Whedonesque : Comments on 4923 : Lost is found, Premiere ratings from Zap2it.

Hey! Nice start...

Wow! Promising news.

electricspacegirl | September 23, 20:54 CET

That's great! The show is fantastic.

the main issue is, how well will it do next week? I thought the pilot was excellent, but I felt it could've been stronger with a two hour primere instead of the extra hour going to The Bachelor.
I will definately be watching next Weds, and I hope that the ratings will be just as high then.

redtenko | September 23, 21:19 CET

This is the strongest start of a show ABC has had in a long time. Hopefully, they won't interfere and blow it. BTW, I inadvertently got spoiled on the second show. Very interesting.

Madhatter | September 23, 21:19 CET

It's refreshing to see a deserving show actually being watched, for once.

I noticed Veronica Mars didn't do so well with a 1.8/3. I personally changed the channel after forty minutes since it fell flat for me, but it's not a very encouraging number for the people who enjoyed it.

faith1984 | September 23, 21:25 CET

I'm very glad The Mountain did poorly in Angel's old timeslot. That sounds nasty and bitter because I am. Love Lost and Veronica Mars, though not holding out much hope for the latter. Mars need viewers!

dreamlogic | September 23, 21:35 CET

Wow, I'm still so surprised to see how small potatoes Smallville is compared to the big boys. I don't watch it, so I wonder how that rating compares to how it has normally done.

Didn't watch Veronica Mars. Didn't watch anything in the 9pm hour, mostly because the big twist of the Bachelor that they continually revealed throughout Lost just turned me off tv for the rest of the night(except the exciting season ender to Reno 911!). What was that?? But then, I don't watch the Bachelor anyway.

Rogue Slayer | September 23, 21:47 CET

The series premiere of The Mountain had less than 70% of the audience that the 5th season premiere of Angel had.

Eat that, WB.

prufrock | September 23, 21:47 CET

Ok, don't hit me for this, but what exactly is David Fury's role in the production of this show? I checked IMDB, no Fury, and when I read the opening credits last night I swear I didn't see his name. Is he a producer? Writer? I thought he wrote the teleplay but that was also credited to someone else.

Anyone?

Willowy | September 23, 21:48 CET

He's a writer and co-executive producer.

faith1984 | September 23, 21:50 CET

Veronica Mars didn't do so well with a 1.8/3

Yeah but you have to take into consideration that its UPN. Whats enterprise doing these days? I can't believe Dr Phil was second after Lost. Makes me want to flag down a UFO and tell them get me off this Planet, or atleast move to France or something...

sTalking_Goat | September 23, 21:55 CET

"The series premiere of The Mountain had less than 70% of the audience that the 5th season premiere of Angel had."

Thanks for that bit of info Prufrock, you just made my day! :)

The Watcher | September 23, 22:06 CET

I'm rubbing my hands in schadenfreudic glee over the disastrous The Mountain showing versus Angel's numbers from last year. Cackle, cackle.

And I'm ecstatic that a scripted show (Lost) did better than stupid Dr. Phil and all the other crap on at the same time. And that there was a huge dropoff from Lost to Bachelor. Hah hah, take that, unscripted shows! Stupid, idiotic Bachelor crap.

phlebotinin | September 23, 22:14 CET

Willowy, as Faith pointed out, David is on the writing staff. And though he may not be credited in every show, he had a part in building the overall script as do the other writers on the series. Normally, the writer that "breaks" a story that the show runner likes is credited in production. But all the writers work on the details of the story.

Madhatter | September 23, 22:16 CET

Ok, thanks Faith and Madhatter. All cleared up now! :)

Willowy | September 23, 22:21 CET

I hope it has a consistent audience, some pilots luck in alot with a audience. But the shows seems very good, I hope it's successful long term.

SeanValen | September 23, 22:24 CET

So *that's* what happens when a network gets behind a show and promotes it. Huh.

Well said, phlebotinin!

bloodflowers | September 23, 22:29 CET

IMDB lists David Fury as a writer for Lost.

killinj | September 23, 22:33 CET

Anytime Willowy :)

Madhatter | September 23, 22:36 CET

David Fury didn't work on the pilot for "Lost." He started working on the third episode.

