Until last fall, ABC's entertainment division had been having such a bad time of it for so long that, as with the used gum that kids offer each other, its initials could have stood for Already Been Chewed. This season, it has been a different—and much crowed-about—story. The network's series "Desperate Housewives," whose juicy title belies its unyielding dullness, became an instant Sunday-night hit upon its début, in October, and it was joined in ratings heaven by the Wednesday-night mystery "Lost." Two months ago, the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" (think "Ally McBeal, M.D.") premièred, following "Housewives" in the Sunday-night lineup, and it, too, entered the top ten with Flo Jo speed. ABC got so high on its own fumes last fall that it added one or two minutes to the running time of "Housewives" and "Lost"—not for the benefit of viewers but to make a greedy grab for even more millions of eyeballs. (In fact, ABC's practice of deliberately pushing a show over into the next time slot is actively unfriendly to viewers, both those who are watching TV in real time and those who try to set VCRs or DVRs to record a show afterward on another network.)
   All three of these new shows have received a lot of media attention—much of it from other ABC outlets, such as "Good Morning America" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show"—but "Lost," for all its mass popularity, qualifies as a kind of cult hit, too. It has elements of the disaster, mystery, adventure, suspense, and horror genres, and it has become a strong presence on the Internet among nerdy gamers and those who like to weave conspiracy theories and sift through clues in TV-show plots in their free time (and probably during work hours as well). The show recalls so many other shows and movies that people can't describe it without resorting to a formula: "Gilligan's Island" meets "Survivor"—or "The Island of Dr. Moreau" or "Lord of the Flies" or "Cast Away." You can throw "Jurassic Park" in there, too, along with a little "X-Files" and "Apocalypse Now." "Lost" actually was inspired in part by "Survivor"—the idea came from Lloyd Braun, who used to be the chairman of ABC's entertainment division. (Last fall, he became the head of Yahoo!'s Media Group.) Braun hired J. J. Abrams, the creator of "Alias"—another ABC show that steals minutes that don't belong to it—and the co-creator of "Felicity," to develop the show, along with Damon Lindelof. Abrams, understandably, wasn't interested at first—he recognized that it would be a challenge to come up with enough ideas to drive a series that, since it's set on an island, literally couldn't go anywhere.... Read the full story here. Permanent Link | 1:38 PM