Waiting to get more Lost

So the Season Three finale of LOST was on last night.
And the internet buzz is actually warming the ambient temperature in my office today.
It will be like this for a week or so, then slow down, of course. But the fact will remain LOSTies want their fix.

They've got an awfully long time to wait...about 8 months. This is nothing compared to the null spaces between seasons of the Sopranos, but chances are there will be some fans who cool down in the interim and don't make it back for the beginning of season four in February 2008. I think at this point the decline in viewership is all but inevitable. It's a matter of how many how quickly, balanced against the fervor of those who are left until the show's scheduled end in Spring of 2011. The measure of these two factors will determine if the show ever gets that far. I don't care how popular the show is now, I don't even care that there is a defined endpoint that's drawing ever nearer. If the show fails to bring in the required revenue to ABC, out it goes.

This season was split down the middle, with an entirely separate (and supposedly self-contained) show appearing in the LOST timeslot for 16 weeks. (Ahem. For less than 16 weeks. People didn't like it, people didn't watch, it got pulled. See above notes about network plug-pulling-inevitability.) Why did ABC do this? In order to avoid the fatigue and confusion caused by reruns. By common convention, The Television Season runs from September to May. Too many Wednesday nights, not enough LOST.

So this tactic didn't work. It left LOSTies typing at their keyboards, grousing about how they missed the show, which quickly devolved into grousing about the show in general, which caused some viewers to walk away. Granted, the show got better after the break, but the damage was done.

Next season's strategy is to simply put off the start the of the season by four months, then run the 16 episode season with no breaks or reruns. That will probably work better. But it's still leaving me with the same thought I had this year: "You mean I have to be at home, on the couch at the same time every Wednesday night for four months?!" Granted, nobody's twisting my arm, it's a choice. But I really think the viewers need a break as much as the shows do (or used to).

And as I said earlier, I really think that we're looking at an ever-decreasing audience for LOST, regardless of how good it is. People who haven't watched it before now will come to the show in lower numbers that people stop watching it.

My suggestion to stem that tide - decrease viewer fatigue, decrease the 8 months of complete downtime, keep people more hooked for more time, through the season and into the next?

Show LOST every other week. The off weeks can be another show entirely, a rotation of reruns for other shows, some cheap "Reality"-slash-Game show, and special LOST "event" programs, like "LOST_The Answers."

Maybe nobody would like this but me. But maybe nobody likes me but me anyway, so who cares!