While Matthew Fox has been in Huntington less than a week, the actor already feels wrapped up in the collective warmth of the Marshall University community.
   Fox, who is portraying city resident Red Dawson, an assistant Marshall football coach when the plane crash occurred in 1970, met media representatives Friday in the Big Green Room of Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
   "It's been incredible, and everyone around has been so supportive," Fox said of his emotionally draining portrayal of Dawson in "We Are Marshall," a Warner Bros. Pictures' film.... Read the full story here. (8:32 AM)

   Actor Matthew Fox met a contingent of the local press today in the Big Green Room at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
   His filming in Huntington has wrapped and he said he’d like to see the town today before flying out on Sunday.
   "I haven't had any time at all. I've been jamming straight through," he told the press. "I'm going to cruise around and try to get some photographs today."
   Fox, who stars in the television series "Lost" and starred in the former series "Party of Five," talked about what a thrill it was to meet actors Matthew McConaughey and David Strathairn for the first time.
   Out of his 1970s garb but still with red hair, Fox also talked about Red Dawson, who he has spent considerable time with over the past few weeks.... Read the full story here. (8:30 AM)

   Actor Matthew Fox sat down to meet and greet with the media on Friday.
   The star of the hit show "Lost" says he's had a tight shooting schedule since his arrival in Huntington earlier this week. Fox is cast as Assistant Coach Red Dawson in the film "We Are Marshall," and even has the red hair to prove it.
   He says it's an honor portraying and knowing Dawson, who recently flew to Hawaii to spend time with Fox. The actor says the two have developed a close bond. In fact, Fox says he feels having Dawson on the set with him is comforting.
   Fox says he loves West Virginia and before he leaves this weekend, hopes to check out the Huntington area and take a few pictures. Read the full story here. (8:29 AM)

   The Make-A-Wish Foundation recently made the wish of fourteen-year-old David Rodwell come true when he visited the set of "Lost" in Oahu, Hawaii.
   David, from Sydney, Australia, has a rare life threatening blood disorder called Fanconi Anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. When asked by the Foundation what his one wish would be, after serious thought, he chose to meet the cast and crew of "Lost" instead of meeting the President or going to the set of "24."
   David spent a whole day on set with the cast and crew watching filming for the March 29 episode "Lockdown". If you look carefully you can see Henry Gale's balloon in the background of a photo with his family.
   Whilst on set, David had the opportunity to meet Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Rodriguez, Dominic Monaghan and Naveen Andrews.
   David was catered for the whole day, being fed lunch with the cast and crew as well as having full access to a tent full of snacks close to where they filmed.
   During filming, he sat next to director Stephen Williams who talked to him during filming breaks and answered lots of his questions.
   David immensely enjoyed his set visit. He was quoted by New Idea Magazine as it being "a hundred times better than I would have imagined. The actors were just so easy to talk to and asked me questions about my life which I really wasn't expecting." Australians can pick up the Monday April 17 edition of New Idea Magazine to read up on more of David's visit.
   You can check out pictures from David's set visit here. (10:25 PM)

   A television adaptation of a seminal book from the Bible may not be the most promising fare, but this two-part miniseries, which runs on Monday and Tuesday, is a surprisingly worthy effort. It certainly beats the pants off Cecil B. DeMille's cheese festival, which featured the iconic Charlton Heston as a kind of ironman Moses. And it even appears in a few places to take religion seriously, which is more than can be said of most such epics.
   There's plenty of showbiz hooey here, of course, including what can be only described as extreme makeup; in the early going, especially, the Land of the Pharaohs threatens to become the Land of Maybelline. An apparently rabid soothsayer chews the scenery and a good deal more while interpreting the Pharaoh's doom-filled dream. And by the time Omar Sharif toddles on screen as a wizened Jethro, chockfull of shtick, you might be tempted to turn the dial. Patience, however, is fruitful. There's more here than initially meets the eye.
   Apart from Mr. Sharif - and even he grows on you, albeit fungus-like - the cast is mostly British and first-rate....
   ...Bithia's other son, Menerith, is played by Naveen Andrews, currently featured on the ABC series "Lost," but formerly the lead in the BBC's celebrated "The Buddha of Suburbia." He brings believable pathos and wistfulness to his role as a man who loves and respects Moses, but whose devotion to military duty transcends the corruption of the regime he serves.... Read the full story here. (3:13 AM)

   With the Lost castaways already taken care of for next season, now it's time for the Others.
   And we ain't talking Creepy Beard Guy or the faux Henry Gale.
   Two months after locking up deals to keep the remaining survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 on the island for another year, Touchstone Television is making sure executive producers and showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will be along for the ride as well.
   Lindelof, who created the series with J.J. Abrams, and Cuse have signed seven-figure deals, according to the Hollywood Reporter, ensuring that Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Kate, the professor, Mary Ann...wait a second...Anyway, ensuring that the characters will have plenty of hatches to explore, Others to avoid and flashbacks to flash back to during the 2006-07 season.... Read the full story here. (3:11 AM)

