Variety is reporting this morning that Lost Executive Producer Carlton Cuse has signed on to co-write and executive produce a new drama for ABC set during the American Civil War, currently titled Point of Honor.  Joining Cuse will be the writer of Braveheart, Randall Wallace.

After Lost completed its run, Cuse took his family to Washington, D.C. for a little rest and relaxation.  They went to the Lincoln Memorial, and Cuse became intrigued by Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, given during the throes of the Civil War.  That Second Inagural arrived during a hyper-partisan time that is echoed in today's political and economic climate, making the Civil War's issues and themes poignant today and ripe for a retelling.

For his part, Wallace has wanted to write a Civil war drama for quite some time.  Both men are represented by the William Morris Agency, so when Cuse voiced his desire to create a Civil War-set series, the scribes were introduced.  According to Cuse, they clicked immediately, "We found that the ideas we'd both been working on fit together incredibly well."  The men have been keeping their plans close to the vest, but Cuse has said that the story will focus more on fictional characters than historical people, and that, like Lost, the series will have a clear beginning, middle and end from its inception.

Wallace also emphasizes that the series will not hew to a recounting of battle after battle.  "We are dramatists, not historians. We want to let the audience experience what it was like to be in these times and live through these dramatic experiences," Wallace said.

ABC is reportedly allowing the series to develop at its own pace, and not be constrained by the traditional pilot season process.  This is probably a great idea considering the size and scope this series would seem to require.

Personally, I think this sounds like a great idea for a series.  I'm a Civil war buff, and find that era incredibly interesting.  I know Cuse and Wallace say that the focus will be on fictional characters, but I'm already intrigued by who they might cast as historical figures that have to appear at some point, and whether Cuse will dip back into his Lost cast for the new series.  Josh Holloway as General Tecumseh Sherman?  Too bad Jorge Garcia has already found a new gig, because we know he has the facial hair to play General Burnside.

What do you think about the prospects for Point of Honor?  Does this sound like something you will watch?  Any other casting ideas?  One has to figure President Lincoln will make an appearance (perhaps Daniel Day Lewis can guest star).  What about Generals Lee and Grant?  Michael Emerson as Confederate President Jefferson Davis, if his show with Terry O'Quinn falls through?  Please leave your thoughts and comments below, and be sure to keep up with TVOvermind for any further developments on Point of Honor and all of your other TV needs.

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Lost Exec Producer Sets Sights on The Civil War

It's hard to find a piece of television as divisive as the LOST series finale. When the show bowed in May, it left viewers with an ending that was immediately torn apart by critics and endlessly praised by fans. There was a clear line between those who loved the finale and those who hated it, and, in many cases I witnessed on Lostpedia, the negativity was far louder than the positivity.

Now, however, executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are saying that the haters are changing their tune.

"Strangely, what happened over the last couple months is that every single person loves it," Cuse told Entertainment Weekly. "It seems like that's actually been a change."

Lindelof added to this, reaching into his ever appropriate bag of metaphors. "The finale is like a relationship. When it ends, at first you only remember why it ended. But as time goes on, you focus on why you were in it in the first place. I think that is what is starting to happen now."

I personally loved the finale when it aired back in May, and I still love it now. Do I wish it could have been more mind-blowing? Absolutely. My opinion of the sixth season has begun to drastically evolve in the time spent apart; I have deliberately not watched an episode of season six since the finale in order to let my mind stew on it for as long as possible.

Other fans seem to be having the opposite reaction. While I'm growing slightly more cynical, Cuse and Lindelof believe that fans are growing more receptive. That's probably due to the recent DVD release of the series as a whole on DVD and Blu-Ray. Fans getting a chance to watch the entire series are now remembering, as Lindelof said, "why they were in it in the first place."

Will there eventually be an entirely positive or negative consensus about the finale? Of course not. But we're beginning to see the beginning of a great exodus toward the big grey area in the middle, it seems. The history books haven't closed on LOST.

