LOST: Strike Update!

"Carlton Cuse has spoken. Cuse, the co-show runner of Lost with writing partner Damon Lindelof, talked to The Hollywood Reporter and announced their plans for the remainder of Lost's fourth season. Cuse and Lindelof are heading back into production with the hope of completing five more episodes.

There are eight episodes finished, and five additional would take the season 4 total to thirteen, one less than previously reported on BuddyTV and elsewhere. Granted, this is Cuse and Lindelof's goal – it is possible that they won't get the five extra they're hoping for finished. But, in possibly bigger news, Cuse said that they will end season 4 how they originally planned, which means that the season 4 story arc will have to be condensed.

For a show like Lost, losing three episodes means losing a ton of room for story telling. Lost is plot-heavy and given how far in advance the series arc has to be planned out, condensing eight episodes worth of story into five episodes is going to be a tall task. As we've seen in the first two episodes of season 4, the plot has moved fast and furiously. This was the beauty of Lost's prescribed season 6 end date – the writers no longer had to stall. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Obviously, this is going to make those final five (or four, or three) season four episodes riveting television, but I worry how this might negatively effect the future of the series. I had assumed that Lost would attempt to make up their strike-sacrificed episodes in season five and/or season 6, but now that doesn't look to be the case. With Cuse proclaiming that the season 4 story will end as originally prescribed, I think we have to then assume that they have no intention of making up the lost (pun intended) episodes in the future. Selfishly, I don't want to be shorted three episodes of my favorite TV show. "

Source: Buddy TV