• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 15, 2007

PASADENA, CALIF.--It's one of the best young, quality network dramas on TV, only in its third season--and producers are talking about when it's going to end.

They're referring to ABC's much-heralded "Lost."  If all this sounds a little strange, it really shouldn't. Perhaps more producers and networks should have a similar approach.

During yesterday's Television Critics Association presentation, the producers of the show said picking an end date would help the show's writers' figure out how to plot the next several seasons.

This is an honest creative effort by ABC. With so many questions regarding the show's "mythology," fans need answers--or at least need to know when they'll be a payoff. Everything ends--even entertainment.

You go into a movie knowing that in about two hours the guy will get the girl, or the girl will get the guy, or someone will get someone. Tom Cruise will smile after saving the world or after impregnating Katie Holmes' character in "Mission Impossible 7."  With a TV show, you never know. Why not?

Staying on the air too long is a long dreaded TV situation that no producer wants to confront. HBO's "The Sopranos" may be past the point of no return. Creator David Chase envisioned the series as much shorter. "Lost" Executive Producer Carlton Cuse noted that "The X-Files," also a show with its own "mythology," "probably lasted two seasons too long."

Will all this drive ratings for "Lost'? It should. Maybe this kind of publicity will help stir new viewers, especially since the show's ratings this season have fallen off by as much as 20%.

One wonders what it will do for future advertising sales in the show. Perhaps there'll be a greater push by marketers to latch on to big-rated prime-time series--whose life expectancy is undetermined.

Maybe in the future, networks will go one even better--not even telling viewers when a show will end. Maybe a popular program will just stop in mid-season, in episode 12 of 22, right in the middle of a November or February sweep. 

Perhaps it'll have this marketing line: "This is not a "Lost" episode you will want to miss." Oh yeah, we've heard that before.

If you miss it --too bad, you probably weren't a fan anyway. Think of what this will do for the future of DVR manufacturers. You'll make sure you hit the season pass button for scores of prime-time TV shows.

This is just what TV viewing needs--to be a little more unpredictable.  Tell viewers, from time to time, to get lost.