Monday, April 02, 2007

Lost Big Question of the Day
So this will show you how far behind I am on my Entertainment Weekly reading, but I was reading the post-Oscar issue with Jennifer Hudson on the cover and there was an article at the beginning about ABC's prospects for the 2007-2008 season, considering it's had a ratings fall this year with Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives. In the Lost paragraph was a VERY important line where it said that despite Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wanting to take the show to the end of season 5, EW has learned that ABC wants them to extend it to the end of season 6, because they don't want to let go of the ratings. In other words, it's a relative slump (relative to the season 1 numbers) but, as I've been saying all along, relative to the other shows on television, it still usually ranks in the top 10 each week.

I also predicted that sadly I worried ABC would try to push the show beyond where it should go. (Look how they destroyed Alias.)

But here's the weird part. EVERYONE has been saying Darlton want the show to go to the end of season 5. I appeared on Star Daily a couple of months ago saying that if it went to the end of season 4 it would be perfect, and the voiceover was like, "Ooh, even diehard fans like Nikki Stafford think the 5 seasons that Damon and Carlton have proposed is too long" and I'm thinking, What part of what Damon said in the media is the media missing?! He NEVER said he wanted it to go to season 5. He said it would be perfect if the entire series were 90-100 episodes long.

So a quick recap for the clearly mathematically challenged media.
Season 1 = 24 episodes
Season 2 = 23 episodes
Season 3 = 22 episodes (23 if you count the upcoming 2-hour finale as 2 eps)
Season 4 = 22 episodes (or 23)

That adds up to 91-93 episodes. Which is EXACTLY within the range that Damon said would be ideal. By the end of season 5 they'll be at about 115, which is beyond what he wanted.

Season 1 was all about trying to be rescued and getting to know the other survivors. Season 2 was about realizing they weren't going to be rescued, and learning to live on the island with the tailies, another group of people that's actually part of theirs. Season 3 is about the Others and dealing with an enemy on the island. Season 4 will inevitably be about the intrusion of the outside world, and that would be a perfect end to the arc. As each season grows outward more and more, each character is moving inward.

But that's just my opinion. What do you think would be best? Four seasons, five seasons, or six?
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6 comments:

  1. thisguypossessed2 April 2007 at 23:37

    i can't remember where I heard this or if it's even true (I think it was in a podcast) but I think that Carlton and Damon said in an interview that it would be good to end the show around the end of season 4 but then have a smaller mini-series wrap up to close all the loose ends. In my opinion I think that would be pretty good. Casual fans would be satisfied and the more hard-core fans would get the closure they need with the mini-series end. Or maybe they'll go a more Firefly way and end it with a movie.

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  2. Anonymous3 April 2007 at 02:26

    4 seasons is the perfect ending point! I will be angry beyond belief if ABCs forces a 6th season. I'll be fine with 5 because I love the show so darn much, but, other than that, I might have to do something I'll regret.

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  3. Anonymous3 April 2007 at 09:23

    I think if they can know how long they have, and write accordingly, there needn't be any particular 'good' length. This always makes me think about Babylon 5 - it had a five year arc, JMS was told to finish it in four years because of cancellation, he had to slap on a fifth year after all, and that last year was terrible.

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  4. Anonymous3 April 2007 at 15:43

    I think it would be awesome if they ended it in a movie. Probably won't happen, but that would be sweet. 4 seasons is enough, though. I love LOST, but they can't drag it out too long, or they might jump the shark.

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  5. Anonymous3 April 2007 at 19:06

    I think 4 seasons and a shorter fifth season would be great. 4 seasons seems too short a time to tie up everything, but a mini-season 5 would give the story a little room to breath.

    Ironically, this is kind of what happened to "Alias" (with the 17 episode season) but it wasn't what that writing staff had planned for. I will boycott ABC if they screw up this show-- I cared so much about "Alias" (still do, even with the rushed ending) and I care too much about "Lost" for ABC to ruin it.

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  6. Anonymous3 April 2007 at 23:27

    aaah! perfectly said!

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