The pitch: A jetliner crashes leaving survivors stranded on a mysterious island. Lost won't be the only J.J. Abrams show on the list. However, Lost is really the show that made his name into a household one, and was the start of how he came to be someone entrusted with not one but two major sci-fi franchises, Star Trek and Star Wars. Sure, he co-created Felicity and was the creator of Alias, but Lost was the show that really caught on as a cultural phenomenon. It had a premise that was simple (a plane crash leaves survivors stranded on a mysterious island), but what about the what if? Well, that part came later. What if the the island survivors of a plane crash were stranded on had some supernatural goings-on? While the show was a character drama, it was still high concept as a result of the what if (and really, what ifs). And at first, the show did a great job of setting up the weird stuff with polar bears, a smoke monster, and other inhabitants on the island all popping up at one time or another. Lost averaged over ten million viewers for its entire run between 2004 and 2010, and while many feel the ending was a cheat, it was a hugely influential show, and another one of the more successful high concept series to grace the airwaves.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
