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But it's no time-killing diversion. The Lost Experience is an ambitious experiment in using the Web to maintain fan support for TV shows as broadcast networks struggle to combat constant audience erosion. It also represents an official response to the series' unique cult, especially its rich and rabid online contingent. Throughout the first season, executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse saw fans engaging with the show as if it were a massive multiplayer online game — watercooler theorizing and spoiler hunting as interactive play. ''The traditional notion of TV is that it is contained in a box,'' says Cuse. ''Now, with the multiplicity of tech options, we asked the fundamental question: Why does Lost only have to exist inside that box?''
More epiphanies started popping last year as Lindelof and Cuse were fleshing out Lost's mythological backstory, including the history of the Hanso Foundation and its elusive founder, Alvar Hanso (who's been seen only fleetingly on the show, in a two-second shot during a grainy industrial video). The producers knew they were coming up with more details than they needed. They also knew that fans would love to know what those unnecessary details were, anyway. A eureka moment came in May 2005, when they met with Hyperion to discuss Bad Twin, which they decided to embed with references to Hanso and minor characters like stewardess Cindy (Kimberley Joseph). Says Lindelof: ''That was when we realized we could use ancillary media to tell these elaborate backstories that we can't really tell on the mothership.''
The producers' interest in using unconventional means to expand the scope of Lost dovetailed with ABC's desire to cultivate the show's prickly fanbase through creative, organic means. Laying the groundwork for the Experience were two websites — Oceanic-air.com and a minimalist version of the Hanso Foundation website — that quickly became must-visits for devotees. The Experience officially launched May 2 with a richly revamped Hanso site, now haunted by the subliminal presence Persephone. Other sites followed, including hansocareers.com and the Sprite-linked sublymonal.com. (ABC declined to comment on traffic to the sites.)
Implicit in the Experience is the expectation that Losties will share secrets with each other. (ABC's insidetheexperience.com is the official clue-tracking hub.) But fans may also be pawning off fake clues as official clues, too. We say may, because ABC and the producers aren't commenting on content. However, Benson says he is looking at ways to make the Experience more accessible to casual fans; he hints that more public appearances by Hugh McIntyre and maybe even Alvar Hanso himself could be in the offing. Lest fans become too baffled, ABC is considering using traditional media later this summer to recap the essential plot points.
In the meantime, Benson is trying to keep his mouth shut. He also intends to check out those alleged Experience clues housed over at YouTube.com, including several new Dharma Initiative orientation films that look just like the ones seen on the show. ''Some of this stuff actually looks real,'' he says. Wait — was that a clue?!
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