The 21st century has brought a slew of great new shows, some which have been embraced by audiences, others that have not been. The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, The Sopranos, Deadwood, Carnivale, The Shield and many others are already classics in my opinion, but do you notice something about that trend? (hint: they all are on Cable TV) It’s true: Generally, cable channels are developing better television shows than the networks are, for a variety of reasons: expectations for audiences are less and, more importantly, there are less regulations as specified by the evil FCC.

But that doesn’t mean that network television is completely devoid of quality, serial television, though it’s awfully rare when you come across a show that defies expectations. There are some good shows on network television, but few, if any, come close to the epic sensation that is Lost. It’s had its ups and downs, like any show, but few shows keep you guessing like this one; few make you hate that week-long break between each episode; few shows, including the cable network shows, are as good as Lost.

The show faltered a bit in the first half of the third season, as the writers lingered a bit too long on Jack, Kate and Sawyer’s captivity, essentially altering the pace of the show and the focus on its characters. A two-month gap before the second half of the season didn’t help, leading to lost viewers (hahaha) and a studio decision on its hand: give Lost the finale it deserves, or drag it on like The X-Files. Thankfully, the studio gave a confirmation: the show would go for three more seasons and then end.

And Lost: Season 4 shows this transformation from a series that had to keep extending its storylines to one that just has to get to the end. In others words, Lost: Season 4 is a fast-paced, action-oriented, thrill-ride toward the ultimate climax. While I miss some of the answer-less episodes of Season 1 and Season 2, Lost: Season 4 is a superb season with lots of excitement, some answers finally revealed (of course, not without new questions being raised) and so on and so forth. Those who found Lost: Season 3 too fragmented and drawn out should have none of the same complaints about this season.

Lost: Season 4 comes packaged with the entire writer’s strike season as well as two bonus discs, stuffed with behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes and more. Lost has always been good at giving a behind-the-scenes look at the production, and its bonus features are top notch:

• The Right to Bear Arms
  This featurette looks at the various guns used in the show, and the revelation that most of the actors aren’t sure if their own characters are packing heat. OK, more comical than anything else.
• The Freighter Folk
  This one includes interviews with the new cast members, primarily added from the freighter. Many are doomed to die, but there are several new additions, and they are pretty entertaining when out of character.
• The Island Backlot: Lost in Hawaii
  The best feature in the sets, this one explores how the crew transform various parts of Hawaii into the scenes in Lost, including exotic locations like Africa, Korea and so on and so forth. It’s pretty impressive, and neat to see.
• The Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy of Lies
  This faux documentary is a conspiracy tale of the cover-up of the crash of Oceanic 815.
• Offshore Shoot
  This behind-the-scenes look explores filming on the freighter. This one’s pretty good.
• Soundtrack of Survival
  This featurette looks at the composition of Lost’s score. I’m not a huge fan of musical featurettes, as they all tend to be about the same, but it’s good for what it was.
• Lost On Location
  Interviews with the cast and crew while filming. This one is pretty entertaining, as it shows how weather and other issues can lead to some pretty dull days at time.
• The Definitive Flash-Forwards
  This one is nothing all-too-valuable, unless you want to watch a sequence of various flash-forwards from the season that are apparently more important than others.
• Bloopers, Deleted Scenes and Audio Commentaries
  Self-explanatory.

If you’re a Lost fan and you don’t own the DVD sets, what the hell is wrong with you? Re-watching the show is almost essential, and you get so much more out of it – not to mention the fact that watching the show episode-after-episode with no commercial breaks (including no fast-forwarding over commercials) is a sight to behold

Anyway, the preview for Lost: Season 4 is now online, and I must say it’s quite impressive. After not liking the season three finale all that much, I’ve grown to appreciate it a lot more over the last few months. Obviously the writers have something clever up their sleeves, and, as it is quite clear, the rescuers aren’t Heaven-sent as the survivors think they are.

Here’s the preview:

Some fans weren’t overly crazy about the first eight episodes of the show, which focus exclusively on Jack, Kate and Sawyer and just about ignore the rest of the cast. This was a major departure from the past two seasons, where each episode focused on a different character, but these episode still do a lot: they set the stage for what is to come, they introduce us to The Others and give us some insight into the truth about the island. The series starts off great, with a shockingly suburban scene, and the first half of the season ends great as well, with the amazingly tense scene where Jack holds Ben hostage and orders Kate to run. From there, the show returns to its more ordinary format, focusing on different characters as it sees fit to develop the story. Still, there are a lot more of The Others, and now, instead of making them an elusive shadow people, they are themselves people and characters who just happen to have twisted morals. The introduction of Jacob (if you can call it that) is terrific, and there are plenty of other highlights in the series as well. While there are a few stumbles (Hurley’s van episode), but hey, no one’s perfect.

The DVD, as you might imagine, has a lot of little bonus features, all of which are gathered onto Disc 7. Much like with Lost itself, you have to work to find the features, as the DVD lacks labels for the most part. While I normally don’t like this approach, it fits in with the theme of the show, and also gives you a chance to explore for easter eggs, of which there are several. Some of these easter eggs are pretty lame (one where various cast and crew members talk with sentiment to everyone who has made the experience so great), but there are a few that are entertaining.

The real meat of the special features are these:

• The World of the The Others
  A look at different aspects of the revelations about the bitter enemies of the survivors. Fans will be delighted that the cast and crew reveal a lot of little tidbits you may not have thought about.
• Lost Flashbacks
  Nothing too spectacular here. There are a couple additional flashbacks that provide a little more detail into certain stories, but there’s nothing that wasn’t removed without a purpose.
• Lost On Location
  This is an entertaining featurette that explores several episodes from behind-the-scenes. There are a lot of cast and crew interviews and looks at how sequences were filmed. The most interesting part is where we see how the original crash scene is reconstructed to add in new actors that weren’t around in the first season.
• The Lost Book Club
  Watch this one. The writers reveal that every book shown in the show has significance, and they let slip a few details about what’s to come. There are definitely a few things in here that had me wanting the fourth season to come along right now.
• Lost in a day
  This is a look at 24 hours in the day of the production. I honestly can’t remember if I found this one insightful or not, but I think I did.
• Deleted Scenes
  There are a few decent deleted scenes, but, of course, there’s nothing too spectacular to be found here.
• Bloopers
  Hey, who doesn’t like bloopers?

I’m not quite sure where this is on the DVD – it may be an easter egg – but the best part of the features is a brief instructional video a la the Dharma Initiative. Does this explain the truth behind Lost? Read more here.

However, the video is quickly disrupted – and by that I mean that the scientists begin to freak out – when a second bunny rabbit appears. What’s so strange or notable about these events are these:

• The bunny rabbit that the scientist is holding has a “15″ branded on its side. When the other bunny appears, it too has “15″ on its side.
• The scientist shouts in desperation, “Keep them away from each other!”
• The scientist then asks an assistance how far “the shift was set?” She responds, “Minus twenty.”

Um… so what the hell does this mean? Cloning? That would explain the “15″ on both bunnies. But “keep them away from each other”? Does that mean alternate realities? Time travel? This instructional video definitely raises some questions and possibly answers them, but of course we won’t know for sure. Near the end of Season 3, it is revealed that rescuers found an airplane they believed to be the survivor’s flight at the bottom of a deep underwater chasm, with all bodies on board. If this airplane is indeed the correct flight, then how are the survivors still alive? Are they alternate versions of themselves? What the heck?

Anyway, I’m intrigued.