LOST Media Mentions - DarkUFO

Thanks to thedemonhog for the heads up.

Launching a broadly successful TV show is possible. No, really, it is.

We hear a lot about the fractured media environment, and most of us—network suits and civilians alike—have accepted the idea that smaller audiences are the new norm.

Mentalist Yet consider “The Mentalist,” the show starring Simon Baker as a sham psychic turned crime investigator. The drama, which bears all the hallmarks of the efficient CBS procedural factory, regularly brings in between 18 million and 20 million viewers. Partly due to the success of that drama, as of early February, CBS' overall viewership had actually increased compared to last season.

So are the other broadcast networks—whose overall ratings have declined—going to unleash dozens of “Mentalist” clones over the next year or two? Will we be living on a steady diet of miraculous cures on medical dramas and good guys catching bad guys on crime shows?

Forgive the tinge of irony: Nobody's knocking procedurals, or dramas in which one story is told over the course of one hour. Episodes of television that don't don’t require a degree in physics or an encyclopedic memory can be a beautiful thing. You'll find no bashing of "Law & Order" or "The Closer" here.

But in the last couple of years, “The Wire” has closed up shop, as have “The Sopranos,” “The Shield” and “Deadwood.” The future of “Friday Night Lights” is in doubt, and in a few weeks, “Battlestar Galactica” ends. “Mad Men” and “Damages” have ferocious fans but low ratings. And in a few months, NBC—the network that gave us “The West Wing”—is handing over a third of its weekday real estate to Jay Leno.

Lostjuliet What are the odds that compelling dramas such as these will get made by any network—broadcast or cable? Can it be that, as a piece in Entertainment Weekly asserted, the new Golden Age of television is ending?

Damon Lindelof, co-creator of “Lost,” isn’t worried. Asked whether a show such as “Lost” could find a home today, he responded, “Yes, I think it would. At least on some networks.”

He added that he has high hopes for pilots such as ABC's "Flash Forward" and NBC's "Day One," which are currently in production and are "are every bit as serialized and genre-tinged as 'Lost.'"



Source: Chicago Tribune

We welcome relevant, respectful comments.
 
Statcounter