Categories
Television

Will we get some answers tonight!?!?!?

Will Emmy wins ignite ‘Lost’?
Maybe the hatch contains shelf space for an Emmy.
The contents of the mysterious hatch and other puzzles are back for viewers to ponder when ABC’s Lost returns Wedensday (recap special, 8 ET/PT, followed by second season premiere at 9). But a new, non-life-threatening question has arisen: Will Sunday’s Emmy win for best dramatic series √≥ or other developments, such as a hot-selling DVD √≥ boost ratings for last season’s No. 14 show?
The Emmy could help the drama, which follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a spooky island, but it’s hard to gauge, ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson says. Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams also won an Emmy for directing the two-hour pilot.
“I think it’s great, especially the timing, with it coming back this week,” McPherson says. “There’s a portion of the audience that maybe saw it a few times but wasn’t dedicated to it that might come back … or there’s a new audience that heard about the show pop-culture-wise, and now that it has the Emmy stamp of approval, may give it a shot.”
But “the proof will be in the performance,” he says. “In the end, the show is the measure.”
The Emmy award for best drama or comedy is a big source of pride for a program and its network, but it traditionally hasn’t meant a big boost in ratings, especially for a show that already is drawing a large audience, such as Lost, says David Bushman, television curator at the Museum of Television & Radio. “I don’t think it’s ever had the reputation of the Tony Awards, where you get extended life out of a Broadway show, or the Academy Awards,” he says, where a win can mean a bounce at the box office.
He says an Emmy may help a high-quality but ratings-challenged show stave off cancellation. But it doesn’t guarantee success: In fact, Fox’s critically acclaimed Arrested Development lost viewers after winning last year’s Emmy for best comedy.
Other factors may play a greater role if Lost’s audience grows from last season’s average of just under 16 million viewers:
√Ø The DVD release of Lost’s first season Sept. 6 could attract new viewers. Another serialized drama, Fox’s 24, benefited from DVD sales. Lost: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista, $59.99) performed impressively in its first week, selling nearly 400,000 copies, according to Home Media Research estimates.
ï The series is moving an hour later, to 9 p.m. ET/PT, when more households have their televisions on and more adults are available to watch. The earlier time slot also can cost a program viewers after daylight-saving time takes effect in the spring.
Tonight’s first hour, Destination Lost, will give new and returning viewers a refresher course on the back stories of the survivors of Oceanic Air Flight 815 and the island’s mysteries, narrated in a linear fashion.
In the second-hour season premiere, one castaway is picked to go into the hatch, while Shannon (Maggie Grace) is shocked by a familiar face in the jungle. Over the course of the season, Jack (Matthew Fox) will mistrust Locke (Terry O’Quinn) even more; Kate’s (Evangeline Lilly) earlier life as a fugitive will be explored; and Charlie will grow closer to Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and her baby. Michelle Rodriguez joins the cast as another flight survivor, as does Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as an island resident.
Last season’s cliffhangers √≥ including the contents of the hatch and the fates of the raft riders √≥ should help attract a large audience, says Shari Anne Brill of media buyer Carat USA. That can cut both ways, however. Some viewers and TV critics claimed Lost’s finale didn’t answer enough questions. “The cliffhangers left people wanting more,” Brill says. “There are going to have to be some answers.” Producers promise there will be.