"The Beginning of the End" is the fourth season premiere, and seventy-third episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location in Oahu, Hawaii, in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender. With this premiere, Jeff Pinkner no longer serves as an executive producer and staff writer. The episode was watched by eighteen million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in seventeen episodes. According to Metacritic, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim". The narrative takes place over ninety days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with associates of Naomi Dorrit (played by Marsha Thomason) on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue the survivors. Flashforwards show the post-island lives of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). They are lying to the public about their time on the island.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beginning_of_the_End_%28Lost%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1626:

Director-General of New Netherland Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from Native Americans in exchange for trade goods valued at 60 guilders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Minuit

1738:

At a Moravian Church meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, John Wesley experienced a spiritual rebirth, leading him to launch the Methodist movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley

1930:

English aviatrix Amy Johnson landed in Darwin, Northern Territory, after flying 11,000 miles, becoming the first woman to successfully fly from England to Australia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson

1941:

World War II: The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in eleven minutes at the Battle of the Denmark Strait. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait

1960:

Cordón Caulle in the Andes of Ranco Province, Chile, began to erupt, less than two days after the Valdivia earthquake struck the region. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyehue-Cord%C3%B3n_Caulle

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

egalitarian (adj): Characterized by social equality and equal rights for all people http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/egalitarian

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man? Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind. --Bob Dylan http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan