How the "Lost" Series 3 Schedule Will Work

ABC promises uninterrupted blocks of 'Lost'

BY DANIEL FIENBERG
Zap2it.com

It's a plight that "Lost" fans know all too well - you tune in on a
Wednesday night praying for a new episode only to find a random repeat
from nearly a season earlier, or else a lengthy and unexpected clip
show. ABC is hoping to eliminate that experience.

Following a format somewhat resembling Fox's successful treatment of
"24," ABC revealed its new fall schedule on Tuesday, vowing to
dramatically reduce "Lost" repeats. The plan calls for "Lost" to begin
the season in its standard Wednesday 9 p.m. ET time slot, but just when
the show would typically move into a rerun cycle in the winter, ABC has
an alternative up its sleeve.

"We really wanted to just say to the audience, `Listen, it's going to be
on for this block here and then we'll bring it back and it will run
straight through,'" explains ABC Entertainment President Stephen
McPherson. "So yes, the plan is that `Lost' will come on in the fall in
the first or second week of the season, run for seven episodes and then
`Day Break' will launch into that period and `Lost' will come back in
January or early February and run straight through for the remainder for
the season."

That way, instead of wondering why Shannon and Boone suddenly seem to be
alive again and why the castaways are still scratching their heads over
the contents of the mysterious hatch, viewers can follow Taye Diggs as
he relives the same day over and over again trying to avoid being framed
for murder.

"I think it's the best role he's ever played," McPherson says of Diggs
and his "Day Break" character. "He just explodes off the screen and
really is a TV star. I think that like `Lost,' it's a challenging area,
but we really feel like in the drama world that's what we do well and we
want to take those chances."

McPherson wouldn't rule out the possibility that "Lost" repeats might
still air in different time periods, including the 8 p.m. hour before
fresh content. He also refused to leak any information on new cast members.

"There are no new people at this point," he hedges. "All the cast are
returning except the people we shot on `Lost.'"

Although convention wisdom holds that a schedule loaded with new
programming and low on repeats is an expensive schedule, McPherson urges
pundits not to cry for either ABC or "Lost."

"It's an extremely profitable show for everyone," McPherson reassures
the masses. "There's DVDs that'll be out, there's the dotcom, there's
going to be a lot of content ... The thing to keep in mind is that it
won't be three-on/one-off/two-on/one-off. There will be no break in the
aired episodes. Much like `24,' you will be able to come into that
experience and stay with it week after week after week."

McPherson explains that it's all just part of a changing television
landscape in a medium which is offering viewers more options than ever
before.

"It's a more expensive schedule, but I think the audience is more
demanding right now," he says. "I think that the audience has so much
choice, is so sophisticated, is so demanding now that we have to work
into our schedule more and more original programming and I think that
giving the audience what they want is something we're charged with doing."

© 2006 KRT Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/14593086.htm

[
"Day Break" sounds like a shameless ripoff of the movie "Groundhog Day."
But at least we know in advance what we'll be getting.

khalleron...

]