You’ll have to excuse me, but I am just now beginning to watch television. Long dismissed as the dumb-box I always thought it was (and most likely still is), I filled the last four years of my life at college doing college things and reading too many books.

Flash-forward to now, where I am a “Lost” fanatic.

Thanks to ABC’s persistence and my newfound free time, I have successfully watched the entire catalog of “Lost” from February to March. How did I accomplish the feat and still hold down a full-time job? Easy, I used the surging power of the Internet.

If you travel to ABC’s Web site and click on the bright red button link “full episodes,” you will find the haven I speak of. Bulleted down the left hand side of the page, you will see ABC’s shows littering the contents. And center stage in that deluge of programming stands, like a monolith of creativity, “Lost.” Not only are all of the episodes from Season One up to the “in-progress” Season Four available for your viewing, they are available in HD.

Other major network channels (NBC, CBS, etc) are stepping up their online programming as well, but none of them have been able to rival ABC’s streaming HD format. With limited commercials (around four 30-second spots per episode) I was able to sit back and watch episode after episode of high audio and video quality while the castaways dealt with God knows what.

Now that you know the “what,” I guess it’s time to know the why, the how, and probably the what the f***? Those are fair questions so I will just let my psyche drip over the next few paragraphs and I plan to answer them.

From February until now, I’ve been in my very own “Lost” coma. Sure I’ve worked five days a week, read, and socialized, but my mind has been warped around the enigma that is “Lost” and has slipped in and out of consciousness. Every day I would ingest two-three episodes like a rogue star whizzing out of control. I spent a handful of hours before sleep wrapped up in questions like: what is the black smoke, why does the island whisper to its occupants and why isn’t Hurley losing any weight? I mean, holy hell, the man is on a tropical island in the Pacific-freakin’-Ocean!

I functioned normally during the daylight hours. I was full of the same spirit that I usually am and even had various significant things happen during the time between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. But when the moon rose high and I crept into bed with my laptop, I devoted myself to that show. I became an immobile husk of thought and cliffhangers; like trapped in Kafka’s metamorphosis, the nighttime hours were full of change.

Those were dark yet intriguing days, but I’m alive and here to tell you that you can do the same thing. I know there are countless people out there that regret not catching on to a show at its inception and believe they may never have the chance. Well I am living proof that this obstacle can be overcome. Here’s what you need to do.

Plan. You can’t just hop on the “Lost” train without a plan to get off. “Lost” is designed, brilliantly, to keep you coming back for more. I found it more than acceptable to sit down and watch 4 episodes at a time, look up at the clock, and smack myself because all of a sudden it was one in the morning. Instead, establish a limit, no matter how amazing the end of an episode is.

Execute. You will, believe it or not, eventually come to the end and be officially caught up to real time. If my calculations are correct, you have around 55-60 hours you need to watch before the next new episode, April 24.

Enjoy. The great thing about “Lost” is that it’s the perfect show to attempt this kind of catching up on. Each episode is chalk full of bits and pieces of an elaborate story, so when you have the opportunity to watch them back to back you have an unbelievable advantage on the viewer that had to wait a week in between showings. You develop your own theories, see the characters grow and become more dynamic, and allow yourself to be completely taken with differing yet conjoining story arcs. So, as a fellow episode avalanche newcomer, I welcome you to your quest and just remember, when you’re tuning in April 24 for your first real time episode, I’m right there with you.

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Contact Ben at bspanner@graffitiwv.com