'Lost' losing audience

[Mousie]

I still like Lost but now C4 aren't going to show the next series I have to think about it. I don't have satelite or cable TV and I'm not going to get it just to watch Lost. My only choice if I still want to watch it may be to wait until the dvd's are out.

However a few people I know have also stopped watching it for a variety of reasons. Whilst I love shows with story arks (it makes them more interesting to follow) one of my friends doesn't have the attention span to follow a long convoluted story line and another can't be fussed with watching something where you really do need to see every episode. Another reason she got fed up with it is it's projected longjevity. She asked me one day how long it was going to go on and when I told her (as it was stated on here last year) that they had planned for 5 years but had enough material for 7, THAT'S what first put her off. She isn't really into shows in a big way so couldn't see herself watching a programme for 5 years. It's a lot easier to look back and say "wow, I've been watching that for x years now" than go into it knowing it's going to be 5 or however many years.

From my perspective I miss a lot of the deeper hidden stuff. Although I do pick most of it up here, I don't have the time or technical skill to be following the more in depth stuff like what happened recently with the Dharma Fragments and hunting for them and putting them all together. I know not seeing it doesn't detract anything from the show but it does make me feel like i've missed something.

Anyway that's my 2p's worth

[Osiris-RA]

I like Lost because when I weigh it against the other programming on the boob tube currently, it's the only sci fi drama (besides BSG and Dr Who *sorta*) that has an original, interesting story that's obviously still going somewhere. A lot of audiences like fast-food television that you kind of sit down and watch without thinking too much about anything, but that still keep up to an enjoyable storyline without any in-depth re-caps or real substance. So that's going to be a huge veiwerbase lost for "Lost" right there. Then there's the other percentage thats patient, enthralled with the story or just fanatically loyal. I can't say I'm as enthralled anymore, but I still find it an original story (that will be done to death once it's over, unfortunately) and I'd like to see how it ends.

Personally, I think JJ and Co are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Bless him, but that JJ chap can't seem to sit still! He's directing this and that, writing this and that, with Lost receding slowly into the background. I think JJ ought to slow down and concentrate on making Lost a good show with a good payoff. If I were him, I'd think with my heart and not my wallet.

[StevetheWraith!]

Honestly I don't care about the numbers! I still think that it is a great show but I totally get that many people are not happy with the pace of things. I guess that the audience will continue to be shaken up until it is just the core audience that is left behind. Is that such a bad thing? Us Stargate and BSG fans have always known that just because some agency touts some numbers that it doesn't mean that the show is bad nor does it mean that core audience is growing restless when ratings go south. Remember all the naysayers who were dissing SG-1 after Season 9's beginning? Well now there are probably petitioning for a Season 11! Well that is just my opinion anyways

[DEM]

My theory is that some people have stopped watching Lost because 1) they believe that the producers are just making it up as they go along AND 2) they don't like that. I, myself, fit the 1st description, but don't fit the 2nd.

In my eyes, the addition of a 2nd group of survivors and some other story elements that first cropped up in S2 looked like the producers throwing stuff at a wall to see what stuck. Moreover, neither the dilution of character-focus across the ever-expanding cast nor the change in importance of certain 1st-group characters' roles relative to others' has set all that well with me.

Despite all that, I'm still willing to see what they've got. I'm wary, but not quite irked yet.

[sgeureka]

Not too long ago, I was talking about TV shows with my father. He only watches one daily soap and a weekly show about women behind bars (which seems to be pretty decent from what I can tell).

When I told him that I wouldn't watch those shows because they were too shallow for my taste (in the have-seen-it-a-thousand-times sense), he replied that he didn't like to be forced to watch every single episode to know what's going on; he'd have better things to do with his time. I, on the other hand, asked what the point was of watching a show when it didn't matter if I watched an ep or not -- then I could dismiss the show all together.

So my point is, if the majority of the audience (like my Dad) doesn't like the watch-it-or-be-screwed basis of Lost, then there's nothing that TPTB can do to stop the ratings from falling other than changing the whole show and thereby risking to alienate more or less loyal viewers like me.

[Wyrminarrd]

I can understand people who don´t like to watch series were missing one episode makes you spend the next episode going "Huh, I guess they did this or that last week". Even so I´m personally a big fan of shows like this, I like having a solid story told were you get the sense that what your watching matters.

