I heart LOST: Trivia

The series began development in January 2004 when Lloyd Braun, then head of ABC, ordered a script that fused the concepts of the film Cast Away (2000) and the popular reality TV show "Survivor" (2000). Braun was unimpressed with the initial effort and the subsequent rewrite so he contacted J.J. Abrams, whose series "Alias" (2001) was a hit for the network. Although initially hesitant, Abrams gave it a go in collaboration with Damon Lindelof. Their script was greenlit, but because it had been commissioned so late in the 2004 development cycle it was under very tight deadlines. Ironically, before the pilot aired Lloyd Braun was sacked by ABC's parent company, Disney - for greenlighting such an expensive and risky project.