Another Lost Television Series?

Like many other people, I love the ABC television show Lost. In fact I think ABC’s Lost is one of the most important television shows ever made. I even went so far as to write an article entitled “Lost,The Most Important Television Show, Ever”, however it was not the first show on U.S. Television to be called Lost. In the fall of 2001, NBC television aired a series entitled, Lost. Unlike, ABC’s Lost, it was not a series in the fantasy genre. It was another show in the emerging genre of reality television. NBC’s Lost was a show much like, the CBS show, The Amazing Race, as it had teams, who raced to reach a final destination. However, this show had one huge difference. These teams were put out in the middle of nowhere, with very few clues, as to where they were or how to get where they were going. This is why the show was called Lost.

The show was to feature three different sets of three teams. The teams of the first set, which had a starting point in Ohio, were told that they would win, $200,000, if they were first to reach the final destination. That being The Statue of Liberty in New York City. The teams were not allowed to carry bank cards or anything that would give them an unfair advantage. Contestants were searched by show officials, wearing latex gloves, to ensure they did not have any such contraband. The three teams of the first set had, one team that included Carla, a make-up artist, and Lando, a student,while the second team was made up of Celeste, a fashion designer, and Tami, a mother of four, and the members of the third team, were Joe, a graphic designer, and Courtland, an artist.

After being given survival gear, and a few items to barter, the teams were blindfolded and flown to an isolated location. In the first set, the location was somewhere in Mongolia. The teams then had to find clues and come to a conclusion as to where they were. When they figured out their location they had to then call the producers of the show to confirm, then from there find their way to the finish line. The series’ first episode, which premiered on Tuesday, September 4th 2001, appears to have left many viewers as confused as the series’ lost contestants. According to Melissa Gollob, in a September 6th 2001, article in The Michigan Daily, the show failed to excite viewers. The second episode of the show, which would have shown the winners of the series’ first set of teams, was preempted due to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Because of this NBC, at the time, blamed the series’ poor ratings on the 9/11 attacks. However, Melissa Gollob’s article, on September 6th 2001, points to lack of interest in the show. Her article was written pre-9/11. NBC decided to put the show on hiatus during this time.

NBC brought the show out of hiatus on Sunday December 23rd 2001, in a 7:00 PM time slot, with the second set of teams, who were, this time, abandoned in Bolivia. Being a person, who at the time, was actually excited about the show, I tried to watch it. I tuned into my local NBC affiliate and there was a sporting event on, preempting the show until later that evening. I switched the channel to something else, then kept checking back until the show finally came on. I missed about ten minutes of this episode. The ratings of this episode were very low. The lack of information I have been able to find, on this set in the series, suggests that hardly anyone watched or cared about the series, at this point. Because of the low ratings NBC, reworked the final episode of this set, from two hours to only one. When it was scheduled to air, I, once again, tuned in to to my local NBC affiliate to find a sporting event being aired, instead of Lost. As I had done the previous week, I switched to something else, and flipped, back and forth, between channels, until the show was on. After another night of poor ratings, NBC scrapped the entire third set of this series.

This brings us to the questions, if if 9/11 had not have happened would would NBC’s Lost have been a hit, and would we then have ABC’s Lost. Certainly, if 9/11 had not happened, ABC’s Lost, if it was even produced, would be a very different show. For instance, I doubt the writers would have included, the character of Sayid, a Iraqi Republican Guard torturer. As with everything about ABC’s Lost, one could go on and on about all of the meanings in the show and where the inspiration came from. The question, of how ABC’s Lost would be different, had 9/11 not happened, would fill volumes. For this reason I am not going to examine all of that now. Getting back to NBC’s Lost, I do not feel that 9/11 caused the demise of this series. I feel that NBC’s Lost, was a show that would appeal to a very limited audience, and because of this NBC needed to place it more carefully. The series’ original Tuesday time slot was actually a better one for it, than the Sunday time slot. In that respect the only way that 9/11 could be blamed for affecting the series’ performance, would be for the preemption of one episode. Which would be a ludicrous conclusion, as everything was preempted on that Tuesday, back in 2001, even QVC, a shopping channel, gave up its air space to CNN for the night.

Ultimately, NBC’s Lost failed because, it was a show that appealed to a limited audience, and of its network, blaming a tragic event for low ratings, in the shows original time slot, which caused a move to a time slot, that spells doom for many shows. That time slot being one that is consistently prone to the preemption and postponing of shows, because of sporting events. New shows should never be put in time slots that are prone to preemption and postponement. For about the last ten years, it seems that, the programming department at NBC, more than any other U.S. Television network , has failed to see this.. Maybe this is why CBS and ABC, now have more shows, that are “must see”, than NBC does. Personally, I am very hesitant to get involved in a new series on The NBC Network. However, that being said, it could be that this lack of vision over the years, at NBC, set the way clear for, what I feel is one of the most important television shows ever made, ABC’s Lost.

Another version of the reality show, Lost, was aired on The UK’s Channel 4. It also aired during the fall of 2001. Having not seen it, I have little knowledge of that show. However, it is said that it also had a time slot that caused a limited audience and acceptance. If you have seen the UK version, please feel free to speak up about it in the comments section.

Related Links

Melissa Gollab’s September 6th 2001, Review of NBC’s Lost in The Michigan Daily

(I have to thank this review for refreshing my memory about the series)

Lost Trivia Quiz

The Real Failure of The Fitzpatricks

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