ZONK FROM THE UNDERBELLY

With the debut of 'Notes From The Underbelly', ABC sneaked in some synergy for its showcase series. When Lauren was trying to find someone with whom to commiserate while she was performing some stunt to ensure pregnancy, nobody would pick up the phone.

They were all too busy watching 'Lost'; even her husband had abandoned her to watch it!

As her friend Cooper told a one-night stand, "I don't answer the phone when 'Lost' is on."

At the first mention of the show, my brain started racing to disable the Zonk. (It's a good thing I was sitting down; that's a lot of energy expended!) Perhaps they were talking about one of the several movies that had the title 'Lost'....

But then they actually showed several scenes from the show featuring Dominic Monaghan and Matthew Fox!

There may be a way to fix this Zonk, but it hinges on how 'Lost' presents its final episode....

'Notes From The Underbelly' is set in the present - California, April of 2007. The most recent episode of 'Lost' took place in December of 2004.

If the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 make it off that island so that the outside world could learn of what happened to them, it could be that a TV series or a mini-series might be based on their harrowing adventures.

The producers would like 'Lost' to run about 100 episodes. (A better total of course would be 108!) At the rate Time passes on this show, it might only be March of 2005 by the time the series ends with their rescue.

So if the castaways do get rescued by early 2005, that's plenty of time to get a TV show off the ground to capitalize on the story.

And we saw the 'Underbelly' characters were not watching the same 'Lost' episode we did in the real world. The episode featured a scene from the 'Lost' episode of "White Rabbit", which aired on ABC in the real world back on October 20th, 2004. It was O'Bviously a first-run episode for them; nobody gives a repeat that kind of rapt attention!

So that time delay would jibe with my theory. This is a different production of 'Lost', looking similar to the real one, and unlike the show we know, theirs is based on actual events. (Which, come to think of it, IS the show we know!)

As for the two actors in the scene, they don't necessarily have to be Matthew Fox and Dominic Monaghan; they could be two fictional actors with an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Jack Shepherd and Charlie Pace, respectively.

Again, this will all depend on how 'Lost' plays out in its final episode......

BCnU!
Toby OB