how to fix shows like 'lost' -- new york magazine

how to fix shows like 'lost' -- new york magazine new york magazine television skip to content, or skip to search. home this week's magazine cover archive newsletters about us restaurants find a restaurant recipes openings & buzz grub street new reviews best of ny food insatiable critic nightlife find a bar bar buzz music reviews best of ny nightlife party lines entertainment entertainment agenda art books classical & dance kids movies music theater tv vulture blog agenda entertainment agenda art books classical & dance kids movies music theater tv vulture blog shopping find a store best bets sales & bargains the find shop-a-matic store openings beauty & spas best of ny shopping fashion fashion home the look book video look book fashion shows models designers fashion calendar show & talk beauty & spas best of ny best of ny home beauty eating & drinking fun & nightlife home & help kids shopping by neighborhood a-z list travel travel home nyc visitors guide nyc hotel search winter travel guide weekend travel travel columns news news home intelligencer daily intel kurt andersen james cramer chris smith john heilemann it happened last week real estate real estate home sales rentals mortgages & services neighborhoods home design classifieds design directory extra! extra! for your home great gifts medical guide real estate marketplace spa guide single services & events travel video sitemap skip to content, or skip to search. entire site restaurants bars & clubs events hotels museums & attractions spas & beauty services stores search: entire site restaurants bars & clubs events hotels multimedia museums & attractions spas & beauty services stores subscribe & get 6 months free subscribe today! | give a gift welcome, username edit profile log out you are not logged in log in register never-ending stories how to fix shows like ‘lost.’ by adam sternbergh (photo: mario perez/courtesy of abc) the few devoted fans of new series like vanished and kidnapped might grumble as these shows get yanked, but they should take solace: it could have been worse. kidnapped could have become a lost-size hit and been extended indefinitely. that’s the real irony this season: not that these convoluted, lost-alike shows aren’t succeeding, but that the model they aspire to doesn’t work at all. sure, lost drew massive audiences in its first two years, but in its third season, it’s losing both viewers (down a third from last year) and narrative steam (who’s in the hatch with the others and the numbers and the—oh, forget it). and for anyone who didn’t sign on from the beginning, there’s little incentive to catch up now. why invest hours wading through past dvds when your co-workers are grousing that the mysteries still haven’t paid off? there is, however, a simple solution: change the format, or at least reimagine it. when it so-called arc shows, we need something between a mini-series and an open-ended run. we need the tv equivalent of a novella: the limited-run show. series driven by a central mystery (twin peaks, the x-files) peter out precisely because they have indefinite life spans. the writers are forced to serve up red herrings until the shows choke on their own plot twists. (whereas 24 works because it’s more cliff-hanger than puzzle—though jack bauer is surely the unluckiest man alive.) now let’s imagine an alternate reality in which, say, lost was designed to run for only two seasons. rather than getting an increasingly tedious shaggy-dog story, we’d get 48 episodes of tightly plotted, expertly interwoven suspense. viewers would be both more willing to sign on at the beginning (knowing their investment will pay off) and more inclined to buy dvds later (either as catch-up for newbies or as a satisfying boxed set). sure, the show won’t syndicate well, but shows like lost don’t syndicate well anyway. and the series finale would be huge—the kind of event tv network executives drool over. obviously, this approach isn’t right for every show. stand-alone dramas (csi) and cyclical sitcoms (two and a half men) can still run open-ended. and, granted, no network will be eager to pull a massive hit after its allotted two-year run. but which would you rather tune in to next fall: a brand-new mystery from the creators of lost, that entirely satisfying and thrilling limited-run series you loved? or yet another season of lost, that show that started out so well but is now meandering all over the damn place? puzzles are meant to be solved, not prolonged. you can only tease viewers so long before they feel like they’re being mocked. share email print advertising bag peaks in north creek a four-hour drive from manhattan, the sleepy adirondacks town is a great jumping-off point for strenuous fall hikes. more in travel grub street restaurant insider agenda new york travels best bets & sales newsletters restaurant insider:one line description here. 24 hrs 7 days 30 days the return of superfly the degentrification of red hook race in relation to former 'times' editor gerald boyd's fall brooke astor's son's court battle over her estate can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? more top stories 24 hrs 7 days 30 days the return of superfly a conversation between frank lucas and nicky barnes dell dude now tequila dude at tortilla flats can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? race in relation to former 'times' editor gerald boyd's fall more top stories 24 hrs 7 days 30 days can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? the return of superfly how to get kids to sleep more a conversation between frank lucas and nicky barnes book review: 'how to talk about books you haven’t read' more top stories the current issue subscribe to new york view contents order issue cover gallery customer service subscribe give a gift featured property tantalizing terraced penthouse terraced penthouse—have it all! sundrenched, spacious, mint private floor home… listed by: view more properties a new drama lays the freakishness on thickly what the celebrities are watching on youtube alicia keys sounds great and terrible at the same time viggo mortensen wins award for his non-embarrassing portrayal of a russian person could project runway fall out of fashion? frankenstein falls short, but rock 'n' roll rules web videos, both addictive and smart meet a master of the schoolboy-orphan look elli jafari tells you how to order like a vip at le cirque tables available at keens steakhouse and delmonico's; peter luger fully booked the salty wit and wisdom of padma lakshmi everything you wanted to know about vermin how to give a new building buzz allen & delancey brings classics to the les inside the fight for brooke astor's fortune andré balazs: selling hotels is standard procedure ‘house of baldwins’ more likely than we'd hoped maggie gyllenhaal is glad she doesn't live in new york city anymore what happens when gentrification ends? how the times's gerald boyd took a tragic fall debt-incurring ceos got what they deserved ads by google copyright © 2007, new york magazine holdings llc. all rights reserved. new york magazine contact us site map media kit privacy policy terms magazine customer service newsletters rss feeds

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