As first reported by Daily Variety's Michael Schneider, then confirmed by ABC, "Lost" will be back on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 9 p.m. with a two-hour premiere for the sixth and final season. The regular timeslot will be Tuesdays from 9-10.Several reasons to applaud this move:
1)There is nothing on Tuesdays at 9 that I care about (though "Scrubs" and "Better Off Ted" will be airing there in between the end of "Dancing with the Stars" and the return of "Lost").
2)It means ABC didn't feel the need to hold the return until after the Winter Olympics (which run from Feb. 12-28), or, worse, to air the season in two chunks, one before the Vancouver Games, one after. Not everybody wants to watch bobsledding, but network executives seem to live in fear of the Olympics, even now that they're less popular than they used to be.
3)This is more a personal interest, but it means the episodes (other than the two-hour premiere and finale) will be done airing at 10. The periods when "Lost" has aired from 10-11 have been a killer for me in terms of staying up to write about it. Plus, it means you'll get to read said reviews earlier.
Finally, a reminder about the No Spoilers portion of the commenting rules. Cuse and Lindelof have been pretty stringent about protecting info for this final season, not even letting ABC show any footage of the season before it airs, and I don't want to see any discussion in the comments about spoilers you've read on message boards, or things you've heard from your cousin's best friend who just came back from a Hawaiian vacation, or whatever messages have been transmitted directly into your brain via Walt Lloyd. Got it?
it will be a long cold month's of December and January with SOA gone, Mad Men already off - 2/2 (Numbers seem familiar) being the only date to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteWhen does Breaking Bad S3 start?
So they are running it against American Idol when Idol has its two hour performance shows? Seems like a dumb move to me and will force a lot of people to DVR it who like to see IDOL live. I was really hoping for Wednesday at 10.
ReplyDeleteLost returns on Groundhog Day. Clearly, this means something.
ReplyDelete@John: Who cares about the ratings? This is the final season!
ReplyDeleteApparently the final season will be indeed interupted by the Olympics though.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slashfilm.com/2009/10/26/the-final-season-of-lost-will-be-interrupted-by-the-olympics/
I highly doubt it's interrupted by the Olympics with a 2/2 start date. Lost is running 18 hours over 16 weeks this year, and if they broke for the Olympics the finale wouldn't air until June 8.
ReplyDeleteThat article cited is from when speculation centered on Lost starting up around the 20th of January.
Apparently the final season will be indeed interupted by the Olympics though.
ReplyDeleteIf that was the case at one point, I don't believe it is anymore. Someone at ABC said it's going to be a crazy two weeks, with Lost going head-to-head with both Olympics and what they assume will be two-hour Idols.
Lost first, DVR'd Olympics after. I can do both! :-)
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Have been rewatching the old shows with a friend I've indoctrinated, good for catch-up and stuff I missed the first time. (Sun's pregnancy test back in Season Two? Came from Widmore Pharmaceuticals.)
ReplyDeleteIs NBC going to tape delay the Olympics for the West Coast even though the events are taking place in the Pacific Time Zone?
ReplyDeleteI just assume NBC will. And that is why they hate them. They tape delayed events from Salt Lake City for the West Coast.
I'll just stick to "Lost."
It is on.
ReplyDeleteNow can I take V and Flash Forward off of my DVR?
Wooooo!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Stealth. They always love doing goofy things like that.
ReplyDeleteStart the countdown!
Spoilers include the names of actors who will be appearing in one or more future episodes, right?
ReplyDeleteWhat about stuff I get from Ian Cusick? Will be spending some decent amount of time with him the weeks ahead -- he and a couple other cast members. Can I post stuff they tell me?
ReplyDeleteI'm just joking -- not about spending time with Ian, but about posting stuff here.
ReplyDeleteHe never says anything anyway.
Competing against hour 2 of Idol is, IMHO, a mistake. Why not go up against the Leno-hole on Tuesday or Wednesday?
ReplyDeleteThe good news is I can go a little slower on my rewatch (started over the weekend, already up to S1, Episode 9).
ReplyDeleteKinda bummed out, because I was looking forward to it in January, but I'll adjust. I'm wildly anticipating and dreading LOST at the same time, because once it starts, that means it's almost gone.
First and foremost I geeked up now that we know when it is coming back. However, the move to Tuesday seems like a mistake across the board. Going against Idol just makes little sense, while going against Leno on almost night (as someone menitoned above) is genius.
ReplyDeleteEven the folks that have barely paid attention will turn to Lost over clips about stupid Americans are and a bad interview with Gilbert Gottfried.
Alan,
ReplyDeleteAny idea how many episodes they will shoot? I hope they don't short change us with a super short season.
With Mad Men I get depressed about the season ending when it just begins. I start doing the math by ep 3 ("we're already nearly 1/4 done")
IMO, the audience watching the final season of Lost is pretty different from the audience that watches Idol. Should ABC just hide under the table until there's nothing else on? This is counter-programming at its most sensible.
ReplyDelete4) or the almighty ABC can change their minds about when the final season starts and what time it airs.
ReplyDeleteAnna, it'll be 18 hours (not counting recap specials): 16 episodes, with the premiere and finale being 2 hours each.
ReplyDeleteWith my DVR, I couldn't care less when a show airs. I'm in charge of when I watch it. So if I want to watch Lost on Wednesdays at 10pm, that's when I'll watch it.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't bother me if they aired the show at 7am on Fridays, as long as my DVR catches it.
By the way, couldn't agree more with Alan about Tuesdays right now. There's nothing on Tuesdays worth watching at all; thank goodness for time-shifting.
IMO, the audience watching the final season of Lost is pretty different from the audience that watches Idol.
ReplyDeleteThe overlap at least includes me and our host here.
Woo! I'm with you, Alan - love the move to Tuesdays at 9:00, and for the same reasons. Is it still being shown in re-runs on SyFy? I would love to do some re-watching before the end begins, and I don't have the DVDs. (I know, shame on me) I'll have to check.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I love the image you chose. It cracked me up.
FYI - and you all probably know this already - ABC has all 5 seasons of full episodes online at http://abc.go.com/watch/lost/93372
ReplyDeleteI'm with the group that doesn't care when this show airs. If you have a DVR, you can watch both Lost AND American Idol on the same night (especially if you skip through all of the filler AI nonsense); just not both live. I don't really see the issue. And it's not like ratings are going to matter since it's the show's last season.
ReplyDelete