Lost coming back early?

xuxa · 12-19-2006, 01:49 PM

Very much still a rumor

http://www.fangasm.com/01television/...turn-early.php

gchance · 12-19-2006, 02:58 PM

When I tried going to the page earlier, Digg Effect was in progress.

If it comes back early, all the whiners will complain when it ends early. And if they add a few empty weeks in there, they'll complain. No matter what, everyone will complain.

Separately, does anyone know where I can get a sandal to fit my 4-toed foot?

Greg

Sirius Black · 12-19-2006, 03:16 PM

Why are they coming back early!? That's so stupid. They should come back on time!

DevdogAZ · 12-19-2006, 03:29 PM

I'd love to see them come back early, but what would be great is if they come back early and make extra episodes to fill those additional weeks rather than air re-runs or something. I know that's not likely to happen, but it would be cool.

JLucPicard · 12-19-2006, 04:08 PM

They probably would make more episodes - except they would be a bunch of "here's what happened so far" episodes. Apparently, technically those aren't reruns.

That really annoyed me last season. Some people liked that.

I haven't watched the fist part of the season yet. That will be part of my holiday viewing until original episodes of stuff start airing again - time to get caught up!

DevdogAZ · 12-19-2006, 04:48 PM

Recap episodes don't count as episodes. And for the people who got annoyed by those, they didn't take the place of new eps, so I never understood the outrage. If you didn't realize it wasn't a new episode that night until you tuned in, it was your own fault.

Church AV Guy · 12-19-2006, 05:37 PM

I doubt the contracts that are in place would allow extra episodes to be shot. The studio can shorten and/or cancel a contract, but to extend one would require vast negotiations at outrageous cost. Not impossible, but very unlikely.

unicorngoddess · 12-19-2006, 05:40 PM

I wouldn't mind if Lost came back early...as long as they waited until AFTER the holidays because I'm going to be at Disney World for the holidays.

MickeS · 12-19-2006, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLucPicard

I haven't watched the fist part of the season yet.

The foot part is soooooo much better anyway.

Rob Helmerichs · 12-19-2006, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickeS

The foot part is soooooo much better anyway.

I don't know, it seemed to be missing a toe...

willbhome · 12-19-2006, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLucPicard

They probably would make more episodes - except they would be a bunch of "here's what happened so far" episodes. Apparently, technically those aren't reruns.

That really annoyed me last season. Some people liked that.

I haven't watched the fist part of the season yet. That will be part of my holiday viewing until original episodes of stuff start airing again - time to get caught up!

It may be interesting to hear your opinion on the episodes you'll be catching up on. I skipped the "catch up" episdodes last year, as I don't like that, either.

tivogurl · 12-19-2006, 09:58 PM

An early return may be the result of Day Break's cancellation, which was intended to tide the viewers over until Lost's return.

drew2k · 12-19-2006, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devdogaz

Recap episodes don't count as episodes. And for the people who got annoyed by those, they didn't take the place of new eps, so I never understood the outrage. If you didn't realize it wasn't a new episode that night until you tuned in, it was your own fault.

IMHO, the problem with the recap episodes was more an issue with the guide data, and not "user error". Because of how the guide data is formatted, my always reliable TiVo records the recap episodes as NEW episodes, because that's what the guide data says.

My season pass is set to record new episodes, and as someone who implicitly trusts my TiVo to record new episodes, I never check the descriptions in the To Do list to see WHAT the episode is about, I only check to see that it will be recorded. Therefore I am one of the people who gets upset when I sit down to watch a new episode but find out I am watching a recap episode instead.

Regardless, I'd rather have new episodes in January with a few recap episodes along the way, versus waiting until February for the new episodes.

lew · 12-20-2006, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Church AV Guy

I doubt the contracts that are in place would allow extra episodes to be shot. The studio can shorten and/or cancel a contract, but to extend one would require vast negotiations at outrageous cost. Not impossible, but very unlikely.

If you believe the article that was linked the producers of Lost were asked how much it would cost. I'm sure many of the actors, such as Rose and Bernard, aren't in the maximum number of episodes required by their contract. Some of the extra episodes might be recap or even an complete flash back episode exclusively with characters like Penny.

