You Losties are amazing —188 responses, most of those containing multiple questions for the show’s honchos, Carlton Cuse (left, below) and Damon Lindelof. Let me tell you, it was no easy task to whittle those queries down to 20 to send to the guys. Of those 20, each showrunner picked five to answer.

We didn’t want to leave anyone out, but Damon and Carlton agreed to answer 10. Rest assured we made every effort to combine as many similar questions as possible so that we would represent the most-asked questions. That said, if your question began with “Will we ever see…?”, it didn’t make the cut since the guys were explicit in not wanting to reveal future plot points.

With season five down to just a couple of episodes before the two-hour finale on May 13, the “Lost” scribes have been piling on the revelations (Castaways worked for  the Dharma Initiative back in 1977! Ben actually saved Rousseau’s daughter!) and filling in backstories at breakneck pace (Glimpses of Charles Widmore in his prime have been eye-opening, and last week's episode on Miles' history was a retro gem). The time-travel aspect has been smartly fleshed out, with Hurley and Miles debating its rules in comic style. And Damon and Carlton have revealed via podcast the chosen name for the season finale’s key scene (The Fork in the Outlet).

The “Lost” showrunners have been busy this season, locking in the show’s core characters and throughlines, keeping track of elaborate continuity (witness the kerfuffle over Charlotte's age) and laying the groundwork for a grand wrap-up of all the show’s mysteries in season six. It’s rare for a TV series with such an intricate and serialized storyline to maintain such rabid fan interest and confidence in the storytelling, but Damon and Carlton clearly bring their own rich appreciation of drama, sci-fi and genre to the endeavor, as reflected in their ongoing love for the Stephen King universe and Damon co-writing the sequel to Par’s upcoming reboot of “Star Trek.” It’s clear from their responses to your questions that they’re both showrunners and fans themselves, and that “Lost” proves an iconic favorite.

UPDATE: The winner of the signed DVD set is (drumroll…) Derek, who asked the first part of the question about the predetermined end date. The scribes couldn't pick a favorite question and neither could we so we put everyone's name in a hat and picked a winner that way. Congratulations Derek! DVD will be along to you shortly.

Thanks for the spectacular response and enjoy the answers. Here we go:

Q. When the show is all said and done, how do you want the show to be remembered … and about 20 years after the show has ended would you both be willing to be involved in the remake/relaunch of “Lost,” and if so, what would you do differently? What has the show taught you? (Combined Ramsey Lawson and Jon P.)
DL: I think our hope is that looking back on the entire run of the show, that people remember the EXPERIENCE of watching it — what it actually felt like to be mystified and frustrated and surprised — as opposed to just where it landed storywise. When all is said and done, we’ll have consumed six years of our fans’ lives and our greatest wish is that they look back on that time and feel that it was all worth it. As far as whether we’ll want to revisit “Lost” 20 years from now, the answer is probably no… though it would be pretty cool to see what someone else might come up with!

Season Pass' next Q&A is with "Lost" showrunners Damon Lindelof — who co-created the series with J.J. Abrams —  and Carlton Cuse, who came onboard as exec producer after the pilot. This is your opportunity to query the creative team behind the show that helped revive a near-dead ABC in 2004. So ask your questions now.

Damon and Carlton spent the show's first four seasons layering on the mystery and the mythos about the island, the Flight 815 castaways, the Others, the Dharma Initiative, the four-toed statue, Smokey, Adam and Eve and a few dozen other plot threads. Now in its penultimate season, the scribes are steering the story arc toward revealing the answers and the “aha” moments that the fans have long demanded. And in between, just to keep things interesting, we're doing a whole lot of time traveling.

Damon and Carlton aren’t about to give away any plot secrets, so don’t even ask, but they would like to riff on questions about their influences and inspirations, the incredibly involved process of producing a mini “Lost” movie each week, favorite character moments or pivotal events in past seasons. Plus, Carlton always appreciates inquiries about his banjo playing. Or you can ask Damon about his poker skills. (I happen to have played poker with him and I believe he cleaned my clock).

Once the duo puts the finishing touches on the season finale later this month, they’ll answer your questions; but they will only answer 10 so make them good ones.

Please follow the usual guidelines:

1) Hit the comment button below and ask your question by March 15.
2) You may ask more than one question but we are looking for quality, not quantity. Asking more will not guarantee that you’ll get an answer. In the spirit of fairness, we try to give plenty of folks a chance.
3) Read through the other comments to make sure you’re not repeating something that’s already been asked.
4) Be clever and have fun.
5) The person who asks the best question will receive a DVD signed by the guys.

Posted by Kathy Lyford with a huge assist from Cynthia Littleton and Brian Cochrane

PLEASE NOTE: Only 50 comments appear here at a time but we have access to the others and we will sort through every question submitted, I promise.

Posted by Brian Cochrane

Since its debut four seasons ago, CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" has been distinguished by its ability to meld witty characters, biting wordplay and genuine romantic touches with a storytelling style that routinely whips from present to past and into the future. Now, with Ted's marriage plans to Stella having gone belly up on the Jersey shore, the series again ponders who'll be "the one" for Ted Mosby, future dad.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg as Season Pass readers posed their questions to "HIMYM" creators-showrunners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, right. Topics ranged from the Barney-Robin prospects to the recollection of Victoria, one of Ted's earlier loves, who still seems to hold a warm spot in the hearts of "HIMYM" fans. And, not surprisingly, there were plenty of questions that delved into the show's intricacies, its timeline and the trail of clues laid out so far.

Reflecting the banter that characterizes the show's writing, Bays and Thomas clearly relished the chance to have some fun with this Q&A session. Read on for their answers, revelations and their favorite question:

Q. What does Barney do, exactly? Will you ever actually state it in the show? — Jeremiah
A. We love never quite saying what Barney does -- although, as of episode 2 of season 4, we now know his mega-corporation, Altrucel, has merged or somehow overtaken Goliath National Bank (and now Barney and Marshall work together, or at least in the same building). That’s probably the most specific thing we’ve ever said about it. We just like maintaining the mysterious world that Barney inhabits. We had a friend in NYC who, if you asked him a question he didn’t wanna answer, would dismissively say, “Please,” and move on. That’s what Barney says if you ask him about what he actually does. This vagueness allows us to make weird intimations that his company is involved with very, very bad things, which often seem to involve the North Koreans. Remaining vague throughout the series about what Barney does is part of our master plan, in the very last "HIMYM" episode, to reveal that Barney is an international spy, and then spin that off into its own hour-long action drama. Cha-ching! You know where to reach us, networks!

TiVo, creator of the machine of the gods, has unveiled its top commercial and program rankings for June for both total and timeshifted viewing. (Tivo follows the industry standard for broadcast periods. So in this case it was May 26 to June 29.)

It seems if you’re an advertiser — particularly a studio hyping your upcoming pic — you ought to be lining up to place your spot on ABC’s “Lost” (pictured, right).

NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open golf tourney, which Tiger Woods (pictured below) won in dramatic fashion, was no slouch either, taking three of the top 10 slots for commercials in total viewing. (Apparently many of those viewers were feeling Woods’ pain, as they stayed tuned in through the Aleve ads.) Unfortunately, with Woods recovering from knee surgery, it’ll be next year sometime before there’s another golf tournament where advertisers could reap these kinds of results.

It’s when the company measured only those ads for timeshifted (delayed) viewing, that “Lost” really dominated. Of course, delayed viewing for major sporting events such as the U.S. Open is much more rare. Rabid fans like to watch sports as they happen, trust me.

“What is particularly impressive is that every commercial in the top 10 for timeshifted viewing aired during the ‘Lost’ season finale — in fact, the top 86 commercials for timeshifted viewing aired during ‘Lost’ (episodes during this period),” said Todd Juenger, VP-g.m. of TiVo audience research and measurement. “The top 5 spots in timeshifted viewing were all for movies.”

Fans of Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” really busted a move as well. The reality competition for hoofers landed in slots 3-10 for total viewing and 2-9 for timeshifted viewing in the program rankings.

Other notes of interest:

• Coppertone made the list of least forwarded brands at No. 7, a sure sign of summer.
• The American Petroleum Institute and CITGO Petroleum both made the list — more evidence that the price of gas is top of mind.
• Meineke made the list for the third consecutive month.
• Research data for June also revealed that viewers fast-forwarded through network promos at high rates. Tivo surmises that one reason might be that network promos are perceived by some viewers as program content not paid advertising.

Check out the charts on the next page. And if you’re a real numbers nerd and need to know how Tivo arrives at these numbers, read the small print at the bottom of the post. Just don’t ask me to explain it.

— Kathy Lyford

Well, certainly, when your wife tells you at 8:45 p.m. she might be going into labor, this is the episode of "Lost" you want to be watching, isn't it?

Suffice it to say, for all the tension you might have felt during tonight's latest segment, there was a double dose in the Weisman household.  We seem to be in a holding pattern, but forgive me if I suddenly have to make this evening's post short (but hopefully at least half as sweet as little Ji Yeon).

