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The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- ABC is attempting to rescue once-hot "Lost" by ending the show --
in 2010. Bowing to the fact that convention isn't working for the drama about
plane-crash survivors on a surreal island, the network is taking the unusual
step of turning "Lost" into a limited-run series.
It will run for three
shorter and uninterrupted seasons until its "highly anticipated and shocking
finale" in the 2009-10 season, ABC said Monday.
The series, which saw its
ratings drop this season amid complaints about scheduling, an increasingly
meandering plot and unpopular new characters, still must prove itself to
disenchanted viewers to survive.
"Due to the unique nature of the series,
we knew it would require an end date to keep the integrity and strength of the
show consistent throughout and to give the audience the payoff they deserve,"
ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said in a
statement.
Typically, networks milk a series until it runs dry of ratings
and then drop the ax.
Last January, "Lost" producers said they were
talking with the network about setting an end date.
Executive producers
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have agreed to remain with the show, not in its
third season, through the end, ABC said. Lindelof created the show with J.J.
Abrams and Jeffrey Lieber.
"We always envisioned `Lost' as a show with a
beginning, middle and end," Lindelof and Cuse said in a statement. "By
officially announcing exactly when that ending will be, the audience will now
have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we've
intended."
A total of 48 episodes will air over the next three seasons,
with 16 episodes running without a break each season in the style of Fox's "24."
That will take care of viewer complaints about reruns that left them
dangling.
ABC's effort to make this a two-part season for "Lost" by
pausing midway to make room for another show, the quickly canceled "Day Break,"
also proved a flop. Serial dramas with complex plots, like "Lost" or CBS'
"Jericho," have found it difficult to regain viewers after a break.
The
average number of episodes for a series is 22, which isn't enough to stretch
through an entire season without reruns or a hiatus.
"Lost" once drew an
impressive 20 million-plus viewers as it helped raise ABC from ratings
purgatory, gained cultural-phenomenon status and won the 2005 Emmy for best
drama.
But in its third season "Lost" took a nose dive, with recent
episodes drawing 12 million or fewer viewers. A time-slot change, to 10 p.m. EDT
Wednesday, which put it up against CBS' "CSI: NY," was a
factor.
Viewership numbers also don't reflect how many people save the
shows on their digital video recorders to watch more than 24 hours later, and
"Lost" gains viewers when the DVR audience is taken into account.
The
ensemble cast includes Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly among
the survivors of Oceanic Air flight 815 and Michael Emerson as the leader of the
dangerous "Others" who live on the island.
Related: Get the latest "Lost" recap
