lost

it's january 2004. lloyd braun, the top executive at abc back then, came up with an idea and ordered a tv show script based on it. the show would be about a group of people stranded on an island after a plane crash. however, braun wasn't happy with the script, so he reached out to j.j. abrams, the creator of alias at that time, and asked him to write a new pilot script.

initially, abrams thought the concept wasn't suitable for a tv series, but he eventually got to work, convincing the producer that the island couldn't be just any "normal" island. partnering with producer damon lindelof, abrams filmed the pilot episode in a brief 12 weeks.

the result? lost's pilot became the most expensive in tv history, with a budget of 12 million dollars! braun, having greenlit such an expensive project, was fired from abc. as you know, lost turned into one of the greatest commercial and critical successes in tv history. abrams solidified his reputation as television's (and then cinema's) golden boy.

as for braun, the man who first discovered the show, he ended up accepting yahoo's job offer after he asked this question to his kids "whether they'd rather give up their computer or tv" and not surprisingly they said "tv".

and just one last note; the chilling "previously on lost..." voice that opens each episode, though slightly slowed down, was actually braun's voice.