Could LOST be leaked soon?

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Earlier this month, Jack Bauer was unable to avoid the roving band of pirates in the Torrent scene as the four part 24 Season Premiere hit the internet weeks ahead of its air-date. With screeners of LOST's hotly anticipated February 7th episode circulating around the media, is it possible that ABC's serial phenom could be next?

Yesterday, unmarked envelopes began appearing in film and tv critics mailboxes across the country. Inside was a disk with a simple screen-print logo: LOST - Not in Portland. Oh, how I wish I was one of those people.

On the other hand, from that very same body of people came the illicit release of 24's four part premiere. So the question would seem to be not "if" LOST's return episode will make it onto the digital frontier, but when and what will the impact be.

24 will be a good test of this when it airs this weekend. Will 24's ratings be hurt by the wide spread release of the first four episodes? Or will it help? Think about it, what better way to bring new fans to a show then through forbidden fruit?

If the confessed LOST freak down the aisle suddenly snags an episode five weeks early, how much more enticing is that to folks who've never watched the show? It's like having secret knowledge of the universe.

I propose the benchmark for this effect will not be this weekends premier of 24, but in the following week. Even though subsequent episodes will, indeed, be available on torrent, those episodes will come out hours after the episode airs. In general, they are of more interest to folks living outside the market. I mean, who in the US is going to wait for the torrent instead of getting a nice first generation no-fuss no-muss Tivo? So before you lecture on the impact on ratings, think about it for a minute.

[Guest Makegamesnotwar]

Even if I was able to get my hands on it, I prefer not to do spoilers on shows as it tends to ruin the actual show for me. But Lost, I don't know if I can resist knowing more about The Others, The Monster, all that crazy stuff. I'll fight temptation to get that Lost and do my usual Lostday(formerly known as Wednesday) ritual, no phone calls, no plans, just sit and watch the Lostages. Oh, sad news for those who turned out of Lost when it started to get(admittedly) bad during the recent semi-season thing - it turned out redeeming itself and being amazing. I've watched every episode so far, have Season 1 and Season 2 on DVD, I'm a Lost Addict and proud of it.

Watched the 24 2 hour thing last night, felt it set up a very good groundwork and had a high JBJ(Jack being Jack) amount of awesome. Yet how many times can Jack have his family and friends believe he's dead when he's not until they just start going all boy who cried wolf on him? Still, hooked me into it and I'll be watching.

[Corizzle]

Ratings for the 24 premiere were up a small amount from last year, so I don't think the leaked episodes hurt the ratings

Edited January 15, 2007 by Corizzle

[Ananas]

Ratings for the 24 premiere were up a small amount from last year, so I don't think the leaked episodes hurt the ratings

[The Hardcore Canuck]

Screw whoever will stop watching Lost. I never watched it as it was going on TV, but a couple weeks ago my buddy lent me seasons 1 and 2, and I watched them all in three days. I am hooked until the end.

[Corizzle]

Ratings for the 24 premiere were up a small amount from last year, so I don't think the leaked episodes hurt the ratings

They were? According to TheFutonCritic the numbers are down more than 15% in households and almost 20% in adults 18-49.

I hope this episode doesn't leak. The last thing Lost needs is to potentially lose more viewers.

Edited January 15, 2007 by Corizzle