The L.A. Times talked to four showrunners to see what it’s like getting back into the swing after the strike. Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies is making waffles for his writers, My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia is saying that anybody who doesn’t get down to business is back out on the street, and he may or may not be joking. The most interesting bit of news? Lost’s Damon Lindelhof doesn’t know if his writers even remember where they were:

“Everything I’ve forgotten about the Dharma Initiative is best left forgotten,” Lindelof said. “The good news about time away from the show is that you remember the good stuff. If you’ve forgotten about it, it’s probably best not to be reminded.

I think Lindelhof has a good point. Lost seems to have gotten so complex and so complicated that maybe ditching large portions of backstory is exactly what’s needed. One thing that is hard about writing and world building is that you come up with these brilliant ideas, these amazing details about how things work. But if you aren’t careful, those ideas and that world take over and your plot and characters take a back seat.

If taking a break allows them to settle themselves and get down to the stories that are important to tell, then I say that’s a good thing. But I’m surprised that a show with so complex a mythology doesn’t have a “show bible” to tell them all those things they could easily have forgotten.