LOST Forum

LOST's series finale episode "The End" pulled in 13 million viewers last night, which is a pretty excellent number, and the highest for the show in two seasons. That said, word around the critical watercooler this morning seems less than enthusiastic about those numbers, given ABC's extreme marketing push of this episode for the last, like, sixteen weeks or something. Just for comparison, M*A*S*H's two-and-a-half-hour finale brought in over 106 million viewers when it aired in 1983. So yeah, LOST didn't do that.
 
Not that it matters, but the two hours of "pre-game coverage" had about 11.4 million viewers, which might make it the highest rated clip show of all time. Do people even track stats for that sort of thing?
 
You're going to get a heaping helping of conversation and discourse about last night's finale, the series as a whole, and our desire to see a Fantasy Island-esque off-shoot show starring Hurley and Ben on today's Behind the Screened Door podcast. However, while you're sitting with rapt anticipation for our nasally arguing, you can check out the three "alternate endings" that aired on Jimmy Kimmel last night. Of course they're joke endings, it's a comedy show. That said, I love how well the advertising for that Kimmel episode sold the idea that the endings were totally real. Too bad they weren't quite worth sitting through the stiff-as-a-steel-cock cast interviews that made up the bulk of the show. Matthew Fox, could you have wanted to be there any less?
  

It was a good ending to a great show.  Maybe not all the answers were there but I enjoy a show with a little ambiguity.

I kind of expected more than 13 million, given how much hype surrounded it.
 
The 'joke' alternate endings were amusing - I dug the Sopranos one the most.

ha! that's a great clip at the end...

The numbers are disappointing, but the finale was not. Good grief, what a fantastic episode.

Kate throwing the pillow at them at the very end there was hilarious.

It scored a 5.9 though, right? So all the 18-49 year olds that watch TV or that have every watched Lost pretty much tuned in which is exactly why Lost is more successful and profitable than shows like NCIS despite having less total viewers. It's quality over quantity.

Non-lost fans wouldn't tune in to the finale no matter how much they hype it.  ABC sometimes equates showing tons of ads = new viewers, which rarely works.

I frankly could care less about the ratings; I thought the ending was perfect. Really, I can't get over it, and I am sure it will not get out of my mind for weeks.

I wonder what the UK numbers are combined? because i think most of us watched it live with you...
 
On one of the cast interview things we had...the cast seemed so energetic, albeit they were on location.

I didn't watch since I don't want to watch an ending of a show I haven't started :P

The offshoot shouldn't be Hurley and Ben on the Island. It has to be a Sawyer & Miles buddy cop show.

Whatever. It was a niche show and for a show like this to get those numbers is great.

The Newhart alternate ending was amazing in every way possible, laughed pretty hard at that one XD

I'm not surprised about the ratings, this show has alienated so many people but I could care less. The ending was great. I teared up at the dog part.

@RHCPfan24 said:

" I frankly could care less about the ratings; I thought the ending was perfect. Really, I can't get over it, and I am sure it will not get out of my mind for weeks. "

I kept dreaming about it all last night, with the great final music. 
 
@gla55jAw said:

" The offshoot shouldn't be Hurley and Ben on the Island. It has to be a Sawyer & Miles buddy cop show. "

And have Juliet be the coroner (yes I know she wasn't one on the show, but that would have been cool)?

@mosdl: The pieces arranged for the Kimmel show by Giacchino were awesome as well

@nazer858 said:

" @mosdl: The pieces arranged for the Kimmel show by Giacchino were awesome as well "

That's just cause he's a FUCKING GENIUS. Gotta love some Giacchino.

It would've been better if the ending was the thoughts of an extremely bright autistic boy staring into a snow globe of Hawaii he got on Christmas.

Lol, God bless Jimmy Kimmel.  
 
And do these ratings even matter anymore? With Tivo and DVR and all that, plus Hulu and Netflix and all the other streaming options, there are so many ways for people to watch their favorite shows without sitting through the commercial fest that is live (as in you watch it at a scheduled time) television. I bet Lost will still continue to be one of the most watched things on Netflix and Hulu for the next year.