Good-bye to "Lost." But just as sad: Good-bye to Hurley

This weekend, I will say good-bye to probably my favorite television show of all time. I know, you non-Lost fans are clueless as to the appeal of this show, but those of you who are also fans totally "get" my regret at seeing it end.

Watching "Lost" was one of those little joys of life. Well-written, well-acted, with characters you came to know and care about, and intriguing mysteries that you could only speculate about, the show has been different from just about anything else on TV.

Now that it's coming to an end, I'm sad not just at saying good-bye to the show, but at saying good-bye to one of my favorite charactes: Hugo Reyes, also known as "Hurley."

In a 2007 post about my favorite TV characters of all time, I wrote:

Jorge Garcia as Hurley--Hurley is absolutely vital to the show. For a while, I was watching "24" fairly regularly, and it's excellent--but there is almost no comic relief, if any. The intensity blasts you nonstop. But the great thing about "Lost" is that just when everything gets a little too spooky, scary or strange, there's Hurley saying, "Dude..." and bringing everything back down to earth. I totally love Hurley.

Posting about Hurley ended up affording me a nice little brush with fame: actor Jorge Garcia actually read a post of mine and commented on it!

Jorge comments on my blog!

It was an erroneous comment in this post that attracted Jorge's attention. I cited a bit of trivia that claimed Hurley had initially read for the part of Sawyer.

Someone named Jorge Garcia commented:

"To say I auditioned for the part of Sawyer is not quite accurate. I knew when I went to the audition that I wasn't up for that particular part. They just wanted to see me do something and that's the material they had."

My rather starstruck post the next day was titled "Whaaaa....did Hurley just comment on my blog?"

Clicking on Jorge's name in his comment took me to Dispatches from the Island...a well-written,engaging, humorous blog that pretty much leaves no doubt that it's written by the real Jorge Garcia.

To confirm that, Jorge commented on my blog yet again:

"That was cute. I'm printing this page up to add it to my scrapbook. (Well to send to my sister who scrapbooks my stuff for me.)
I found your post because it came up on my google alert. (It's a trick Dom had taught me)

And yes it really is me."

So somewhere, in Jorge Garcia's own scrapbook, is my blog post. How cool is that?

In this article inVariety, Jorge reflects on his years on "Lost." It's a good read.

I will definitely miss "Lost." And I'll miss Jorge Garcia as Hurley...but I have a feeling that I may like him in any role, so I'll look forward to seeing what he does next as an actor.

And so ends five years of blogging about "Lost" (I didn't start watching the show till the end of the first season, catching up on DVD.)

It was a great ride!

Who was your favorite character on "Lost"? Let me know in my comments section.