Did This Woman Set A 'Lost' Record? Let’s Answer Electronic Mail

It is the last Friday of August and, gosh, what a brutal week. I wrote two obituaries. One about Dolly Parton, then another at IndieWire about Peter Cullen. Right as I published the Dolly Parton piece, the news broke that Tim Curry died. Again, just a brutal week.

This particular last August Friday is an odd one. This usually means the Toronto International Film Festival starts next week, which usually means I am already in panic mode over either too much scheduled or not enough scheduled. There is no point in between that offers satisfaction. But, this year, Labor Day isn't until September 7th (the latest it can be) and TIFF does not start until the 10th. Which means I'm feeling anxiety over watching movies (which, on its own, is kind of stupid to begin with) a full week early for no reason.

Anyway, I bring this up now because this will be my 13th TIFF¹ in person, but the first year I'm at TIFF as the writer of a newsletter. I will have other duties, but this also affords me some freedom to write about any movie I want on this newsletter. If you, a subscriber to this newsletter, have a particular movie you are curious about that's playing at TIFF and you want me to cover it here, let me know. (You can email me at mike@thehardpass.net.) I'll be honest, I kind of can't wait to see I Play Rocky. I have no idea what to make of that movie.

¹My first TIFF was in 2011 right after I started full time at The Huffington Post, as it was called then. For this job I actually had to interview with Arianna Huffington; I remember she was eating an egg. By the time you get to Arianna you pretty much already have the job, so this is a formality, and all you can do is mess it up ... which is also really stressful in its own way.

Anyway, I had been working at The Huffington Post for about three weeks when my editor, Mike Hogan (who, also, had just started), decided we needed to go to TIFF. This was the year Moneyball and The Artist² were there. This was a last minute decision, which made planning travel fraught. We booked our hotel through AOL's travel department (HuffPost was owned by AOL) and Mike told me that he was told, through corporate discounts, our three night hotel stay would be roughly $700 each, which would be no problem to expense. Great. I mean, I just started, what do I know? When we checked out my hotel bill was $2100. I showed it to Mike and he told the front desk, "No, no, he's on the same rate I'm on." The hotel clerk says, "Yes, we know, that's also your rate." Turns out it was $700 a night, in 2011 money (always a great sign when this has to be designated only 15 years later). Anyway, that's how both of us almost lost our jobs after one month.

²Mike went to a press and industry screening of The Artist. When I asked him about it he said, "It's a silent film, no one will care about it." (To be fair, over the long run this turned out to be correct.)

Okay, let's answer reader mail.

Hey Mike! So, your story on Lost got me thinking about my wife. We also binged the show before the final season, although we did it over a few months, and finally caught up with about three or four episodes to go. 

On the night of the finale, my wife had to work. I was much more online than she was, so I told her I was going to watch live to avoid spoilers, but I would watch it again with her later that night or the next day. To this day, she has never watched the finale. Do you think she is the only living person who has seen every episode of Lost, except the finale? — Steve

I think the "living" part of this makes this a real possibility. I'm sure there is a tragic story of a huge Lost fan dying the week before the last episode. So I do think there is someone who existed, who saw every episode, then, due to tragedy, did not get to see the final episode. Without knowing this above story, I would not think there would be a human being who watched 120 episodes of Lost, then decided, "Yeah, I've had enough," then just not watch the last episode. What makes this more remarkable is she's had 16 years now to do so.

Now, I have watched full seasons then skipped the ending. Often this is how television screeners are delivered. The most recent example is Lanterns. I was assigned to interview Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre. HBO sent seven of the eight episodes. If I don't watch the eighth episode later on my own, then I will fall into this same category. But there is a big difference between 8 episodes and 121 episodes.

The entire run of Lost is a little over four full days of episodes, if we average them out to 48 minutes an episode. Actually, come to think of it, four days seems a little underwhelming. Maybe this isn't that big of a deal? I've spent four days doing things I didn't like and don't remember.

But, I think it's clear she was watching this series to make Steve happy. And once Steve concluded his Lost journey on his own, she, too, felt satisfied with what she had seen. But is she the only living person on Earth who has seen 120 episodes of Lost, but not the finale? Yes.

Hey, I read your Tom Cruise story. Who is the "famous actor" who told you this?! – Tim

I get asked this one a lot, and I've sort of answered it before in a blind item kind of way. But that story is a paid subscriber post so I can't just blurt that out here. But, I will, tactfully, do my best to answer this for paid subscribers...