There has been a lot of discussion about the demise of Lost this season. Whether it is due to the time slot change, the hiatus, or just the storyline in general, the question now seems to be: Can LOST be Saved???

I really do not want to see this show end anytime soon. But I think that sentiment is a minority one, sadly. In light of Vincent's recent podcast which touched upon this issue, and current talk in various threads/forums, I think this is worthy discussion.

My biggest problem is the time. I'm not always asleep at 10pm, but I sure do not feel like thinking which is a requirement of this show at that time. The other problem I see is the fact so many mysteries are still unsolved, stacking up upon each other.

We also have too many characters. Ex: why bother bringing in Nikki and Paulo if we (as of now) are not going to know anything about them. Why didn't they do them right, like Juliet, Desmond, Penny, and Ben. I love those characters. It seems for every step in the right direction this show makes, they make two in the wrong direction.

I think some of the original audience misses the core characters from S1 too. I 've heard casual viewers make comments at work about "Where is Jin, Sayid, Locke?"

I don't want this show to end anytime soon. I think it has 2 more seasons of story to tell, at least. But will it make it??

Good question, Pen. I agree the ten o'clock timeslot is not good for it. I don't think viewers have really stopped watching, but are TIVO'ing and DVR'ing it instead, which doesn't count in the Nielsons.

I liked Vincent's suggestion in his podcast about moving it to Friday night at eight or nine. I think it would do much better there.

I love the show, don't want to see it end either, but they need to move the story along towards a planned ending date. One more season, maybe two max. And I think the 24 format and waiting until January to start the new season would work much better than the "mini-season" did.

I'd like to see them move it to Fridays, and start right after the finale for this season replaying the entire series in order in the timeslot where they will show it when the new season starts.

Let new viewers get a chance to see it from the beginning in order. It might bring back some viewers who stopped watching, it would be fun for those who love it to see the whole thing the whole way through, and it might pick up new viewers - something that is really hard to do with this kind of a story if you haven't seen it from the beginning.

And no more new characters! Between our original Losties and the others (not all Others) we have focused on - Ben, Juliet, Desmond, and Penny.

This is a great show, but they need to make some changes to keep it great. And if ending it sooner keeps it great... well I'd be sad but I can live with that.

I agree with Jeannie about changing the time and running the whole series through again.  Unfortunately, the networks are all about the bottom line, and I don't think a Friday time slot garners the sort of advertising dollars or ratings ABC is looking for.  I know very little of how the industry works, but I was a series-long Homicide viewer, which was for years in a Friday time slot considered the death-knell for any show.  I don't want to see the series end at this point, but neither to I want to see it languish, only to get axed before the story is fleshed out more.
Can it be saved?  That will depend, I guess, on what the network thinks it is worth.  Homicide was allowed to remain on the schedule for so long after ratings leveled off because it had a solid loyal viewership and critical acclaim.  I just fear that the series is too costly to make to afford ABC that option.

Here is a non-fanatic's opinion of what is wrong with LOST right now: (aka Hubby!)

We need to resolve more than "little" mysteries like confirmation of where Cindy had gone. He would like to see us learn the purpose of the Others on the island and the purpose of their experiments. If TPTB fail to answer the bigger questions, the show does not remain "great" but becomes stupid.

Another example: we still have no "real" answer to why the button was pushed. We know what happened when it is NOT pushed, but really no idea why the button needed to be pushed.

Since people like us analyze this show constantly and discuss the meanings, it may not seem so confusing but people like Hubby are no longer interested. He is to the point he does not care to see what happens next.

ABC - I hope you guys are reading this!!!!

I don't think Friday night is the answer for sure, most ppl are out on Friday's and I also watched Homicide (OMG i loved that show) and hated what the network did to it, but i was glad it stuck around for as long as it did, as far as LOST goes, i think it just got too big and they should just cut their losses, explain some stuff like Pen said and re focus on the original Losties ... I like the Benry/Juliette story line and all but I would be much happier to be focusing on Sun/jin Sayid, Locke and the rest really, I find myself not really caring if I fall asleep on Lost which I cannot believe!!  So if your just a casual viewer of course your not going to make a point of staying up to watch it or staying home on a Friday to watch it.

Yeah, I think for TPTB to start answering some questions soon would be a smart move.
Some of my friends who aren`t fanatics like us, borrowed the new episodes from me to watch. And they really hated the Desmond one for example, because it brought up more questions and didn`t really answer any.

LOL - I guess I don't have a life, I'm rarely out on Friday nights. And of course, when I am I just dvr the shows I watch.

Regardless, I'd love to see them pick an earlier time slot and rerun the entire series up to the next season and then run it straight through. I really think that would help.

And I agree, focus on the characters we have!

I also found that while I loved the Desmond flashback episode, and it really made me think, a lot of casual viewers that I talk to were just confused by it. I've "tried" to explain it to 2 or 3 different people who've asked me, and it's really hard to explain - especially when I don't know exactly what it means either.

The casual viewers I know still watch, but are far less excited about the show than they used to be. They all want to see more of our Losties, and I do agree with them about that.

