ABC Gets "Lost"... A Little Later at Night

Looks like you'll have to stay up a little later to see what happens to Jack and the other survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.

Come February, ABC will shift drama Lost (still in the midst of a brutally long 13-week exile from the network) to the 10 pm timeslot in order to avoid competition with FOX's American Idol result show.

While the move is somewhat surprising (why move your juggernaut to another timeslot on the same night), it makes sense to push Lost back an hour, especially given the stiff competition from CBS' Criminal Minds and, yes, that worrisome feeling that American Idol will further erode the series' audience. Add to that the worry that no program will perform well after Lost (just look at the numbers and, um, indefinite hiatus of The Nine and the cancellation of Invasion) and it's worth the risk to move Lost into uncharted waters. Still, it's not a good sign that the series keeps moving later and later on the schedule. Hell, remember when it used to air at 8 pm?

What will ABC put in Lost's place when the drama moves? Good question. Right now it's looking like the network will create a two-hour block of comedies, comprised of two aging returnee series and two freshman laughers that ABC has held onto thus far into the season. Beginning at 8 pm, it's According to Jim (starting January 3rd), with George Lopez joining Jim at 8:30 pm (beginning January 24th). From 9 to 10, ABC will air crime caper comedy Knights of Prosperity and the David Arquette and Greg Germann-led In Case of Emergency.

So what does that mean for the 10 pm hour in January, when the previously announced Primetime: Basic Instinct wraps its five week run? Expect struggling freshman serialized drama (is there any other kind) Day Break to suddenly wake up and find itself in a new timeslot. That is, until Lost returns in February.

Only nine weeks and counting...