"Lost" has a way of making you (or should I say, me) feel stupid, but most of the time, it does it in a good way. Tonight, by the time I realized that Jin's Korea events were a flashback even though Sun's were a flash-forward, I felt dumb for taking so long to clue in.  But I think that speaks to how well-executed the scenes were.  Though "Lost" has had few kookier moments than Jin's headlong pursuit of a stuffed panda, there was enough of an eerie vibe to make them feel natural. And certainly, the creepy OB and nurse attending to Sun in the hospital had me and my couchridden wife on our figurative toes that some baby swap or abduction was in the works.

Ultimately, it came together in a payoff that made the enterprise – further accessorized by Juliet's jaw-dropping spilling of Sun's big affair – seem well worth it. The way Jin makes peace with Sun's betrayal – "I know the man I used to be. ... His actions caused this" – was not only touching, it resonated for the entire series thematically.  And the graveside scene, though straightforward, was truly melancholy.

Additionally, considering how big a story this was, it's impressive that so much other stuff was jammed in.

Highlights: Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim's performances were exceptional in capturing practically the entire gamut of a marriage - the love, the anger, the sorrow, the friendship and, in the end, the parting. In extraordinary circumstances, they remained very real to me.

The way Bernard stumbled into Sun and Jin's lowest moment was pretty priceless as well. And where many writers would have had him slink away, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz not only had Bernard press on, he actually quietly delivered a turning point speech.

And I still love every moment Frank has had onscreen.  I mean, I never really had an opinion on Jeff Fahey before, but I am really just digging him.

Lowlights: The story of the sixth episode of the season was revisited tonight, with Kate explaining why Charlotte popped her one, and it made no more sense to me the second time around than it did the first time.  If Charlotte and Daniel were trying to do something that everyone would support – deactivate a poison gas station – why did they have to be so secretive and antagonistic about it? Even if there's some nefarious scheme behind it, it just seemed like a false conflict for the moment it was in.

The character of Jack – at least the on-island Jack – is suffering right now. You can tell this because even when he has a completely innocuous moment, such as when he's checking in on Sun's condition, he still seems vaguely annoying.  Almost like Kate has become.

Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: 1) Jin gets the September 22, 2004 deathdate on his tombstone, but that doesn't begin to confirm what really happened to him.

2) Hi Regina. Bye, Regina. See you again in flashback, Regina?

3) We meet the Captain (Grant Bowler). We're told we can't trust the Captain. Of course not, why would we trust him?  Well, turns out, he tells you just about everything you'd want to know, so you really want to trust him. Bummer, huh?  Anyway, he implies that Ben is to blame for the 324 dead bodies that were used to forge the Oceanic crash coverup? Seems plausible – Ben's capable of just about anything. So do we ignore that?  Or should we really not trust ... Michael?  Yep, there he is, finally – undercover with an alias. Kevin Johnson's his name, and fake janitorizing is his game.  The problem with Michael as an agent, double-agent or triple-agent is that I still have an emotional pull toward trusting everything Augustus Hill says or does. But let's face it – we can't be sure what to believe.

4) For all the complications Sun was having, how the heck did she push that baby out so quickly?  She wasn't even doing her breathing right! Let me assure you, for yours truly and his best gal, that's truly the big question from tonight's "Lost."

– Jon Weisman

"Lost" has been opening passages faster this season than one of them haunted houses with the doors flapping in a thunderstorm, so it was nice to see someone actually make it back through alive.

What first appeared like it might merely be one of Desmond's visions (and I use the word "merely" with great affection) turned out to be something more - his consciousness traveling between the years 1996 and 2004, between a year when Penny would say to him "And now you call with some expectation that I still care for you" and a year when she'd say "I love you." Tonight, we didn't have flash-forwards or flashbacks, we had both. We had flash-sideways.

It was a pretty exciting episode, featuring not only a ticking clock (as represented by the demise of Eloise the lab rat and George Minkowski the Fisher Stevens) and real uncertainty over the fate of Desmond before episode's end, but also an expansion of this season's mysteries. To "Lost" numbers aficionados in particular, it provided digits up the yin-yang.

Highlights: I'll start at the end with Desmond's plea to 1996 Penny to give him her phone number, and his short-lived reunion via telephone with 2004 Penny. Henry Ian Cusick has had countless fine moments as Desmond, but I don't know that he's had any finer than his climax tonight, eyes sparkling with a transfixing combination of love, desperation and reborn confidence. And Sonya Walger was with him, beat for beat.

Elizabeth Mitchell nicely delivered her sarcastic line about Daniel talking really slowly so that she and Jack could understand him. Also, I love Frank (Jeff Fahey). There's something so unprepossessing about him – he's welcome every scene he's in.

