There are few people in Hollywood busier than J.J. Abrams, who constantly seems to be juggling a handful of projects in both film and television, whether as a producer, a writer or a director, or some combination of the three. Currently, he is an executive producer on the Fox drama Fringe, which moves to Friday nights on January 21^st. He is also developing Alcatraz, Person of Interest, Odd Jobs and Pulp for various networks. And, he is getting ready to make the decision about whether or not to direct the sequel to the hugely successful feature film re-imagining of Star Trek.

While at the party to celebrate the Fox/FX portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, J.J. Abrams talked about his thoughts on the Lost finale, how he feels about the move to Friday nights for Fringe, why he thinks Undercovers failed, and how excited he is to get started on the pilot for Alcatraz on January 19^th. He also said that audiences should see a trailer for Super 8 in March, and that he hopes to have made his decision about whether to return to the director’s chair for Star Trek 2 by then. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

The numbers may be cursed, but “4 8 15 16 23 42″ can apparently still net you some lottery money.  Fans of Lost know the sequence of numbers as the ones Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Jorge Garcia) used to play the lotto and won $156 million with.  Unfortunately, a string of unfortunate incidents began to follow Hurley as a result with the numbers almost seeming to taunt him.  But Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof tweets that 9,078 Lost nerds chose to play the numbers in the New York Mega Millions lottery and throw caution to the wind.  Those lucky (?) folks ended up winning $150 as a result as last night’s numbers were 4-8-15-25-47 with a mega ball of 42.  I imagine this means the winners will be beset with minor inconveniences like not being able to find their keys or being slightly late to get McDonald’s breakfast.  However, I would recommend the winners avoid air travel for at least the next few weeks. [Image above via The Daily What]

A couple of cool t-shirts are on sale today and today only.  First up from Teefury is a cute Lost t-shirt called “Rockem Sockem Candidates”  [Spoilers if you haven't seen Lost] It’s a little sad but also slightly true to diminish Jack and Locke to minor pawns in Jacob and The Man in Black’s game.  But while chess may be more sophisticated, the pieces rarely rock or sock.

The other shirt comes from RIPT Apparel and is a nice sketch of everyone’s favorite pederast, The Jesus from The Big Lebowski.  If you’re the kind of person that can pull of wearing purple, then you’ll want to wear this shirt down to the bowling alley and fuck people in the ass (figuratively speaking).  Hit the jump to check out both shirts.

At the Los Angeles press junket for TRON: Legacy, I got to interview screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.  Since I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time with them, I decided to try and have some fun with my questions.  Also, since we ran a more in depth interview with Kitsis and Horowitz a few weeks back, I didn’t want to ask the same things.

Anyway, during the interview they talked about how they pitched the story to the studio, writing the light cycle battle, what props they got to take home, what’s it like for them with the way Disney is pushing the movie at Disneyland, what’s the one thing they’re really proud of in TRON: Legacy, their upcoming TV project, and more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview:

If anyone’s been feeling a bit inhuman lately and needs to show a little emotion, I dare you to watch this clip and say you felt nothing. Back in June we all got pretty teary over Toy Story 3, most notably the incinerator scene, and now thanks to YouTube we can experience it again. This time however, the clip features some of Michael Giacchino’s finest work from the score of Lost, and it’s impossible to not be blown away by it.

I’ll reserve my words for after the clip, so grab some Kleenex, hit the jump, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The other day I had the opportunity to watch the twenty minutes of “Tron Night” footage and then participate in a round table interview with the writers of Tron: Legacy, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Tron: Legacy, the sequel to the cult classic Tron, follows Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) as he searches for his missing father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges – protagonist of the first film) into the depths of a digital computer world. What stuck out most about the twenty minutes of footage shown wasn’t the oft talked about dazzling action scenes, of which you can see glimpses of in the trailer and the recently released short clip, but rather the focus on character and relationships. Often times in big budget tent-pole films, the set pieces take precedence over the characters within them. This does not appear to be true of Tron: Legacy. It is revealing that the climax of the Tron Night footage was not something blowing up or people fighting one another or a razzle dazzle chase scene but instead a reunion between father and son. It is this emotional core at the heart of the Tron sequel that gives me hope as to its possible merit.

During the interview, scribes Kitsis and Horowitz, best known for their work on the television show Lost, expanded on the emotional core at the heart of Tron: Legacy as well as discussed how they pitched the film to Jeff Bridges, what Tron and The Wizard of Oz have in common and the potential for a Tron 3.0 — among many other topics of conversation. Hit the jump to check out the interview.

Just a few hours ago I was able to talk to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on the red carpet at the 2010 Scream Awards in Hollywood.  If I’d known I was going to speak to the creators of Lost tonight, I would have prepared a number of questions.  However, it was only a moment before they walked up to me that I realized I’d actually get time with them. Saying that, I still worked in a number of things I think you’ll like:

• Was the Lost Complete Series Blu-ray box set the final release of Lost or do they have more material that could make it into another box set
• Would they be willing to work on the new Michael Emerson/Terry O’Quinn TV project
• Is it too soon to get them working together on another TV show
• I also asked Lindelof what is it like to have so many people talking about his Alien prequel script and how is Star Trek 2 coming along

Hit the jump for the interview.  It’s time indexed so you can watch the parts that interest you:

The hard-hitting and emotional NBC drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been known to have a great line-up of guest stars, and its Season 12 premiere is no exception. When a foster couple, played by Joan Cusack and Peter Strauss, call Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Eliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) to the scene of the crime when their 10-year-old adopted daughter disappears, it soon comes to light that she ran away to meet with a man named Erik Weber (Henry Ian Cusick), whom she met on the internet. Suspected of ulterior motives regarding the girl, Weber denies any wrongdoing, quickly becomes attracted to Detective Benson and even tries to help them out on a case.