My guess is anything done will be "on the cheap" with mainly re-cap episodes.

NoThru22 · 12-20-2006, 11:41 AM

I don't like the idea of rushing production to finish sooner. It should come back in February, as planned, and run straight through with no recaps or repeats. This is really the best solution for fans.

Church AV Guy · 12-20-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lew

If you believe the article that was linked the producers of Lost were asked how much it would cost. I'm sure many of the actors, such as Rose and Bernard, aren't in the maximum number of episodes required by their contract. Some of the extra episodes might be recap or even an complete flash back episode exclusively with characters like Penny.

My guess is anything done will be "on the cheap" with mainly re-cap episodes.

You're right. I was thinking of full-on production episodes. They could scale back the scope of the shows to produce a few on the cheap, as you say, and get away with it.

In terms of a serialized show like Lost, the producers are obliged to produce the occasional recap episode for those who miss one or two and need to catch up, and especially if they want to attract NEW VIEWERS. Jumping into the middle of a serialized program is difficult for a new viewer, so they do this now and then for the benefit of new audience members. We all want Lost to continue, so new/additional viewers is a good thing, right? Put up with recap episodes for that reason. It might be annoying for you, but it's important for the show.

lew · 12-20-2006, 01:07 PM

I just re-read the linked article. It's not clear if they're talking about doing more episodes or just starting (and ending) earlier than originally scheduled. The question is if they can speed up post production by spending more money.

pkscout · 12-20-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gchance

If it comes back early, all the whiners will complain when it ends early. And if they add a few empty weeks in there, they'll complain. No matter what, everyone will complain.

You forgot all the folks that will complain because it came back, added 17 more questions, and resolved none of the earlier ones. I guess those folks count in the "everyone will complain" part.

jschuur · 12-20-2006, 03:15 PM

If they come back early, this would mess up planned storylines for sweeps months for February & May that are probably planned way more in advance than 2 months. I'd be surprised if it came back much earlier.

Unless they insert repeats somewhere in the middle again, which is exactly what they've been trying to avoid.

dswallow · 12-20-2006, 03:23 PM

What they should have done is edit Day Break and Lost episodes together into one hour "combisodes" then run those; everyone wanting to watch Lost will then basically have to see Day Break, too. That's the way to take advantage of a popular program.

JLucPicard · 12-20-2006, 07:04 PM

Aye-yi-yi, Swallow - don't give them any ideas!!!

bicker · 12-20-2006, 07:26 PM

They can aim to have Lost return in mid-January, by just adding two reruns in March and two reruns in April.

danterner · 12-21-2006, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dswallow

What they should have done is edit Day Break and Lost episodes together into one hour "combisodes" then run those; everyone wanting to watch Lost will then basically have to see Day Break, too. That's the way to take advantage of a popular program.

I know your suggestion is made tongue firmly in cheek, but just for clarification: Are you envisioning them switching between shows in intervals (eg. 5 minutes of Daybreak, 5 minutes of Lost, commercial, etc...), or are you imagining them both running simultaneously side-by-side, split-screen? Or, worse yet, running one right on top of the other, both fullscreen? Any one of the foregoing would be horrific, but I wouldn't be surprised if one day we eventually do wind up seeing #1.

dswallow · 12-21-2006, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danterner

I know your suggestion is made tongue firmly in cheek, but just for clarification: Are you envisioning them switching between shows in intervals (eg. 5 minutes of Daybreak, 5 minutes of Lost, commercial, etc...), or are you imagining them both running simultaneously side-by-side, split-screen? Or, worse yet, running one right on top of the other, both fullscreen? Any one of the foregoing would be horrific, but I wouldn't be surprised if one day we eventually do wind up seeing #1.

I'd envisioned it basically alternating between commercial breaks, though they certainly could just alternate scenes or switch as was appropriate at the time for the storyline. Anything simultaneous would really mean you couldn't readily follow both shows since you'd have to pick one or the other to hear/focus on.

If they had 2 black and white shows, they could probably do a red/blue glasses sort of simultaneous broadcast.

We'll probably see them shrink the show image to 80% of the screen and use the remaining space for advertising running throughout the show before we'll see them do anything creatively different with the shows themselves.