Lowlights: We were fairly lowlight-free in this one.  I'm not sure I even mean this as a criticism, but none of the series regulars besides Desmond had anything particularly interesting going on. I guess I'll mention Charlotte's attempt to stop Daniel from spilling the secret about the time delay.  It was feeble, bland.

Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: This list could go on for a while.

1) Why is Daniel at odds with the ship's sergeant (Graham McTavish) and doctor (Marc Vann)? How, when and why did their mission or their faith in each other split? Is it merely that they think Daniel has lost his mind? ("Faraday can't even help himself.") Clearly, Daniel's got some useful intelligence left to offer, even if his memory, stability or sanity are shaky. And presumably, signs of that mental malady were in place before Daniel even got on the boat, if only because ...

2) Should Daniel have protected himself better while playing with radiation at the Queen's College Physics Department at Oxford?

3) How does what happened tonight affect our view of Charlie's final scene last season? No, it wasn't Penny's boat, but yes, Penny was trying to contact the boat – repeatedly, according to Graham, but no, the boat wasn't allowed to answer her calls ...

4) Is it possible that people who seem dead on the island can leave or actually have left the island via time/consciousness travel? (This might just be a flight of fancy on my part, but I'm always wondering about the permanency of death in Lostland.)

5) So, they've decided to bring the Black Rock and Hanso back into the conversation, via the auction that Charles Widmore bid on. What dots are connecting?

6) Why does a sink at a fine auction house have such poor drainage?

7) Numbers, anyone? 2.342? Oscillates at 11? ("Spinal Tap" homage?) Five minutes vs. 75 minutes? 423 Cheyne Walk?  7946-0893? 12/24/04?

8) At the end of the episode, when the show cut back and forth frequently between Desmond walking away from Penny's new residence with her phone number in 1996, and Desmond on the ship in 2004, was Desmond traveling back and forth that fast in mind and soul, or did the show just switch to conventional cross-cutting between past and present?

9) The escape of Sayid, Desmond and Graham from the sick bay: In the words of Pablo, the busboy whose cat ran away on "Seinfeld," "Who left the door open?" Was it good ol' Frank?

10) Where are they hiding Michael? I mean, he's there somewhere, right?

And so on, and so on, and so on ...

– Jon Weisman

It was like the reverse of the "Sopranos" finale. Was something wrong with my television? Why was the sound of people's voices on tonight's "Lost" not matching up with their lips moving?  Was this a nefarious turn in the time-delay plot from last week?

Nope.  This time, there really was something wrong with my TV. 

Eventually, the problem fixed itself, which was quite a relief. Maybe that false start to blame – then again, maybe it wasn't – but much of tonight's episode didn't have the zest of the first three this season. The focus was on Kate, and though her backstory usually interests me, I felt she was sleepwalking for a good chunk of this one.

There was some juicy stuff at the end to make up for it, however.

Highlights: Some more big revelations (more on those in a moment), plus Kate's convincing final scene with Jack in which she earnestly tells him that if he can't accept her baby, she can't accept him.

Lowlights: The uninspiring courtroom sequences (though I did enjoy seeing Shawn Doyle from "Big Love" as Kate's lawyer), combined with the almost mechanical scheming that Kate engineered to bring Miles his minute with Ben. And Sawyer, who has mostly been a dream this season, seemed a bit too oblivious in reacting with such joy to Kate telling him she wasn't preggers.

Split decision: Locke serving Miles a grenade for breakfast.  Chilling, or over the top?

Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: 1) The big 'un: Why were only eight original Oceanic 815 passengers found alive? While we've been hearing about the Oceanic 6 since the opening scene of the season, it was easy to operate under the assumption that others (not Others) were safely hidden away on the island, perhaps awaiting recuse a couple years from now in the final season. Maybe that's still the case, but maybe not?

2) The other big 'un?  What happened to the helicopter? It's more than 31 minutes late, and not because my TV was on the fritz ...

3) Why does Kate have Clare's baby Aaron (unless that's just No. 1 on the Island Baby Name list)?  I'll admit that I feel for the bait-and-switch, thinking Kate was carrying Sawyer's baby even as she denied it. The reveal worked for me – not quite with the power of episode three's ending scene of Sayid and Ben, but still pretty nifty. Part of me had been figuring Clare was part of the 6. Obviously, her fate is connected to 1) above. So what happened?

4) What clues were revealed with Daniel and Charlotte's variation on Three-Card Monte?

5) $3.2 million?  Not $3.3 million or $3.4 million?

6) "Xanadu" or "Satan's Doom"?

