Actually, Faraday has already mentioned - to Desmond - that he was special (in contradiction to what his mother, Mrs. Hawking, stated). "The rules don't apply to you", is how I think he put it. Desmond seems to be the guy who can change things.

We'll see if the new series adds anything - but my point is if your show is really a 'character-driven piece' with a pseudo sci-fi backdrop that really doesn't matter, you need to spell that up front rather than waste time with a 'mystery' that didn't mean shit in the end.

What? I bailed after the fucking JFK episode.

It was all in Sam's mind. Oh, and he was just a cop in the present. No time travel, no conspiracy, no 'other beings'. The end. They might as well established at the start "Cop has dream while in coma that he's a cop in the 197os". There's certainly no real 'mystery'.

UK vs. US ending?
I didn't watch LOST its first season because I was afraid that the "crazy stuff" was just going to be mysterious, unanswered nonsense to frame the "character-driven" story. And you know what? That's exactly what the original UK "Life On Mars" turned out to be. "Aw, it was all a dream - or was…

Calm Before the Storm
It didn't really tell us anything new (although I noticed Hurley's DHARMA logo for the first time - if only the 815 survivors had found the Chef Hat Station!), but at least Lost is taking the time to answer questions and end mysteries even if we knew what probably was going to be the answer.
But…

All they knew what to do was clean telephones. And make sandwiches.

Again, I call 'bullshit'. Lost actually seems like it's going somewhere rather than pulling the Chris Carter route that Ron Moore took.

Plotless sitcoms aside, much like the X-Files BSG promised revelations and answers by the end, but only really answered one - "Were they making it up as they went along?" (Spoiler: The answer's 'yes'). Characterization is a significant part of a good story - but only a part. Anton Chekov would've been…

Series Finales?
Twin Peaks? Not even close. David Lynch comes back after a tepid 2nd season for a creepy-as-hell finale that wasn't meant to be a series closer anyways. The Prisoner? McGoohan meant it as a mind-fuck. I'd say the closest would be the X-Files series end.
I stuck around just to find out what the…

He wasn't, it was the "Class of 1977", so he wouldn't be pictured. Christian didn't say he was, he was just showing that the part of the O6 were back in time and told Sun he was back with them as well.

Amy told Juliet that there were only two empty slots on the sub manifest - so I don't think she was trying to deliberately dick her over. It was probably a way to get around the fact that they couldn't cram her in on the manifest.
And the "Hugo as Chef" probably wasn't a cruel joke, as Sawyer actually likes him - he…

Considering that Harlan wanted to put those young whippersnappers in their place and failed as badly as if he had presented some sort of Death Clock… the PA guys win by default.

Norm's Firing
Norm MacDonald has stated that he doesn't think the whole "OJ" thing had anything to do with his firing - he believes that Lorne Michaels wanted him pulled but wanted to do it by proxy.
Watched Letterman rip into NBC when he had Norm on as a guest shortly after his "firing" is priceless.

Foolscap, Indeed
Don't forget Harlan Ellison getting smacked down by the guys from Penny Arcade…

Which were about - what? Nuclear disarmament? Where on Earth did Reagan get that idea from?
Oh, right - from "The Day The Earth Stood Still". But I'm sure that was a sideline, the talks were really about vodka tariffs…

On the Silliness of uniting in the face of aliens
I have to disagree on that point with Tasha. As absurd as it sounds, Reagan initiated the Iceland talks with the Soviet Union because of the fear of alien invasion he got from watching old sci-fi movies.

Widmore & Desmond
It's been suspected a while, I think, but now it's fairly obvious that Widmore sponsored his "race" as an attempt to find the island - which was technically successful (twice, as Henry Gale's balloon had Widmore as a sponsor).
The key mystery about it that hasn't been explained is what part Libby…

Widmore Industries
Considering Widmore Industries apparently worked with the Dharma Initiative, I would assume that Charles Widmore played a major role in setting it up on the island - obviously against the wishes of many of the "Others".
As far as his 'exile' from the Island, comments made by Ben at the end of Season…