I was rewatching the episode, Follow the Leader, when I came to this conclusion: There's no possible way the show can start on a (complete) reset. And here's why:
If the bomb explodes and works, we all think that this would cause their plane to never crash on the island, right? However, if they never crash, then Faraday will never go to the island, or at least get to the point to tell Jack that he needs to blow up a bomb at the Swan work site. Since the plane never crashes, then Jack is never there to ever be transported back in time to stop the swan from being built. So therefore, the plane will crash!
I guess whatever happened, happened after all.
I'd like to hear your opinions on it, so post some feedback.