Fan Opinion on LOST Finale Has Changed, Execs Say

Unless you live under a rock – or you're not a LOST fan – you know that the final season of LOST will be premiering on Tuesday, February 2.

In anticipation of this momentous event, ABC has released a whole score of interviews with LOST cast members and producers. They discuss the show, the fans and, most importantly, the final season.

This video features the show's producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, leaving 48 passengers alive and stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific. The survivors include a diverse group of people from different walks of life – a doctor, an escaped fugitive, a con man, an Iraqi interrogator, a married Korean couple and a man formerly confined to a wheelchair who is now inexplicably healed. As the castaways attempt to get home, flashbacks (and forwards) illuminate their troubled lives before and after the crash, when the island they find themselves stranded on begins to slowly reveal its mysterious nature. Faith, reason, destiny and free will all clash as the island offers opportunities for both corruption and redemption… but as to its true purpose? That's the greatest mystery of all.

With only 18 original hours left until the final episode airs, the island's violent shifts through time were ended by Locke when he traveled off-island in an attempt to persuade the Oceanic 6 to return. Back on the island, the survivors' stay in late ‘70s Dharmaville was over when their covers were blown and they were accused of aiding "The Others," and Sayid was gravely wounded during their flight. In addition, Ben killed Jacob at Locke's request. But since Locke's body was found to still be inside the coffin, exactly who – or what – is John Locke? And if Juliet was successful in detonating the hydrogen bomb, was she able to reset time, allowing Oceanic Air 815 to land safely in Los Angeles, or was the island destroyed along with all of its inhabitants?

On the season premiere episode, "LA X" Parts 1 & 2, the aftermath from Juliet's detonation of the hydrogen bomb is revealed.

Soundbites: Damon & Carlton – LOST 6.01 "LA X

With only 28 days remaining until the sixth season of Lost premieres, showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse discuss what they hope to accomplish with the last 18 hours of their sprawling castaway tale. Once the finale airs, they will not be doing interviews to rehash or clarify--both will go off to undisclosed locations for some much-needed (and well-earned) rest.

While they are vague on the storylines for the upcoming season, Cuse and Lindelof talked with The Hollywood Reporter about how they think fans will react to the series conclusion. They know that people have a tendency to judge how satisfying the end of a show is by the last episode alone, but they want people to think about the finale (which the two of them will write and Jack Bender will direct) in the broader picture of what has come before.

When asked what the tone of Season six would be, Cuse replied, "We feel tonally it's most similar to the first season of the show. We're employing a different narrative device, which we feel is creating some emotional and heartfelt stories, and we want the audience to have a change in the final season to remember the entire history of the show. So we have actors coming back like Dominic [Monaghan] and Ian [Somerhalder]. We're hoping to achieve a circularity of the entire journey so the ending is reminiscent of the beginning."

Over the past five years, viewers have seen Lost employ flashbacks, flashforwards, and time-travel shifts, so we will have to wait to see what new narrative device they are talking about, although Cuse jokes that it will be musical numbers. None of the promos leading up to the premiere contain new footage because they want people to dwell on the cliffhanger of "The Incident" and wonder what will happen as a result of Juliet hitting the bomb.

Ultimately, the most important thing that Cuse and Lindelof wanted to do with the final season was to give resolution to the characters. Their story arcs had a beginning and a middle, and they will have an end. Looking back on the work they have done on the show, they have no regrets. Sure, there were some episodes that weren't so great--that weren't well-written or didn't move the story forward--but those episodes brought them to a place where ABC recognized that Lost needed an end date, which revitalized the story.

It was all part of the journey, and now they are both excited for the fans to finally see what they have been moving towards all along. As for future projects, Lindelof remarks, "The idea of going back into the fray Brett Favre-style is not alluring to us." When they do get back to work, Cuse says that he is ready to exercise some different creative muscles, whereas Lindelof says that he wants to rip off other successful shows, perhaps "a show about vampires that work in an ad agency and one is a serial killer."