To promote his guest-starring arc on the long-running series, Lost star Henry Ian Cusick talked about wanting to distance himself from Desmond, the challenges of playing this role and working with such a talented team of people. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

We’ve heard a lot about dirty shenanigans in the financial sector over the last few years, but if you really want to know about a high-risk investment that hardly ever pays off, forget about the Ponzi scheme — look no further than the serialized television drama.

Much as we all love to snigger at the stereotype of the housewife or credulous college student weeping over her soap opera, there are good reasons that shows like General Hospital have lasted for decades, and chief among them is the unique pleasure of following characters and storylines over an extended period of time. The networks dress it up in different outfits each fall, but it’s that same enduring promise that lures viewers into new serialized series every year, and if you’re any kind of television fan, you’re well acquainted with the pain of giving yourself over to a show’s arc, only to watch it land with a thud — or worse, find that the show’s been canceled before it can reach a satisfying conclusion. (This writer is still smarting over the way NBC pulled the plug on Journeyman under cover of the writer’s strike.) Read more about Lost: The Complete Collection after the jump:

Fiercely devoted British Lost fans are going to have the opportunity to watch all 121 episodes over the course of three days.  Leicester Square’s Prince Charles Cinema [via /Film] are going to screen all six seasons in a three-day marathon.  Beginning September 13th at 10am, the cinema will air every episode back-to-back although there will be short breaks and paramedics will be on standby.  However, Peter at /Film makes the important observation that since the average episode runs 42 minutes, the marathon would last closer to four days, so make sure to account for that when you call in really, really sick.  The first 280 people who arrive will be eligible for the marathon and fans are being encouraged to pre-register at lostmarathon@taylorherring.com.

I think this is a fantastic way to view the show because being cooped up in a theater for several days will make you lose all sense of time.  Just remember: Desmond Hume is your constant.

Lost might be over, but it’s certainly not forgotten. This weekend in Santa Monica, ABC and Profiles in History hosted Lost: The Official Show Auction & Exhibit and, according to unofficial math, it took in almost $2 million dollars. That’s double the $1 million estimate Joseph Maddalena, President of Profiles in History, gave us when we previewed the auction.

The most expensive item sold was the DHARMA Van, which went for $47,500. There was then tie for second place between the Lighthouse wheel and mirrors and Faraday’s Journal which both brought in $27,500.  Hit the jump for some more highlights from the auction.

There’s not a more poetic way to end the epic journey called Lost than to sell the whole thing back to the fans. That’s what ABC and Profiles in History is doing with Lost: The Official Show Auction & Exhibit, taking place August 21-22 in Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Air Center in Santa Monica, CA.

You name it, you can probably buy it. The Dharma Van, Sawyer’s glasses, Mr. Eko’s staff, Charlie’s Driveshaft ring, Locke’s backgammon set and more. Even the smaller niche stuff like character passports, Walt’s Spanish Flash comic book and Vincent’s leash are going to be there, not to mention virtually every single outfit worn by the cast, pieces of Oceanic 815 and more. All used on set, in Hawaii, during the filming of every season of Lost. These are the real deal.

We got a sneak peak at the props and spoke with Joseph Maddalena, President of Profiles in History, who was on set for all of season 6, cataloging and safe guarding them specifically for this auction. Hit the jump to read more.

Whether you loved or hated the finale, everyone can agree that Lost is over (even if that 12-minute epilogue is on the way), but certain members of the cast need to get back to work soon. Fortunately, two of the highest profile cast members from the series are currently shopping around ideas for a new TV show. Michael Emerson (who played Benjamin Linus) told The Associated Press (via Yahoo! News) that he and Terry O’Quinn (who played John Locke) are both taking ideas around town but are looking for something a bit lighter than Lost. Specifically, Emerson mentioned “age and frailty” being an element they’re looking to have in the series. More after the jump.

Weezer has been on a roll recently. Since 2008, the band has released two albums with one more coming out on September 14^th. The title of the bands newest CD is Hurley and the recently released cover image is confirming what some people had claimed was a reference to the TV show Lost. Spinner is reporting that the CD’s cover does in fact have Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays the character Hurley on the hit show, with a grin only Garcia can produce As lead singer Rivers Cuomo said to Spinner,

“We struggled super hard trying to come up with an album title, trying to find some kind of phrase that summed up the whole aesthetic behind the album: ‘Heavy Mental,’ ‘Smaller Than Life’. I was coming up with all kinds of stuff, but ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia — it just had this amazing vibe. We didn’t want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as ‘the Hurley record’ even if left it without that title, so we just called it ‘Hurley.’ No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face.”

For more on the new CD and to hear the bands newest single Memories, hit the jump.

It was inevitable that the Lost epilogue “The New Man in Charge” would leak online in advance of its official release as a special feature on the upcoming DVD and Blu-rays for Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season and Lost: The Complete Collection.  Yesterday, we showed you about a minute from the 11-minute epilogue.  After watching the full thing, I can tell you that it’s perfunctory and about tying up loose ends (although it still doesn’t manage to get them all).  I won’t say any more than that.

Hit the jump to check out the epilogue (before it’s removed entirely, as I predict it will be).  Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season and Lost: The Complete Collection hit shelves on August 24th.