Lost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the South Pacific. For the first three seasons each episode typically featured a primary storyline on the island as well as a secondary storyline from a previous point in a character's life, though the introduction of shifts forward in time and other time-related plot devices somewhat changed this formula for the latter half of the series. The pilot episode was first broadcast on September 22, 2004 and since then four full seasons have aired, with the fifth currently in progress, and a sixth set to be the final in 2010. The show airs on the ABC Network in the United States, as well as on regional networks in many other countries.
Due to its large ensemble cast and the cost of filming primarily on location in Oahu, Hawaii, the series is one of the most expensive on television. It was created by Damon Lindelof, J. J. Abrams and Jeffrey Lieber and is produced by ABC Studios, Bad Robot Productions and Grass Skirt Productions. The score is composed by Michael Giacchino. The current executive producers are Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse.
Critically acclaimed and a popular success, Lost garnered an average of 16 million viewers per episode on ABC during its first year. It has won numerous industry awards including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2005, Best American Import at the British Academy Television Awards in 2005, the Golden Globe for Best Drama in 2006 and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. Reflecting its devoted fan base, the series has become a part of American popular culture with references to the story and its elements appearing in other television series, commercials, comic books,[dead link] webcomics, humor magazines, a video game and song lyrics. The show's fictional universe has also been explored through tie-in novels, board and video games, and alternative reality games, The Lost Experience and Find 815.
In May 2007, it was announced that Lost would continue for its fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons, concluding with the 117th produced episode in May 2010. These three final seasons were planned to consist of 16 episodes each, running weekly in the spring uninterrupted by repeats. However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the fourth season was shortened to 14 episodes. To compensate, seasons five and six will each consist of seventeen episodes. Episodes from the first four seasons of the series have begun airing in off-network syndication in the U.S., distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, on G4 and Sci Fi.