   There's a bit of a delay in the interactivity, but TV isn't solely a one-way medium anymore. Just as creators of offline marketing have learned to use the Web as a test bed for messages by testing copy and concepts, TV programmers and marketers are mining the Internet for nuggets that can be melted down and forged into offline gold. (Some of which is later deployed online, of course, but that's another column.)
   I got to thinking about this phenomenon while indulging my interest in all things "Lost"-related. My obsession began when I got a video iPod and immersed myself in the first season of the hit TV program. Then our associate editor, Erin Brenner, turned me on to LostCasts, a podcast dedicated to the show co-hosted by John Keehler, strategist at interactive shop Click Here. Message board madness was sure to follow. What I discovered was the actors and creators of the series are surprisingly involved in the fan discussions that occur online.
   Lost producer J.J. Abrams has gone so far as to set up a special discussion forum, The Fuselage, separate from the official ABC board, where writers and actors often answer queries posted by "Lost" aficionados. Even on the ABC board, there's a section where people can pose questions to the bigwigs that appear on the official "Lost" podcast. Why? Surely it's in part about fueling interest in the show. But an added benefit would be gathering and harnessing insights about what's working and what's not working, both with the programming and the marketing. Once you know those things, you can tweak.
   Indeed, Creator/Executive Producer Damon Lindeloff, in an IM interview posted on lost-tv.com said, "The fan reaction has a LOT of influence.... The biggest example is that we began to sense a real frustration from the fans that we weren't answering any questions and just asking new ones... So we advanced some of our 'mythological wheels' and gave the audience MORE answers than we were originally planning to give as we came down the stretch.... Read the full story here. (3:09 AM)

   A baby cries restlessly, burning with fever and covered in a strange rash. A man hurries through the jungle in the middle of the night, heading towards an underground hatch where a prisoner is kept safely locked behind a vaulted door. A woman speaks of a mysterious infection, while images of hypodermic needles and hospital beds jolt another woman's memory.
   And this all happens before the first commercial break. Welcome to the world of the hit Wednesday-night drama "Lost," where fast-paced action sequences and complex plot lines have helped ABC establish a loyal viewing audience. Drawing an average weekly audience of 10.9 million households during its current season, according to Nielsen ratings, "Lost" has quickly become one of TV's most popular shows.
   For the Blazers who watch regularly, it's the show's innovative concepts and twisting, suspenseful stories that keep them on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting every new episode.... Read the full story here. (3:07 AM)

   Tonight's episode of ABC-TV's "Lost" focuses on the show's Everyman, the character Hurley, but an associate professor at Daytona Beach's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University recently took an evening to look at almost every woman in the show.
   As diverse and intriguing as the castaway cast is, its distaff side is particularly arresting, argued Lynnette Porter, who usually lectures on communication and humanities at the university and has co-authored "Unlocking the Meaning of Lost: An Unauthorized Guide" (Sourcebooks, April 2006, $14.95). The "Lost" women represent a vast rainbow of the feminine experience and mystique.
   "For example, Kate spends time gathering fruits from nearby trees. Sun acts as a nurse at times, assisting Jack (the island's doctor) in makeshift surgeries and looking after (Claire's) baby Aaron. She also plants a garden and begins an orchard," she told her audience at the university's Miller Instructional Center Auditorium. "...Sometimes, not often, Kate breaks down in tears as she considers whether she's really too evil to be redeemed. Even gun-toting Ana Lucia lapses into a good crying jag.... Read the full story here. (10:07 PM)

   ABC plans to give viewers a refresher course on three of its top series as one-hour recaps of "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" are all set to air the week leading up to the start of the May sweeps period.
   The news marks the third such special for both "Housewives" and "Lost," and the second for "Anatomy."
   "Desperate Housewives: The More You Know, The Juicier It Gets" and "Grey's Anatomy: Under Pressure" are set to air on Sunday, April 23 in the shows' regular time periods of 9:00/8:00c and 10:00/9:00c respectively. "Lost: Reckoning" then will fill the 9:00/8:00c slot on Wednesday, April 26. Read the full story here. (10:04 PM)

   The producers of Lost are seeking a new scheduling model for the show in the US to curb the frequency of repeats.
   Most US series, including Lost, typically air 22 new episodes each season over a period of 36 weeks, meaning that new episodes are often punctuated with repeats of old episodes.
   US Lost fans have complained that having to wait many weeks for a new episode has ruined their enjoyment of the show.
   24 has successfully avoided the problem by delaying its return from September to January each year before airing its full season without interruption.
   Although Lost's broadcaster, ABC, is unwilling to adopt a similar strategy, show producers have come up with a compromise solution.
   "We're lobbying ABC for when the show is on, it's on, and when it's off, it's off," exec producer Damon Lindelof told E! Online. "So, we want to air it in three acts next year. You know, blocks of seven, seven and eight. But in order to do that, we have to roll the show out in October instead of September, and hopefully that will work out." Read the full story here. (10:02 PM)

