Since Sci-Fi Wire refuses to upgrade its content, I recommend upgrading the spell checker and copy editor.

"Lost viewers are slowly ABANDONING the island"

Maybe if the show went somewhere it wolud boost the ratings.I know its "Lost",but it doesnt mean you can't answer more questions as to where on the time traveling island they are.

In all fairness, this was the first time this season it went head to head with American Idol. And it only dropped by 8.5% in the 18-49 demo. Without Idol challenging it, its numbers should go back up some. And Season 5 has been great so far. If you're interested, you can check out my review: http://axiomsedge.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/review-lost-season-5/

Why are there no articles about how poor Battlestar Galactica's ratings are and the large amount of viewers who have left that show? Oh, right that's a Sci-Fi show, only positive spin for those here.

I don't understand the comments by Q.
Abandoning is spelt correctly.

could never get into the "lost" idea .supprised it lasted this long.

Veritas, the reason is because BSG is the best show on TV. It's impossible to put a negative spin on it.

That being sad, this isn't negative. Just fact. And it just means people who like LOST should start watching it more(well people with Neilson boxes at least)

Well here in AR all they show in place of Lost is Basketball. and they show it at 12:30 at night. so theres part of the problem

Thanks for the comment nilus. However, regardless of the quality of Battlestar Galactica, it is also just fact that more than 65% of it's audience has eroded since it's been on the air, it's lost a far bigger percentage of viewers than Lost. We'd never see an article about that here though.I guess I just miss the days when Sci-Fi Wire was not so biased in its spin.

The reason for Battlestar Galactica's ratings decline can be summed up with 2 words: SciFi Channel. Instead of airing the show continually to keep up audience interest, SciFi has chosen to chop the series into "mini-seasons" to stretch it out over an extra year. You can't take a series off the air for months at a time and expect people to stick with it. They get interested in other shows while BGS isn't showing and then are hesitant to come back. SciFi has shown a remarkable lack of common sense over the years. Almost breaking their bank to acquire the X-Files some years back when the show was also running on other stations is just one example.

As for Lost, I left it soon into season 2 when it became obvious that the writers had no "end game." They made no attempt to provide any explanations for the weird encounters/situations on the island, instead fluffing out their episodes with drawn-out back stories. I enjoyed the characterization, but I also wanted to believe the story was going somewhere. It never did, so I moved on to other things. From what I've heard from other Lost fans (even those still with the series), the writers still haven't provided any plausible "answers" for many of their more "off-the-wall" plot elements.

Hmm, don't know about the 65% thing (that would be over half of its viewers which I don't think is quite the case). But TV viewership is down across the board. Being on the SciFi channel means that it doesn't reach as nearly as many people. Friday is a traditional "going out" night. Now, with Lost, the fact that a show about musicians (some of who can barely sing) rakes in so many people shows the sorry state of the country sometimes. I so can't wait for the reality craze to burst apart.

This week was just a bunch of nosebleeds and stuff we already knew (Russeau) or didn't care about (Aussie Chick).

stupid nielsen ratings, ... outmoded, outdated and irrelevant to the way people *actually* watch TV today. Unfortunately this cr@p continues because studios dont realize that we just dont sit like idiots in front of the tv anymore. Get real.

If I had to choose between watching Lost or BSG, I'd definitely choose Lost. The third season was so-so, but the current season is great, and the more I watch the more I think the writers do have a master plan. Characters and situations from two seasons back are paying off and questions are being answered.

I have the opposite feeling about BSG. The more I watch, the more I think Moore et. al. are making it up as they go along. All this build up to finding Earth, and they abandon it in one episode. Does anyone really think at the beginning of the series that they designated that specific group of supporting characters as Cylons? Do we care that they're Cylons?

And at least Lost has some likable characters and mixes in humor every once and a while. I'll watch BSG to the end, but I won't miss it as much as, say, the Stargate shows.

This show works but works even better when you watch the seasons back to back. The show heavily relies on the momentum of the previous seasons/shows to help keep it chugging along.
And as far as this whole “people having trouble following the time line” issue… well I really do not get what is so hard to remember? I have no trouble what-so-ever following along and neither have any of my friends or even my mother (who if I remember correctly maybe in her late 50s to early 60s) and has no real understanding of computers, technology or even half the stuff the writers have Daniel Farraday saying and she still gets it.

@pendeen: It wasn't spelled correctly at first. Someone forgot the common sense check before pressing "submit."

Sci-Fi Wire got it wrong. Lost it NOT the number 1 scripted show on wends nights. The actual number 1 scripted show is Criminal Minds, no matter what Sci-Fi Wire says. If you think Lost's ratings are low now....just wait. Lost will fall much further in the ratings now that American Idol will be on for 2 hours for the next few weeks. ABC will have to make a choice, do they keep with the contract the show has and lose tens of millions in advertising and production costs or get out of the contract and lose only a few million paying everyone off ????

i love lost...
cant get enough of it..
best show ive watched since M.A.S.H.
lost interest in BSG last season and having to wait 8 or 10 months for mid season final
pretty much was the straw for me