The polar bear sealed the deal. Plenty of entertainers would have stranded a cast on a desert island (Sherwood Schwartz and Mark Burnett, for starters). Others would have had the plane-crash survivors discover that the island contained menacing secrets. But only creators J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof would have had the castaways attacked, in the middle of a tropical jungle, by a polar bear. That kind of so-bizarre-you-have-to-buy-it twist hooked us on Lost; what keeps us were the equally surprising revelations of its characters' backstories. (Terry O'Quinn, in particular, shines as a paraplegic office drone whose ability to walk, along with his self-respect, is miraculously restored in the crash.) A gritty survival story plus a sci-fi mystery plus a character drama plus a story of a society starting from scratch Lost is a teetering Dagwood sandwich of pop culture genres and references, and every week, it leaves you hungry for more.
Come fly with us, and Leo, through the best (and worst) of 2004. Tops in the cinema this year include Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Elsewhere, Deadwood was good TV, and a Strange tale fascinated readers.