I was on staff in Trailer F on the NBC lot during the casting of "Lost" in the last, sunny days of pre-911 Burbank. The internal NBC cable system allowed us to tune in to the studio while they were rehearsing 'Days of our Lives.' Casting Producer, Sasha Alpert, who cast the Real World for Bunim/Murray, and her protégé, then-twenty-four-year-old Rob LaPlante, who went on to untold megabucks as Casting Producer of The Apprentice, were numbers one and two in the trailer respectively.Also present was Jen Sklar who later went on to cover the Hollywood Party scene for Variety.I was working with the same Alpert/LaPlante team on a show being produced by Ben Affleck's Fortitude called the runner which was to have aired on ABC but was just barely cast when 9-11 happened.Not only were our hopes for Lost completely and instantly buried by the 24-hour news coverage you may recall in the weeks following the tragedy, ABC balked at The Runner because of its, in retrospect, completely tame content, and it never shot or aired.It is difficult now to remember the feeling of those days. Everybody freaked.Basically, every project in Hollywood that had so much as someone being sneaky in it got scrapped.Fear Factor survived...

I just watched this 3-episode series on Foxtel, A1 channel in Australia. I'm not a huge reality TV fan but this compacted series had a lot of merit. It was quite amazing to watch 6 people with basically no funds find their way from nowhere Bolivia to New York in less than a month. It's a pity there was never a follow up. Talk about survivors. These people found ways to earn money and negotiate free travel using their wiles and their wit, and every one had a unique approach depending on their personality. There's a lot to be learned about travelling on the cheap from a show like this. It was also interesting to see parts of South America evidently far far from the tourist trail and have a glimpse into the lives of people you and I are never going to meet.

This NBC reality show premiered a week before the Sept 11th terrorist attacks then was shelved as the nation tried to recover from what happened. When it came back the remaining five episodes were compressed into two. Being a new show it had no fan base and people weren't all that much in the mood for another new reality show having been sadly given a dose of real reality. Thus "Lost" just got....Lost!

When you hear the term 'reality' show, you think about a group of every day people being thrown into extraordinary circumstances so that we can sit back and watch and observe how they handle the situations.Reality series such as BIG BROTHER and MURDER IN SMALL TOWN X pitted a group of good looking people together just so they could sit around and bitch, connive and back-stab each other for a cash prize. Technically, the shows started off well, but viewer interest dwindled along the way as the show loses the plot and you get tired of watching these people just sit around and talk about how much they hate the other person.Reality series such as BOOT CAMP and SURVIVOR nearly hit the mark. Both shows pitted its contestants in harsh environments where they have to use their brains and people skills to survive. But again, you always knew that these people were always safe in the world of 'television programming' should one of them decide that they wouldn't continue with the show for various reasons.LOST presents us with a totally new format. Originally based on the format of the British version of this show, here we have three teams of two people. They are blindfolded in the U.S., flown to an unknown destination and forced to use their own skills to make their way back to the Statue of Liberty, New York.This show is smart. These people were certainly not picked for their physical appearance. Some of the contestants are downright stupid. When they realize that they have been stranded in Mongolia, they have to rely on their own force of judgments to survive. Each contestant has been stripped prior to the show of any personal item that can be deemed as something that may be used to help them get back home (ie. cell phones, money, etc.) Instead, they have been provided with some food, some water, US$10.00 and a satellite phone to contact home base when they have solved a puzzle (the first puzzle being to discover what country they were stranded in). When they solve a puzzle, they are usually rewarded with an incentive, such as the combination code to a locked case in their backpacks that holds more money and a passport.The most amazing thing about this show is that it is ACTUALLY realistic. Watching this show, you can't help but wonder if you're watching an episode of LONELY PLANET on the Discovery Channel. These contestants must make their way back home to the Statue of Liberty, and you're wondering just how they're going to turn US$10.00 into plane fare that will help them win the game, whilst wondering aimlessly around rolling plains in the middle of Mongolia!Although only one episode has been aired thus far, it is amusing watching these contestants use their so-called 'communication skills' to interact with the local people to try and help them get closer to their goal. A team of two males in trying to figure out exactly what country they are in, stumble upon two local men and ask if they're in Russia or Czechoslovakia. While thinking at the time "These guys are idiots!", you can't help but also think, "Wow... just how WILL these guys get home?"The incentive is $100,000.00 each and a recreational vehicle for the winning couple. There is no 'voting off another contestant' or a 'daily food challenge' for these people. This is the Real McCoy!This could very well be the FIRST 'reality' show to hit the air.A big 10 out of 10 for NBC!