Quote :

Penelope wrote : Another example: we still have no "real" answer to why the button was pushed. We know what happened when it is NOT pushed, but really no idea why the button needed to be pushed.

Slightly off-topic, but I thought Kelvin said it was to release the build-up of the electromagnetic charge? I thought we had that question answered - or did I imagine it? LOL.

ILE - I think that Hubby meant that doesn't make any sense since in the context of the show, we do not know why they had a button pusher to begin with. See, the confusion just created proves the point!

Good discussion. Friday night is traditionally 'night out' especially for the younger crowd, which is why it is not the best spot. Some of us (cough, cough) are kind of past that, so are in on Friday's. The problem is that if you look at the other nights there is stiff competition.

I am surprised that Neilsen Ratings do not take DVR'ing into account - it would seem to potentially be a big segment that should be counted. Problem being that we FF thru commercials and it is the advertisers looking at the ratings - not really us - so that is probably why.

No easy answers - but you all have good suggestions that I agree with.

Maybe all is not LOST?

Quote :

"Lost" (10:00-11:00 p.m.) At 10:00 p.m., ABC's "Lost" continued to deliver enormous increases from its lead-in, shooting up by 7.5 million viewers (12.9 million vs. 5.4 million) and by 159% in Adults 18-49 (5.7/15 vs. 2.2/5). Despite CBS' advantage coming into the hour from an original "Criminal Minds," "Lost" moved ABC into a dominant No. 1 position in the 10 o'clock hour across the key adult demos, beating CBS' time period veteran "C.S.I.: NY" by even wider margins this week: AD18-34 +93% (5.4/15 vs. 2.8/8), AD18-49 +39% (5.7/15 vs. 4.1/11) and AD25-54 +22% (6.2/15 vs. 5.1/12). ABC's younger appealing drama also led the hour by 100% among Teens 12-17 over its nearest competition (3.2/12 vs. 1.6/6 - CBS). * "Lost" grew its overall Total Viewer count week to week (12.9 million vs. 12.8 million) and was also up among Adults 18-34 (+6% - 5.4/15 vs. 5.1/15), across the key men demos (+28% in M18-34 - 5.0/16 vs. 3.9/13, +8% in M18-49 - 5.2/15 vs. 4.8/13 and +4% in M25-54 - 5.4/14 vs. 5.2/13) and among Teens 12-17 (+19% - 3.2/12 vs. 2.7/10). The show delivered it best-yet Teen 12-17 number in its new time period. * For the third straight week, ABC's "Lost" stood as Wednesday's No. 1 scrïpted TV program in the key Adult 18-49 demographic. It was also the night's top-rated scrïpted series for the third week in a row with Adults 25-54, Adults 18-34 and Teens 12-17. * "Lost" is greatly improving its new time period for ABC over the same nights last year, growing the hour as a lead-in to Network affiliates' late-local news by 5.4 million viewers (13.4 million vs. 8.0 million), by 79% in Adults 18-49 (5.9/15 vs. 3.3/8) and by 68% in Adults 25-54 (6.4/15 vs. 3.8/9). In fact, "Lost" qualifies as ABC's most-watched series in the Wednesday 10 o'clock hour in 9 years and its top-rated among Adults 18-49 in 10 years - since the 1998-97 and 1996-97 TV Seasons, respectively.

Thanks WOC

So wait - how has it slipped so far down in ratings if it is actually doing better?? Me confused!

Doing better on just it's night, but not overall among all the shows during the week I guess?

I have no idea what all the mumbo jumbo means.  Lies, damn lies and statistics.  I'm sure TPTB have numbers they pull out of all that to determine how well it is doing.  I think the move to 10PM means lower viewership across the board, but if it's beating CSI:NY it can't be all bad (I guess)

Interesting, but then CSI: NY is the lowest rated of the CSI shows. It's never caught on like Vegas and Miami.

However, if they've improved the night for ABC, and the lead-in to the nightly news, it sounds like a good thing.

Quote :

Penelope wrote : Here is a non-fanatic's opinion of what is wrong with LOST right now: (aka Hubby!) We need to resolve more than "little" mysteries like confirmation of where Cindy had gone. He would like to see us learn the purpose of the Others on the island and the purpose of their experiments. If TPTB fail to answer the bigger questions, the show does not remain "great" but becomes stupid. Another example: we still have no "real" answer to why the button was pushed. We know what happened when it is NOT pushed, but really no idea why the button needed to be pushed. Since people like us analyze this show constantly and discuss the meanings, it may not seem so confusing but people like Hubby are no longer interested. He is to the point he does not care to see what happens next. ABC - I hope you guys are reading this!!!!

Wifey's the same way and I think most non-fanatics are too.

The time slot doesn't help anything either. I used to watch it w/ about a 30 min. delay on Tivo, then rewatch it in entirety again afterwards. The new time slot makes it harder for me.

I was reading over at the Fuselage that the show is going to "jump the shark" twice between now and the finale which is anticipated on discussion over there to further alienate the viewing audience. Not good....

Before the season finale, Pen? Or before the final finale?

Oh dear. That doesn't sound good.

before this season's finale