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No more getting 'Lost' in reruns

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 20, 2006

The good news for Lost fans: ABC has listened to you, and it has scheduled the show in such a way for next season that it won't have any reruns.

The bad news: There will be a 13-week gap between the first run of episodes in the fall and the unbroken 15- or 16-episode string that will close the season.

Which, like the plot of the show itself, raises a few questions.

Why not run the entire season straight through beginning in October?

Lost's production schedule won't allow it, ABC Entertainment chief Steve McPherson said Tuesday at the Television Critics Association gathering in Pasadena, Calif.

Why not just bring the show back in January and run 22 episodes in a row, like Fox does with 24?

"That seemed like a long time to be off the air," McPherson said. Also, he wanted to use the show in the fall to help launch The Nine, a highly touted new drama that will follow Lost at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Lost moves to 9 p.m.

Is this really going to help the storytelling?

The writers will tailor story arcs to fit the two blocks of episodes, McPherson said. He also hopes to keep viewers engaged with non-TV content along the lines of the "Lost Experience" game that Web users are playing.

What's on while Lost is gone?

Day Break, a new drama that stars Taye Diggs as a Los Angeles detective who's being framed for murder and keeps reliving the same day, Groundhog Day-style, while trying to prove his innocence.

Is there any good-news-only scenario for Lost?

Series creator J.J. Abrams will be back full time after taking off time last year to direct Mission: Impossible III.

Zap2it.com, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 01:52:30]