– Jon Weisman

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow.

Tonight's "Lost" was not only thrilling at times, it was bursting at the seams with nougaty goodness.

Let's skip right to Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out.

1) Who is RG, the initials on Naomi's commitment bracelet, which was similar to the bracelet worn by Sayid's future paramour/pursuer/pursuee Elsa (Thekla Reuten)?

We know he or she's a big deal, big enough to have Sayid proactively killing for Ben in the future-present in an attempt to protect survivors from the island. But who will he turn out to be?

2) What is RG's connection to Penelope?

The well-trod picture of Penny and Des was in Naomi's possession when she was killed. And yet, Penny claimed at the end of last season she knew nothing of a rescue boat.  Who's zooming who?

3) What's up with the 31-minute delay in real time and island time, as shown by Daniel's payload experiment?

4) "A war is coming, that we will be powerless to stop."  How bad does that sound?

5) But that's a problem for another day.  How dangerous was the final helicopter ride, 'cause it sure seemed dangerous?

Highlights: This episode was filled with them, starting with Sayid's future identity as Oceanic 815's Jason Bourne. But for the second time in three episodes, Hurley played a huge emotional role. 

His failure to get Locke to compromise over the fate of Charlotte, combined with the regrets we know he will have about Locke once off the island, made Hurley's being tied up and gagged in the closet convincing. (It also provided laugh-out-loud lines, such as this response after Miles insulted him: "Oh awesome, the ship sent another Sawyer.") Then, when it was revealed Hurley was complicit in the ambush of Sayid, Kate and Miles, Jorge Garcia played the beat perfectly.  It's a hard-knock life, for him.

Jeremy Davies, who seemed more quirky than endearing in his debut appearance last week, bloomed tonight with his thoughtful nervousness. He's a spiritual brother of Hurley, one of the few people on the island who reacts to tension with more than dead seriousness. (And I'm still loving Jeff Fahey as Frank.)

The exchange between Sawyer and Kate, when Sawyer explains why he doesn't want to leave the island and questions why Kate would, was on the money. Sawyer feels things, man – to the point where you really have to wonder whether Kate is sensitive enough for him. 

And finally, every time a gun went off, I nearly jumped off the couch. I'm telling you – thrilling. I suppose if one were trying harder than me to guess the future, one might have seen those shots coming. But one of the reasons "Lost" works so well for me is that what's going on in a given moment can be so pure, so enjoyable in and of itself, that my mind doesn't even care to try to outguess the show.

Lowlights: None per se, but there is one thing I'll put in this section since it wouldn't really belong anywhere else. When Sayid, Desmond and the late Naomi went aloft in Frank's helicopter, it made me immediately recall of the final scene of "MASH," when Hawkeye leaves Korea in the chopper and views the "Goodbye" that B.J. has spelled out in rocks.  It was bittersweet, perhaps, but it was also cathartic.  I have to admit some sadness that when the parallel moment came tonight, when people who have been trapped on this island for 100 days (as Jack mentioned) finally got up, up and away, I couldn't be happy for them. Too much tension; none of that exhilaration that we had when Michael and Co. took off on their rickety raft at the end of the first season. Again, it's not a problem with the show – it just reinforced in me that amid all the excitement, I'm still rooting for these people to be saved.

– Jon Weisman

Ill-at-easiness.

If last week's season premiere of "Lost" was at once ebullient and heartbreaking, tonight's follow-up was blunt and unsettling. We met four new characters, none of them the least bit soothing. Well, except maybe Frank (Jeff Fahey), a good ol' salt-of-the-earth drunkard who nonetheless can pilot with the best of 'em.

But Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), though nice enough, is a stammering bundle of nerves. Miles Strom (Ken Leung, coming off that memorable guest appearance last year on "The Sopranos") has anger issues. And Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) doesn't exactly win our trust.

Considering how many new questions were raised, we should take note of what we saw in the teaser: the bulk of the Oceanic 815 aircraft is underwater, south of Bali. Or, it will be - because that revelation comes in the series of flash-forwards that kick off segments of the episode. (Or for the alternate explanation, see the update at the bottom of this post.)

But that's tomorrow's news.  Tonight, in watching the episode, which is focused on trying to piece together why the four in the helicopter were coming to the island ("Rescuing you and your people, can't really say that's our primary objective," Dan says), the overall experience is like a dream going in a direction you can't control and can't be much of anything but apprehensive about.

Add on to that the lingering presence of the King of Unease, one Benjamin Linus.  Locke's splinter faction is dragging him along, and Sawyer is all too aware of how problematic that is. "It's only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny," Sawyer says. "And I bet he's already figured out how he's gonna do it."