   Katey Sagal, who turned up again on "Lost" last week as Terry O'Quinn's love interest -- in flashback -- is hoping to return to the hit show. However, she notes, "You never know because they are so hush-hush about what goes on there. We'll see," says the former "Married with Children" star.
   In the meantime, Sagal is hosting Nick at Nite's "Search for the Funniest Mom in America 2," premiering tonight (4/4).
   "They're stand-ups. Each one of them was found in a comedy club where they had taken whatever they think is funny about their lives and formulated it into an act," says Sagal of the 10 contestants chosen to compete in a series of comedic challenges. Five will go on to perform live in front an audience. "This is the first time I've done reality TV," she notes. "The only reluctance I had was that I did not want to be the voice of doom and gloom and have to be the one who says yay or nay to the women. They assured me that it was a group decision and that I was just the sound piece. So I was definitely the voice of encouragement." Read the full story here. (10:01 PM)

   "We Are Marshall," an inspirational drama based on a true story of one town's efforts to rebuild after a devastating plane crash, has commenced production in Huntington, West Virginia for Warner Bros. Pictures in association with Legendary Pictures. The film is directed by McG (the "Charlie's Angels" series) and stars Matthew McConaughey ("Failure to Launch"), Matthew Fox (ABC's "Lost") and Oscar nominee David Strathairn ("Good Night, and Good Luck"). The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.
   "We Are Marshall" tells an inspiring true story set in Huntington, West Virginia, a small town steeped in the rich tradition of college football. For decades, players, coaches, fans and families have come together to cheer on Marshall University's "Thundering Herd." For this team and this community, Marshall football is more than just a sport, it's a way of life. But on a fateful night in 1970, while traveling back to Huntington after a game in North Carolina, 75 members of Marshall's football team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash. As those left behind struggled to cope with the devastating loss of their loved ones, the grieving families found hope and strength in the leadership of Jack Lengyel, a young coach who was determined to rebuild Marshall's football program and in the process helped to heal a community.
   "We Are Marshall" stars Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel, the coach who leads Marshall University and the Huntington community from tragedy to triumph; Matthew Fox as assistant coach Red Dawson, who helps Lengyel rebuild the team after giving up his seat on the doomed flight to another member of the Marshall squad; and David Strathairn as the president of Marshall University, who attempts to restore the school's broken spirit against overwhelming odds.... Read the full story here. (9:57 PM)

   ABC Television Network announced today that ten costumes from its upcoming, new original miniseries, "The Ten Commandments," will be available for auction, with the proceeds to ABC benefiting Habitat for Humanity. The hand-made, period authentic costumes will be available for auction on www.abctvstore.com from Tuesday, April 4 at 2:00 p.m., PT to Friday, April 14, 2:00 p.m., PT. (NOTE: Naveen Andrews, who plays Sayid on the show, is in "The Ten Commandments.")
   "ABC is proud to partner with RHI Entertainment to give collectors and fans an opportunity to own original costumes from 'The Ten Commandments'," said Bruce Gersh, senior vice president, Business Development, ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television. "Having this auction’s proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity is a continuation of our commitment to building better communities."
   "We are pleased to support such a worthy cause, while at the same time, making our authentic, one-of-a-kind costumes available to the public," said Robert Halmi, Sr., chairman of RHI Entertainment and executive producer of the miniseries.... Read the full story here. (9:53 PM)

   Lost rocks my world! Okay, so this isn't exactly news. But how mind-blowingly fantastic was this week's ep? I had goose bumps on top of goose bumps on top of Sawyer (wait, that was a dream), especially the discovery of that map on the hatch door!
   "The beauty of it is, the door goes back up and [Locke] can't access the thing anymore, so for the next two episodes, he's just trying to remember what it is he saw," Damon revealed. "It's such a huge piece of 'Wait a minute!' in sort of the spirit of Locke as a man of faith being given instructions from the island. This thing that only he can see."
   Turns out that supercool black-light reveal is a major plot point that carries on through the rest of the season. "Oh yeah, big time," Damon said. "I mean, it plays huge in the finale, and even in episodes 21 through 24. Twenty-one is an episode that is very much on the sort of fundamental axis of that map, and it's a Locke and Eko story, which is going to be awesome. [Executive Producer] Carlton [Cuse] and I wrote it. That episode is just called '?' because that is the symbol Locke remembers from the map.... Read the full story here. (7:47 PM)