I hope the ratings don´t go much lower, I want this series to remain on the air for a couple of more years.

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

I don't think that the creators really knew where they wanted to go with it, IMO they're making the story up as they go along without having anything planned out beforehand. Sure, there are rumours of the net saying that the creators have the ending already and just have to fill in the gap until the finale comes along, but I doubt it somehow.

Most of my friends love watching LOST, but I watched the first 4 episodes and didn't get hooked at all, it didn't interest me to see where it was going. I just thought that it wasn't too entertaining as well as a bit confusing.

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

I can understand people who don´t like to watch series were missing one episode makes you spend the next episode going "Huh, I guess they did this or that last week". Even so I´m personally a big fan of shows like this, I like having a solid story told were you get the sense that what your watching matters.

I hope the ratings don´t go much lower, I want this series to remain on the air for a couple of more years.

That's exactly how I feel about Battlestar Galactica.

[yaaayoubetcha]

I've really lost interest in it this year.

I'm in the room, but really, you only need to watch the first 5 mins and last 5 mins to get an ep.

I do feel they're not doing anything at all with the story and just sort of wing it, hoping something will work right. They seem to be failing.

I'm not an impatient viewer and don't mind working my way through a season of stories to get to a payoff, but they don't do that. In the 2.5 seasons, we've only had 1 'payoff' of note and that was about the plane crash. Everything else is less payoff and more bait and switch as they take you to a place, eventually, and then add characters or a natural obstacle to delay them and then start the process over by taking you to another place, without actually resolving anything.

I don't need to be spoon fed my entertainment, but I think these writers need to be spoon fed a plot.

S1, the mystery was there, what was gonna happen...who was it gonna happen to...why did it happen...now it's more along the lines of 'will that ever get resolved? is this a plot device or a plot point?'

They made a huge deal out of various things, then just let them drop off without indicating that its part of the story is done or will be continued.

meh.

I agree with the 'director's cut' idea. release 2 sets of dvds...one with all the backstories (assuming there's a point to these other than time wasting) and one with the island story.

[Madeleine]

If I knew for sure that it'd end after s4 I'd be much happier. I'm still watching, but I think we need it to go a bit faster and we need to know that there's a destination.

I think I've had enough of the Backstories now. There's been far too much of Jack's especially, but most characters have had at least twice as much flashback as they need. No more flashback please! I want to see the story progress.

I'd be happiest of all if I knew the show was ending after s3 and everything would be dealt with within the year.

[Neorapsta]

The original plan was to go for 8 seasons but with Season 2 they really dropped the ball and wasted so much time where people didn't do anything or just repeated stuff that happened in a previous episode. That's why people just lost interest. Hopefully Season 3 gets back to the point but if it turns out to be another season 2 I don't see the point in watching it any more as it would turn into a mock reality TV show.

[Madeleine]

Eight? EIGHT? That's just taking the mick.

[SoulReaver]

I can understand people who don´t like to watch series were missing one episode makes you spend the next episode going "Huh, I guess they did this or that last week". Even so I´m personally a big fan of shows like this, I like having a solid story told were you get the sense that what your watching matters.

I hope the ratings don´t go much lower, I want this series to remain on the air for a couple of more years.

Amen brother

Patience never is Lost, for from its seeds sprout forth the tastiest fruit

(duh )

[Morbo]

the show isn't going anywhere.
and i don't get how people can think it's going too slow. if they just laid out the answers to everything, there'd be NO POINT IN HAVING A SHOW. you could just read a Lost FAQ on an ABC website and have everything there you ever wanted to know! Then they could stop wasting time and money making a tv show! yeah that sounds like a great idea!!

c'mon people. the story is no where near slow. especially these first 5 eps this season. they've been crazy. next week is going to be off the hook as well.

and originally the show was slated for possibly 6 seasons, which is why Damon and Carlton always joked season 7 would be the "zombie" season.

the point is that there are far more people who are still hanging on every word and scene of Lost, than there are people who are upset that "its going too slow."

[ses110]

I agree.I love shows like Lost and X-Files that are mysterious and take patience before learning all the answers.The only think that worries me about Lost is losing a favorite character.I hope that Jack Kate Sawyer Claire Charlie Locke and Sayid and Hurley all stay until the end.I'm ok if we lose any other characters.I doubt the characters I mentioned will all make it to the end.I think most Fans will be patience but losing one of their favorite characters could be a problem.