Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have claimed that the series finale of Lost is 'legitimate.' And, for what it's worth, this blogger agrees, it was. But, the only problem here is, the more you say something like that, the more it sounds as though you're actually listening to those people who say that it wasn't. 
In an interview with People before the episode aired, Cuse explained that he wanted the characters' storylines to be resolved. 'We're aware that [Across The Sea] was polarising, but to us that's what a mythology episode looks like,' he continued. 'And the mythology will never be as satisfying to the audience as character resolution.' Lindelof said: 'There's only one question the show really owes the audience an answer to, which is, "What's the point of all this? What's the point of having watched the show for six years?" We feel like the finale answers that. There was a point.' The duo also commented that they wanted the audience to be satisfied with the finale. 'It's a straightforward idea but we've tried to do it in an engaging way,' Cuse said. 'A lot of series have ended with big, twisty revelations, like it all took place in a snowglobe. 
Or it was a dream. The audience will not be snowglobed at the end of Lost. We wanted to give a fair, legitimate ending. The island isn't going to be an alien spaceship and fly away.' The pair further confirmed that they are planning to be silent about the show now that the last episode has aired. 'We want the show to speak for itself for a while,' Cuse explained. 'The last thing we want is to take from the audience the ability to discuss and argue about what things mean. That's an important part of the community of Lost.'
The last episode of Lost attracted thirteen and a half million viewers in the US, ABC said today. In the UK, Sky1 screened the show at 05:00 BST to coincide with the transmission of the show on the West Coast of America. Five hundred and eighty four thousand viewers tuned in. Reviewing the episode, Mike Ryan of US magazine Vanity Fair said: 'Every question that's still lingering, and there are quite a few, is inconsequential.' Mike Hale of the New York Times suggested the episode was 'largely a pleasant, nostalgic wallow for the show's fans.' According to Sky1, the early morning screening attracted roughly the same number of people that the show's normal Friday night slot usually does.
Big fat tub of lard Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford have signed up to host This Morning during the summer. Oh, good. That'll give me more an excuse not to watch it.
The couple will front the magazine programme from Monday 19 July until the end of August, the Gruniad Morning Star reports. Holmes and Langsford will present the show for four days a week, while guest hosts will take the reins on Fridays. Among the segments on the programme will be Campsite Cook In with Gino D'Acampo and a gardening feature hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Meanwhile, Mini Made At Home will suggest a variety of ways to keep children entertained. Christ, just kill me now. ITV's creative director for daytime and lifestyle Fiona Keenaghan said: 'Following This Morning's brand extension with the weekend shows I am thrilled viewers will also get to see the show during the summer. This reflects how popular the programme still is and with new content and talent it'll provide a fresh look perfect for summertime.'
Bruce Forsyth has refused to be drawn on whether he will return to Strictly Come Dancing this year. The eighty two-year-old has fronted every series of the BBC ballroom show, but there has been no official word over his involvement in this year's run. Speaking to the Sunday Express, Forsyth declined to clear up the uncertainty, commenting: 'I am not going to confirm whether I am going back to Strictly or not - that information is strictly confidential.' Is that the new name for the BBC3 spin-off show? Forsyth had previously confessed that he was undecided over whether to host this year's show. Meanwhile, in April, his agent Jan Kennedy said that the presenter was waiting to hear about planned changes to the programme before making up his mind.
Idris Elba has claimed that people are attracted to his characters. Elba played Stringer Bell in The Wire and is now starring in BBC1 drama Luther, but he explained that his fan mail is not aimed at him.
'Sure, I got some sexy mail when I was playing Stringer and it would be incredibly flattering if I thought it was being directed at me,' he told the People. 'But I'm not kidding myself. I'm taking it all with a pinch of salt. These people were getting turned on by Stringer Bell, not by me, and I'm sure it's the same with John Luther. I'm just the guy who plays him.' Elba added that he can understand why viewers might be attracted to Luther. 'He's got his faults and his flaws, but he's basically a good guy,' he explained. 'Someone you would like to hang out with. More so, certainly, than Stringer. I'd definitely have a drink with him in a pub on a Saturday night, although maybe some of his female fans would want to take it further. You know, get him to take down their particulars, maybe put them in handcuffs, that kind of thing. Some people, it seems, have vivid imaginations!'
