[Obviously, if you've never seen Lost and are waiting until the entire series is available on DVD, stop reading now]

Let the official countdown begin.  In 74 days, Lost one of TV’s best shows will begin its final season.  Starting with a two-hour season premiere on February 2, 2010 at 9pm E.T., we begin (or hope) to unravel the island’s final mysteries: the smoke monster, time jumping, the statue, the temple, the island’s healing power, why the dead appear to the living, and so many other questions.  It’s all come to this and 74 days seems like an eternity and yet by the time the series finale airs sometime in May 2010, it will feel like it was over too fast.

After its two-hour premiere (which will follow the inevitable yet likely helpful one-hour recap show), Lost will begin airing at its regular time slot of 9-10pm ET on Tuesday nights beginning the following week, February 9th.  So grab your constant, blow the hatch, and get ready for the end.  If you’d like to read the press release ABC sent us, hit the jump:

Just as a heads-up, if you’re not caught up with “Lost” through the end of Season 5, you may want to stop reading.

“Lost” is not in the habit of giving its followers a straight audience.  To paraphrase a good friend of mine, “It’s a little odd you have to use Wikipedia to understand the show.”  Most “Lost” viewers were unable to decipher the heiroglyphics on the poster for “Lost’s” final season, but now their has been revealed and they offer a very cool interpretation.  It’s even cooler when you notice a small detail at the top of the poster.  Hit the jump to move one step closer to the answers we’ve all been waiting for.

Fuck the spirit of competition.  Fuck the world coming together.  Fuck who in the world thinks they’re best at curling.  Fuck all of this because the 2010 Winter Games have broken LOST’s final season into two parts.  The show will resume in January and then have to take a brief hiatus for the goddamn Olympics.

We all know that “Lost” works better uninterrupted.  That’s why they moved it to January in the first place: so it could run straight through until May.  Yes, we had to put up with the occasional clip show but that wasn’t the fault of the Olympics.  Yes, the Olympics where we all gather to chant “USA” and then forget all but the most major of accomplishments.  Unless Jamaica is fielding a bobsled team, I want to see this last season without interruptions.  I hope the Olympics get destroyed by the smoke monster.  Hit the jump to read Co-Executive Producer break the bad news:

“Lost” is about to enter its final season and I cannot wait to see how it ends and to see how the masses feel about that ending.  Will folks love it or will they feel disappointed.  I’m betting on the latter simply because showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have already said there’s no unifying theory of “Lost” and while I imagine they’ll try to answer as many questions as possible but there will still be folks who will want to pull at the loose ends and cry that their entire show has unraveled.  However it ends, we’re very close to the season premiere so check out this new teaser poster after the jump and keep counting down to January/February 2010.  Just make sure to press the button every 108 minutes.

If you’ve been watching the great ABC show “FlashForward” on Thursday nights, you’re going to love the interview I did with David Goyer (”Blade”, “The Dark Knight”), and Brannon Braga (”Star Trek: Voyager”, “Star Trek: Enterprise”, “24″) a few days ago. That’s because these two great writers are responsible for getting the show on the air, have mapped out where the show is headed, and what mysteries are going to be revealed along the way. And if the ratings are any indication, the show is going to be around for awhile.

Now for the best part: While some interviews are brief, my conversation with Goyer and Braga went for about 30 minutes. What that means is we talked about everything - from how “FlashForward” got off the ground to how the show gets made each week. Of course, we also talked about what was up with the Oceanic Airlines billboard in the pilot and how do they deal with the comparisons to “Lost”. And for fans of “24″, Braga talks about what’s coming up in the new season and Goyer talks about “Ghost Rider 2″ and “Magneto”. I’ve done A LOT of interviews for Collider and I think this is one of the best so I really recommend checking it out. And to make it easy, I’ve listed what we talked about above each part. Hit the jump to see and make sure to tune into “FlashForward” on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

I imagine at this point J.J. Abrams could cause a bidding war over a doodle he scribbled in the back of his 8th grade science textbook.  However, Variety reports that as of right now, Abrams has ABC, NBC, and CBS jockeying not for work from his junior high period but a new  TV spec which is an action/adventure spy show.  A kind of “Alias 2.0″, perhaps?  It doesn’t really matter since as a show launcher, Abrams has pushed “Lost” and now “Fringe” into massive genre success even though he isn’t involved on the day-to-day business of either show.  Variety doesn’t mention the depth of Abrams involvement in this new show beyond his spec but I think it’s safe to say that Abrams will keep his attention focused on movies and let another writer/executive producer take on the daily operations.  Of course, the biggest question of all is how many wigs this new spy series will employ.

It looks like “V” is quickly becoming the Jan Brady of ABC’s trio of complex, shows. Going into it’s final season, the elder “Lost” is sure to be receive plenty of attention and, after its blockbuster premiere, “FlashForward” seems assured the same treatment. “V,” however, will have its freshman season interrupted by a three month hiatus. Hit the jump to find out why the resistance will be televised…eventually.

Last night, a kind of amazing thing happened. For the first time in five years, reality TV sensation “Survivor” was not the highest rated show among 18- to 49-year-olds at 8pm. That honor went to the series premiere of David Goyer’s new sci-fi/drama, “FlashForward.” The show rocked the hour with 12.4 million viewers overall, and specifically high ratings in key target demographics. A brief review of the episode and why it’s earned its spot after the jump.

Imagine if the same six or seven movies and their actors, writers, directors, etc. kept getting nominated for Oscars every year.  There would be slight deviations but for the most part, Academy members would just take their ballot from last year, peruse a couple of For Your Consideration ads, maybe read a critic’s list or two as a second source to make sure they weren’t making any selection deemed interesting, and you’d wonder if they just showed a repeat except they somehow replaced Jon Stewart with Hugh Jackman.

