In the game of TV chicken, ABC blinked.
The network has announced it is moving Lost from Wednesdays at 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. when the show returns February 7, in order to avoid Fox's returning reality show American Idol. Last season's top-rated series, Idol returns January 16.
Last January, Lost suffered a 20 percent ratings drop once the singing competition got under way, and the show is already having a rocky time this season. The third-season premiere was off 25 percent from the season-two start, and CBS's Criminal Minds has slowly turned up the heat, coming within striking distance of Lost's crown in the 18-49 demo and on one occasion exceeding Lost in total viewers.
Beginning January 3, ABC will slot the oft-delayed Knights of Prosperity in the Wednesday 9 p.m. spot. The sitcom stars Donal Logue as the leader of a bumbling gang of crooks who hatch a plan to rob Mick Jagger. Another new sitcom, In Case of Emergency, will air at 9:30 p.m. The network calls the David Arquette show "a unique laugh out loud comedy."
The serial Day Break was scheduled to finish its Wednesday night arc until Lost returned. Now, the future of that series is unknown.
On January 24 George Lopez returns with new episodes at 8:00 p.m., followed by According to Jim at 8:30 p.m.
Comments (41)
MAAAAAN! This sucks...now I'll have to tape it...I cant keep my eyes open that late!
Lost one of the best shows ever!!!ABC, I think that is a great idea.
LOST is a very very very boring show it was great 2 years a go but now just SUCKS,it is sad to see a good show failing and getting worse!!! However AMERICAN IDOL is a great show and not at all boring AI deserves a lot of raiting. go AI!!!
I wouldn't worry too much about the fate of "DAY BREAK". I'm sure all the episodes produced will be released on DVD about six months (or less) from now. In the meantime, does ABC REALLY believe their two newest comedies are going to make a ratings dent against CBS' "CRIMINAL MINDS"? Or "DEAL OR NO DEAL" on NBC? Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle....I remember when NBC had this kind of programming malady about 27 years ago.....
I will stay up till 11 you all can
So far I hear people say that Lost will lose viewers because it's against CSI:NY. Hello, it was able to survive against American Idol with 14 million viewers. If Lost can get that many viewers when American Idol is on, it can surely get more viewers against CSI:NY.
I am another one who begs whatever deity who happens to be listening for the destruction of all humnanity when I look at the success of a show like American Idol! Personally I go out of my way to avoid lame, crappy, mediocre, pre-processed pop music. Why would I want to watch the next attempt to shove one of these singers down my throat! Amazing!
Damn. Now ill have to wait till the next day to watch Lost on my DVR. My parents arent going to let me stay up till 11 to watch TV, even if it is Lost
Saw American Idol for the first time last year. It totally sucks. Why choose that over Lost? Why not put American Idol at 10pm? I know people who have to get up to get ready for work at 4:30am and Lost will definitely lose out on people like them ever watching again.
Switching quality shows in quality time slots for crappy tv...a crappy decision!
Lost is moving to 10pm
See, I am a teenager. And I do not want to spend up until 11 o'clock at night when I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning for school. They may be doing this to up the ratings, and they may gain some 18+ viewers, but could loose their teenage audience. I told some kids in my class, and although I will watch it, a few of them said they're giving up on the show. And that was in ONE class in ONE tiny high school. Bad choice, ABC.
I don't like that the networks are doing this to these series'. Ones like Vanished, Kidnapped, The Nine and Day Break which have an on-going storyline all gone. It's maddening that this is happening constantly now. Soon everyone will be turning off because they're fed up.
I really enjoy DayBreak. I just hope that they show all 13 episodes even though the ratings are poor. Who the hell wants to watch people robbing Mick Jagger? I predict that show will be canceled after a few weeks at most.
Hehe, i meant "Lost" not last.
American idol blows and it is boring, last still kicks major butt, even to those ignorant people out there who think it has steered away from its original concept, and heroes is just as good as lost, i am loving tv right now.
I thought Daybreak got canceled?
getting moved to 10pm isn't a good sign for Lost
If Day Break is taking Lost's timeslot and Lost is moving to 10 p.m. then perhaps Day Break is also moving to 10 p.m. I doubt they'd show nine episodes and then cancel it in Jan for a few comedies. My opinion is that Day Break will be shown at 10 p.m. starting in Jan. (oh, and no one has mentioned it but the biggest problem with Day Break is that it has one of the crappiest shows ever as its lead in...)