The fantasy author Neil Gaiman has spoken of the divine power he felt while writing his TV episode of Doctor Who. The author of Stardust and Coraline has already submitted his story, which is due to broadcast in 2011. 'I don't know what it's like to be God - obviously,' Gaiman told the BBC. 'Until that very first moment when you get to sit down and type the words in your script: INTERIOR. TARDIS.' He said: 'Suddenly I got a very good idea of what it must feel like. I went: "I'm writing it now this scene in the TARDIS. I'm writing it!" And that was amazing, it was wonderful.'
Gaiman met Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat for a script read-through last week. He posted a picture of himself on Twitter - with Moffat and writer Richard Curtis - holding up a copy of the script. His fingers obscured the episode title. Gaiman said: 'It's going to be shooting in August and we were going through it and figuring out ways that money could be saved and ways we could have some things happen faster. It was a little bit flabby.' The author also commented on Terry Pratchett's recent comments in SFX magazine that Doctor Who 'shouldn't be classified as science fiction.' Doctor Who 'has never pretended to be hard science fiction,' Gaiman said. 'At best, Doctor Who is a fairytale, with fairytale logic about this wonderful man in this big blue box who at the beginning of every story lands somewhere where there is a problem.' Gaiman, whose Neverwhere series was shown on the BBC in 1996, said he'd had to spend a long time 'being coy' before it was revealed he was writing a Doctor Who story. 'Now I know what I can tell people: It will be on television - and it's in colour!'
Lenny Henry has criticised Britain's Got Talent for failing to appreciate comedy acts. The fifty one-year-old comic actor, who found fame on TV talent show New Faces in the 1970s, argued that the ITV series is too focused on singers and sob stories. 'It is a freak show,' Henry told the Daily Star. 'If you're a speciality act or a singer with a great story then fine, but comedians are too ordinary. Simon Cowell will just go: "This is comedy. I've seen it."' Which is all fair enough. But, it might just have been a bit more worthwhile coming from someone who has, occasionally, done something remotely funny in the last twenty years.
24 executive producer Howard Gordon has explained the recent series finale. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gordon admitted that he had thought about killing off Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
'We certainly considered it,' he said. 'We considered killing him earlier [in the season] as an off-rhythm thing. But every time we went there and pencilled it out, it didn't feel satisfying. It felt frustrating or it felt affected or something.' Yeah. Plus, if you ever want to make that long-rumoured feature film version it might have been a bit difficult if the character was dead. Gordon also suggested that although Jack is 'cut free' at the end of the show he is also 'a nomad. He's a man without a country,' he continued. 'The very country that he has served and obviously sacrificed everything for has basically spit him out again and he is a fugitive. If you look at all of the [season] endings that we've had, to me it was important not to repeat ourselves. I don't think Jack has ever actually left as a fugitive, unwanted and unwelcome on his own shores.' Except at the end of season four when he faked his own death and ran away. And, season five when he was given up to the Chinese.
Graham Norton has admitted that he will not 'go into mourning' following the end of Andrew Lloyd Webber's TV talent hunts.
The presenter has hosted all of Lloyd Webber's BBC shows and most recently fronted Over The Rainbow, which was won by Danielle Hope on Saturday night. However, reports have suggested that Lloyd Webber will end his working relationship with the BBC when his current contract runs out. Speaking to the Sun, Norton confessed: 'I'm assuming it's the last of the shows, which is sad. But will I go into mourning, lying in darkened rooms? Er, no.' The comedian said that arranging the programmes was like 'turning an oil tanker,' adding: 'You need Andrew, and he's very busy and successful. You need a musical the public will respond to. You need a West End theatre.' Norton confirmed that he is in talks with the BBC over other Saturday night formats, but 'nothing is fixed.'
Christine Bleakley has insisted that she has no input into the search for Adrian Chiles's ONE Show replacement. Last month, it was claimed that the presenter would make the final decision over Chiles's successor because the programme's producers wanted to keep her happy. However, speaking to the Daily Express about the hunt for her new co-host, Bleakley insisted: 'I don't get a say - but we have to get on and work on-screen.' She added: 'Every day I hear a new name, but it's not decided yet.'
ITV executives are reportedly thinking about changing the name of GMTV. Can I suggest Turgid Banal Old Crap To Wake Up To as a potential replacement?
According to the Sun, the breakfast show could be renamed ITV Day as part of its ongoing revamp. Executives are also considering a makeover of Lorraine Kelly's show and a new high definition studio could be introduced. 'ITV is looking at everything to do with GMTV,' a source said. 'Now it has taken full control of it, ultimately its main brand is ITV, not GMTV. It has previously dropped other iconic brands like Granada.' The programme will also see a change of presenters, with Adrian Chiles joining while Penny Smith and Ben Shephard will leave. Kate Garraway's future on the show is also said to be uncertain.'
