointing, the already popular and now Emmy-winning "Lost" has really popped this fall, in viewership (22 million this past week) and buzz, thanks to a couple of things, including those preseason repeats ABC ran.... Read the full story here. (6:16 AM)

   I'm no longer totally lost.
   I'm totally Lost.
   After never viewing one episode of ABC's much-praised drama series about mostly cute people stuck on an island before this week, I made up for lots of Lost time and got very cozy with all six discs that make up Lost: The Complete First Season on DVD.
   OK, fine, there are seven discs. I haven't had any spare minutes for the bonus material yet.... Read the full story here. (6:12 AM)

   You might ask, what does the hit ABC drama series, LOST have to do with Caesar, Mississippi? The connection is simply that of family ties. One of the standout actors on the series, Josh Holloway has family roots in the small community outside of Picayune. His Holloway ancestors, including his father are from the area. The star's grandfather lives in Caesar, Keith Holloway who enjoys watching his offspring's acting success.
   "I knew he could get discovered. He had almost given up after just getting small parts. He is real good in acting in different parts. Many of the great actors starting out playing the bad guy," said Keith.... Read the full story here. (6:09 AM)

   Less than six years after exploding into the independent film world as the star of "Girlfight," sultry actress Michelle Rodriguez found herself wading through a dispiriting pile of scripts that cast her as either "the girlfriend" or "the girl who gets captured."
   She decided to get "Lost" instead.
   Rodriguez, who joined ABC's Emmy-winning Wednesday drama last week, says it wasn't hard for producers to convince her this was a high-quality TV series but she did have misgivings about whether joining a high-profile TV series might send the wrong message to Hollywood.... Read the full story here. (8:55 PM)

   "We can hardly believe it's already been a year since Charlie went missing," goes a plaintive message posted on a Web site for the band Drive Shaft, referring to its bass player.
   "At times it seems that it's only been 40 days since the disappearance of Oceanic Flight 815. (Maybe 43, tops.) But to realize that a whole year has passed? We know you will each have your own way of honoring Charlie's memory."
   Who's Charlie?
   Charlie Pace is one of the stranded passengers in ABC's popular "Lost," now three episodes into its second season.... Read the full story here. (8:51 PM)

   Lost star Matthew Fox is urging the rest of the hit show's cast to "stay positive" after grumblings they're not being paid enough.
   Some unnamed cast members of the ABC show are apparently upset at the money and gifts given to the stars of Desperate Housewives, which is shown on the same network.
   But Fox believes Lost's stars will soon be recognised in the same way as the women of Wisteria Lane.... Read the full story here. (8:50 PM)

   Watching Lost can be a matter of seeing double.
   The Emmy-winning ABC hit serves such a dense stew of plot, character development, mystery details and fan shout-outs that some dedicated fans view episodes multiple times....
   ...A growing online fan base analyzes the secrets of the hatch, the meaning of Hurley's numbers and the intersecting backgrounds of the characters while advancing myriad speculative theories.
   One popular website, lost-tv.com, has grown to more than 10,000 members. It has added 2,000 since the second season started two weeks ago, says Kit Cleary, the forum's owner.... Read the full story here. (8:48 PM)

   Literary references have been sprinkled throughout the mysteries of Lost: In an episode last season, the character Sawyer was reading Watership Down by Richard Adams, the story of rabbits searching for a safe place in a threatening world. At another point, he read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, about time travel....
   ...At one point, someone will pick up a copy of the novel The Third Policeman by the late Irish writer Flann O'Brien. The cover will be seen for about a second, ABC confirms....
   ...Neither ABC nor the scriptwriters would comment on Policeman or its relation to the plot. But Amy Bauer, a music professor at the University of California-Irvine who helps organize the flood of postings on lost-tv.com, doesn't think so.... Read the full story here. (8:43 PM)

