La Brea's Pilot Episode Gave Fans Lost Flashbacks

If there is one thing that encourages fans to flashback to "Lost," it's a jungle adventure sci-fi show. When the ABC series premiered in 2004, it took the world by storm. With over a dozen principal characters with fully developed backstories, "Lost" was a twisty, thrilling, character-driven series that people are still binging to this day. Now after over a decade since it's been off the air, NBC is trying its hand at its own jungle-based show full of mystery. "La Brea" follows the events of a massive sinkhole that opens in Los Angeles. On one side is the world as we know it, but the bottom of the sinkhole leads to a universe seemingly set in prehistoric times — and survival is the name of the game. Fans on Reddit couldn't help but compare the pilot of the series to one of the biggest cultural phenomena television has ever seen.

"It's like Watching the first Ep of Lost again," u/thinkpad1 posted. "The Doctor is Jack, Eve is Kate, the guy with the gun is Charlie, the annoying cop is Sawyer, the guy with the vape is Hurley, the dad is Desmond with the visions." U/garbonzo607 agreed that there were similarities, writing "Gotta have those character archetypes." But more than that, fans had a logical reason why the series may seem so self-referential to the "Lost" timeline.

With media streaming at its current rate, it is not an easy task to create fresh ideas. Though "Lost" does not take place in a prehistoric era, there is time travel, visions, and an overarching mystery begging to be solved. This didn't go over the head of savvy viewers. One Redditor was quick to point out the "Lost" reference in the NBC pilot.

"[I]t's quite clear this is a Lost-influenced show from the start," u/anmarizer reasoned. "Though, they wanted to state that out of the way by actually saying 'Maybe we're in an episode of Lost' just to get our minds off the idea and focus on what's new that they've got to offer." Not only is this an intelligent reading of the series, but it also happens to be 100% true. In an interview with Collider, executive producer David Applebaum added to this idea.

"The comparisons to 'Lost' at this point are inevitable, and it was kind of a tongue-in-cheek way of going right at it," Applebaum acknowledged. "And it's true. I love 'Lost.' It's a fantastic show, and there are comparisons: It's about a diverse group of survivors who are trying to figure out how to get by, and figure out where they are and how they're going to get home." However, the producer also stressed that they wanted "La Brea" to differentiate itself from its predecessor with character and events. The addition of humor was a way to hit the ground running.