In an interview with People before the episode aired, Cuse explained that he wanted the characters' storylines to be resolved. 'We're aware that [Across The Sea] was polarising, but to us that's what a mythology episode looks like,' he continued. 'And the mythology will never be as satisfying to the audience as character resolution.' Lindelof said: 'There's only one question the show really owes the audience an answer to, which is, "What's the point of all this? What's the point of having watched the show for six years?" We feel like the finale answers that. There was a point.' The duo also commented that they wanted the audience to be satisfied with the finale. 'It's a straightforward idea but we've tried to do it in an engaging way,' Cuse said. 'A lot of series have ended with big, twisty revelations, like it all took place in a snowglobe. 
Or it was a dream. The audience will not be snowglobed at the end of Lost. We wanted to give a fair, legitimate ending. The island isn't going to be an alien spaceship and fly away.' The pair further confirmed that they are planning to be silent about the show now that the last episode has aired. 'We want the show to speak for itself for a while,' Cuse explained. 'The last thing we want is to take from the audience the ability to discuss and argue about what things mean. That's an important part of the community of Lost.'The last episode of Lost attracted thirteen and a half million viewers in the US, ABC said today. In the UK, Sky1 screened the show at 05:00 BST to coincide with the transmission of the show on the West Coast of America. Five hundred and eighty four thousand viewers tuned in. Reviewing the episode, Mike Ryan of US magazine Vanity Fair said: 'Every question that's still lingering, and there are quite a few, is inconsequential.' Mike Hale of the New York Times suggested the episode was 'largely a pleasant, nostalgic wallow for the show's fans.' According to Sky1, the early morning screening attracted roughly the same number of people that the show's normal Friday night slot usually does.
Big fat tub of lard Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford have signed up to host This Morning during the summer. Oh, good. That'll give me more an excuse not to watch it.
The couple will front the magazine programme from Monday 19 July until the end of August, the Gruniad Morning Star reports. Holmes and Langsford will present the show for four days a week, while guest hosts will take the reins on Fridays. Among the segments on the programme will be Campsite Cook In with Gino D'Acampo and a gardening feature hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Meanwhile, Mini Made At Home will suggest a variety of ways to keep children entertained. Christ, just kill me now. ITV's creative director for daytime and lifestyle Fiona Keenaghan said: 'Following This Morning's brand extension with the weekend shows I am thrilled viewers will also get to see the show during the summer. This reflects how popular the programme still is and with new content and talent it'll provide a fresh look perfect for summertime.'Bruce Forsyth has refused to be drawn on whether he will return to Strictly Come Dancing this year. The eighty two-year-old has fronted every series of the BBC ballroom show, but there has been no official word over his involvement in this year's run. Speaking to the Sunday Express, Forsyth declined to clear up the uncertainty, commenting: 'I am not going to confirm whether I am going back to Strictly or not - that information is strictly confidential.' Is that the new name for the BBC3 spin-off show? Forsyth had previously confessed that he was undecided over whether to host this year's show. Meanwhile, in April, his agent Jan Kennedy said that the presenter was waiting to hear about planned changes to the programme before making up his mind.
Idris Elba has claimed that people are attracted to his characters. Elba played Stringer Bell in The Wire and is now starring in BBC1 drama Luther, but he explained that his fan mail is not aimed at him.
'Sure, I got some sexy mail when I was playing Stringer and it would be incredibly flattering if I thought it was being directed at me,' he told the People. 'But I'm not kidding myself. I'm taking it all with a pinch of salt. These people were getting turned on by Stringer Bell, not by me, and I'm sure it's the same with John Luther. I'm just the guy who plays him.' Elba added that he can understand why viewers might be attracted to Luther. 'He's got his faults and his flaws, but he's basically a good guy,' he explained. 'Someone you would like to hang out with. More so, certainly, than Stringer. I'd definitely have a drink with him in a pub on a Saturday night, although maybe some of his female fans would want to take it further. You know, get him to take down their particulars, maybe put them in handcuffs, that kind of thing. Some people, it seems, have vivid imaginations!'The fantasy author Neil Gaiman has spoken of the divine power he felt while writing his TV episode of Doctor Who. The author of Stardust and Coraline has already submitted his story, which is due to broadcast in 2011. 'I don't know what it's like to be God - obviously,' Gaiman told the BBC. 'Until that very first moment when you get to sit down and type the words in your script: INTERIOR. TARDIS.' He said: 'Suddenly I got a very good idea of what it must feel like. I went: "I'm writing it now this scene in the TARDIS. I'm writing it!" And that was amazing, it was wonderful.'
