Lost is an American
television series created by
Jeffrey Lieber,
J. J. Abrams and
Damon Lindelof, which originally aired on the
American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010. The series follows the lives of various individuals and groups of people, most importantly the survivors of the crash of a commercial
passenger jet flying between
Sydney and
Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the
South Pacific Ocean. Episodes typically feature a primary storyline on the island, as well as a secondary storyline from another point in a character's life.
Lost was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Robot Productions and Grass Skirt Productions. Throughout its run, the executive producers of the series were Lindelof, Abrams, Bryan Burk, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, and Elizabeth Sarnoff, with Lindelof and Cuse serving as showrunners. Jean Higgins started as a producer on the first season, continuing through the entire series to end as an executive producer. Due to its large ensemble cast and the cost of filming primarily on location in Oahu, Hawaii, The first season garnered an average of 15.69 million US viewers per episode on ABC. According to series executive producer Bryan Burk, "You can have more interactions between characters and create more diverse characters, more back stories, more love triangles." The world premiere of the pilot episode was on July 24, 2004 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. In the second season, Michael Emerson was contracted to play Ben ("Henry Gale") for three episodes. His role was extended to eight episodes because of his acting skills, and eventually for the whole of season three and later seasons. Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack featuring music from season 2 of Lost on October 3, 2006.(in millions)
|-
! 1
|style="text-align:left"| Wednesday 8:00 P.M.(September 22, 2004 – May 25, 2005)
| September 22, 2004
| May 25, 2005
| 2004–2005
| #15
| 15.69
|-
! 2
|style="text-align:left"| Wednesday 9:00 P.M.(September 21, 2005 – May 24, 2006)
| September 21, 2005
| May 24, 2006
| 2005–2006
| #15
| 15.50Wednesday 10:00 P.M. (February 7, 2007 – May 23, 2007)
| October 4, 2006
| May 23, 2007
| 2006–2007
| #14
| 15.05Thursday 10:00 P.M. (April 24, 2008 – May 29, 2008)
| January 31, 2008
| May 29, 2008
| 2008
| #17
| 13.40
Due to the show's popularity, references to the series and elements from its story have appeared in parody and popular culture usage. These include appearances on television, such as on the series Veronica Mars, Will & Grace, Bo Selecta, The Sarah Silverman Program, My Wife And Kids, Chuck, Curb your Enthusiasm, Notes from the Underbelly, Little Britain, Fringe, Scrubs, Cougar Town, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office; as well as on the cartoons Family Guy, American Dad!, South Park, The Simpsons, and The Venture Bros.; and even on a commercial for KFC Hawaii. Also, Red vs. Blue, a Machinima Comic science fiction seemed to have poked fun at it in (one of) the ending(s) to the series, episode 100. The makers of Red vs. Blue also poked fun at the Lost intro in an episode of The Strangerhood. Lost is also featured as an easter egg in several video games, including , Skate (video game), World of Warcraft, Just Cause 2, Singularity and Rock Band 2. Comic books such as Catwoman and The Thing; daily strips Monty and Over the Hedge; web comics Piled Higher and Deeper and Penny Arcade and humor magazine Mad have all incorporated Lost references. Similarly, several rock bands have published songs whose themes and titles were derived from the series, such as Moneen ("Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do"), Cosmo Jarvis ("Lost"), Senses Fail ("Lost And Found" and "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"), Gatsbys American Dream ("You All Everybody" and "Station 5: The Pearl"), and Punchline ("Roller Coaster Smoke"). Weezer named their eight studio album "Hurley" after the character, who is featured on the cover.
After the episode "Numbers" aired on March 2, 2005, numerous people used the eponymous figures (4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42) as lottery entries. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, within three days, the numbers were tried over 500 times by local players. Likewise, in the same period, over 200 people in Michigan alone used the sequence for the Mega Millions lottery and by October, thousands had tried them for the multi-state Powerball lottery. The issue came to attention after a Mega Millions drawing for a near-record US$380,000,000 jackpot on January 4, 2011 drew a series of numbers in which the three lowest numbers (4-8-15) and the mega ball (42) matched four of the six numbers. The #42 is also the "Mega Number" in Hurley's "Mega Lotto" ticket. The players who played the combination won $150 each (or $118 in California).
