LOST is an exellent show, and had great potential. But the big build up to the tepid gumbo of pseudo-science thrown together with mysticism is a little off-putting to some who beleived the writers whdn they said it was nut-and-bolts science at the core. After vehemntly denying “time travel” was involved two seaosns ago, here we are. I’m about to dig up the “Limbo” theory again, that most reviled theory ALSO denied by the writers/producers.

It MAY be you’re so blown-away and inspired by what you think is solid science (and not the gross misrepresentation of those theories and the hatchet job the writers are doing on it) that you may have better spent your time studying science. Or better yet, readinbg real nut-and-bolts treatments of thioase subjects in REAL sci-fi. Then you wouldn’t be so awestruck but more pragmatically….disappointed.

Having said that let the fan-storm begin…it’s Monday, we can use a rousing discussion rather than total agreement.

1. Besides the middle of the third season, “Lost” hasn’t lost that many more viewers. For the last season and a half (for typical episodes, not season premieres/finales) it’s been averaging 11.5-12.5 million viewers and a 4.8 to a 5.5 in the demo. With the exception of one episode this season, most of it’s airings have been very close to that range. Considering the erosion seen in network TV over the past 2 years, to remain stable is damned good. Virtually no other hit series has. Look at the ratings for GA, DH, the CSIs, Survivor, AI, House, etc if you don’t believe me.

2. Despite the frequently trumpeted figure that the series used to draw over 20 million viewers, out of it’s 88 episodes, only about 8 drew over that mark. It usually drew 17 to 18 million and in the 7′s in the demo. So it’s not like Lost has lost half of its audience.

3. It’s still top 20 in viewers and top 10 in demo.

4. ABC has already renewed the show for a sixth season.

In conclusions: Stop worrying! It’s pointless, not only because ABC’s already renewed it, but also because numbers are good. You don’t see fans of Grey’s Anatomy freaking out, do you? It’s demo numbers aren’t that much higher than Lost’s at this point.

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/188227/heroes_season_four_rescue_plan.html

“And Tim Kring is clearly welcoming the reprieve. He’s now promised, talking to TV Guide, that the show will be rebooted for its fourth season, and would be starting again from square one. He’s added that you won’t need to have seen the three previous seasons to jump in with season four”

I also want to point out that Nieslen ratings are an unfair indicator for the popularity of Lost, not only because it does not take into account DVD sales or bittorrent downloads, but also because it does not include hits on ABCs website, which has full episodes streaming for free.

LOST is in its FIFTH season and is getting the same numbers(basically) as the freshman show, FRINGE… so take that as you will. LOST is great quality wise… and to some extent quantity wise with all the profit it makes for ABC.

When LOST is done, ABC will probably be quite sad because they’ll never have the same type of show like LOST….EVER. The same can be said for other networks.

When the show is done, after is 6th season, EVERYONE that’s yet to watch the show needs to watch this fantastic book we call…. LOST

Serial shows like the high quality LOST will probably never again appear on TV once this current batch (24, BSG, Heroes) ends because TV and Nielson are too archaic to adapt to the new millennium. They will be a DVD experience. LOST and 24 were some of the first to harness viral marketing, and speaking as a viewer, the experience watching the show on DVD is so much more amazing and repeat viewing and immediate access to the next episode is part of the pleasure. It’s like the show was made to be viewed that way. A LOT of people simply wait till the seasons are released on DVD because the story is so dense that it really demands being savored and quite frankly the TV format is better suited to news and mind-numbing reality shows.

When I will fell ripped off by buying all of the Lost is when it’s all over and they come out with a full series pack, and includes extras not included in the original DVDs. They did is with Seinfeld and I’m still pissed I didn’t get a coffee table book, despite that fact that I own all nine season. And even though I got some of them as gifts and good deals on most of the seasons, I’m probably still paid more then the $200 for the full series pack.

For now I have my week to week of “24″ – and that’s enough for me…

Some professionals feel the need to decompress when they come home from a stressful job and so watch reality shows specifically because they are “dumbed down” and are instantly gratifying.

For a fictional example, Dr. Gregory House is a brilliant physician who, when he gets a chance, watches soaps in the daytime (usually in a coma patient’s room) and wrestling at night.

And Alex, yes, you should take downloads into account when sizing up a show’s
popularity. They may not be paying now, but the word of mouth generated by all the downloaders is worth its weight in gold when it comes to DVD sales down the road and future viewers being turned on by all the chatter amongst the faithful.

But really, how many fans can American Idol take away from Lost? Lost is a more cerebral show, and attracts cerebral types. American Idol has never been accused of being too intellectual. If any fans stop watching Lost because they’ve just gotta catch every week of American Idol, I’ll be baffled as to why they were hanging in with Lost for 4+ years in the first place.

And I don’t say that to insult American Idol fans — I used to watch it myself, for the first two or three years. But by this point in Lost’s history I think it’s got a solid, core fanbase and that solid, core fanbase is not the sort of viewer that watches American Idol.

I expect a modest ratings drop at worst.

johnthemon: well, lost got 5 demo in s3-s4, but before that…7-8 i believe

I think the thing is that people are getting tired of Serials. Heroes huge decline from a 5 to a 3.6, Lost from a 5 to a 4.4 and 24 from a 4 something to as low as a 3.4. Obviously the most noticeable is Heroes, but they’ve all lost a significant chunk of their audience.

Of course I don’t think that’s the issue a lot of people might be making it out to be, whilsst I think the hit Lost takes will get bigger as the season rolls on I don’t think its going to be substantial nor do I think its going to put the show in any real danger of not finishing its run as planned.

I’m not however strictly speaking saying that’s a bad thing because whilst I’m not a Lost fan my problem with the show is all about its quality (or lack thereof) rather than how easy or difficult it is to follow. There’s a place for complex serialised television, it just won’t ever be as a sustained monster hit similar to the likes of CSI because by their very nature serialised shows shun casual viewing. For Lost that’s not a problem because the audience it does attract is the right demo, one advertisers like and one who are clearly willing to shell out for DVD’s and other pieces of merchandise so its a profitable show and doesn’t need the sustained numbers of a CSI to survive, it just needs to maintain its impressive demo score.

- sorry for my english -

but the NON-Fans will always point to that stats to show the Quality Decline of the show and that really bugs me