'Lost' To End After Fifth Season

E! Online is reporting that ABC is "days" away from announcing that the sleeper hit will end after its fifth season in 2009, allowing the producers to end the show on their terms, and not on the network's.

The definitive end date is one of several changes being announced to the show, which include a later start date in 2008 as well as an earlier time slot on ABC. The series has suffered in the ratings tremendously since ABC moved it to 10 p.m. Wednesdays, pulling in smaller live audiences, but bringing in larger audiences who record the show and watch it later.

It's not clear exactly how many episodes will be left, but early reports from E! said it would be just two more seasons, although they updated their story later in the day saying it wasn't so black and white.

"I just spoke to insiders at ABC and they tell me the network and producers have reached a decision on an end date, and they are expected to announce it very soon," E! columnist Kristin Veitch reported in her blog. "This is meant to be a good thing, because now the producers finally can start mapping out the remaining episodes and rolling out some of the major reveals and answers we fans have been waiting for."

One of the biggest changes could be seen by the end of the current season itself, however. Some critics, including Veitch, have received advanced copies of the show's third season finale airing in just a few weeks that is being billed as a "game changer."

"Lost" continues to be one of ABC's strongest dramas despite the audience erosion, and remains one of television's top 30 programs, according to Nielsen Media Research. It's likely that the fourth season of "Lost" will begin in January 2008 and go through a straight run, something that "24" did on Fox this past season, and what "Battlestar Galactica" is rumored to be going through at around the same time (although it's not clear if BSG will run all 20 episodes at once, or if it will continue with the mid-season break).

"Lost" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Talk about this story