Comic-Con: 'Lost,' 'Sarah Connor,' 'Chuck,' 'Daisies' showrunners meet on EW's Visionaries panel

Jul 25, 2008, 08:10 PM | by Lynette Rice

Categories: Comic-Con 2008

The executive producers of TV's most buzzed-about genre shows had a message for their obsessive fans at Comic-Con today: Don't expect too much explanation on screen for why they do the things they do.

"Cake is the character in the show while the mythology is the frosting," explained Lost's Carlton Cuse. He was joined on EW's "The Visionaries: TV Showrunners" panel (moderated by EW's Jeff Jensen) by his fellow EP Damon Lindelof (pictured, with Cuse), as well as Chuck's Josh Schwartz, Pushing Daisies' Bryan Fuller, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Josh Friedman. Cuse said that Lost would be stripped of its power if he and Lindelof tried to incorporate more exposition about, say, the origin of the smoke monster — which is why we'll probably never hear Jack and Kate talk in great detail about it. The other producers nodded in agreement. "We need to keep you in awe," Fuller added. "If you talk about it, it's not so much fun."

Since three of the shows represented on the panel — Chuck, Sarah Connor, and Daisies — had abbreviated freshman seasons due to the 100-day writers strike, the producers said that they have specific plans to bring viewers up to speed. "Our first episode back will be like a pilot," Schwartz explained. "You'll see Chuck dangling off the roof and we'll tell the story of how he'll get there." Sarah Connor, meanwhile, will pick up two seconds after where it left off last March — with a big explosion — and this fall's debut episode of Daisies will include three minutes of setup about the pie maker and his mysterious gift to revive the dead.

In other highlights, Cuse admitted that he misses Mr. Eko (the actor who played the role on Lost, the London-based Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, didn't like living in Hawaii). A playful Fuller said he based Daisies around pies rather than cakes because they're "moist." And Friedman said his series is not expected to compliment Terminator: Salvation,the big-screen version of the franchise that's in the works with Christian Bale. "Genre fans understand that there are alternative paths," he said. "I've talked to McG (the director of the upcoming Terminator movie) and we decided: I do mine, he does his, and never the twain shall meet." Friedman also admitted his crew thought he was "nuts" to cast Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Brian Austin Green as a resistance fighter sent to the past by the future John Connor, but the actor "makes him look like a genius."

And finally, a few random thoughts from the panelists. Fuller admitted that he's a huge fan of Project Runway. Lindelof said that his favorite show is Dexter. And Cuse didn't rule out the possibility of someday continuing Lost on the Internet once it has completed its run on ABC. "Maybe we can do the zombie season of Lost," said Cuse.