‘Shield’ Creator: ‘Lost’ Bosses Should Be ‘Very Happy’ With Finale

by Matt Webb Mitovich
May 26th, 2010 2:29 PM
Shawn Ryan, whose ‘The Shield‘ has often been held up this week as a gold standard for series finales, tells Fancast that ‘Lost’s showrunners “should be very, very happy” with the way they wrapped up their show.

“I have a feeling that Carlton [Cuse] and Damon [Lindelof] were ultimately pleased with what they did,” Ryan says. “And that’s the important thing.”

Sunday’s two-and-a-half hour ‘Lost’ finale rankled some fans by revealing that the “sideways” reality that shared the stage this season was a pre-afterlife “holding area” and not an existence that actually happened.

Also, numerous mythological questions were left unresolved. As such, some viewers felt cheated – if not pretty darn confused.

“You really and truly cannot please everyone,” Ryan notes. “A lot of critics really liked the ‘Shield’ finale, but I also read plenty of people online who wanted something different, or something more.”

We’d hate to spoil ‘The Shield’ for anyone who might dive into that complete series DVD set, but in a nutshell its finale delivered heaps of comeuppance to those who deserved it. Some fans, though, took issue with the fate assigned Michael Chiklis’ Vic Mackey.

Ryan makes this observation: “As finales go, time changes perspective, so just because [the way 'Lost' ended] might be polarizing now, it doesn’t mean that a year from now the majority might fall to one side or the other.”

Ryan also stresses perspective when considering the source of critiques. Those born of fan blogs versus professional critics “tend to offer extreme points of view that do a lot of shouting and don’t necessarily represent the vast majority,” he points out. “Hopefully [Cuse and Lindelof] aren’t spending all of their days reading them, good or bad.”

Ryan also shares his opinion on series finales for the ‘Lost’ Season 6 DVD set coming out August 24.

As for ‘The Shield’ returning to the spotlight this week in the wake of ‘Lost,’ ‘24′ and ‘Law & Order’ signing off, Ryan – who executive-produced Season 2 of Fox’s ‘Lie To Me,’ returning June 7 – says, “That show is very near and dear to me, so anything that brings it back into the public consciousness is great.”

Shawn Ryan has a new drama premiering on Fox during the 2010-11 TV season, the Chicago-based cop drama ‘Ride-Along.’
http://www.fancast.com/blogs/2010/tv-news/the-shield-creator-lost-bosses-should-be-very-happy-with-finale/