Thursday, February 15, 2007

People are stupid


By LYNN ELBER

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Lost" crashed in the ratings this week, hitting an all-time low for a new episode. ABC's drama about plane crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island drew an estimated 12.8 million viewers Wednesday, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research. That's well off the peak of more than 20 million for the drama that became an instant sensation when it debuted in September 2004.
ABC has worked hard to try to protect a show that helped turn the network's fortunes around, moving it to 10 p.m. EST Wednesday this year to steer clear of Fox's blockbuster "American Idol" and CBS's increasingly strong "Criminal Minds."
After "Lost" fans complained about reruns interrupting the show's serial flow last season, the network tried an experiment: It split the current season in two, airing six episodes before an extended break and then resuming with 16 additional episodes.
The show's Feb. 7 return was heavily promoted and drew nearly 14.5 million viewers. But the bounce didn't last, with the show slumping this week.
Although protected from top-rated "American Idol" in its new time 10 p.m. time slot, "Lost" now has the disadvantage of trying to draw viewers at an hour when fewer people are watching television. This Wednesday, Valentine's Day put a 7 percent dent in overall TV viewership.
In the show's defense, ABC noted that it beat the competition among the advertiser-favored young adult crowd, drawing 7.3 million viewers age 18 to 49 compared to the 5.8 million that tuned in to CBS'"CSI: New York."
"Lost" also handed ABC nearly 4 million more viewers in the time slot compared to last year, when short-lived drama "Invasion" aired, the network said.
But there's no question that "Lost," once riding big ratings, buzz and cachet, has lost significant ground.
Some fans and critics complain that the story has gotten confusing and unsatisfying. The show, named best drama at the 2005 Emmy Awards, was shut out at the 2006 ceremony.

2 comments:

Jordan said...

Yeah, this is the real test. To the extent that LOST is an experiment (purely from a structural standpoint) here's where we'll see the experiment succeeding or failing.

The fact is, you cannot graft the mechanics of a finite thriller onto an open-ended story indefinitely. If you plan ahead (and they have) you can keep the ball rolling a good, long time so that everyone has fun. But at a certain point the story has only a few options: reboot, end, or shark-jump. It's just an application of the laws of thermodynamics. You can't sustain unbalanced pressure on a system forever; the system fails.

Octopunk said...

Yes, and unfortunately the two forces of good narrative and money making often come to head on the very issue of finite-ness. Then the shark is jumped, and people recall the embarassing last season or two of a once-amazing show they no longer recognized by the end. Northern Exposure, anyone?

I also like this: "This Wednesday, Valentine's Day put a 7 percent dent in overall TV viewership."

It's competing markets! TV vs. Love! USA! USA!

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...