It must seem a little as though I just spend my time mincing from one glamorous location to the next — using television as some sort of thinly-veiled guise for a jet-set lifestyle.
Hmm… well, news that I have just been in Monte Carlo for the TV Festival probably isn’t really going to help my case with the cynics among you, but the truth is; these events bring in a host of international stars and are ideal for getting the gossip.
First up, Lost star Jorge Garcia, who plays the loveable but sizeable Hurley, stopped by for a chat. For those of you that have maintained a loyal interest in the “mystery drama”, it looks like things are going to get darker for the behemoth. He tells me: “I’m a little worried about him. You know he’s very alone out there. It’s is a dangerous island things are probably going to take a turn for the worse.” Of course at this stage Garcia has no real idea if the show’s producers intend to kill him off during the next run, but rather bizarrely adds, “If I have to die in the show – I think I’d like to be sucked down the hole by the weird black smoke monster.”
But talk of his death may all be a bit premature as the star reveals that the show’s producers have a story arc that lasts for, wait for it, six seasons. SIX. Yeesh. That’s longer than many marriages.
Now I know this is the form for potentially lucrative shows, as TV folk are looking for the next Friends or Sex and the City. The lovely Ashley Jensen, who bagged yet another accolade from the Awards ceremony, explains to me that across the pond it is now almost standard procedure to talk that kind of timescale — she too could be contracted for potentially six or seven seasons if her next project, US comedy Betty the Ugly, is a success.
From what I understand, the end of Lost has been decided already, but how long they drag out the middle bit depends entirely on the ratings. From my view this approach could work if it was a sitcom or comedy drama but surely six years [or four years from now] is just too long for audiences to stay interested in that bloody island. I’m bored already.
All the gossip from my trip is in this week’s edition of The Stage.