Gaiman met Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat for a script read-through last week. He posted a picture of himself on Twitter - with Moffat and writer Richard Curtis - holding up a copy of the script. His fingers obscured the episode title. Gaiman said: 'It's going to be shooting in August and we were going through it and figuring out ways that money could be saved and ways we could have some things happen faster. It was a little bit flabby.' The author also commented on Terry Pratchett's recent comments in SFX magazine that Doctor Who 'shouldn't be classified as science fiction.' Doctor Who 'has never pretended to be hard science fiction,' Gaiman said. 'At best, Doctor Who is a fairytale, with fairytale logic about this wonderful man in this big blue box who at the beginning of every story lands somewhere where there is a problem.' Gaiman, whose Neverwhere series was shown on the BBC in 1996, said he'd had to spend a long time 'being coy' before it was revealed he was writing a Doctor Who story. 'Now I know what I can tell people: It will be on television - and it's in colour!'Lenny Henry has criticised Britain's Got Talent for failing to appreciate comedy acts. The fifty one-year-old comic actor, who found fame on TV talent show New Faces in the 1970s, argued that the ITV series is too focused on singers and sob stories. 'It is a freak show,' Henry told the Daily Star. 'If you're a speciality act or a singer with a great story then fine, but comedians are too ordinary. Simon Cowell will just go: "This is comedy. I've seen it."' Which is all fair enough. But, it might just have been a bit more worthwhile coming from someone who has, occasionally, done something remotely funny in the last twenty years.
24 executive producer Howard Gordon has explained the recent series finale. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gordon admitted that he had thought about killing off Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
'We certainly considered it,' he said. 'We considered killing him earlier [in the season] as an off-rhythm thing. But every time we went there and pencilled it out, it didn't feel satisfying. It felt frustrating or it felt affected or something.' Yeah. Plus, if you ever want to make that long-rumoured feature film version it might have been a bit difficult if the character was dead. Gordon also suggested that although Jack is 'cut free' at the end of the show he is also 'a nomad. He's a man without a country,' he continued. 'The very country that he has served and obviously sacrificed everything for has basically spit him out again and he is a fugitive. If you look at all of the [season] endings that we've had, to me it was important not to repeat ourselves. I don't think Jack has ever actually left as a fugitive, unwanted and unwelcome on his own shores.' Except at the end of season four when he faked his own death and ran away. And, season five when he was given up to the Chinese.Graham Norton has admitted that he will not 'go into mourning' following the end of Andrew Lloyd Webber's TV talent hunts.
The presenter has hosted all of Lloyd Webber's BBC shows and most recently fronted Over The Rainbow, which was won by Danielle Hope on Saturday night. However, reports have suggested that Lloyd Webber will end his working relationship with the BBC when his current contract runs out. Speaking to the Sun, Norton confessed: 'I'm assuming it's the last of the shows, which is sad. But will I go into mourning, lying in darkened rooms? Er, no.' The comedian said that arranging the programmes was like 'turning an oil tanker,' adding: 'You need Andrew, and he's very busy and successful. You need a musical the public will respond to. You need a West End theatre.' Norton confirmed that he is in talks with the BBC over other Saturday night formats, but 'nothing is fixed.'Christine Bleakley has insisted that she has no input into the search for Adrian Chiles's ONE Show replacement. Last month, it was claimed that the presenter would make the final decision over Chiles's successor because the programme's producers wanted to keep her happy. However, speaking to the Daily Express about the hunt for her new co-host, Bleakley insisted: 'I don't get a say - but we have to get on and work on-screen.' She added: 'Every day I hear a new name, but it's not decided yet.'
ITV executives are reportedly thinking about changing the name of GMTV. Can I suggest Turgid Banal Old Crap To Wake Up To as a potential replacement?
According to the Sun, the breakfast show could be renamed ITV Day as part of its ongoing revamp. Executives are also considering a makeover of Lorraine Kelly's show and a new high definition studio could be introduced. 'ITV is looking at everything to do with GMTV,' a source said. 'Now it has taken full control of it, ultimately its main brand is ITV, not GMTV. It has previously dropped other iconic brands like Granada.' The programme will also see a change of presenters, with Adrian Chiles joining while Penny Smith and Ben Shephard will leave. Kate Garraway's future on the show is also said to be uncertain.'