   They opened the hatch, and Lost is a whole new show.
   ABC's hit drama series returned to television Wednesday, picking up where its May cliffhanger left off and reaching one of every five television households in America (23-million viewers, according to ABC) with a season premiere that finally delivered an answer.
   And plenty of new questions.
   But that's okay. At least viewers got one deeply satisfying answer: There is a guy living under the hatch, apparently wiping away speculation that the stranded survivors of fictional Oceanic Flight 815 were actually dead and moving through a spirit world, and replacing it with speculation that they are victims of human conspiracy. Or not.
   The Internet buzzed with fan chatter Thursday, filling chat boards with theories.
   "I am so incredibly adrenalized (sic) right now! I am pumped! I want more," a poster at www.lost-tv.com wrote.... Read the full story here. (8:40 PM)

   If you missed episode three last Wednesday, then you'll get a chance to catch it tonight on ABC, at 8/7c. (11:39 AM)

   I took a look at the affiliates page and removed a few dead links, as well as updated some site information and even added a couple of new affiliates. Check out Quarantined-Archives, Black Rock, TVLost.com, and The Transmission. (12:10 AM)

   The secrets are spilling on ABC's "Lost" and guess what? The plane crash survivors won't be shouting "Go Blue!"
   Wednesday's episode revealed a connection between the strange events on the island and the University of Michigan.
   Local fans love "Lost." Last week, metro Detroit was the No. 1 TV market in the country for the hit Emmy-winning drama, says WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) programmer Marla Drutz. This week, it tied for No. 1 with Louisville, Ky.
   And now a U-M subplot could keep the streak hot. "I think it's pretty cool," said "Lost" viewer Michael Sharkey, 35, of Lake Orion. "Anytime Michigan can be featured in any type of show, it adds a little hominess. ... Especially on such a popular show, it's always a positive.... Read the full story here. (9:44 PM)

   "Lost" star Yunjin Kim, who plays the distaff half of a troubled Korean couple on the ABC castaway hit (airing Wednesday), recently found herself owner of a new condo in Hawaii, where the show is filmed. She'd considered buying a beachfront house, but thought better of it.
   "I'm alone," she says, "unless I have visitors. I get a lot of visitors, just because I'm in Hawaii. I thought, 'What am I going to do with four bedrooms in a beautiful beachfront house? I can invite people over, but I have to clean up after them.'
   "As soon as people found out I was going to be in Hawaii for the entire shoot, it's like, 'Oh, really? I have a free place to stay. We want to come out and visit you.' 'Who's we?' 'Three people.' I'm like, 'Uh-huh.... Read the full story here. (9:42 PM)

   Lost won its timeslot and the night once again last Wednesday, with its third episode, "Orientation." Zap2It reports it got overnight ratings of 13.2/20, while Mediaweek reports total viewership of 22.38 million. (9:38 PM)

   The third episode of the new season, "Orientation," airs tonight (9/8c) on ABC. Jack, Locke and Kate learn more secrets about the hatch. Meanwhile, after being beaten and taken captive, Sawyer, Michael and Jin wonder if their captors are fellow survivors or the dreaded "Others." (1:06 PM)

   Final ratings numbers for Lost's second episode of the second season are in. According to Zap2It, the show placed 4th for the week with ratings of 13.7/20. The show also had total viewership of 23,166,000, putting it 3rd for the week. (8:04 PM)

   One of the most frequent questions I've received over the last year concerns ABC's hit series Lost and the show's filming locations on Oahu. While many scenes - such as those in the cave - are filmed on a soundstage on the outskirts of Honolulu, many scenes are filmed on location throughout the island of Oahu. When I visited Oahu in May 2005, I went in search of Lost filming locations and without too much effort located quite a few.
   For the pilot episode of Lost filming took place in numerous locations, most of which are easily located and accessible to the public for free. Other locations will require that you participate in paid attraction that ventures into the area where filming occurred.
   For each location we've located, we'll show you a photo of the area as you'll likely see it on your visit and we'll also link to a screenshot from Lost showing how the area looks in the show. Let's begin our Search for Lost.... Read the full story here. (6:46 AM)