ABC, bless 'em, appears to have had a change of heart regarding fourth season review copies of of "Lost." At first, the network seemed to indicate there'd be no advanced look at the Jan. 31 opener, and now it's effectively letting the entire world see by sending out streaming copies to TV critic types. 
The great unwashed mass of us got our first look via the web on Friday, while DVDs apparently arrive today. Why the "change?" No idea, except that review copies had already started to trickle out to the "enthusiast" part of the review trade; one such aficionado, Docartz, even got a look at the first FOUR episodes weeks ago, and posted raves on websites like Underground. (Unclear whether TV Guide did - as it claimed - because one ABC insider said they only saw SCRIPTS for the first four episodes.)
ABC's late Friday offer to check out the episodes was accompanied by one of those "don't reveal plot details" lines - it was firm, though stopped short of adding "otherwise we will have to kill you."
In fact, it was quaintly charming: Here's a direct lift from said press release:
"We kindly ask that you use discretion in reviewing this show by not revealing any plot details that contain spoilers. We also ask that you refrain from discussing the following:
- The ****** ***.
- Any details about ******’s flash forward, or that *** even has a flash forward
- ******
- Who goes with ***** and who goes with ****
- Any details about the four strangers/********* people’s back stories/flash*******."
OK, we kindly won't (and I've thrown in an extra asterisk here and there, just to throw off any informed guesstimates...) By the way, Newsday's own - the one, the only, the incomparable - Diane Werts, will review later this week.