I’ve previously written that the upcoming Lost episode “Not in Portland” had been directed by Lost co-creator JJ Abrams based on the information on IMBD. It turns out that JJ didn’t direct the episode after all.
According to ABC, the episode which was written by Carlton Cuse and Jeff Pinkner was directed by Lost veteran director Stephen Williams. Williams has directed some great episodes, like “Collision”, “Lockedown” and my recent favorite “Every Man for Himself”, so I’m sure “Not it Portland” will be a great episode.
Nevertheless, JJ said that he was going to be more involved this season and I know that I’m not the only one who will be a bit disappointed if he doesn’t keep his word so this is a bit sad to hear.
The short synopsis of “Not in Portland” was also published by ABC, so if you don’t mind some spoilers and can’t wait until next month to find out the premise of the first episode in the second half of Lost season 3, take a look over at ABC.
LostBlog.net 
JJ gets way too much credit for this show.
Yeah, I agree with you Mike, JJ does get a bit too much credit. A lot of fans were looking forward to seeing him be more involved with Lost again though.
Back around the time that episode was shot, there were lots of articles about/interviews with J.J. Abrams in which he mentioned he unfortunately couldn’t go to Hawaii because he was too busy working on Six Degrees, What about Brian and Lost! So it’s not like he didn’t want to direct the episode, he simply couldn’t do it. And he is more involved in Lost then he was during the last season, just not that visible for us…