In today's edition of IGN TV Mailbag, we have readers' comments and questions regarding Lost, The Simpsons and South Park.

IGN's Top 50 Lost Loose Ends

I hate to sound like a nut and email you about this... but...

You forgot something... and it's been killing me more than anything of the other loose ends in the show:

In the season two final episode, it's revealed that Desmond's girlfriend has a polar station monitoring EM pulses, assumedly world-wide... HOW THE HELL DOES HIS GIRLFRIEND KNOW THAT HE'S STRANDED ON AN ISLAND WITH AN ELECTROMAGNETIC ANOMOLY?! Do you know? Is that why you didn't mention it? If you do, please for the love of god tell me. Every episode, I'm watching and waiting for an explanation... if they don't give one, I'll forever sware off prime-time TV. :D -- Kendall

Hi Kendall,

I agree that the show is frustrating... but I wouldn't go so far as to give up television altogether. We came up with this loose end as well, but are giving the show the benefit of the doubt, hoping that we will get an answer to this question sooner rather than never. If this question isn't answered soon, expect this to be on our next installment of Lost Loose Ends!

-- Dan Iverson

How could you not mention Hurley being in the psychiatric ward and the possibility that everyone and everything in the show is all playing out in his head? -- Kyle

Hey Kyle,

We are hoping beyond all hopes that this isn't the case. No story has ever been better because of the "it was all a dream" ending. So with that in mind, we left it off the list as not to tempt the Lost team into such a disastrous finale for the show.

Bad, bad, bad idea. But don't let that reflect on you Kyle, you're smart... yeah.

-- Dan Iverson

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this excellent article. I am a huge "Lost" fan who has thus far resisted the urge to seek outside influence concerning the show on the internet. Obviously, I made an exception this time, and I am glad I did. This piece has managed to not only address many of my "concerns", but also to remind me of forgotten loose ends as well as unearth new ones. It was very well done, and served as the perfect fodder to hold me over until February. If nothing else, I am left with the hope that the writers of the show are exposed to this article and take heed to the subject matter it addressed. Bravo! -- Mike Bretsnyder

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the compliment! We enjoy doing these lists, but the Lost Loose Ends was especially fun because we got to vent a little and address the largest problem with the show. We plan on doing more on Lost between now and February, but I don't think anything else we could write would compare to the pure bliss that we got from calling out the writers on this issue... ah well, someday we'll get answers...... maybe.

-- Dan Iverson

The Simpsons: "Ice Cream of Margie (With The Light Blue Hair)" Review

Regarding the reviews of the past couple of Simpsons episodes. I completely understand what you guys are saying. The show simply has no where new to go and it relies on the characters to be way more cartoony and appealing to today's crowd who appreciate the randomness of Family Guy more. I can't say I want to see the show end, it's just too hard of a thought, but I wish the writers would just go back to the humor that made the first (arguably) 10 seasons so wonderful. The main problem I see with these "new school simpsons" is that they are simply not memorable. I can happen to catch an episode from, say season 6, that I haven't seen for years and be able to quote a majority of the lines and find it funny. That's also part of the problem with Family Guy. The jokes can be funny, however random, but I never really remember what had happened the next day. That isn't to say I don't like Family Guy, I loved the second and third season when it was in its prime, but things have gone downhill there as well. Back to the Simpsons, I can only hope that the movie can either offer something new, or at least be in the style that so many veteran fans of the Simpsons had once loved so much. -- Aaron

What up Aaron,

It seems that your thoughts echo those of many others, The Simpsons isn't memorable any longer. It isn't that it is bad or worth canceling, it is just getting harder and harder to justify having it on the TiVo when the space it is taking up could be used by other shows that are more entertaining. I have always been a big Simpsons fan, so to see the show deteriorate into mundane mediocrity is depressing. Oh well, here's hoping that the movie will put a little spice back into the quality of the show.

