| 11 | LOST - "A Tale of Two Cities" |
Lens Flaring Up: LOST's 2006 third season premiere
J.J. stepped back into the ring multiple times after creating, writing and directing LOST's pilot, most notably in the third season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities," which despite the second season's lukewarm reception got us right back on track with the curveball revelation of the Others living on the Island in their own little suburban society, and gave the show a renewed sense of momentum to carry itself for four more seasons.
| 10 | Composing Title Themes |
Lens Flaring Up: 1998 on
Where would our favorite TV shows be without the iconic title cards and theme music that accompany them? That's why we owe Abrams our ears for composing the catchy memorable tunes behind Alias, Felicity, and yes, even Fringe! Take a listen and let it reverberate through your brain!
| 9 | "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions" |
Lens Flaring Up: The 2009 MTV Movie Awards
Whether or not you enjoy Andy Samberg or pay any attention to the MTV Movie Awards, you couldn't help but enjoy the spot-on parody " Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions," and the seemingly random cameo from guilty offender J.J. Abrams on keyboard. So pull up a chair, and watch for yourself! We promise, minimal lens flares.
| 8 | Felicity - "Todd Mulcahy" |
Lens Flaring Up: 1999
It's hard to believe that the J.J. Abrams we know today was actually the creative mind behind one of the great teen turn-of-the-century WB dramas Felicity, but we all have to start somewhere. But even amidst the dreck of teen soaps, there were quite a few Abrams moments, particularly early on in episodes 12 and 13 "Todd Mulcahy," where the series was turned on its head by the episode's titular character showing up randomly to profess love for Felicity, the very thing she had been doing for Ben.
And then Todd was hit by a bus. Classic.
| 7 | The Office - "Cocktails" |
Lens Flaring Up: 2007
Believe it or not, The Office has had some pretty big-name directors stepping behind the camera for individual episodes, including Joss Whedon and our boy J.J. Abrams directing season three's "Cocktails."
Alot of the credit goes to Paul Lieberstein for his ruthlessly funny writing, but ol' J.J. really knows how to run with the material and make awkward situations just that much more painful with his direction, one of the best episodes of the series.
| 6 | Alcatraz |
Lens Flaring Up: Fall 2011
But it hasn't aired yet! But its...so...we can't tell you! But that one moment when he...CURSE YOU LEGAL TEAM! We might not be able to get into any specifics, but trust us when we say the pilot to J.J.'s upcoming Alcatraz is well worth a look, and makes excellent use of both Jorge "Dude" Garcia, and Sam "The Dinosaur Man" Neill.
Come fall, this is one to get LOST in, for sure.
| 5 | Avatar: The Last Airbender - "The Drill" |
Lens Flaring Up: 2006
Bet you didn't know that J.J. Abrams actually contributed to the writing of Avatar: The Last Airbender, going uncredited for his work in 2006's "The Drill." Avatar was always chock-full of epic battles, but something about Aang fighting Azula atop a giant metal drill, with the entire team working in conjunction to stop the behemoth from breeching Ba Sing Se seems perfectly suited to Abrams' wide scale storytelling.
Kind of hard to do lens flares in a cartoon, though.
| 4 | Fringe - "The Arrival" |
Lens Flaring Up: 2008
Written by both Abrams and showrunner Jeff Pinkner, Fringe's fourth episode already broke the mythology wide open by delving into the mysterious Observers and launching a compelling overarching mystery that broke with the standalone format.
And when Fringe was renewed for a fourth season due to said well-crafted mythology, we ate many roast beef sandwiches covered in hot sauce and pepper in celebration.
| 3 | Alias - "The Telling" |
Lens Flaring Up: 2003
As both the series' creator and writer of the pilot, J.J. Abrams once again took full reign of 2003's second season finale "The Telling," in writing and directing. Alias had previously been well-known for its high-stakes drama and espionage, but to change the game of the series this early by allowing Sydney to wake up two years in the future with new scars and no memory of how she got there, Michael Vaughn sporting a wedding ring shocked us and affected the series in a peak never to be equalled.
J.J.'s written plenty of shocking game-changers and cliffhangers in his day, but "The Telling" proved a season finale not soon forgotten.
| 2 | The Cancellation of Undercovers |
Lens Flaring Up: 2010
We love J.J. Abrams, we do. And he's given us such wonderful creations as Alias, LOST, Fringeand even Felicity, but lord help us if Undercovers wasn't just a little difficult to swallow. Married spies? Not something we're terribly interested in seeing. I'm looking at you, Chuck.
| 1 | LOST's Pilot |
Lens Flaring Up: 2004
It's true. Without J.J., we'd never have the pilot of LOST, and thus no LOST at all. No standing at the water cooler debating who the Smoke Monster would take next, no doodling "Not Penny's Boat" on our hands, and no violently hurling the remote at the television after the series finale.
Written and directed by Abrams, the LOST pilot laid out exactly what the series needed to be to survive: a sharp, exciting character drama with just a hint of mystery to keep viewers intrigued and coming back for more.
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