Eventually, it all comes together.  In what has to be an old school "Lost" flashback (although time-travel questions are dogging my thoughts – or is that just my own paranoia?), it's confirmed that Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick), mysterious visitor to institutionalized Hugo last week, had commissioned an ambivalent Naomi (Marsha Thomason) to go to the island. "This is a high-risk, covert op in unstable territory," she says. "It's dodgy enough without having to babysit a head case, a ghostbuster, an anthropologist and a drunk." That covert op, we finally learn, is to get Ben.

And Ben knows it.  In fact, Ben, per usual I suppose, knows everything.  Knows about their mission, knows about their backgrounds.  Knows about their boat, and knows to have a man on it.  And this knowledge is enough to spare him from cold-blooded execution by Locke for the time being, although the one thing perhaps we don't know is if Ben is the problem, why is saving him the solution?  Not that I generally advocate firing squads.

Those of you who know my biases won't be surprised that an episode more plot-driven than character-driven isn't going to be a "Lost" classic in my book. But tonight kept me sufficiently on the edge of my seat – the whole shebang carried the affect (with an a) of Ben – and with that groundwork laid, I'm eager to see where things go.

Highlights: Sawyer, after learning that Locke got instructions from Tall Walt: "You didn't ask any follow-up questions?" And, Jack being bummed that Kate didn't pick up on his wink.

Lowlights: Why does (or how could) Charlotte wait until broad daylight to cut herself down from the tree?

Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: Who gets firsties on the helicopter? What is "it" that Miles finds hidden away upstairs with the bag o' cash at Grandma's house in Inglewood? Why are polar bears not just on the island, but in Mednine, Tunisia? What kept Frank from piloting 815? And just how good a weatherman can Locke become?

– Jon Weisman

Update: I watched this episode twice, and both times I thought that the introductions to the helicopter team were all flash-forwards, except in the case of Naomi.  But now I'm reading other pieces on the Internet and reflecting, and seeing that people are treating them all as flashbacks ... and that the scene of 815 underwater was something concocted at the time of the crash, as opposed to something that hasn't happened to the remains of the craft yet. Is that the definitive reading? Maybe it makes more sense, but can we count on it?   

Update 2: Colleague Brian Cochrane has more in his post on the episode, "Excuse me, but is that my Dharma Beer you're drinking?"

It looks like the wheel of Dharma, er Karma, is rolling again. And Benjamin Linus is smack in the middle of the trail, looking like potential roadkill.

With this second episode of season three, the "Lost" team wasted no time in uncorking the revelations and further drawing the lines in the Losties' camp. Unlike season three, which spent its first six episodes -- the "mini season" -- warming up to answering questions and setting up new conflicts, this season is rolling along with big leaps that are rapidly broadening the "Lost" universe. For "Lost" addicts, the long wait is paying big dividends.

Last week, we learned that Hurley made it off the island, presumably as one of the "Oceanic Six" alongside Kate and Jack. This week, we're confronted in the opening scene with apparent physical evidence that Oceanic 815 did, in fact, crash into the sea, complete with pilot Seth Norris eerily strapped into his captain's chair.

That revelation kicks "Lost" and its whole riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma right into Oliver Stone-"JFK" territory: It takes some kind of extensive and well-funded conspiracy to drop a whole airliner into the ocean, complete with dead pilot, doesn't it?

This episode, titled "Confirmed Dead," introduces us and the Losties to the four folks who dropped in via helicopter from the mysterious freighter ("not Penny's boat," as Charlie warned). But despite Ben's dire admonitions, it doesn't look to me like these four pose much threat to anyone but Ben himself.

Yeah, they carry guns and talk tough ... sort of. But as we see later in the episode, Naomi was the muscle of the group. Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies, in photo below) is some sort of physicist, Miles Straume (Ken Leung, above) looks to be a ghost whisperer/con man, Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) an Indiana Jones wannabe, and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) a pilot who claims to have been the originally scheduled captain of Flight 815).

Judging from Dan's bumbling and apparent ignorance of basic sneaky protocol (apparently Miles and the rest of the team didn't even clue him in on the secret "Tell my sister I love her" tipoff), this team isn't exactly prepared to reconquer the island.

My guess is that they're Dharma techies and workerbees, and that they really are just trying to protect themselves from a Ben-style "purge" (they brought gas masks, so they've clearly heard about the big Dharma wipeout) and that they're back on the island to sort out all of its mysterious anomalies and maybe set things right. Maybe. This is the Dharma Initiative, after all, and I've never trusted that Dr. Marvin Candle and his cohorts were in it just for the science.