Distribution
Online
In addition to traditional terrestrial and
satellite broadcasting,
Lost has been at the forefront of new television distribution methods. It was one of the first series issued through
Apple's iTunes Store service for playback on an
iPod or within the
iTunes software. Since October 2005, new episodes, without commercials, have been available for download the day after they air on ABC, for American audiences. On August 29, 2007 Lost became one of the first TV programs available for download in the UK store. Since the airing of Season 4 in the UK, episodes of Lost are available the Monday after the Sunday they air on Sky One.
Lost was also among the first TV shows on the German
iTunes store.
In April 2006, Disney announced that Lost would be available for free online in streaming format, with advertising, on ABC's website, as part of a two-month experiment of future distribution strategies. The trial, which ran from May to June 2006, caused a stir among network affiliates who were afraid of being cut out of advertising revenue. The streaming of Lost episodes direct from ABC's website was only available to viewers in the United States due to international licensing agreements. As of May 2010, full episodes from Seasons 1–6 are available as high-definition streaming video on the ABC website, but only to users in the US who use Microsoft or Apple operating systems. New episodes are available the day after original primetime airing. Viewers are required to view five or six 30 or 75-second advertising spots, equally dispersed throughout the episode. These spots appear as an overlay graphic ad with smaller video ad and usually feature high-profile advertisers. In 2009, Lost was named the most watched show on the Internet based on viewers of episodes on ABC's website. The Nielsen Company reported that 1.425 million unique viewers have watched at least one episode on ABC's website.
Episodes from both season one and season two were available on the UK's Channel 4's website, but have since expired. Both parts of "Pilot" were available to watch for free, and other episodes cost £0.99 each. Due to licensing agreements, the service was only accessible in the UK. Virgin Media has made the first three seasons of Lost available on demand via their TV Choice On Demand function, allowing viewers to watch the first three seasons at any time in high-definition or standard definition. Currently, only Season Two and Three are available. All episodes available on the service are free to Virgin Media subscribers. As of November 25, 2006, Lost episodes were available on Sky's VOD service, Sky Anytime. Users with the correct Sky Subscription can download recent Lost episodes for free, however, much like Channel 4's 4OD application, they expire. Users without a relevant Sky subscription for Lost can exchange prepaid credit for rental of an episode. Other online distribution sites include: USA Netflix
France's TF1 website, AOL Video, Microsoft's Xbox Live service, HOT V.O.D. service in Israel and on RTÉ player for Irish viewers.
DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases
The first season of
Lost was released under the title
Lost: The Complete First Season as a
widescreen seven-disc
Region 1 DVD
box set in the US on September 6, 2005, two weeks before the premiere of the second season. It was distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, it included several DVD extras such as episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as
deleted scenes, deleted flashback scenarios and a
blooper reel. The same set was released on November 30, 2005 in
Region 4, and on January 16, 2006 in
Region 2. As has become standard for Region 2, the series was first released split into two parts: the first twelve episodes of series 1 were available as a wide screen four-disc Region 2 DVD box set on October 31, 2005, while the remaining thirteen episodes of series 1 were released on January 16, 2006. The DVD features available on the Region 1 release were likewise split over the two box sets. The first two seasons were released separately on
Blu-ray Disc on June 16, 2009.
The second season was released under the title Lost: The Complete Second Season – The Extended Experience as a wide screen seven-disc Region 1 DVD box set in the US on September 5, 2006 and on Region 2 DVD on October 2, 2006. Each of these releases also contained DVD extras, including Behind the Scenes Footage, deleted scenes and a "Lost Connections" chart, which shows how all of the characters on the island are inter-connected. Again, the series was initially delivered in two sets for Region 2: the first twelve episodes were released as a widescreen four-disc DVD box set on July 17, 2006, while the remaining episodes of series 2 were released as a four-disc DVD box set on October 2, 2006. The set was released in Region 4 on October 4, 2006.
The third season was released under the title Lost: The Complete Third Season – The Unexplored Experience on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on December 11, 2007. As with Seasons 1 and 2, the third season release includes audio commentaries with the cast and crew, bonus featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers. The third season was released in Region 2 solely on DVD on October 22, 2007, though this time only as a complete set, unlike previous seasons.
The fourth season was released as Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience in Region 1 on December 9, 2008 on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc. It was released on DVD in Region 2 on October 20, 2008. The set includes audio commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers and bonus featurettes.
The first three seasons of Lost have sold successfully on DVD. The Season 1 boxset entered the DVD sales chart at number two in September 2005, and the Season 2 boxset entered the DVD sales chart at the number one position in its first week of release in September 2006, believed to be the second TV-DVD ever to enter the chart at the top spot. First day DVD sales for Lost Season 2 are thought to have been as high as 500,000 copies sold. The Season 3 boxset sold over 1,000,000 copies in three weeks.
