Why didn't they make a series about nearly fifty people who stranded on a remote island?

Because they can't pay all the actors, it would take more than 26 episodes to introduce all characters and no one would watch the series at the end of season one anymore, because it would be too confusing to keep track with all the charas.

(And really, no, they didn't.)
Right you are. It's a kind of x-files series. Which was clear already in the pilot, wasn't it?

Post traumatic stress, struggles of oh so civilised people with nature and their own prejudices against each other could have ensued prettily.
Yeah, well, I don't know. I wouldn't want to see people rocking in the corner and muttering to themselves, struggle with not being able to shower and shave and wash their hair and stuff, or trying to hunt and fail for the 1000 time, or being bitten by spiders (I'm sure I don't want to see that, then I go watch Arack Attack), or falling from trees, or having diarrhia because they tried the wrong fruits. At least I don't want to see that in several seasons. Might be okay for a movie though.

Nooo, they needed all this crap from an evil black fog to number magic. Why not pirates? Ninja?
I haven't seen magic, but I sure saw pirates, or something like that.

Hey, you could run the risk of being *boring*!
Well, no, you can't, if you want to have the opportunity to shoot a second season. See Earth 2. And Firefly. Although Firefly wasn't even boring. Well, actually, I liked Earth 2 as well, but that was partly because I was 13 or so and in love with Doctor Heller.

Twenty days go by without ANYbody building huts?
Building anything at all? Like bamboo lines for water to the beach?
I wouldn't build anything as long as I thought I was going to be rescued. hell, I wouldn't even know how to build a hut. Tried it once, but, well, it's not that easy, actually.

And what about food? One hunter for nearly fifty mouths? Uh-huh, sure. Oh, and sometimes Kate goes in the jungle for, well, six or seven mangoes. And the spy grabs ten coconuts one day.
Well, you answered it yourself, didn't you?
--> What do the people do all day who aren't the seven main characters?

It's like the main characters share 4 brains and the rest of the flock don't have any.
I'm sure they do a hell of a lot useful and interessting stuff, but we only have 40 minutes every week. There you go.

And by the way, it's not very believable unlucky choice of words relating to this kind of series ;-) That's what Kira and I call "Relaitaetsklausel" what massive issues every main character has. Responsible for the death of a loved one? Cool, me too!
Well, that's the old Mary Sue Problem. Is the main charakter of the original story a Mary Sue or not? As I personnally think, Mary Sue implies something negative, something minor, I don't think so. I rather have it this way. Don't like mediocrity in literature.

And sometimes we see some idyllic shots of greenery, and the only thing that carries the suspense of the situation is the music, which is like a five inch cheese crust on a low fat pizza. Way too thickly piled onto everything.
Granted.

"Scheissendrreck."
Ouch. Vernichtendes Urteil. Well, each his own. Ich freu mcih auf die zweite Staffel.