"VIEWERS WILL BE ABLE TO DROP IN AT ANY TIME AND BE ABLE TO FOLLOW EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON IN A STORY CONTEXT":  From May 2004, Lindelof and Cuse lay out a 20+ page long-term treatment for Lost with the primary purpose of telling the network what it wanted to hear. (Boone as a gradually-off-his-meds schizophrenic would have been interesting, though.)

ALOTT5MA CIRCUMLOCTION DESK:  Although I care almost as little about soccer generally and the MLS in particular as Dan Rydell, I have a number of friends who are big fans, and let me know that there is a raging controversy about the propriety of the chant "you suck, asshole!" at MLS games.  However, when the NYT covers the story, hilarity ensues, as "asshole" is apparently forbidden in the Times style guide (though "suck" apparently is not), with the Times electing to describe the chant as "a more vulgar expression of 'You suck, jerk.'"

SNAKES, WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES?  I suspect folks will want to talk about Prisoners, which is sort of Harlan Coben crossed with Terrence Malick, and I have a question, but to even ask it is so spoilery that it has to be after the break.

AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO KEEP YOU SAFE:  Hey, Breaking Bad fans?  Don't forget about Huell.

JUST A STEEL TOWN GIRL ON A SATURDAY NIGHT, LOOKIN' FOR THE FIGHT OF HER LIFE:  Join hands and hearts and voices, voices hearts and hands as we review Vulture's Amanda Dobbins' attempt to rank the Top 24 Dance Movies of the Modern (starting with Saturday Night Fever) era, based on Danciness.

I'LL TAKE "BAD IDEAS FOR BIOPICS ABOUT UNDERAPPRECIATED ICONS FOR $400," ALEX:  One can be a fan of Jesse L. Martin as well as the late Marvin Gaye without wanting to see the former as the latter in an upcoming film about the latter (even if, unlike the Andre 3000/Hendrix film, they haven't been Jackie Jormp-Jomped on the music rights) (and it features Cool Lester Smooth as his producer yelling "I don't work for you! I work for the label!") (and Martin seems to have just taken every piece of headwear which was left on the Rent set for this), just as one can look forward to Bill Zehme's long-awaited biography on Johnny Carson while dreading a planned NBC miniseries on his life and career.  (Who could possibly star?)

THE LUXURIANT, FISH-CATCHING BEARDS OF THE BOSTON RED SOX:  The WSJ's Jason Gay thinks that despite the start of the NFL season, you should still be paying attention to baseball:

You could look at this "enhanced" wild card in a couple of ways. You could be a fuddy-duddy and groan about the dilution of baseball's fussy, old-school postseason, and then complain about your oatmeal and the line at the pharmacy and the lack of Walter Matthau movies on cable. Or: You could view baseball not as a museum piece but a living thing—and see the re-evaluation of the playoffs as a way to goose a beloved sport. 

And this season, fruitfully, you have craziness. At least in the American League—so, half-craziness. The National League race is sort of a slumber party—St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh look poised to hoard the Central title and the two wild-card slots, unless Washington finds a miracle (even here, you see the influence of the double-wild-card system; that Central title looks massive). But in the AL, it's madness. The following teams are still in the mix: Texas, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Baltimore, the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees…and, if I'm not mistaken, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Vancouver Grizzlies, Biscuit, my neighbor's orange tabby cat…and I think the Alabama Crimson Tide.