'Lost' Series Finale Set for Sunday, May 23rd

Nope, I have no idea what the hell happened on Lost this week. The alternate timelines were present again, Desmond was on the Oceanic flight, Hurley never had bad luck, the Maggie Grace character must have stayed in Australia, and then John Locke...well, it's hardly worth discussing now. There's another dozen episodes or so. Speaking of, the last episode has been announced: ABC will give Lost a two-hour series finale, three hours counting the recap, on Sunday night, May 23rd. Lost has fewer episodes per season than most network shows, which run for 23 or 24 installments in a lot of cases; a cable series, like Mad Men, is about half that many. Since the resolution of the writers strike in 2007, Lost has premiered in January and run for half a year, and the seasons have been shorter, too. Season three was 22 episodes, this year there are 17, two of which aired on Tuesday. Ratings were up 10% for the premiere, which is a good sign. That's about 12 million viewers. I expect that to be the case for the rest of the year, though not 12 million a week every week, even if there's so much competition on Tuesdays. In years past, you could wait a day or two and watch the DVR, but with this being the final season, I think people might gravitate toward the broadcast more. It could lose steam, particularly if it's as convoluted as the premiere, so hopefully the Bad Robot boys are working some of that out. “Lost is an example of what happens when you put creativity above everything else, trust the creative vision, and take the risks required to be truly original,” said ABC's Stephen McPherson of the show's pending finale. “It’s a testament to staying true to the creative vision of one of the most iconic shows ever on television, and we’re giving the producers an unprecedented opportunity to respect the fans and really satisfy the viewers with a spectacular conclusion.” And I guess that conclusion will involve Bob Newhart waking up in the shower with Patrick Duffy.

Comments

[mdamien13]

I followed the first two seasons religiously and loved just about every minute. Season three tested me but I stuck by it, confident that it'd get back to what made me follow it in the first place. About halfway through season four, though, I realized that I was watching each week out of a kind of obligation I felt to do so, not because I wanted to know what happened. I tuned out the following week and haven't seen an episode since. Every now and then someone at work will tell me what's happening and it confirms in my mind that I left at a good time. I'll be curious to know how it all ends up, but I lost interest (pun intended) a while ago.