TV Show Creators Who Lied To Get Their Shows Made – Looper

“Lost” centers around a group of survivors who find themselves stranded on a mysterious island in the aftermath of a plane crash, though as the series goes on the island’s supernatural elements transform the story into an epic science fiction tale of survival, mystery, and overlapping timelines.

Things get out of hand fast once the island’s true nature is revealed, which is perhaps why show creators Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams lied to ABC about the convoluted story arc of “Lost.” Because ABC was trying to move away from serialized dramas in 2003, Abrams, Lindelof, and the rest of the writing team simply lied about the show’s story – claiming that each episode would be its own thing, and that viewers wouldn’t need to watch any previous episodes to tune in on any given week. As the show’s complex nonlinear narrative is hard to follow even when you have seen all of the prior episodes, it’s safe to say this was a huge lie.

Several other lies from this initial pitch included the claim that everything supernatural on the island would be backed by science, the claim that the infamous “smoke monster” would be explained in the first season, and the wildly optimistic claim that the show would not shoot on location. While these lies did earn the writers a series order (and helped spawn one of the most popular shows of all time), it’s safe to say that Abrams and Lindelof took some creative liberties with their pitch for “Lost.”