As we head into a bit of a lull before the big mid-season premieres, the mind of this toobaholic began to wander into strange and bizarre territory.  As two of my favorite shows Lost and Mad Men are both on hiatus at the moment, I miss being mesmerized every Sunday night by Don Drapers’ uncomparable slickness as he continually figures out a way to “sell a hooker some p****,” as much as I miss watching Jack Shepards’ unparalelled arrogance get the Losties deeper and deeper into a pile of Dharma dung.  And so I began to wonder, what would happen if Don Draper were to take one of those unanncounced vacays of his and wound up on the island?  It would probably go down something like this…

- Our newest Lostie, stands up, brushes the sand off his Zegna suit and lights a cigarette, as Jack, Kate, Locke, Sawyer and the rest of the rag-tag gang look on in disbelief, suddenly incredibly self-conscious about their greasy locks and the tattered rags they’ve been wearing for the past 90 days or so.  Don ignores Hurley’s frantic yelling that he’s not on the manifest, tells Claire to cancel the rest of his appointments for the day, and walks off with Kate, who finds herself following him despite herself, presumably to the Swan Hatch.

- Desmond and Don are sitting in front a fire on the beach, sharing a bottle of whiskey. Desmond is perplexed and equally creeped out by Don’s persistant questions regarding why he prefers MacCutheon’s brand of Whiskey.

- Jack and Locke are having another one of their regularly scheduled power struggles.  Locke starts rambling about the island’s magical properties, only to be interuppted by Jack who launches into another one of his “live together, die alone” monologues. Don stands up, lights a cigarette and says he’s sticking with Jack, but insists he won’t be signing any contracts.

- Running low on cigarettes, Don has wisely struck up a friendship of necessity with Sawyer.  But after catching Kate walking out of Don’s swinging New Otherton bachelor pad one morning, Sawyer sucker punches our Mad Man as he walks across the quad for some of Locke’s special Dharma oatmeal with island spices.  Don, reels for a moment from the impact, calmly wipes the blood out from under his nose, and lights his last cigarette.  As he mulls over his new conundrum of where to aquire smokes, the pulse of “Jaters” and “Skaters” everywhere quickens, as a new subset of “Daters” begins to mobilize on Lost fan sites.

- Jack and the gang are in a state of apprehensive joy as they ready themselves for the arrival of the Freighter folk to whisk them back to civilization.  In preparation for his return to the advertising world, Don is drafting his great plan to save Oceanic…”Fly Oceaninc…You Never Know Where We’ll Take You!…..Oceanic, If Your Plane Crashes, We’ll Buy You a House!…”

http://tvblog.ugo.com/index.php/tvblog/more/what_ifdon_draper_was_on_lost

Even though LOST didn’t get any Golden Globe Noms today, they did get one from the Producers Guild of America Awards.   

BEST DRAMA SERIES

• Boston Legal
• Damages
• Dexter
• Lost
• Mad Men

E! Online

Saturday, January 17, 2009
2:00 pm to 6:00 pm ET
New York

The Paley Center is taking a look at the cultural phenomenon that is Lost on a Lost-filled Saturday in January, before the season five series premiere.

2:00 to 4:00 pm: Screening of the Paley Center online poll of favorite episodes. Our curators have chosen their favorite 30; now you vote for yours (write-in ballots accepted), and the two with the most votes will be screened. Vote Now!
4:00 to 6:00 p.m.: Lost Season 5 Premiere: A Special Preview and Discussion
Courtesy of ABC, we will screen a special 30-minute preview of the season five premiere, followed by discussion. Panelists to be announced.

Tickets for the Lost Saturday full-day pass are free, but you must RSVP to attend.

PLUS:
Free Lost Marathon Screenings in January
January 8 to February 1, 2009
The Steven Spielberg Gallery is the site for a continuous showing of episodes from the last four seasons in a Lost environment, with art from Entertainment Weekly, behind-the-scenes interviews from EW’s Jeff Jensen, and clips from Lost at PaleyFest 2005.

Admission to this exhibit is free.

The Paley Center has hosted panels for LOST previously.

Paley Center

DRAMA
“Dexter” – Written by Scott Buck, Daniel Cerone, Charles H. Eglee, Adam E. Fiero, Lauren Gussis, Clyde Phillips, Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, Tim Schlattmann; Showtime
“Friday Night Lights” - Written by Bridget Carpenter, Kerry Ehrin, Brent Fletcher, Jason Gavin, Carter Harris, Elizabeth Heldens, David Hudgins, Jason Katims, Patrick Massett, Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, John Zinman; NBC
“Lost” – Written by Carlton Cuse, Drew Goddard, Adam Horowitz, Christina M. Kim, Edward Kitsis, Damon L. Lindelof, Greggory Nations, Kyle Pennington, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Brian K. Vaughan; ABC
“Mad Men” – Written by Lisa Albert, Jane Anderson, Rick Cleveland, David Isaacs, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Marti Noxon, Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner; AMC
“The Wire” – Written by Ed Burns, Chris Collins, David Mills, David Simon, William F. Zorzi, Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos; HBO

Variety

Time Magazine came out with their annual Top 10 lists for the year of 2008.  “The Constant” was named the #1 episode of 2008, while LOST was named the # 7 show of 2008. 

1. Lost, “The Constant: At its best, Lost rips your heart out while it ties your brain in a knot. This season 4 episode did both expertly. Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) has been experiencing premonitions of the future since becoming “unstuck in time” (a la Slaughterhouse Five) earlier in the series. It turns out that he’s been time-traveling, or rather, his mind has: his consciousness is journeying between present, future and past. (It makes sense when you watch, trust me.) The unfortunate side effects of this condition are madness and death, avoidable only by focusing on a “constant”: a person or thing present in each time one’s consciousness visits. Desmond’s constant, he learns, is Penny (Sonya Walger), the girlfriend he left behind when he was stranded on Lost’s mysterious island. His journey into his own past to find her in the present is tear-jerking and mind-blowing.
(ABC)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863367,00.html

7. Lost

Season 4 of Lost audaciously told us up front where it was going to end: with the Oceanic 6 getting off the mysterious Island and returning to civilization (as revealed at the end of season 3). What we didn’t know was how and when — when being the big question, on a series that complicated its time-and-space-travel story deliciously. (How does a Frozen Donkey Wheel work, anyway?) Having spent the first half of the series flashing back to the characters’ pre-island lives, season 4 started flashing forward, revealing tantalizing glimpses of the post-Island future that we’re still trying to piece together. At season’s end, Jack learned that the Oceanic 6’s escape had disastrous consequences, and he vowed to return. We can’t wait to get back either.
(ABC)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863395_1863402,00.html