JJ Abram's "Lost" has a wide, mainstream, target audience. This has been done using a variety of different conventions. One of these being the use of an ensemble cast; a range of characters with varying age, race, gender and personality, such as Walt, a 10 year old African-American boy stranded with his father, called Michael. Or Hurley, an overweight man in his early 20's who adds a sense of comedy with his witty remarks and "nerd" personality, or Boon, a man in his early 20's of athletic build with a very feminine, emotional sister called Shannon who he constantly argues with. This is so the audience can relate to this wide range of characters and their relationships between each other.
Lost is also a text with conventions from multiple genres, which is known as a hybrid. This attracts fans of certain genres as well as the generic, mainstream audience. For example, the inclusion of Sci-Fi conventions, such as how the narrative of the show explores rationally alternative possibilities, such as time travel, or for fans of the action genre, there are frenetic chase scenes, use of special effects during the plane crash flashbacks and fast editing shots with a shaky, handheld camera, all conventions of the action genre.