As part of its flashback intros to Miles and Charlotte, the episode throws us a couple of other juicy nuggets, though I think hardcore fans might be a little unnerved with Miles' backstory.

For me, Charlotte's find of a Dharma-collared polar bear skeleton in Tunisia was one of those great goosebump-inducing moments, on a par with (and almost an homage to) the scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in which Claude Lacombe finds a squadron of lost WWII planes, completely intact, in the middle of the Sonoran desert. It's that "Hey, something big's going on here" feeling that "Lost" delivers so well.

On the other hand, the introduction of Miles as a sort of huckster speaker to the dead instantly conjured feelings of "uh-oh." The last thing I want in "Lost" is for that sort of "Medium"/"Ghost Whisperer" pseudo-science and spiritual housekeeping to creep into the show. "Lost" has always done a smart job keeping its internal logic firmly -- or at least mostly -- in the realm of plausable extrapolation. Yeah, Miles shows up sporting a gadget that suggests it's scientific, but only in the "Ghostbusters" sense. Mostly it looks like a Dustbuster with a buffing attachment.

I can buy John Locke and Hurley seeing dead people. It seems to fit within the show's logic, and the writers are always keen to wink to let you know even they're not sure you should buy the concept. Witness tonight's gunshot moments: Locke shows his followers he really did get shot by Ben, but notes that it passed right through and probably would have killed him if he didn't already have that kidney conveniently removed. Then Charlotte takes a couple of slugs to the chest, also courtesy of Ben, but seems to have a miracle of her own when she sits up and shrugs it off. Ah... bulletproof vest. Thank you, writers.

As for Ben, he continues to do what he does so well: manipulate everyone on all sides. The man's taken some bloody beatings over the last three episodes, from Jack, Sawyer and Locke, but he keeps on ticking and plotting. And once again, his knowledge of the big picture might just save his bacon yet again.

Naomi looked to be the likeliest of the freighter folks to put some hurt on Ben. We haven't yet met the mysterious George Minkowski (which has to be a key part, since he's slated to be portrayed by Fisher Stevens), but none of the foursome who dropped in on the island in "Confirmed Dead" looks likely to be punching out anyone soon.

I could easily see Ben not only surviving but thriving again, perhaps even plying his knowledge of the island and the newcomers to team with Locke and his group. Certainly the episode's final revelation, that Ben has a man on their boat, seems to give him another strong hand to deal from.

-- Brian Cochrane

Here is the greatness of "Lost."

In the climax of the season premiere that aired tonight, Hurley shocks us by saying he's not going to follow Jack to await (questionable) rescue, and gives an impassioned speech explaining how the valiant, pre-drowning actions of Charlie compel him instead to follow Locke back to the barracks. Hurley's words are completely moving, and not at all unconvincing.

Then in the epilogue, taking place in the future (with Hurley back in a mental institution), Jack hears Hurley admit he was wrong, in just about as moving a fashion. It's a complete reversal, but the link in the two scenes is the anguish Hurley feels each time.

For three seasons and now starting a fourth, "Lost" has made me care about what happens to characters like Hurley. It's not because of the mysteries of the island. It's because of the lengths the show has gone to establish these characters' backstory and humanity in the context of the island. Hurley and friends are way more interesting to me than Jacob.

Extraordinary things have happened, are happening and will happen. But in the end, "Lost" isn't about those things alone. It's about the people. And so while tonight's episode didn't have the jawdropping moments of last season's finale, it offered the promise of many more adventures, not only in exploring the island, but in exploring these characters. 

In short: very cool.

Highlights: Almost everything Hurley does in carrying the episode (his moment breaking the Charlie news to Claire shouldn't go unmentioned, either), and the effect Hurley's actions ultimately have on Jack.

Also, the appearance of Lance Reddick of "The Wire" (devilishly purporting himself to be your friendly neighborhood Oceanic Airlines Asylum Hospitality Coordinator) and Ben's continued mind games with Jack.

Lowlights: Jack's naivete in assuming that Naomi could only have gone the most obvious direction, and Hurley's all-too-wistful desire to do a cannonball just at the moment he's about to get the bad news about Charlie.

Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: Dead Charlie - figment of Hurley's imagination, or something more?

And, the Oceanic 6??????

— Jon Weisman

(Remember, folks - no spoilers about future episodes!)

Are people going to be so hyped up for the return of "Lost" tonight on ABC that they'll not have it in them to watch tonight's premiere of "Eli Stone"?

