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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC has set an end date for “Lost.”
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The Emmy-winning adventure series will run for 48 more episodes over three seasons. Each season will consist of 16 episodes, which will air uninterrupted.

“Lost” executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who have been vocal about setting up an endgame for the show, have signed on to stay for the remainder of the series’ run. Their separate new eight-figure deals with “Lost” producer ABC TV Studio include their services on the show as well as multiyear development pacts set to kick in when “Lost” bows out during the 2009-10 season.

“Due to the unique nature of ‘Lost,’ we knew it would require an end date to keep the integrity and strength of the show consistent throughout and to give the audience the payoff they deserve,” ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson said.

Lindelof said having the end point in sight was “incredibly liberating. Like we’ve been running a marathon and we actually know where the finish line is for the first time.”

Lindelof and Cuse said they’ve had “a road map for the series with all the major mythological milestones and the ending in place” for a while.

“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.”

There will be some puzzle play, too.

“We sort of view “Lost” as a mosaic,” Cuse said. “Now there are only 48 more tiles that go into that mosaic, and we’re figuring out, along with all the other writers, exactly where they all go.”

In January, Lindelof and Cuse said that they envisioned the endpoint for “Lost” around episode 100. The agreement with ABC will bring the total number of episodes to 120.

Lindelof wrote the pilot for “Lost” with fellow executive producer J.J. Abrams, and Cuse joined the series in October 2004 shortly after the show debuted to big numbers.

In addition to its instant commercial success and large following, “Lost” has enjoyed strong critical acclaim, capped by a best drama series Emmy in 2005 and best drama series Golden Globe in 2006.

While the show’s ratings have softened this season — it is averaging 15.1 million viewers to date — it is the most recorded show on TV, gaining 18% more viewers through DVR viewing. It is also a popular draw for streaming replays on ABC.com, iTunes downloads and DVDs.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

The danger with a show like Lost is that it can quite often meader along aimlessly. At least with a fixed end date in sight they have something to work towards. Over the last couple of seasons they've given the impression that a large amount of it was probably being made up on the fly, to be fair, less so the third season than the second, but now at least they can start mapping out how to get to the series' finishing point.

Yep very true Damon and Carlton were discussing that very thing in an article not to long ago, I'll see if I can track that down. I still think it's a great show, I guess I'm in the minority now but that's O.K.

Well if you are, I'm right there with you. I can kind of understand why people might have thought the second season was a little disappointing, but for me, season three was almost, if not, back to its best, and set things up brilliantly for the next season.

This has some spoilers for next season but if you want to shuffle through some of the other pages there are lots of articles there about the show.Here...

I think this is what I read from Lindelof...

Says Lindelof, ''To keep Lost creative and energized, we needed an end point.''

There's also the hope that the assurance of an ending will satisfy fans alienated by the show's sometimes frustrating ambiguity. ''I think there was some uneasiness that Lost wasn't going to end well,'' says Cuse. The producers say the fourth season — which is expected to launch in February 2008 and may air in an earlier time slot — promises major changes, with the upcoming May 23 season finale setting the stage. Look for death, renewed rescue hope, and a development that might alter the show's flashback-heavy structure. Teases Lindelof: ''It will make you realize that the house [that is Lost] actually has a lot more rooms than you thought.'' And by 2010, you'll finally get to see the entire blueprint.

Yes, there's always been that threat with Lost. A show so dependent on a story-arc always runs the risk of being cancelled before telling the extent of its story. At least now, we know they'll get the chance to bring some form of finality to the series.

Have to say, I enjoyed the finale, and it pretty much delivered on everything Lindelof promised there.

Cheers for that

Lost Season-Four Spoilers Leaked

link

Lost was starting to bore me, hopefully now they have a end date it might make each episode better. It was starting to get a bit slow.

sci fi wire

Can't believe this isn't gonna start till February, that's what's been killing the show more than anything, crappy scheduling and way to many gaps in the show.

You have a choice - given that there are 16 episodes in the season, you can start in September and then have to interrupt the series every so often with reruns and the like (thus alienating viewers who can't be arsed to play 'hunt the new episode'), or you can delay the series, promote the hell out of it and then play it all in one long run, thus ensuring the public will know there's a new episode guaranteed each week.

It worked for Season 3 of Lost (although the 6/18-ish episode split was a failed experiment), it's worked for 24 and other series. I don't see any problem with them holding it back.

Plus, from an international perspective, it means that people outside of the US/Canada can see the episodes sooner as well (uninterrupted, to boot), since there's no delay to ensure they don't run out of episodes (something which I suspect is going to bite Sky in the backside with regard to Prison Break).

As much as i hate the long wait, i have to agree that it's better being shown all in one go, it's annoying when they stop mid season, i didn't like the 3 month wait after only 6 episodes.

As for Sky and Prison Break, they survived with Bones, showing only 6 in October/November and then waiting, so they should be ok. I know Bones isn't as high profile a show as Prison Break, but maybe some fans would rather see the eps asap and have a hiatus in the middle.

Looking forward to S4 Lost, it's my favourite show at the moment, and i'm glad they've set an end point, which will hopefully mean more of the plot will start coming together and less dragging out of the storyline.

Well I wish I actually had a choice... Anyway I know they claim that the 16 eps are going to run uninterrupted, I just hope that's true.

As this is the news section i thought i'd add this. Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) has been arrested for DUI, does this mean he'll be the next character to go following Ana Lucia, Libby and Mr. Eko who were similarly arrested for driving offences and then killed off the show. What do you think?

Carlton Cuse, executive producer of ABC's Lost, told Entertainment Weekly that ABC will soon have eight episodes in the can that it can begin airing after the first of the year, despite the current writers' strike, but added that If the strike is prolonged, fans will be stuck with a shortened season.

That's good news I'm such a huge fan of things like hiatus and re-runs... I knew there had to be a way they could break up the season somehow.

I don't mind short wait between 8 and 9, but we've waited long enough, I want them all at once. Hopefully the writers strike can be resolved soon.

Lost Deaths Necessary

scifi.com

Lost Answers Offered

article (minor spoiler)

The third season DVD will be released on Dec. 11.