Changes in the show to think about.

[Joe Washington]

Are you fine with the show running for six seasons? Or would you rather it be less like five, four, or three seasons?
And for those who aren't fans of the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle, how long would have you rather it lasted? A season? Two seasons? A little bit more?
And do you think the first three seasons of Lost would have been better if they were as short as Seasons 4 and 5?

 

[Agent Richard07]

I think a lot of fat could have been cut out of every season, especially the first three. I'm sure the story could have been told just as well within 13 episodes per season, maybe even less. I can't comment on whether or not the show needs 6 seasons though since I don't know the complete story. For now I'll say that I'm fine with 6 seasons/chapters.

 

[Starbreaker]

Two seasons?? Hell no. I know I'm going to be sad to see the show end, but I think all the episodes that we were given really added a lot of depth to the characters, so no matter how much filler we got, I'm emotionally invested in these characters and everything they do now.

They could have easily three seasons trying to get back to the island if ABC had told them to stretch it out to 10 seasons. Wouldn't that have been a bore?!

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I could see the show getting cancelled before then, so 6 seasons in just enough.

 

[Gertch]

It seems their original idea will only last one more season anyway. So that's fine.

If they could come up with some other storyline for a second series or continuation I could go for that. Keeping us entertained has been their strength. As long as they can keep that up I will keep watching.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I think the length is perfect, on the assumption we (or least I) get satisfying answers when season 6 concludes. The only bump in the road for me was was "mini-season" of six episodes at the beginning season 3, but I think that's probably only because of how it was presented. I haven't really gone back and rewatched the show as a whole since then. Like "Fire + Water," I'll probably enjoy that section more on a second run through.

 

[D Man]

I wonder how the show would have been structured if it had gone as 5 full seasons like the writers wanted originally (or so I read) instead of 3 full seasons and then 3 shorter ones. The show is hugely based on "themes" for any given season with enormous cliffhangers at the end, so something like the island moving or last night's crazy ending might have seemed odd as mid-season events. I'm sure they would have written the storyline progression to fit the time they had, but given the places the show has gone since season 4 it's hard to imagine it any differently.

I agree with EMH about the first 6 of season three being slow when they first aired, but it's really awesome re-watching them now IMO. It's kind of a nice change of pace to slower and more introspective stories after the slam-bang action of late season 2. In any event, I REALLY wish the show had been run since the beginning a la 24, start to finish with no breaks from January to May. It works SO much better that way, and even now when I rewatch the DVDs I can distinctly remember which cliffhangers were followed by which breaks.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Six seasons is perfect. That's all they need at this point to wrap things up with a nice little bow. We've gotten enough answers along the way that they'd have to start scrambling to pose more questions if they wanted to drag this out till S7.

My eternal question is whether it's possible to create another show in Lost's universe, with the same feel and some of the same governing issues - not so much the characters, might not require any of the same characters, but what this show has revealed about the nature of the universe that Lost exists in.

I think a lot of fat could have been cut out of every season, especially the first three.

Even the stuff that isn't germane to the plot can help build the relationships between the characters. I'll wait till the end to re-watch the whole series, but I suspect I'll be seeing a lot less true "fat" than would be the case for any other show of this length.

 

[Gertch]

If you watch on DVD you'll realize there is no fat and everything flows nicely. It's just too bad people couldn't just enjoy the ride and got impatient. So now we only get 16 eps.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Amen, Gertch. That's the single most frustrating thing I've found about LOST: Impatient viewers.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

There were stretches in S2 and S3 where the writers flat out admitted they were stalling and were hamstrung by not knowing when the series was going to end. This wasn't an invention by fans, Lindleof and Cuse have said this.

So yes, 5 seasons would have been ideal with the end-point mapped out by ABC/producers much earlier so the writers could pace the story better.

Starting with the S3 finale though the storyline really came together and started rocketing forward.

Its worth noting though that we actually are getting five 'traditional' seasons in terms of episode numbers. The reason we have 16 episode seasons is that ABC wanted to milk another season out, so they kept the same number of episodes but divided them up into shorter seasons, so there are six instead of five (I think the writers strike cut a couple of eps off this count I'm not sure).

But I think had producers/ABC negotiated this back in Season 2, then Season 3 would have been a lot less frustrating and more organic.