My experience has been that many "Lost" fans race to the Internet to chat about any new episode as soon as it's over. I wouldn't guess that pattern would change tonight (and to that end, Season Pass will have a "Lost" post up as soon as the show finishes airing on the West Coast, so be sure to head back over here).

Of course, viewers watching "Lost" live might be lured by ABC promos to watch "Eli," a whimsical-spiritual show about a lawyer with visions of dubious reliability. And there is that group that isn't on the "Lost" bandwagon and will be just killing time until "Eli premieres. But I can't help thinking that a host of viewers will, at best, record "Eli" for later viewing, however interested they may be in the new series.

So is "Eli" worth watching?  You can read the review from Brian Lowry of Variety here and see the positive vibe from the Season Pass crew here. For my part, it started out all too goofy, but got better as it went along, so I'm going to take a look at least the second episode before rendering a verdict.

But I have to mention that I previewed the pilot with my brother-in-law, who claims his tastes are so mainstream that anything he likes tends to be a hit — and he really liked it.  So even if it's overshadowed by "Lost," don't be surprised if "Eli Stone" sticks around for a while.

— Jon Weisman

How lame has "Heroes" been this season? Let us count the ways...

1. The flashbacks to 1600s Japan. In theory, showing Hiro come face to face with his historic hero (Kensei) could've been cool. But then the producers decided to make Kensei a drunken English mercenary. Whaaa? Maybe it'll turn out that Hiro is actually the real Kensei...but so far, the attempts at comedy have been clumsy. The show's best character needs to get back to the future-- now.

2. What's with all the subtitles. On "Lost," the Korean subtitles have grown less frequent as characters learn English. On "Heroes," not only is the Japanese still comin', but now there are two characters who speak Spanish. Great, more subtitles! Maybe next the cheerleader could take French classes. Anyway, what was once kinda cool is now just annoying.

3. Enough with the really bad product placement. Four words: "Oh, Dad! The Rogue?!" Right-- because a new crossover from Nissan is what every teen girl wants these days. And while we're on the promo soapbox, how 'bout you cut back on the constant on-screen promos for "Heroes" comicbooks, websites, cookbooks, plush toys.... One promo tells viewers to "discover more while you watch" by going to NBC.com. I'm sorry, NBC, but this season is confusing enough without surfing over to "Heroes" websites while I try to figure out this show. (Of course, I'm composing this blog post while watching episode three, but still....)

4. How about some new villains to go with the 50 billion new heroes? There's no Syler, no Mama Petrelli. Gimme someone to boo and hiss, please!

5. Stop telling so many stories. You need a flowchart, an atlas and a dictionary to keep up with all the plotlines, locations and languages on the show this season. Instead of throwing out so many ideas, why not focus on one or two really good ones?

"Heroes" was very much a guilty pleasure for me last season. I tolerated the less-than-amazing writing and over-the-top acting because the storylines moved quickly, the concept was cool, and it was all mindless fun. Then came the confused mess of a season finale, in which producers failed to pay off any of the major storylines-- indicating that maybe they were making things up as they went along.

I hoped this season would get off to a rousing start, returning the show to its Saturday morning serial best. Instead, I'm more confused by the show than ever, and-- most worrisome of all-- just plain bored. That's one thing I've never been with "Lost." Even when it went off on a tangent, the show's characters remained compelling, and the writing among the best on TV.

Fair warning, "Heroes": You're getting dangerously close to being dropped from my Season Pass list.

— Josef Adalian

What'er the only two new shows to crack TiVo's top 50 Season Pass (no relation) rankings?

Surprise, surprise: "Private Practice" and "Bionic Woman." ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Practice" (pictured left) ranks No. 18 on TiVo's ranking of most its most popular Season Pass settings, in which the whiz-bang DVR grabs all original segs of a designated series."Bionic" (pictured below) ranks No. 43 on the list.

TiVo's Season Pass top 10, not surprisingly, closely corresponds to the Nielsen top 10: "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," "House," "Lost," "CSI," "Heroes," "American Idol," "24," "The Office" and "CSI: Miami." Pretty sad to see only one comedy on the list; god bless "The Office."

A little surprising to see ABC's big buzz show "Pushing Daisies" not make the top 100, particularly after last night's solid preem. NBC's "Journeyman" ranks head-scratchingly high at No. 54, followed by ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" (No. 55); Fox's "Back to You" (No. 65); CBS' "Cane" (No. 70); NBC's "Chuck" (No. 75); PBS' Ken Burns mini "The War" (No. 76); CBS' "Kid Nation" (No. 89); and ABC's "Big Shots" (No. 95).

Last fall the only newcomer to crack the top 50 was NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and we all know what happened there...

--Cynthia Littleton

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!