- The Lost community is probably the biggest factor. Lost on its own is a great show, but coupled with a vibrant, conversational, widespread, and often hilarious community, it's so mcuh better. The past year's been so quiet without constant chatter over Lost and 24. I don't think there will ever be another show so connected over by as large a fanbase from the beginning it airs to the time it ends. The ARGs were a lot of fun (THE FUNFUPHKOOFEN FOUNDATION! Parsley Donuts! Rachel Blake *swoon*! DJ DAN, SHUTTING DOWN THE MAN!), and the Television: Boradcast TV board was probably my favorite place to go for comedy. Wrestling With Angels, Did anybody notice the ocean?, Triple Triad's asian jokes, Lapidus, those Lost comics (credit to AlecTrevelyan006 for the funniest one ever! j/k guyz). God, I could just spend my whole day re-reading old fads and running gags and be in heaven. If I could find an archive, this entire write-up would just be a link to those comics. Nothing else required.
Lost did plenty of other things right, but those are the top four and they stand strong. Lost's very imperfect, but it's still easily one of the best shows created. A lot of imitators lost out on what made Lost great initially: the character. Invasion, The Event, FlashForward, and so many others focused on the setting and things like the monster and the hatch instead of why the characters are who they are. It's why Heroes started off so strongly: the people were people doing people things except they also happened to have powers and a destiny. Without love, it shouldn't be seen. Lost is just an incredible experience, and in spite of its devastating mishaps, should be something for everyone to see.
P.S.
Choice Song has been the toughest one in a long time, but that's only because I haven't done write-ups in a long time. Supernatural, Craig Ferguson, ER, Chuck, DBZ, and lots of others before that were tough, but Lost might have an edge because I can't think of any music I wouldn't want to put in the spot. Lost's music and sound is another very strong point in its favor. Between Michael Giacchino's orchestral soundtracks to the use of regular music during montages or flahsbacks, and the waves crashing on the beach to Monster chatter, the sound is captivating. The visuals of Hawaii are too. It's a glorious doorway into sight and sound. I ultimately picked the episode three montage because it shows off the characters, the music, and how the mood is greatly affected by sound and picture.