Six Seasons of Lost (Sorta)!

ABC has announced that, following this season's finale, there will be three more seasons of Lost, each with 16 episodes -- roughly 2/3 the number of most network dramas.

I say, "cool."

What's really significant here is that it could indicate a sort of paradigm shift in terms of network programming. Not only is this model more like an HBO or BBC broadcasting schedule, but it also shows that the network has decided to let the show run its course in a way based as much on the storytelling demands of the show as on raw economics.

Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have been saying for nearly a year now that they want to be sure the show ends on its own terms (which really means on Damon and Carlton's terms), with sufficient time to finish the story, but without having to "tap-dance" for season after season once the show has run its course just for the sake of putting more episodes on the air for the network. They have said that they originally planned for the show to run about 100 episodes -- roughly four seasons -- but could see the room to potentially extend it to about 125 -- roughly five full seasons. The current plan will bring the show's total episode count to 119. From the way everything sounds, it seems as if Damon and Carlton really managed to get a deal that works for them.

Still, the new deal does make plenty of sense from the money's standpoint. Not only does the network get to keep the show on the air for three seasons while only having to produce two regular seasons worth of content, but they also get to make a killing down the road with three sets of DVD's (Lost sells an assload of DVD's). Plus the show has the highest non-traditional digital viewership (DVR, iTunes, ABC.com's full episdoe stream), so they get to milk it there, too.

Personally, I find it exciting. There had been rumors in recent weeks that the announcement of the show's end-date would put it at the end of next season, a prospect that I had kind of warmed up to. But the way the producers are talking, they seem to be really happy with this resolution, so if that's what they really want, that's what I'm happy to get. If the people who make the show are given three years to create two seasons worth of the show, theoretically that gives them more time to make a better-quality product.

So the question becomes, will the audience be willing to stick it out for three more years? Plenty of viewers are likely to be annoyed at having less Lost per year, and in fact, many of them are already voicing their frustration online. In response to that, I'm prone to agree with this quote from user GilesT on Aintitcool:

So the show HASN'T been cancelled...
It's got a definite endpoint, a sufficient distance in the future for them to wrap everything up without it seeming rushed...
It's not even got a reduced budget for the remaining seasons...
...and some of you fuckers have STILL found something to whine about.

Two episodes left this season, then no more Lost until probably January.

Can't frikkin wait.

(PS - My apeshit theory of the moment: in the season finale, we find out that the Jack who is on the beach is not really Jack, but is in fact "Jacob," the leader of the Others, and Jack's bad twin. Crazy? Maybe. But so was saying that the hatch would be destroyed by the end of season two. And I was right about that.)