I enjoyed "Lost," but I don't see how things could stay interesting after three or four episodes, much less a season or more. Maybe it should've been a mini-series.

I loved Veronica Mars, but with ratings like that, it'll probably be cancelled in one or two weeks, even on UPN. I guess it's time for someone to start a "Veronica Mars on DVD" petition.

Invisible Green | September 23, 22:40 CET

Although I fell to sleep during Veronica Mars (long day), from what I saw, I thought it was worth seeing again. So, I'm sorry to see its numbers so low. Happy for Lost. And as for the WB -- I couldn't be happier for its bad showing.

palehorse | September 23, 23:02 CET

I really enjoyed both Lost and Veronica Mars. I hope VM gets a chance to find an audience and I hope Lost holds on to the one it has. I LOVE that there was a drop-off from Lost to the Bachelor....I hate most unscripted shows (I must admit I like the Apprentice)

jabby | September 24, 02:20 CET

Rogue Slayer? You are my TV twin.

narky | September 24, 02:29 CET

For those who missed the Veronica Mars pilot, they're airing it again 9:00 p.m. Friday the 24th. Also, for those who saw and liked it, the website's really good. It's an official UPN website, but I don't think that UPN had anything to do with it. Some of the material is mildly spoilery for the next episode. Which, btw, airs next Tuesday. Yes, they debuted it in another show's timeslot. Good ol' UPN.

dreamlogic | September 24, 02:51 CET

I'm not going to comment on the shows long term viability until we've seen how the season progresses, right now I'm hopeful, althought the "mystery" can get old, we have 48 characters with their own histories and point of views.

I imagine, as has been pointed out by the creators, they are going to take their time to focus on these people, will split into factions, deal with the environment and try to find out what's going on.

I can definately see a season or two potential, all they need to do is start some characterisation, in praticular I found the lead and Charlie very strong, and am already interested in many of the side players.

rabid | September 24, 03:00 CET

I loved Lost and am thrilled that, for the first time in ages, other people actually watched a show that I'm excited about. As for Veronica Mars, I watched about a half an hour and then wandered out of the room and lost interest. It just didn't do it for me.

Sometimes I feel like the brilliance of creators like Joss and J.J. Abrams has spoiled me from watching new shows. It takes something special to suck me in now days, and Veronica just didn't have it.

MindPieces | September 24, 03:46 CET

I thought Lost was really strong, especially the acting and directing. There are so many characters that could develop so many stories, I don't think they'll run out of drama. One thing I thought was way lame was the trees being whipped about by The Thing (tm). Oooooh! Those scenes remind me of grade school drama. Although maybe the studio asked for that. I am looking forward to Part 2.

Here's a highly complimmentary review from the Toronto Star for Veronica Mars. Critic calls it a sneak preview.

(I hope this link works; Web link is ungawdly, stupidly long!)

Drifter | September 24, 05:59 CET

In another Zap2it article ("Wednesday Premieres Shake Up TV Landscape") that discusses how well Lost performed, there's this bit at the very bottom:

The series premiere of the critically savaged "The Mountain" fell to a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49, a steep drop from both its lead-in and from the 2.4 demographic rating that "Angel" did in the same period last year.

Ha!

It also looks like Smallville, with a 3.0 rating, didn't improve on its numbers from last year. The fact that it appears genre fans (us Whedon-bereft types among them) are not turning to Superman in Angel's absence is somehow very comforting to me at this moment.

I guess this means Gilmore Girls will have to be their shining light; it had nearly 6 million viewers, which is huge for that show. Maybe it'll be able to hang on longer than the 'one more year' that some sources were giving it last fall? I'm glad Jane Espenson is writing at least one ep this season (with Danny Strong in it) -- something to look forward to while she works on getting her own project off the blocks.

Wiseblood | September 24, 08:46 CET

I thought Jane left Gilmore Girls. I couldn't find anything on the news page about her writing another episode with Danny Strong. Are you referring to the January 2004 update? cause I think that was referring to last season.

eddy | September 24, 10:33 CET

Yeah, I wish Zap2it would update their page a little more often. I did a double take on "Angel back from the dead" then realized it was the fifth season renewal. One of the hazards of 'net surfing I guess:)

Madhatter | September 24, 13:15 CET

September 23 2004