Why the writers were right to strike: 'Lost' and me

Posted 28 weeks 5 days ago by Joel

Now that the writers are back to work, this seems as good a time as any to mention that I've become insanely addicted to "Lost."

And I've become addicted in a way that was impossible or unheard-of about a decade ago: I'm on a marathon binge watching the entire series on ABC's Web site.

That's right: I've never seen "Lost" on TV. Nor "The Wire," nor "The Sopranos," nor "Deadwood," nor "30 Rock." I watched them all and other shows on DVD, online or some mix of both.

Except for a six-month exception a couple of years ago, I haven't had cable in nearly a decade.

Originally, I stayed away from cable for two reasons: I was cheap, and I wanted to do things besides watch TV -- and I was a TV junkie, and I felt a need to break my addiction. But that was before video was so widely available on the Internet. Now I'm back to where I've started.

So in the last 10 days, I've watched the first season-and-a-half of "Lost." I'm kind of not proud of this, especially since I've only read a couple of chapters in the book I'm currently working on.

The writers were right to strike for a share of Web income, then. If there are more people like me -- and I'm not the earliest adopter in the world -- the potential income from online broadcasting might be huge.