Man Claims He Invented ‘Lost’ Years Ago, Files Lawsuit

By Germain Lussier on July 14th, 2009

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Another popular television show, another lawsuit. This time it’s directed at the popular ABC show “Lost.”

TMZ exclusively reports that Anthony Spinner, a producer on shows like “Baretta” and “Babes in Toyland,” has filed a lawsuit against ABC and Touchstone Television saying that he came up with the show 32 years ago.

According to documents obtained by TMZ, Spinner claims in 1977 he was paid $300,000 to write a television pilot called “Lost” which was about a plane going to Los Angeles that crashed on a mysterious island. The network, apparently, passed on the show three times before launching the current incarnation in 2004 without Spinner’s name.

There are a laundry list of similarities between the shows listed in the documents, including almost spot on characterizations for main characters like Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Locke, Sayid and others. For compensation, Spinner wants a cut of the profits among other things.

TMZ says that “Spinner tried to sue a few years ago, but it was dismissed for procedural reasons.” Even so, one has to wonder, if you created a show and someone stole it, would you wait until FIVE FULL SEASONS had completed before officially filing a lawsuit? Wouldn’t you spend ever single minute of your life trying to clear your name? Or would you just wait until the show reached 100 episodes, as it did this year, so that the syndication money started rolling in?

The timing seems fishy to me, but we will see what happens.