Kimmel offers Lost fans alternative endings

After the mixed reaction from viewers and critics to the last ever episode of Lost, which left many questions hanging, fans of the American drama have been given three alternative conclusions - on a special show hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
 
The show, called Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost, featured cast members of the ABC series and included a seven-minute skit created by Kimmel and Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, with alternative tongue-in-cheek endings.
 
The first saw Lost come face-to-face with another island-based American TV sensation - Survivor. It featured the host of the reality TV show, Jeff Probst, and the cast of Lost, who had to vote off one of their number.
 
In the end they chose Sayid Jarrah, played by Naveen Andrews. Extinguishing his flame, Probst told him: "Sorry, Sayid. The tribe has spoken. You gotta leave the island, man. You gotta go."
 
The second ending aped the famous conclusion to The Sopranos and featured three cast members sitting in a diner discussing the plot, with Kimmel playing a waitress. Hurley, played by Jorge Garcia, tells the others that he has figured out the secret of the island - but then the scene suddenly ends - just as it did in The Sopranos.
 
Veteran comic Bob Newhart appears in the final spoof, in which he wakes up next to the character Kate Austen, played by Evangeline Lilly, who tells him that she has just been dreaming about an island with polar bears and a smoke monster.
 
In their favour, all three make almost as much sense as the actual ending, which was broadcast simultaneously around the world on Sunday night and Monday morning. In it, Jack, the protector of the island, died, but not before allowing the other surviving characters to escape on an airplane. The series bowed out with a close-up of his eye closing - an echo of the very beginning of the series that began with his eyes opening.
 
The show ran for six series and developed a cult following despite - or perhaps because of - its labyrinthine plots involving parallel realities and monsters made of smoke. ·