I won’t string you along through an entire blog with promises of some kind of priceless nuggets about tonight’s season premiere of Lost.  I got nothing. I was all set to watch previewed episodes on the press site where ABC posts all their screeners and tease and taunt you but, alas, there was nothing there. Some clips. Some previews. Some press clips from the recent TCAs. Well, like you, I’m stuck waiting which makes sense because in this age of immediate news, spoilers and other internet scoops, someone out there would get hold of the episodes and spill the beans and, honestly, who wants that?

So, let me ask this…what is it about Lost, which airs tonight on ABC at 9/8c, that has captivated AND frustrated us after all?  It can’t be merely the mystery about the island, why our Oceanic 815 castaways are there, the black smoke monster, Jacob, Locke, etc. It comes down to two things – the storytelling (duh!) and trust.

Sure, the ride from the first episode to tonight’s sixth season opener hasn’t been an easy one. After one of the best first seasons of any series, Lost stumbled along the way with twists and turns that either didn’t make perfect sense or just didn’t take us where we thought we were going but us diehards learned to trust creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse early on and just went along for the ride.

One other television cult classic comes to mind when thinking of a series where you just had to keep the faith in terms of where things were going. In the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) died and was revived, the series took a dark turn as our spunky heroine went to the mopey place but, through it all, we trusted Joss Whedon to get us out and, of course, he did. We may not have always enjoyed the ride but we never wanted to get off. The same thing can be said for Lost.

In the recent press for the show, Cuse and Lindelof have both said that they are not sure if fans will love where the sixth season takes them but, like any good writers, they themselves have to have faith in their storytelling. We can ponder endlessly about the fact that John Locke (Terry O’Quinn) is really dead and his body is just being used now for not-so-good purposes (if that’s even what’s really happening) or if we have to endure more of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle (sounds like we will) and will Jin and Sun find their happy ending (I have a feeling they will for some reason since these two have been the secondary romantic core of the series)?

Regardless, I’m in. Take me where you want, Cuse and Lindelof. I’m not promising that I won’t bitch and moan if something doesn’t jive with me but even then I’ll probably only do so half as loud because I trust you know how to steer this ship home and give us a great story.

Leave me a comment here and tell me your favorite LOST story from the entire series. Was it Charlie’s death? A bearded Jack screaming to Kate in the present “We have to go back!”? Or the death of Mr. Ecko?  Tell me in the comments below.

Some really terrific DVDs are out in stores or to buy online.  You get a little classic TV in a certain oil soap set in Texas, a period piece with one of the most acclaimed British actresses of our day and what about something for the motor-head in your life?  They are all here…read on…

Want it? Go buy SOUTHLAND today!

Southland: The Complete Season Uncensored Southlanddebuted less than a year ago and already has an interesting history.  Highly touted and brought to the air immediately after the 15-season running ER ended it’s run on NBC. Both Executive Produced by John Wells and Southland featured a first-rate cast including Regina King, Benjamin McKenzie, Michael Kudlitz and Tom Everett Scott. The series focusing on the rookie cop (McKenzie) tries to find his place among his veteran colleagues. Set in LA, the show definitely doesn’t focus on the glamour of the city but, instead, on the gritty side of crime and dark underbelly. The acting is top notch, directing and writing superb and, well, when NBC abruptly dropped the series to make room for Jay Leno’s ill-fated prime time show, many thought the show’s days were numbered. Enter TNT, where all the first season episode are being shown and, if we’re lucky, there will be new episodes produced, as well.

For now, get your first season copy of the crime drama wherever DVDs are sold or you can go directly to www.SouthlandDVD.com to get your copy.

The miniseries that inspired the movie is out on Tuesday

Edge of Darkness (BBC America) No, it’s not the Mel Gibson movie that opened this weekend but, perhaps better if you haven’t forgiven Mr. Gibson for some of his personal controversy over the last few years, it’s the BBC miniseries on which the theatrical film was based. Six fifty-five minute episodes aired in this series when it first aired in 1985. The story revolves around policeman Ronald Craven (Bob Peck) who tries to unravel the murder of his daughter (played by Joanne Whalley) but his investigation takes him deeper into the frightening underbelly of government and corporate cover-ups and nuclear espionage!

