Found: Lost on Thursdays, beginning Jan. 31st
12/16/07 07:43 PM
By ED BARK
ABC will bring Lost back to the living on a new night and time as part of a midseason revamp announced Friday evening.
The at times torturously complex serial drama completed eight of its fourth season's 16 episodes before the writers' strike dawned. They'll begin unraveling on Thursday, Jan 31st at 8 p.m. (central), preceding that same night's premiere of the new legal drama Eli Stone, which also had been in pre-strike production.
It's possible that Lost will exhaust its limited supply of new episodes by the end of March unless the strike is settled sometime early next year. ABC has ordered three concluding seasons of the series, but at the rate of only 16 episodes apiece instead of the usual 22-24.
The strategy, announced earlier this year, was supposed to provide Lost with both a finite life span and the opportunity to start each season's episodes in midseason without any breaks for reruns. That game plan is now subject to major change.
ABC, last of the four major networks to announced a strike-impacted midseason lineup, also said that new seasons of Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor will begin on Monday, March 17th. Another unscripted reality series, Oprah's Big Give, is set for a Sunday, March 2nd premiere in the Desperate Housewives slot. DH will move back an hour, putting Brothers & Sisters on the shelf.
The scripted drama Cashmere Mafia, centering on a group of upscale Manhattan career women, will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 3 before moving to its regular Wednesday slot in place of Dirty Sexy Money. But Cashmere has only enough episodes to last through Feb. 20th. After that come repeats of Men In Trees.
ABC also has the unscripted Just For Laughs clip show earmarked for Tuesdays, starting on Jan. 1st after the Rose Bowl. As previously announced, the Dancing with the Stars spinoff, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 7th premiere.
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