Both the Season 6 boxset and the complete series collection contained a 12 minute epilogue-like bonus feature called "The New Man in Charge". Lost, Season 6 entered the DVD sales chart at the number one position in its first week of release in September 2010 boasting strong sales in the DVD and Blu Ray format for the regular season set as well as for the series box set.
Other media
The characters and setting of
Lost have appeared in several official tie-ins outside of the television broadcast, including in print, on the Internet, and in short videos for mobile phones. Three
novelizations have been released by
Hyperion Books, a publisher owned by
Disney, ABC's parent company. They are
Endangered Species (ISBN 0-7868-9090-8) and
Secret Identity (ISBN 0-7868-9091-6) both by Cathy Hapka and
Signs of Life (ISBN 0-7868-9092-4) by Frank Thompson. Additionally, Hyperion published a
metafictional book titled
Bad Twin (ISBN 1-4013-0276-9), written by Laurence Shames, and credited to fictitious author "
Gary Troup", who was claimed to be a passenger on Oceanic Flight 815 by ABC's marketing department.
Several unofficial books relating to the show have also been published. Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide (ISBN 1-55022-743-2) by Nikki Stafford and published by ECW Press is a book detailing the show for fans and those new to the show. What Can Be Found in LOST? (ISBN 0-7369-2121-4) by John Ankerberg and Dillon Burrough, published by Harvest House is the first book dedicated to an investigation of the spiritual themes of the series from a Christian perspective. Living Lost: Why We're All Stuck on the Island (ISBN 1891053027) by J. Wood, published by the Garett County Press, is the first work of cultural criticism based on the series. The book explores the show's strange engagement with the contemporary experiences of war, (mis)information, and terrorism, and argues that the audience functions as a character in the narrative. The author also writes a blog column during the second part of the third season for Powell's Books. Each post discusses the previous episode's literary, historical, philosophical and narrative connections.
The show's networks and producers have made extensive use of the Internet in expanding the background of the story. For example, during the first season, a fictional diary by an unseen survivor called "Janelle Granger" was presented on the ABC web site for the series. Likewise, a tie-in website about the fictional Oceanic Airlines appeared during the first season, which included several Easter eggs and clues about the show. Another tie-in website was launched after the airing of "Orientation" about the Hanso Foundation. In the UK, the interactive back-stories of several characters were included in "Lost Untold", a section of Channel 4's Lost website. Similarly, since November 2005, ABC has produced an official podcast, hosted by series writers and executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The podcast typically features a discussion about the weekly episode, interviews with cast members and questions from viewers. Sky One also hosts a podcast presented by Iain Lee on their website, which analyzes each episode after it airs in the United Kingdom.
The foray into the online realm culminated in the Lost Experience, an Internet-based alternate reality game produced by Channel 7 (Australia), ABC (America) and Channel Four (UK), which began in early May 2006. The game presents a five-phase parallel storyline, primarily involving the Hanso Foundation.
Short mini-episodes ("mobisodes") called the Lost Video Diaries were originally scheduled for viewing by Verizon Wireless subscribers via its V-Cast system, but were delayed by contract disputes. The mobisodes were renamed and aired from November 7, 2007 to January 28, 2008.
Licensed merchandise
In addition to tie-in novels, several other products based on the series, such as toys and games, have been licensed for release. A video game,
, has been released to average reviews, developed by
Ubisoft, for
game consoles and home computers, while
Gameloft developed a
Lost game for mobile phones and
iPods.
Cardinal Games released a
Lost board game on August 7, 2006. TDC Games created a series of four 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles ("The Hatch", "The Numbers", "The Others" and "Before the Crash") which, when put together, reveal embedded clues to the overall mythology of
Lost. Inkworks has published two sets of
Lost trading cards, and is slated to release the
Lost: Revelations set. In May 2006,
McFarlane Toys announced recurring lines of character
action figures and released the first series in November 2006, with the second series being released July 2007. Furthermore, ABC sells a myriad of
Lost merchandise in their online store, including clothing, jewelry and other collectibles.
Titan Magazines also publish
Lost: The Official Magazine.
References
External links
;Official tie-in websites
Ajira Airways fictional airline featured in season five promotional material
Lost University fictional university.
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Category:Best Drama Series Golden Globe winners
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Category:English-language television series
Category:Lost (TV series)
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