A little over a year ago, the creators of “Lost,” ABC’s drama about the survivors of an airplane crash in the Pacific, seemed to be quite lost themselves.
Their show, a huge hit in its first season, had become, in its third, weighed down with the expectations created by its early success. Viewers were steadily draining away as doubts grew that the series was headed in any definite direction, while the complicated and often convoluted story line seemed to provide few entry points for new fans.
Yet as “Lost” embarks Thursday on the second half of its strike-shortened fourth season, the series is moving at a breakneck pace that has excited the fan base and energized the show’s writers, actors and staff. What happened?
“We were sort of stalling” last season, said Carlton Cuse, an executive producer of “Lost” who, with Damon Lindelof, forms the core of the creative team behind the island mystery. “We didn’t know whether the mythology we constructed had to last two more seasons or seven more seasons. And that was driving us crazy because we didn’t know how fast it was going to play out.”
What the producers asked for and the network and ABC’s studio granted was something almost unheard of in network TV: an end date, when the series would conclude and the mysteries of the island would be revealed.
Early last May, ABC and the producers announced that the series would run for three more seasons, through spring 2010. Weeks later, in the third season finale, the “Lost” writers used a surprising flash-forward sequence to show two of the crash survivors, Jack and Kate, off the island and dealing with the consequences of how they made it back to civilization. That has been followed in the current fourth season by week after week of stunning revelations about who will escape the island. (Those have come, so far at least, with only a few explanations of how they do it and what happens to the other crash survivors.)
Setting an end date “changed everything,” Lindelof said. “It was nothing less than the difference between not wanting to do it anymore and being thrilled to do it to the very end. It had become such an arduous task: How can we start working toward any of the things we’ve been doing for the last three years if we don’t know when we get to do them?”
It remains to be seen if the re-energized show will help retain viewers who returned this season after having drifted away. The program attracted an average of 15.2 million viewers to each of the first eight episodes this season, according to Nielsen Media Research. That ranks just outside the Top 10 among all shows broadcast on the major networks during prime time. While it is up slightly from last season, it remains lower than the 16 million viewers each week in the show’s first year.
There are other bright spots. Among the group of viewers that advertisers covet most, adults age 18 to 49, “Lost” ranks sixth this season. And it is one of the most-recorded shows on TV, according to Nielsen, with nearly 20 percent of its audience viewing the program outside of its regular time slot.
Lindelof and Cuse say that while it is easy, especially in hindsight, to see when “Lost” seemed to have lost its way, that was more difficult in real time.
“We call it the Goldilocks paradox,” Lindelof said. “The porridge is never, ever just right on ‘Lost.’ It’s always too hot or too cold. So you’re moving too fast, and things get confusing, and people go, ‘I can’t really follow the show right now,’ or you’re moving too slow, and people go, ‘This is frustrating, they’re stalling, and I’m not getting any answers to my questions.’ “
Now, however, the two men say the announcement of an end date has heightened expectations.
“We kind of laugh a lot about how ridiculously high the expectations are for the final episode,” Cuse said.
Lindelof added: “And it’s our job now to lower expectations. We’ve been on the roller coaster long enough now to know that there are still ups and downs to go. The reality is, Season 4 is on a huge upswing. But to expect that we are going to stay up, all the way to the end of the show, is not our goal.”
“Lost,” he added, “is a show that lives in the zeitgeist. People either love it, or they’re saying, ‘Why am I still watching this?’ And if we’re going about our jobs right, that’s going to continue until the very end.”
5 NEW EPISODES
Lost
9 P.M. THURSDAY, ABC
Where we left off:
* The freighter people work for Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who is the father of Desmond’s (Henry Ian Cusick) girlfriend, Penny (Sonya Walger), and Ben’s mortal enemy.
* Sayid (Naveen Andrews) exposed Michael (Harold Perrineau) as a former Lostie on the freighter.
* Rousseau (Mira Furlan) and Karl (Blake Bashoff) were killed. Or were they?
What’s next:
* We learn the identity of the person who was in the coffin in Jack’s flash forward at the beginning of the season.
* More is revealed about why Michael was suicidal after he left the island and how he became Ben’s spy on the freighter. Exec producer Carlton Cuse has said Michael becomes a pivotal character toward the end of the season.
* More information will be revealed about Jacob, his cabin and the smoke monster.
[NEWSDAY, REDEYE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND NEWS SERVICES]GET READY FOR ‘BETTY’ AND GOSSIPY ‘GREY’S’
5 NEW EPISODES
Ugly Betty
7 P.M. THURSDAY, ABC
Where we left off:
* Claire Meade (Judith Light) left prison and planned to launch her own mag, “Hot Flash.”
* Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) got serious, then cooled things off, with Renee (Gabrielle Union) after he learned she’s Wilhelmina’s (Vanessa Williams) sister.
* Betty’s (America Ferrera) love life grew more complicated, with Sandwich Boy, Gio (Freddy Rodriguez), emerging as a serious contender to terrifically bland Henry Grubstick (Christopher Gorham).
What to expect:
* Wilhelmina warns Daniel about her once-wayward sister Renee.
* Renee finds out about Wilhelmina’s deep, dark secret — you know, how she stole Bradford Meade’s sperm to impregnate Christina (Ashley Jensen) to get a piece of the “Mode” kingdom, etc.
* Betty? Not a good birthday, because Henry’s also pregnant ex, Charlie (Jayma Mays) shows up. But Gio saves the day, or rather, night.
5 NEW EPISODES
Grey’s Anatomy
8 P.M. THURSDAY, ABC
Where we left off:
* McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) kissed nurse Rose (Lauren Stamile), and George (T.R. Knight) kind of let that info slip with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo).
* George didn’t fare too well with Izzie (Katherine Heigl) after their affair broke up his marriage to Callie (Sara Ramirez).
* Alex (Justin Chambers) was hooking up with Meredith’s sis, Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and former patient Ava (Elizabeth Reaser).
What’s next:
Notoriously tight-lipped creator Shonda Rhimes talked with TV Guide and other outlets, saying:
* Viewers will “see where things stand with Derek and Meredith and Rose.” And that, yes, McDreamy and Meredith will get back together for good — or at least until next season.
* George and Izzie “have put it to bed for the night,” Rhimes said. Meaning, we guess, they are over.
