ABC's Lost: Three More Years of Confusing Plots

More unusual entertainment business news: In what Variety is calling a "potentially paradigm shifting play," ABC has agreed to let the producers of Lost set the end date for the show. The Emmy-award winning series will run for 48 episodes over the next three years, with each season divided into 16 episodes. Lost executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have been vocal about planning an ending for the show. Lindelof said that having a stop date "was incredibly liberating. Like we've been running a marathon and we actually know where the finish line is for the very first time." They've signed an eight-figure deal to stay on for the remainder of the series as well as to develop shows for the network when Lost expires in 2010. "What we didn't know was how long we had to play the story out," Cuse said. "By defining the endpoint, we can now really map out the rest of the series in confidence." As a fan since the start, I think that Lost has been declining in quality for a while and has lost (pun intended) its momentum--the mysterious elements that were so intriguing at the beginning are no longer paying off. Hopefully, this stop date will help them map out a more compelling overall story arc.

ABC details 'Lost's' final years [Hollywood Reporter]
'Lost' set for three more years [Variety]

(Photograph by Everett Collection)