A fun little chart I knocked up, showing the trajectory of US Nielsen ratings for Lost from its launch in 2004 to date. A few bulleted points regarding this data:
- It's fun to note how popular season 1 was (barely ever going below 17 million), how it spiked mid-season, and how it was actually very consistent.
- Look how season 2's phenomenal ratings nosedived around mid-season. I guess people got fed up with that infernal button-pushing, eh?
- Season 3's ratings plummeted after the misguided "mini-season" opening, and the show never really recovered those losses, sadly.
- It's surprising to realize just how comparatively poorly season 5 has performed, as the show is now utterly impenetrable to newcomers.
- If you're interested: the highest-rated episode in Lost's history has been season 2 premiere "Man Of Science, Man Of Faith" (23.47m), and the lowest-rated episode was, rather inexplicably, season 5's "The Variable" (9.037m).