"Especially if the lead character is also cooking meth," adds Cuse.

Knowing what great storytellers those guys are, there would be plenty of people who would actually watch that. Whatever they do next, Lost has made a definite impact on television, and we will be seeing its legacy for years to come.

'Lost' Producers Share Their Thoughts about the Final Season

Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse are among more than 100 writers protesting the Emmys

150 showrunners have signed a petition protesting against the decision to “time shift” eight categories in this year’s Emmy telecast. Writers including Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy), Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse (Lost), Matthew Wiener (Mad Men), Seth McFarlane (Family Guy) and Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives) are outraged at exec producer Don Mischer’s decision to pre-tape eight categories – two each for producing, writing, directing and acting – in order to streamline the ceremony, due to air September 20^th on CBS.

Yesterday was the first day of the TCA press tour in Pasadena, in which a panel was hosted by CBS president of entertainment Nina Tassler to discuss the Emmy telecast. When quizzed about this controversial decision, Tassler said, “I don’t think we’re being unfair to the creative community.” She went on to stress how the change will be done in a “very respectful way” that will in no way damage the integrity of the Emmys.

Mischer’s plan hopes to shed fifteen minutes off the three-hour telecast. “We are trying to keep the Emmys alive as a television event,” Mischer argued to reporters. He went on to claim research has shown that potential viewers are turned off from the telecast as it features a large amount of shows that “mainstream viewers did not know and were not interested in”.

Although the removed categories have been split, the writers feel particularly hard done by as they only had four categories to begin with. Coming close on the heels of the WGA strike which crippled the 2007-2008 television season, they believe that this is yet another example of the writers being undervalued and underappreciated within the industry. In a letter sent by the Writers’ Guild to all its members, it was argued that this decision “conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry.” They argue that last year’s telecast – hosted by five reality television presenters who clearly had not much prepared by way of script – suffered “because of a lack of scripted material”.

The full protest letter reads:

"We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television's current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science's decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast. This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards."

Nina Tassler, President of CBS

Last year’s WGA strike threatened to tear a massive hole in the television industry. A deal was of course reached, but it appears that the writers still do not believe that they are valued enough within their industry. They argue that writing plays a “primary and seminal role” in television, and to devalue this is “ridiculous and self-defeating”. Do you believe that this is yet another example of the writers being underappreciated? Or should they just get on with it?

Sources:

EW.com, Variety, and THR.com

Showrunners Protest as Categories Cut from Emmy Telecast

In a recent interview with DigitalSpy, LOST overminds Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof responded to the now widespread claim by star Matthew Fox that he knows the ending of the series. Fox has made the claim, or at least insinuated it, several times over the years.  Heck, I even remember other cast members claiming that Fox knows more about the direction of the show than anybody else - apparently, that includes the LOST braintrust of Cuse and Lindelof.

"It’s probably accurate that Matthew knows the end of the show, we’re just hoping he shares it with us before we have to write it." Lindelof said.

"He’s been really reluctant to tell us, and we’re kinda jammed up because we are getting pretty near the point where we need to know what it is so we can actually put it to paper." Cuse added.

"He’s not returning our phone calls, or e-mails, we offered him large cash contributions to the charity of his choice.   He’s been completely unresponsive.  So, Matthew, if you’re watching we are ready to know the ending.  We are emotionally prepared."  Lindelof pleaded.

To say that the duo, fondly known as Darlton, have a tendency to be sarcastic would be a colossal understatement. It is entirely possible, despite what this banter seems to indicate, that Fox actually does know the ending.  Then again, it is equally likely that he doesn't.  The ending of LOST is one of the most pursued nuggets of information in the television world, why risk that anyone would blurt it out at a party or slip it into some grapevine of confidants?

(source: DigitalSpy)

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof: Matthew Fox Doesn't Know 'Jack' About LOST Ending