“TV’s Finest Night” is always a repeat and you cherish just about anyone who hasn’t won an Emmy in the past no matter the quality of the show.  Yes, “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” are excellent shows but barring a steep decline in quality, I already know who’s going to win next year because the Emmys are a bunch of lazy wimps who don’t watch anything outside the ten shows they already love.  Hit the jump for a list of tonight’s winners and only grumbling since this farce isn’t worth the energy of a blinding rage.

Want to feel wistful and a little sad?  Remember that there’s only one season left of “Lost”.  That should do the trick.  But there’s no time for sadness when we’re busy compiling our final theories on the show’s conclusion while others wonder how disappointed they’ll be by the finale*.  But as we race to the show’s end, pieces are still falling into place.  The latest piece of the puzzle is a new regular character played by the talented Mr. John Hawkes.

Hit the jump to learn a little about his character (you really thought you’d get a full run-down on him?  Have you never read a news item about “Lost”?).

If you’re a fan of FOX’s great show “Fringe”, I’ve got an interview you’re going to love. That’s because a few days ago I went to the post production headquarters of “Fringe” and spoke with Showrunner/Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner about what’s coming up this season and a lot more. While I sometimes say “a lot more” when posting an interview, those words don’t begin to cover this interview as we talked about so much, there is no way to sum it all up in this intro.

But before getting to the interview, if you’re not watching “Fringe”, you’re missing out on a great show. Last season (which was its first), the show got better and better each week and it all came to a head with a hell of a finale. Also, by the end of the season, the show had figured out how to create self contained episodes that also furthered the mythology of “Fringe”. And even when you thought there wasn’t any mythology in an episode, the show always found a way to reward its fans. Trust me, tune in this season and give it a chance. You won’t regret it. Watch the interview after the jump:

A few hours ago I was standing on the red carpet in front of the famous Chinese Theater in Hollywood. I was there to cover a special screening of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While it wasn’t an official premiere, it felt like one, as there were press everywhere and thousands of screaming fans.

Anyway, I managed to get tons of video interviews and the one you’re about to watch is with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. During the interview, Adewale talks about playing Heavy Duty in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”, his desire to play Black Panther, and I ask if he’d be willing to do an episode of “Lost” in its final season. Watch what he said after the jump:

Even though Comic-Con was a week ago, I’ve still got a few interviews left to post. Due to attending some press junkets this past weekend in New York, I missed my self imposed Sunday deadline. But my new goal is to have everything posted by tonight, so get ready for the last of my video interviews. Up first, Michael Emerson (Ben) and Jorge Garcia (Hugo) from “Lost”.

While I didn’t get too much time with either actor, I did manage to get a few questions in on Comic-Con and I asked Jorge about his “Empire Strikes Back” episode from last season. Take a look after the jump:

If you want a taste of the insanity you’ll be drinking down over the next four days, you can get a preview of that at “Preview Night”.  Of course, that’s not what they intend to preview as folks being lining up everywhere to nab the latest swag.  Sometimes they’re not even lining up for anything good (like the folks who waited for a “District 9″ poster and some “Zombieland” hand-sanitizer; one of the booth babes at the Sony booth just handed me the admittedly-cool “District 9″ poster when I walked by); although sometimes they were lining up for great stuff like the “Extract” booth where you could get a chance to appear on the “Extract” DVD and show off what you would look like if you got hit in the balls (I have no idea how women participated in that). [CLARIFICATION:  I was unclear when talking about the “Extract” DVD.  What I meant was that when the film hits DVD after its theatrical release, this material may be on there.  The film opens in theatres on September 4th and its panel will be on Saturday in Hall H from 1:30 to 2:30.

Check out my photos and comments after the jump.  I’ll be posting photos throughout the Con so check back every day (you should be checking back anyway as we’re going to have a ridiculous amount of coverage).

G.I. Joe movie costumes. Iron Man suits. Props from ABC’s Lost. A real costume from Tron. These are just some of the things I shot while walking around preview night at Comic-Con this evening. So if you’re coming to con tomorrow, or just a fan who wishes they were here, hopefully these pictures will give you a taste of what’s going on.

Of course tonight is just the beginning of the convention and over the next few days you can expect a lot more pictures, interviews, and reports of the various panels at Comic-Con 2009. So until then, take a look at some great pictures from the convention floor.

If you spent all of Friday in Hall H, then prepare to spend all day in Ballroom 20 on Saturday because, like it or not, Saturday is essentially TV Day at Comic-Con.  Yes, there’s definitely some stuff going down in Hall H that’s worth your time like “Iron Man 2″, Mike Judge’s “Extract”, and “Zombieland”.  However, all the major TV stuff (with a few exceptions) is going down in Ballroom 20 including “Chuck”, “Futurama”, “Family Guy”, “The Cleveland Show”, “V”, and “Fringe”.

Oh, and for all of you who like stuff that is complete and utter shit, Saturday also features panels for “True Blood”, “Heroes”, and “The Boondock Saints II”.  If there was a panel on punching off your genitals, I would say that would be preferable to any of those.  But it your time and your schedule and I’m sure all those rooms will be packed.  They’ll just be packed with people I hate because they like things I don’t.  That’s how it works.

Hit the jump to check out the full schedule for Saturday where I’ve highlighted events that I think may be popular (even where if I think that popularity is totally undeserved). And if you missed it, click here for Friday and click here for Thursday.