Is J.J. Abrams a character from one of his own shows or movies?

He must be a being from another dimension, capable of mysterious time-jumping feats. How else do you explain his prolific output? While he's busy directing or producing movies like "Hulu.

For all his vaunted reputation as the king of fanboy epics with complicated mythologies (not to mention real-world dramas of ordinary people with soap-opera-complicated lives), Abrams has had a surprisingly mixed track record on TV. About half of his shows have become long-running critical and popular successes, and half have barely lasted a season. Still, all of his shows are pretty fascinating, whether they deal with arcane conspiracies or bad haircuts. Here are his small-screen offerings to date, from the forgettable to the we'll-never-stop-arguing-about-them.