Revisiting the end of "Lost"

Am I the only person who's relieved to hear that the creators of Lost have an exit plan?

Producers of ABC's hugely successful sci-fi thriller serial announced Sunday that they had begun talks with the network on how much longer to keep the Oceanic Flight 815 castaways stuck on Mystery Island.

Speaking during a panel session at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, show runners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof admitted that they were upset by dwindling ratings (while still a hit show, viewership is down by 14 percent so far this third season), fielded the usual questions about the Others, the Numbers, the Losties and the show's other unsolved puzzles, and then dropped the bombshell: They were discussing with their network bosses a timeline to wrap up those loose ends.

But the exact end date remains as mysterious as the smoke monster.

"Once we figure out when that will be, a lot of the questions will go away," said Cuse, adding that he didn't want Lost to burn viewers' goodwill and fail to adequately resolve the storylines, à la The X-Files.

"That was a great show that probably ran two seasons too long," Cuse said. "That is a cautionary tale for us."

[...]

While Cuse said it would be "disrespectful" right now to announce when and how the show might end, Lindelof said he initially conceived it to run about 100 episodes, or about five season, but now "the most honest answer we can give [is] as long as it's good."

I've heard a lot of grumbling from people who have come to believe that they're making it up as they go along. I'm not in that camp (which means I'll be all the more upset if they're right and I'm wrong), and I hope this helps dispel some of that talk. Maybe we'll get a clearer picture of things by the end of this season. More here and here.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 19, 2007 to TV and movies