‘Lost’ takes a break, then will return without repeats

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, November 5, 2006

How much is too much? Or, rather, how little is simply not enough?

Those are the big questions facing the writers of “Lost,” which ends its six-episode fall run at 9 p.m. Wednesday on KOMO, Channel 4.

The show will take a three-month break before returning on Feb. 7 for a string of 17 new episodes that will run through the end of the season. Instead of airing repeats, ABC is bringing in a new drama, “Day Break,” for “Lost’s” time slot during the break. More on that show next week.

The scheduling change was made to appease fans who grew frustrated with repeats getting sprinkled in the middle of the season, leaving them to guess whether each week’s episode was a new one or an old one.

This season, the Web site that sprouted from that frustration – www.IsLostARepeat.com – will never read, “Yes.” Instead, fans will know that if “Lost” is on, “Lost” is new.

ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said this summer that the network is looking at online activities, similar to “The Lost Experience” during the last offseason that will keep fans engaged during the hiatus.

“We won’t have broadband episodes, you know, separately, but we’re looking at a number of different opportunities where people can keep up, to participate in it,” McPherson said. “We’ve just really, you know, listened to the audience about the repeats, and it felt like this was really the best way to run the show (for) the producers.”

So, scheduling problem solved.

But the bigger questions for producers now are how far they are pushing their audience, and how long fans are willing to stick around without getting some more answers out of the mysterious island.

A backlash is beginning to brew as the first five episodes of the new season have failed to enlighten viewers and mostly served to confuse them even more. There hasn’t been much progress with Jack, Sawyer and Kate being held captive by The Others while everyone else just sort of sits around on the other side of the island waiting for something to happen.

Sound familiar?

So far, the new season showed us what The Others were doing the day the Losties’ plane crashed (having a book club meeting); The Others seem to have a lot of information about the Losties and have contact with the outside world; Sawyer and Kate are locked up in outdoor cells while Jack is being held underground somewhere; and the leader of The Others has a tumor on his spine and Jack is a spinal specialist doctor guy.

Oh, and Mr. Eko died last week.

Such developments are enough to sate the appetite of true fans who are fascinated by every twist and turn and shred of background on every character. But the rest of the crowd is starting to get a little annoyed if online forums are to be believed.

It’s also a good bet that Wednesday’s fall finale will open up more questions than it answers.

The previews hint at an action-packed sendoff, but the real test will come in three months when we see how many of the 17 million viewers bother to come back.

For more TV and pop culture scoop, check out Victor’s blog at heraldnet.com/blogpopculture.

Victor Balta’s column runs Mondays and Thursdays on the A&E page. Reach him at 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.

On TV

“Lost,” fall finale, 9 p.m. Wednesday, KOMO, Channel 4.