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For ABC's 'Lost,'
beginning of the end

The cult island mystery returns for its final season

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 2, 2010

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The most successful cult show on broadcast, "Lost," returns for its sixth and final season premiere tonight at 9 p.m. as perhaps the only television show capable of influencing President Obama's decision making.

Last month an Obama spokesperson went out of his way to assure "Lost" fans that the president would not preempt the twisted sci fi show's long-planned sixth-season premiere with his first State of the Union speech, as had been rumored.

"Lost" may not be the highest-rated show on television or even draw two-thirds of the numbers it did at its peak, averaging just under 12 million last season, but the ABC drama's fans are among the most rabid for any program on TV. Had Obama scheduled his speech tonight, there's a very real chance his approval rating would have fallen.

Instead, "Lost" will return with its usual mix of cryptic answers and even more mysteries. The big cliffhanger last season came after Juliet exploded a bomb in hopes of undoing the events that brought the passengers of Oceanic 815 to the island.

Three years ago, when ABC acquiesced to "Lost" producers' desire to set an end date for the show, "Lost" seemed to be, well, lost itself. The storytelling was meandering, and the show had been losing viewership for months.

But the May 2010 end date seemed to revitalize the writing staff, and the show delivered a brisk season five that really hurt your head if you tried to figure out the time travel stuff.

Tonight's two-hour opener will likely draw strong ratings, airing opposite Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares," NBC's "Biggest Loser" and CBS's "NCIS: Los Angeles," but viewership will fall in the coming weeks as people increasingly time-shift the show or decide they can't hang with the convoluted timeline. That's been the pattern the past three seasons.

Still, when May arrives, "Lost's" finale will be one of the biggest buzz producers in some time, and it will also signal the end of an era. It will be the first of the hugely successful class of 2004-'05 shows (including "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," "House" and "The Office") to leave the air.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	ABC	“Good Morning America” (N)	John Travolta and former John Edwards aide Andrew Young guest.
8 p.m.	CBS	“NCIS” (D)	The squad tries to stop terrorists from detonating a bomb in D.C. Hmm, if it blows up at 8:59, "Lost" fans are gonna be super ticked.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Biggest Loser: Couples” (R)	Eliminated players show up and try to rejoin the competition.
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Victoria Beckham guests during Denver auditions.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Lost” (D)	Assuming the "NCIS" stopped the world from ending last hour, the highly anticipated season six opener begins.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Two of the Big Ten’s best teams, Michigan State and Wisconsin, square off in Madison.
10 p.m.	CBS	“The Good Wife” (D)	Alicia defends a murder suspect in a civil case, but she thinks he might be guilty.
10 p.m.	BET	“The Michael Vick Project” (R)	Series premiere. Following the convicted dog fighter as he tries to reshape his image and career.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	CBS	“Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials” (A)	A countdown of the best spots ever to air on Super Sunday.
9 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Hollywood is right around the corner as the audition phase ends.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Modern Family” (C)	Actress Minnie Driver guests as an old friend of Claire.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Criminal Minds” (D)	A con artist kills the people he scams.
10 p.m.	FX	“Nip/Tuck” (D)	A common procedure on an actress goes wrong.
10 p.m.	MTV	“The Real World” (R)	Ashley gets into a fight with Andrew, which stirs memories of past abuse.
10 p.m.	USA	“Psych” (D)	Someone goes overboard during a river-rafting trip, and Shawn thinks it wasn’t an accident.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	ABC	“Good Morning America” (N)	Comedian, singer and actor Jamie Foxx guests.
8 p.m.	CW	“The Vampire Diaries” (D)	Bonnie and Ben go on a date, but it doesn’t turn out well.
8 p.m.	TNT	NBA Basketball” (S)	Should be a fun one to watch between Miami and Cleveland.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Grey’s Anatomy” (D)	A patient of Bailey's and Meredith's wakes up in the middle of surgery.
9 p.m.	NBC	“The Office” (C)	Dunder Mifflin is bought out by a company whose CEO is played by Kathy Bates.
10 p.m.	CBS	“The Mentalist” (D)	A car saleswoman is found dead in the trunk of a Bentley. Was she selling Toyotas? People are pretty mad about the recall.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	CBS	“Ghost Whisperer” (D)	Margaret Cho plays a professor who’s haunted by a ghost secret admirer.
8 p.m.	CW	“Smallville” (D)	The Justice Society of America gets help from Clark, Chloe, John Jones and Green Arrow.
8 p.m.	Nickelodeon	“iCarly” (K)	Freddie gets a little too close to Gibby’s girlfriend.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Medium” (D)	No matter who Allison talks to, she keeps seeing the face of the same man. Maybe someone else has a ghost secret admirer, huh?
10 p.m.	Showtime	“Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (D)	Spartacus plots to battle Crixus in the main event of a festival.
10:30 p.m.	ESPN	“NBA Basketball” (S)	The Nuggets try to take down the Lakers in Los Angeles.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Tough Big East matchup between Villanova and Georgetown.
8 p.m.	Fox	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	The Budweiser Shootout from Daytona International Speedway.
9 p.m.	BBC	“Demons” (D)	Season finale. Luke has bad dreams about the car accident that killed his dad.
9 p.m.	Food Network	“Food Network Challenge” (N)	Chefs make chocolate versions of the wonders of the world.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Key conference game between Michigan State and Illinois.
11:30 p.m.	NBC	“Saturday Night Live” (C)	Ashton Kutcher hosts and Them Crooked Vultures perform.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	NBC	“NHL Hockey” (S)	The sport’s current golden boys, Crosby and Ovechkin, face off in Washington.
2 p.m.	CBS	“Super Bowl Today” (S)	The season’s biggest game needs its longest pregame show.
2:30 p.m.	ABC	“NBA Basketball” (S)	The Magic travel to Boston for a game against the Celtics.
6:25 p.m.	CBS	“NFL Football” (S)	After all the talk, it’s Colts versus Saints in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.
9 p.m.	HBO	“Big Love” (D)	Bill works endless hours in his attempt to win a state senate seat (and draw people away from the Super Bowl).
10 p.m.	CBS	“Undercover Boss” (R)	Series premiere. Executives pretend to be new low-level hires at their own companies. CBS pretends the show will actually start at 10.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.