'Lost' Gets Great Start, But Can It Sustain It?
PLUS: 'Chuck,' 'Heroes' slip a little on Monday
Looks like fans are back, and they want to know how "Lost" ends.
The ABC series premiered to a 6.7 rating/11 share average of its two-hour premiere, according to Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co., after earning a 6.9/11 in the first hour, and 6.5/11 in the second hour.
It's the best numbers "Lost" has had since its fifth season premiere on Jan. 21, 2009, when it averaged a 6.6/10 for its premiere. It also beat its fifth season finale soundly, topping the May 13 episode by more than 20 percent. "Lost" improved on last season's average of 5.8/9 by more than 15 percent, but is still trailing the 2007-08 season, where it earned a 7.7/12 and led all genre shows.
The start for "Lost" is similar to what the series did last season, which if the trend continues, won't end very well. Last year, "Lost" held its audience through the first four episodes, holding on to 95.6 percent of its overall audience, according to Airlock Alpha's Audience Loyalty Index. But Episode 5 started the beginning of the end there, beginning with an 11 percent drop, and bouncing around until hitting a season low 5.0/8 by Episode 12 -- by then a 24 percent fall from its premiere, and retaining only 88.2 percent of its total audience.
"Lost" did bounce back for the final episodes, but not by much, finishing Season 5 with a 5.6/9, down slightly from the week before.
Tuesday, "Lost" built on its clip show lead-in, but lost 6 percent of its audience from the first hour to the second hour despite CBS airing "The Good Wife" at 10 p.m., which lost 16 percent of its "NCIS: Los Angeles" lead-in. NBC shifted "The Biggest Loser" an hour to compete directly with the "Lost" premiere, but used a "Biggest Loser" rerun as a lead, ending the show in last place for 10 p.m., and beating only "Kitchen Nightmares" on Fox at 9 p.m.
On Monday, "Chuck" dropped 5 percent from the previous week to clock in a 3.9/6, according to Zap2it. "Heroes" continued to struggle, dipping 7 percent from its previous week to get a 2.7/4. "Heroes" lost nearly 31 percent of its lead-in audience.
For fans of "Lost" who want to talk about the Season 6 premiere, tune in Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m. ET for Alpha Waves LIVE!, located at AlphaWavesRadio.com to get your chance. The chatroom is expected to open at 7:15 p.m. ET, with the show beginning 45 minutes later.
Listeners will have a chance to call in during the show and share some of their thoughts of the "Lost" premiere by calling (646) 200-3642.
Those that can't listen to the show live can hear an archived version beginning at 10 p.m. ET at both AlphaWavesRadio.com or by doing a search for Alpha Waves Radio in the podcast section of Apple's iTunes Store.
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. BlipNetwork tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.
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