Lost Returns in One Week

Lost is set to resume its broadcast schedule in exactly one week - with "Not In Portland", Episode 7 of Season 3 of Lost. Can you believe it, we only are up to Episode 7? This hiatus has been a bit of a sore point for a lot of Lost fans, and the producers will not repeat the hiatus in Season 4 of Lost.

The hiatus would have been considered a success if Daybreak, Lost's schedule replacement, had fared better in the ratings race. However it did not, leaving the network filling the schedule until February 7. I was in the evident minority liking Daybreak, and look forward to viewing the remaining episodes on ABC.com when they are released.

Follow this link for my spoilers blogs on the upcoming Lost episode spoilers and scroll down when you get there.

Another spoiler leak du jour is that the big reveal of Nikki (Kiele Sanchez)and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) will be coming in Episode 14 of Season 3. Not very new news, but repackaged. The preceding episodes where we saw glimpses of these new characters in Season 3 were meant as brief intros, so the ultimate reveal later on is not so shocking. Of course everyone is wondering about their purposes anyway. I heard Rodrigo's contract only runs one year. If that is true, the implication is that he will die or melt back into the unnamed survivors. Of course there could be contract renewal options, so there is no guarantee, only a hint that Paulo will be gone.

Lost Movie - Season 4

Are Mulder and Sculley coming to Lost? Remember them, the protagonists of the X-Files in the photo?

Now it has leaked out that the producers of Lost are going to be announcing the end of the series. The objective will be to avoid the problems perceived with the last two seasons of the X-files. With the X-Files, ratings lagged in the last season, and the storyline was perceived to lag. Personally, I would like to see some lessons learned from the hiatus. No need to worry about Lost repeating patterns of other shows. Why don't we just go on and as long as it is interesting, keep going?

What really may be happening is that the producers want to do a movie and are looking to wind up the series to make time to produce the movie, and then another, and another and another... Personally, I have no problem with that either. Rumors about the movie were floated last summer. Here is a link to the Lost Exposed thread. This is one more step in that direction. 2009 Update: It's not in the 2009 Movies season, but Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje aka Mr. Eko, is showing up in the new G.I. Joe movie coming out in 2009.

Season 4 scheduling options also are on the table. 24 improved its ratings last year by going to an uninterrupted schedule. Meanwhile Lost took a ratings hit by going to a split schedule this year, leaving ABC scrambling to move the return a week early (not happening). So, in the spirit of emulating success (24), conventional thinking is that Lost will be going to an uninterrupted schedule next year. In the humble opinion of the Lost Spoilers blogger, this would be a big mistake. Lost should return to the conventional schedule on which it was ratings dy-no-mite. Starting late this year enabled the competition to become entrenched and led to a decline in viewership (from stellar to "just outstanding" :)).

Oh, one more thing... What is Lost's answer to Mulder-Sculley? Here it is, so there: