1. Characters' Appearances
A. Hurley
I've discussed this already. We have Hurley's weight, first of all. Darth says that for a big guy, the change may not be noticeable. But for how long? Just look at the before and after shots of the guys on Survivor. The change s noticeable, including on guys like Richard Hatch who were overweight to begin with (even though Hatch wasn't as big as Hurley). If anything, shouldn't he lose more weight than the next person, making it more noticeable?

B. Walt
I've discussed this too. The character's ten, but the actor is thirteen. He's going to be going through puberty within a year or two. Are the creators going to be pull an Andrew Keaton? God, I hope not. That would be so cheap of such a fine show. Or will Walt be killed or disappear for a time? That'll be hell for Michael.

2. The Island's Population
Who else is on the island? Are the creators going to have to keep having new people on the island popping up on the island? If so, how often will they do this before it becomes implausible?

3. The Island as a "Room of Requirement"
So named for the room in Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series that will grant someone whatever they need or are looking for. This is similar to the above item, in that the creators may need to continuously stock this island with things they need to make it interesting. We already have a hatch, a "security system," a beachcraft filled with heroin and a transmitter, an old slave ship filled with dynamite, etc. How much many more things will be revealed on this island before it strains credulity? If the creators do not keep resorting to this, is the island inherently limited in the range of stories to which it lends itself?

4. The Origin Stories
Okay, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I LOVE the in media res dual format of the episodes, but just how many "origins" will the creators give to each person before it begins to look like they're just shoehorning them in there, and perhaps leaving themselves open to continuity problems? For example, House of the Rising Sun and In Translation... provided a fairly good story detailing Jin and Sun's story from their courtship to Flight 815, and in such a way that there is a complete character arc there. If they keep putting more stories in between that, or even before (say, with one episode showing Jin still ashamed of his father), will it seem like a regression of sorts with respect to the journey the character has already made in the previous episodes, much as These Are the Voyages...(ENT) did for Riker? Or are there enough stories to keep these origin shows fresh? Or will the show eventually change formats because of this?

1a) As a large person myself I can assure you that if your lifestyle changes drastically and you are suddenly eating a lot less and are physically much more active than usual, your weight will decrease dramatically, at least until you start approaching "merely" plump, when you hit a "plateau." It is not uncommon to lose 25 pounds or more in a couple of weeks or over 100 in less than two months.

1b) I know that as nitpickers we don't deal in the reality of the actors behind the characters, but this is a common problem in any show with child actors who are not the age that they portray, or characters that supposedly do not age (genies, vampires, highlander-type immortals), or who age much more slowly than normal men (Vulcans, Elves). It is a valid nit, but one that is not easily resolved as long as you need to use actors.

2&3) It's the Gilligan's Island syndrome!

4) Well, we've lost Boone, and may have lost Sawyer, Jin and Michael. And even though Arzt turned out to be a redshirt, he did remind us that there are almost 40 other survivors. Some of them might move into more prominant positions. If so, their backstories will be fresh.

Somehow I think it would be a very bad idea if we lost Sawyer. He's far too valuable for conflict. Jin and Michael too, though not as much so.

I think the chances that we have lost Sawyer are exactly the same as if we had lost Adama from Battlestar Galactica this season.

Shot <> Dead.

Truth to tell, I think Hurley is substantially smaller than he was in the flashback (did they film that earlier?). I mean, he sweated just riding the go-cart to the entryway. I think he's handled the physical activity fairly well since being on the island.

True, shot != dead, but (shot && fallen into water in the dark and your raft in on fire) is much closer to dead than just "shot".

I think the chances that we have lost Sawyer are exactly the same as if we had lost Adama from Battlestar Galactica this season.

I find it more likely for Adama to be dead than Sawyer, because the guy that plays Sawyer actually comes across as grateful to have his part in interviews, whereas Edward James Olmos has openly ridiculed BG fans. Granted, it's the old school fans, but still, he clearly thinks he's somehow above certain things, which just smacks of arrogance.

There are at least two more semi-recurring characters. Hypochondriac guy, and Rose (the woman who insists that she will see her husband again). I think I saw h. guy in the background, but have not seen Rose in quite a while.

Then there's Scott. Or is it Steve? The one still alive.

Oh no!! I'm going to DIEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Yeah, whatever happened to Rose?

Apparently, she's getting quite a bit of stage work.

But I'm thinking we'll see her again.

A premise that could be a problem down the line is all the mystery. So far, they're doing a great job of making every answer yield 10 new questions, but will they be able to sustain it over several years? X-Files was a nice, crisp show for the first few seasons; about halfway through its run it started losing it a little. They kept it interesting for the most part, but it wasn't as tight as it used to be. (I never saw the last couple seasons because they never aired in English here.)

Same with Lost. Pretty soon they're gonna have to show us what's inside the hatch (if they haven't already--I've finished season one and have someone recording season two for me) and who the Others are, etc. If the writers tell us these things completely, the mystery will be gone and we'll be disappointed, and if they don't, it'll get old.

Many countries produce tv shows where the writers more or less know how it's going to end, rather like very long mini-series. American tv tends to keep its shows open and call it quits when the ratings start to drop, the ratings have plummeted, or the creative staff feel they've gone as far as they can (which usually coincides with one of the ratings scenarios). I'd feel better if Lost was more of a closed, pre-planned story.

The creators claim that all of the mysteries do have an answer.... I guess we'll find out whether or not that's true in a couple of years.

And just because some shows are planned to be of limited duration does not guarantee that they will be any clearer. "The Prisoner" come to mind.

I really hope they have some answers planned in advance that make sense and fit all the questions raised and hints given; because in the X-files, it was really disappointing and didn't work to drop hints all over without having the proper backstory, and then scrambling to tie up loose ends, leaving gaping holes and contradictions.

Yes, it's always a disappointment to see a mystery revealed ... but if the author at least knows what the mystery is, the hints will make sense.
If the author doesn't, there'll only be contradictions, and that makes no fun.
(Remember, in one of the MASH ep.s, everybody was reading the detective novel/murder mystery, and the last page with the solution was missing? When they called up the author in the States, the murderer she named had been killed previously, so that solution wouldn't work!)

When to reveal the answers is just as crucial as the answers themselves. Right now, the mystery is propelling the show. They could keep adding more and more mysteries, but it would soon get bogged down. I'm not a big Star Trek fan, but that's the mistake they made with Guinan. Good character at first, but they never really addressed the mysteries about her and just kept adding more until it got old. Likewise, they could just never tell us until the end, but just dangling the same mysteries before us can get stale too.

Tom, good example with The Prisioner.

Luigi Novi: ....but just how many "origins" will the creators give to each person before it begins to look like they're just shoehorning them in there....

GREAT POINT! Witness "...And Found." I found the Jin flashback to be pointless. I felt that I had a good understanding of his character and that I learned nothing new about him.

It was still nice to see how he met Sun, though. IMHO.

3. The way things are going it seems as if this is actually a legitimate part of the plot.

4. Well, they seemed to get around this by (heh heh) introducing new characters! I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Henry Gale flashbacks next year at this rate.

Sun's pregnancy. If she carries the baby to full term, and the rate at which the story is unfolding, she should deliver somewhere around season 11.

Of course, I fully expect the Others to interfere way before then, but I find it odd that no one seems concerned about her being pregnant with the Others around. Given what they know about what's happened with Claire, Rousseau, Walt and the Tailie children, they should be very alarmed.

Hmm......so now there's a "magic box" that gives what you want? Figures. I feared such a thing as a metaphor (see my first post on this board). Now it's literal.

Of course, Ben could have been lying or exaggerating....