LOST TO END!!!!

Anticipated? No kidding. They're telling us three years in advance. Sheesh.

Shocking? I'll reserve judgement until I see it.

I just can't believe TPTB think they can drag this out for 48 more episodes....

Well, 3 more years... that would give them enough time to really develop the story and character arcs and wrap them up nicely, unlike X-Files or Twin Peaks...

I stopped watching it at the end of last season....have no desire in it any longer--just got too far fetched..

But hey, they are telling us in advance--studios (as a general rule) don't do that--well sometimes but hey.

Huh.

So, because they're cheapassed, ABC takes a hit series & just sorta kinda stre-e-e-e-e-etches it out.

And viewership droppped off.

Huh, says ABC. Let's make 'em anticipate it more. More reruns, fewer new shows in a chunk. Then we'll run a retrospective episode every month or two -- the interns can put those together -- toss in some outtakes & bloopers, & we'll have a gazillion viewers.

And ratings fell off more.

Oh, shuckydarn! says ABC. What're we doin' wrong? Heck, clearly, we need to pply more leeches -- um, stretch it out even more!

(For comparison, look at Heroes, where they defined the world & established some of the characters, so, a "new series" can be spawned readily, but the story arc is probably going to, in two weeks, end. Period.)

IMO, the problem with Lost is that they had a great premise and a well-defined first season -- so much intrigue, mystery, character development, conflict, etc. etc. It was well thought out. Then they ran out of ideas -- my feeling is that they had no idea where the story was going after the first two seasons; they started to make things up as they plod along. And they made a mistake of dropping the original cast and went for a whole new set of characters. That really put a bad taste in the fans' mouths.

At least with 24, there's a definitive story line for each season, and they can develop a bigger story/character arc over the whole series. That's smart programming and writing. Same with Heroes -- build a world and plug in cool characters... and the thing can go on forever.

Lost reminds me of one of those stories that start great with a high concept, then just fizzle out because the writers have no clue how to end that thing.

If the complete DVD collection gets good reviews when it is released some time in the far future I'll buy it to find out what precisely was going on.

I liked season one and two.

As it is now, I stopped watching three episodes into the third season.

I have to totally disagree with you Maestro. I gave up on Season 1 because it was getting incredibly repetitive, but seasons 2 and 3 have been amazing for me. I trust the writers know where they are going. They told us the truth that they wanted an end in sight, and I believe them when they say they have a plan. But of course we are all allowed our different tastes.

And if you saw last night's episode . . . man it rocked. . .

I'm with Toothpaste, especially about how the last two seasons have gone. I think they have an overall plan. Having a firm end date lets them finally wrap that up.

I love shows like this, with a not-obvious arc that keeps you speculating. The problem usually ends up that viewership falls off and the studio just cancels it outright, leaving the faithful hanging (Fox is notorious for this).