The director of this acclaimed series, which did so well when it first aired that it was immediately aired again on British television, is Martin Campbell, who would go on to direct the current remake starring Mel Gibson.  Funny how things come back around, huh?

The DVD release of Edge of Darkness comes to DVD on Tuesday from Warner Bros Home Video.

Cranford and Return to Cranford are two of the most entertaining, fun, touching and enjoyable movies to come out of the BBC in a long time and the recent run of the films on PBS were a huge audience success. The time is 1840 and the town of Cranford and there’s change happening that the townsfolks aren’t sure they’re happy about. A new railway brings fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order, a handsome young doctor and stirs things up not only for his revolutionary medical methods but because the women are also finding their hearts aflutter.

Both movies bring poignant stories to the forefront but none of it would be possible without the stellar cast.  Is anything better than Judi Dench?  Well, Dench stars in both films as Matty Jenkyns along with Michael Gambon as Thomas Holbrook, who is Miss Matty’s admirer, the wonderful Imelda Staunton as Octavia Pole, the town gossip and  Eileen Atkins as Deborah Jenkyns, the moral guardian of the town.

The films can be purchased on DVD separately as well as in a collection with both DVDs together.  You can purchase the DVDs directly at www.bbcamericashop.com.

Need a dose of family drama? SIX Waltons movies are here for you!

The Waltons: The Movie Collection. When I was a kid, television was littered with family dramas like Little House On The Prairie and, of course, The Waltons.In an age of racier, more issue-oriented television as All In The Family, television execs and audiences alike knew that some members of the audience would not be ready to leave the old family value series behind. With The Waltons, the drama was just as intense and relevant but it focused on the growing up pains of the many Walton children as well as parents Olivia (Michael Learned) and John Sr (Ralph Waite). The series won many acting Emmys in its day as well as the coveted Best Drama Series in 1973 so it’s no wonder that the series would run for nine series and spawn half a dozen reunion movies for television.

There are six 2-hour reunion movies on this new DVD collection from Warner Brothers Home Video.  Set in the 1940s are A Wedding On Walton’s Mountain, Mother’s Day On Walton’s Mountain, and A Day For Thanks on Walton’s Mountain. Moving into the 1960s were the movies were A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (with Richard Thomas, who did not appear in some of the earlier movies), A Walton Wedding, and A Walton Easter, which celebrated the holiday as well as 40 years of marriage for John and Olivia.

Each of these films not only brings back a slew of memories of one of the most heartfelt family dramas out there (current dramas like Brothers and Sisters could learn a thing or two from the subtle display of story telling here) andThe Waltons: The Movie Collection is available now at any store or at www.waltons.com.

Vroom! Vroom! And now for something that should rev your motors and shift your pulse into overdrive, the BBC’s hugely successful and long-running series Top Gear has now released seasons11 and 12 on DVD.  Pick both of these editions at www.bbcamerica.com but for more insight, here is a breakdown of each season’s episodes.

Top Gear Season 11: Accessible to everyone and full of stunts, challenges and special segments, Top Gear 11 is irreverent, witty, and passionate. The charisma and enthusiasm of the show’s presenters have made Top Gear a worldwide megabrand attracting a global audience over 500 million in more than 20 countries. This season’s highlights include a car chase in old traffic cop bangers, a race in the French Alps against extreme skiers, a race across Japan with a Nissan car versus public transportation, a cross-country fox hunt with Jeremy as the prey, and a Brits versus German Top Gearchallenge. Of course, this season includes serious car journalism too, with exhaustive road tests of the latest models, man versus machine experiments, weekly power-tests featuring the world’s most exotic supercars, and all the tried-and-tested Top Gear favorites.

Top Gear Season 12: The world’s biggest car show returns with a crash, a bang and an overwhelming smell of burning when Jeremy, Richard and James buy second-hand trucks and turn their hands to being truck drivers – which turns out to be a lot harder than they thought. The boys travel to the USA to take three new generation big-engine “muscle” cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to the heart of Utah; they are challenged to drive from the heart of Switzerland to the North West coast of England on just one tank of fuel; and James travels to the frozen North to discover why the Finns are such good racing drivers. All the tried-and-tested Top Gear favorite segments return too, including the Stig, the news, the “cool wall” and the “Star in the Reasonably Priced Car,” which in this series features chat show legend Michael Parkinson, London Mayor Boris Johnson, musical legend Tom Jones and Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg.