Any chronicle of The Golden Age of TV will, in the mid-2000s section, mention the FOX series Lost. Its format of constant intentional perplexity and less-frequent resolution had television audiences enthralled, and when it was all said and done, probably a bit frustrated.
While the puzzlers provided water-cooler conversation topics, it was the good old-fashioned broadcast TV drama that kept eyes glued to the screen week after week. Romance, people, and, in Lost, the power couple was Jack and Kate.
Jack was the responsible leader of the pack of distressed castaways, while Kate was the foxy former-criminal looking for a second chance. It was clear they were the apples of each others' eyes, despite there being other options. Here are a few alternate timelines Lost may have been tempted to work into its epic mythology, had J.J. Abrams and crew heard them pitched.
Eloise Hawking
Here's one for the cradle-robbers. Responsible for originally directing Desmond to the island and pulling the strings across the later seasons, this cunning Englishwoman was a perfect cerebral match for Jack.
Jack's big speeches directing traumatized crash victims to gather beechwood might have the average Oceanic 815 lady swooning, but to Eloise, he would be but a plucky pupil. She was at the helm of the design of some of the island's greatest mysteries back when Jack was still doing sheepish little study dates in med school.
Shannon Rutherford
Original Oceanic 815 passenger Shannon's failure to establish herself as a core element of Lost lore can be attributed to her shortsightedness. The arguably most conventionally best-looking lady of the crash, she wasted energy first on a fling with her step-brother Boone.
Shannon rebounded with an inspired romance with Sayid, but still, not one pass at Jack? The "let's regroup gang" hot camp counselor in him would have found much to love in the always-a-mess Shannon.
Ana Lucia
The short saga of Ana Lucia initially aroused suspicion about cheap storyline development. A cliché edgy badass chick type, she was introduced right at the end of the phenomenon that was Season 1, while the few Season 2 episodes focusing on her were seemingly closed-loop. When her death coincided with the real-life DUI bust of actress Michelle Rodriguez, suspicion turned briefly to intrigue.
Since then, Rodriguez has recovered with plenty of work, but might Dr. Jack Stability Shephard have been the perfect measured yin to Lucia/Rodriguez's fiery yang? It's another Lost question that will never be answered.
Richard Alpert
Lost ended some five years before the nationwide legalization of gay marriage, and television at that time had a ways to go in terms of LGBT equality and representation. As such, there were effectively no LGBT characters on Lost.
Upon a quick matchmaking analysis, Richard Alpert's swagger and apparent availability make him the most obvious pairing for Jack in a re-imagined series with re-distributed sexuality. The two would make a sort of sexy same-type couple with their five o'clock shadow kisses and island iron-pumping sessions.
Naomi Dorrit
In the realm of Lost's island, the possibilities are endless. Some people get a chance to live in the '70s, while others even get to just exist as smoke. Sadly, not Naomi. She crash-parachutes onto the island and is already in bad shape when Locke, characteristically resistant to half-measures, throws a knife into her back. Jack somberly witnesses some of her final words.
That evening, Jack had some choice words to say to Locke: "Look, there's some evidence Naomi wasn't who she said she was and that it's going to lead to the entire series' most heartbreaking death scene, but geez louise, Locke, this island is a crazy place and that waterfall of hair was really something; we could have at least seen how it played out, huh, guy?" Admittedly, we might be paraphrasing their conversation a touch.
Alex Rousseau
There's the potential for a classic two-worlds-collide love story between Jack and Alex Rousseau, who, for what it's worth, was one of the low-key most captivating female characters on Lost. She is a Dharma Initiative native, all of the mystique and intrigue of the island is but a domestic backdrop to her, akin to someone from Paris or Malibu.
For his part, Jack has a sort of Close Encounters story. He had plenty to hang his hat on in his old life but is also thriving in this strange, new world. Just imagine them exchanging childhood stories over Dharma-brand beers, each charmed by the relative oddity of the other's normal.
Claire Littleton
After an unplanned pregnancy leads to an uncomfortable breakup, Claire boards Oceanic 815 on a soul-searching whim. Crash-landing and approaching labor on an island, who should come running along but Jack Shephard.
This absolute beacon "safe guy" is also hot and a doctor. Perhaps Claire is not one to read into the meaning of the island too literally. And perhaps Jack is her half-brother. To love Lost is to live forever with burning questions.
Penelope Hume
More famous for the boat not being hers, Penelope "Penny" Hume shuffles through Lost's dense destiny to ultimately end up with her original sweetheart, Desmond. It's her search party for him that amounts to the first true escape from the island for any of the characters - a landmark moment anticipated from the show's very premise.
While the Emmy-winning drama of it all afforded the two some perspective on what they had, one wonders how Penny might have evaluated her options given a more ordinary life.
Always one for a plan of action, Jack seems to be both a perfect complement to both Penny's rescuing gusto and an antidote to Desmond's commitment insufficiencies.
The Island
Despite the title of this article, isn't this kind of, sort of, what happens? Jack spends his final moments coming to peace, not in the arms of Kate, but instead the magical, tropical island's embrace, mirroring the show's opening moment.
Jack leaves Kate to save the island shortly before this decisive, by Lost standards, culmination. In both Matthew Fox's quiet career since the finale in 2010 and Jack's legendary "We have to go back speech," a yearning for The Island resonates.
Juliet Burke
While it's a bitter pill to swallow, Juliet was next in line for Jack's heart after Kate, at least, amid a universe where lines crisscross and double-back on themselves. A veritable nefarious Other at the start, Juliet later softened amidst the humanity of the Oceanic 815 crew and Jack's sweaty cutoff tees.
Viewers decried any chemistry occurring between the two during a testing Season 3 imprisonment of all three leads. Alas, in the confusion of those later seasons, Jack - like most viewers at that - grasped for purpose in those around him. It was not to ultimately be, however, Sawyer was around to play his usual clean-up role.