Creators of Lost Had To Lie To ABC Executives To Have The Show Made

Lost has been one of the most popular shows for quite some time now. But the secret of its success is no secret at all.

The creators just wanted to go beyond anything that had come before and blow their fans' minds. And that's always the way to go when you're creating something fresh.

The thing that makes Lost different from most shows at the time is actually the serialization of the show. It was not the first, but certainly the most prominent show to use this trick.

Before that, the most common way to create a show was the one-story-one-episode approach.

But as it turns out, the part of the show that now seems like the most definable thing about it wasn't always on the table, or even part of the plan.

When the concept for Lost was picked up, Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams had to write the first episode and make sure the show was not just another serialized story on television.

Which, apparently, the ABC executives were pretty tired of. So they asked the creators to make a show where each episode would be a complete story.

The creators agreed. Then the executives also asked that there not be a specific genre for the show.

And the showrunners promised that their new show would go from police procedural to medical drama to romantic drama from season to season.

Well, those who have watched the iconic show know for sure that's not exactly what the audience gets in the end...

The showrunners also promised nothing unexplained in the sci-fi series. But, well, we got what we got. There was a lot in the show that had no real scientific explanation.

So none of the creators' promises to ABC were true, but those lies made sure the show got its place on air.

Well, after Lost became a smash hit, the executives overlooked all the lies the showrunners had told them in the first place and gave them freedom to create.

After all, when you have a huge hit like Lost, you trust the people who created it to know how to keep it going.