Interesting to see the efforts being taken to prevent social media and the internet in general from ‘spoiling’ the ending to Lost this Sunday.  I don’t watch Lost and don’t really care, but can substitute in the recent Olympics coverage and appreciate the concern.  There were several winter Olympics events I didn’t watch when NBC finally broadcast them in the Pacific Time Zone (the same time zone as the actual event by the way) because there was no suspense and the outcome was known.

I don’t turn off the internet when major media events are known to be working their way through the time zones.  I’ve lived most of my life in California and spent too many years having the accept the East Coast programming mentality that live really means three-hour tape delays.  National call-in shows don’t care about West Coast views, and talk shows can easily spend a whole hour talking in the future tense about something that actually happened an hour ago, sometime even on the same network. Thinking they can even move the sun and the stars by their commands, networks continue to show awards shows in Los Angeles “live”  in daylight long after the sun has set in San Diego.

If ABC really cared about making Lost suspenseful for West Coast viewers they’d figure out a way to broadcast it at the same time as on the East Coast.  Substitute CBS and Survivor or NBC and Olympics to fit your personal tastes.  That they refuse to, but rather blame the lack of suspense on websites and social media that transmit news instantly, is just a sign of disrespect for the viewers west of the Rockies.  It certainly isn’t a reason for me to adjust my life for their failure accept reality.

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