The Sand end of Lost
it is really sad, i remember i saw the whole first season on DVD in just one day, non stop one episode after another. it was amazing, but now, it is simply ... and sadly ... boring
The first season was great, from one great moment to another, from one secret to another, stories were connected and logical, always leading to a point. Flashbacks, though not really enteraining, were important to the plot and were needed to tell us more about the charecters The first season creat hundreds of secrets and mysteries, amazingly, all were connected. When season two started, I hoped that some, if not most, of these secrets will be revealed. Instead, season 2 created even more secrets, leading me to huge confusions, and while i was waiting for the "big bangs", you know, the answers to all these secrets, new boring and completely irrelavent characters were introduced, and alot of air time was wasted on them, only to have them killed later (analucia, libby, and sadly .. eco) Starting with season 2, the pace of the story became very very slow, with every secrest solved, at least 10 more are generated, flashbacks no longer serve the plot, instead they became fillers and were generated to serve sub-plots, (a big example is hugo's flashback in season 2, about losing his friend when he won the lottery, and wasting the whole episode wondering how to distribute the food, who the hell cares, just eat the damn food)
now in season 3, the story is even worse, the pace is almost at standstill. the producers just wanna cash in on the show's popularity by over-extending the story, filling it with extra characters that have short life spans. by doing so, they are not only shooting themselves in the foot, but in the heart. it is sad, but after the last episode i saw last couple of weeks, i dont think i will watch it againmoreless
Reality TV is rubbish; American Idol is awful.
Lost, however, is great. It won't get cancelled, its been renewed through its fourth season.
Lost,good. American Idol, bad.
I'm getting tired of the networks putting on serialized shows and then cancelling them before they finish. Day Break has been pretty good. Unfortunately, they put it up against one of the top shows, Criminal Minds. And surprise! - it did poorly in the ratings.
I believe the entire 13 episodes have been filmed, so I hope they at least run them somewhere. Or even put them on DVD.
Day Break future is in doubt, it's a real shame for such a good show, I really don't understand what's inside people's mind...seeing that American Idol is a program that can cause trouble to Lost or other series is really ridicolous...well, I hope this slot shift will help
Now ABC cannot blame Idol or Criminal Minds for the declining ratings, and will find have to address the shows declining story line.
Last year both Lost and Criminal Minds survived going against Idol, and both could do it again in 2007. Only about a quarter of Idol's audience are fans or would watch either Lost or Criminal Minds.
ABC real problem is that they are worried about losing the Lost audience to Criminal Minds and are using Idol as an excuse for the move. Lost going against the weakest of the 3 CSI shows - CSI: New York - could prove to be a major mistake. If Lost's ratings continue to decline in the 10 PM slot against CSI:New York, then Lost's future will be in doubt.
tss american idols.. who wants to want that crap anyway?
LOST HAS TO GO ON FFS!! if abc cancels it we all gonna riot@!
uh-oh, this is how it starts. hopefully this is just a small bump in the road and doesn't cause a chain reaction in the future. i hope this isn't the beginning of the end. *laughs* you think i'm overreacting; this is how it starts, and it's happened before. Why on earth do people still watch this idol trash?!? it happens in australia too, the viewers a bunch of teeny boppers and stay-at-home mums with the brain capacity of a goldfish. and how can criminal minds be catching up to Lost? that show is awful.
Will the later time slot allow them more creative freedom? Can the show be more adult in a 10pm slot?
I think it was the right move. Avoid getting pummeled by Idol. Lost is more intresting this season than last anyways.
I really do not mind the time switch. I have a chance to watch One Tree Hill.
AW C'MON! Now it conflicts with South Park and i cant watch that on thursdays because the office, grey's anatomy, and er are all on thursday. Now i pretty much have to buy a TiVo. why couldnt they change it to 8 p.m.?
If Lost had trouble beating Criminal Minds then it would have been sluadderd by American Idol.
ABC should have moved Lost to 8pm. Sure, moving Lost out of 9pm avoids both American Idol and Criminal Minds but at 10pm they'll be facing CSI: NY which receives a similar amount of viewers to Criminal Minds. At *pm the only real threat is Jericho and Lost can beat that out easily.
LOST is a very excellent show, but even it wouldn't do well against American Idol. American Idol finished with 34 million viewers on average per episode last season, the highest rated show on television. The Only show that would be able to challenge it is Dancing with the Stars, so going up against it would be a suicide mission. But there is almost nothing on at 10:00 p.m. Wed. and the many loyal fans will follow LOSTto it's new slot, i know i will. Too bad about Day Break. Long live LOST!
aw man! way to conflict with South Park! Luckily they reair their new episodes on Thursdays so I will watch it then
trading daybreak for knights of prosperity? sick.
Well, nothing's really on at 10 pm Wednesday that's really good. Medium's ok, but I don't really watch it.
ten o clock?? no one at my school is gonna watch that now. we all go to bed at 10
huh its wierd to see Lost having to something like this..
You know now that if Knights doesn't do well, ABC will be quick to give it the boot, but you can kind of expect it not to do well already if it goes up against American Idol... Right?
And why did Daybreak get scrapped already? Oh, right. Because ABC actually LISTENS TO ME. Now if they can just announce that when Six Degrees returns Men In Trees will go away, we'll be all set.
I look forward to seeing the prosperity of ratings for KoP!
Hopefully this only helps Lost.