And on a side note, I have to disagree with your opinion on Family Guy. If you would have asked me six months ago if I liked the show or not any longer I would have told you that it was boring and not worth my time. Funny enough, the show has been quite good this season, and a great replacement for my Sunday night animation fix. If you haven't the show this season check it out, it may surprise you.

-- Dan Iverson

South Park: Season 10 Review

In regards to this comment: "Although there were episodes like 'ManBearPig' and 'Hell on Earth 2006' which seemed totally random, the bulk of the season was spent satirizing popular and controversial topics."

Both of these episodes satirized popular and controversial topics. "Manbearpig" satirized Al Gore and his An Inconvenient Truth, as the character of Gore in the episode was constantly trying to prove some that was likely false, much like his aforementioned movie does. Much of that episode reflected Gore's attitude on Global Warming, which made it even more funny.

"Hell on Earth 2006" berated MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen and the various spoiled kids who act like that. There were a lot of other random elements in that episode, but there was quite a bit of satire. -- Kevin Heins

Hello Kevin,

Thanks for the constructive criticism. I watched these episodes before reviewing the season, and I will admit it... I totally flaked on the "Manbearpig" episode. It still doesn't make it a good episode, but it does prove that there was some viable satire in the episode. Thanks for making me look bad!

I have no problem admitting that I am wrong (look directly above), but I am going to stick to my guns here. The My Super Sweet Sixteen mention in the "Hell on Earth 2006" episode I saw more as being a reference to the show over a full blown parody. Comparing his behavior to those of a sixteen-year-old girl is funny, but I personally didn't see any direct satire of the show within the episode. I may be wrong again, as I would rather sit through a total frontal lobotomy with no anesthesia than sit through a full episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen, but as for now I am going to stand by the comment in reference to this episode.

-- Dan Iverson

So, South Park's 10th season earned an 8.6 from you? I'm just curious... how long have you been watchng South Park? Because this past season was the one that finally made me stop watching the show because of how low the quality of the episodes were compared to the show's first eight seasons. Here are my bottom three episodes: 1) A Million Little Fibers, undisputedly awful. 2) Make Love, Not Warcraft, essentially nothing but an advertisement for WoW which tries to pass of machinima as an original idea. 3) Hell on Earth 2006, an episode with so many subplots that it doesn't bring a satisfying conclusion to any of them. In a broader sense, however, this show has lost its ability to present current events from the kids' perspective in a way that makes their satire truly poignant. When was the last time an episode ended with "you know, I learned something today," or even gave you a sense of any kind of deep message? For me, the show hasn't done that for a while... it has lost its roots and has fallen into a pit of predictable, shallow and unnecessary satire. Another example: Stanley's Cup? The Mighty Ducks movie is 14 YEARS OLD. What's edgy about that? I don't see how you can look at season 10 and say it ranks as high as 3, 7 or 8, say nothing about how it could possibly deserve an 8.6. I suggest you take a look back at episodes like Chinpokomon, Toilet Paper and Good Times With Weapons and really ask yourself, "was anything in season 10 remotely as good as these episodes?" I think if you take a closer look, you'll find season 10 wanting. -- Patrick Leahy

Hey Pat,

Well, I have been watching the show since its first episode, and loving it ever since. I agree with you that "Chinpoko Mon," "Toilet Paper" & "Good Times With Weapons" are all good episodes, but in order to review a full season you need to look at more than just the excellent shows, but look to all the episodes of the season and see how well they relate to one another. In those given seasons there were episodes like "Cat Orgy," "Butt Out" & "Pre-School" to balance out the quality -- much like the tenth had "A Million Little Fibers." Other than a couple episodes the general quality of the season was rather high (whether you enjoyed it or not is another discussion), giving smart immature comedy that fans of the show and novices to South Park could enjoy alike.

Also you aren't the only person to gripe about the final episode of the season "Stanley's Cup." Instead of wasting precious screen space I am just going to tell you to check out a previous mailbag where this topic was already elaborated upon.

-- Dan Iverson