Heroes is even slower. Mostly because it's a little more non-linear and meandering. The pilot doesn't so much have a plot as a collection of character studies.

The Lost teaser was pretty fast-paced, though I think the advance footage of the plane's tail flying off probably roped in several million viewers.

What Matt said. In the first 10 minutes of Lost, you have a plane crash(ish), tail coming off a plane, loads of pretty pretty people, a pretty pretty island, mystery... Of course, I'm not saying Lost is fast paced, but when you compare it to Heroes, you have 10 minutes of people you don't care about talking in darkly lit locations across places in the world you probably don't care about.

I'm hoping the opening 5 minutes oner in Drive has a load of pretty people, looks pretty and generally throws a lot at you.

And why compare Lost to Heroes? I've no idea. I suppose every genre show wants to be a big as hit as Lost was.

I'm not saying Heroes is bad. Too early to judge. It reminded me a bit of 'Serenity' (episode), in that it slowly opens up the characters - which was both a good thing and a bad thing.

Also, I've just found out Alexis is coming to Liverpool Playhouse theatre in September, which is 10 minutes from my digs. I'm totally going. I need a Tshirt with something Minear related on it to make him chuckle and run away.

In the first 10 minutes of Lost, you have a plane crash(ish), tail coming off a plane,

No, you don't. You have a guy waking up in the jungle, running out to see the aftermath of a plane crash, and then a jet engine explodes and it's funny. That's the teaser. It was a good teaser. But I was still filled with ennui by the end of the hour.

I'm just very skeptical that Lost was a hit because of its pacing.

I remember the last minute of the Lost pilot being the only thing that made me want to watch the show again. Then again, I still don't really watch it.

I think the pacing of the pilot was part of the reason why it hooked an audience. Of course, the pacing after the pilot is why it's loosing that audience.

The other reasons, of course, are the cast pretty, it's reasonably different to what else is out there, and it has "WTF!Homer Foot" moments which make it talk-about TV.

Now I'm trying to remember the last minute of the pilot and can't.

I watched for a while, in the beginning, then I got bored and moved on.

Now I'm trying to remember the last minute of the pilot and can't.

I think that was when they heard Danielle's message and Charlie said, "Guys...where are we?"

I might be thinking of the second part of the pilot, but what I'm thinking of is whats-her-face Kate counting, and then the title comes up.