Been thinking about this as the final season approaches. Please know this is all for curiosity's sake. I am somewhat ignorant on how ratings are currently tabulated anyway. And I'll be watching the finale (and season) no matter who else is(n't).

Anyway, below is a link to a Wikipedia list (using Reuters, Variety, Nielsen Media Research, and ratings data from USA Today) of the most-watched series finales of all time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-watched_television_episodes#Most-watched_series_finales

121.6 million viewers tuned in for the M*A*S*H finale.
93.1 million viewers tuned in for the Cheers finale.
76.3 million viewers tuned in for the Seinfeld finale.

It's interesting, looking at the ratings averages across seasons (from Wikipedia, I know, I know, but they're source-cited), they seem pretty comparable to that of LOST's.
M*A*S*H - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(TV_series)#Season_ratings
Cheers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers#Ratings
Seinfeld - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Ratings_history
LOST - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOST#Ratings

Like LOST, the other three shows had massive fanbases, somewhat comparable ratings across seasons, and became pop culture phenomen(ons/a). But how big is LOST, really? As a fan, I'm biased, of course, and think the show's a massive success. But will that translate to high viewership for the finale? And in light of all the modern avenues for watching TV, does it even stand a chance at receiving high viewership?

We know the diehard LOST fans will show up and the casual LOST viewer is bound to tune in.

But will the finale draw folks who stopped watching LOST seasons ago for whatever reason?

Will it draw folks who are curious to see what all the hoopla has been about all this time?

What about folks who just watch series finales (do they exist)?

Or, since the show falls under the mystery genre, folks who like to be spoiled or to "read the end of books"? Not that mysteries won't be revealed (I assume) throughout season 6.

And let's not forget the TiVo/DVR/Hulu/online crowd - I assume those numbers count also?

So, what say you?

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P.S. Interestingly enough, according to that Wikipedia link, the ALF series finale had more viewers than the ER series finale. Would've never guessed that and I'm a huge ALF fan - so no disrepect is meant there.

i never watched an episode of seinfeld at all until the finale.

but why would i watch the finale to something that doesn't make sense even if i did have the context?

No one who hasn't been watching is goign to care. It won't get the more casual types.

A) too much choice compared to those historical figures these days
B) this is a confusing hour long drama that has been going on for years with the same plotlines, not a sitcom you can pick up and drop at will. Only diehards will and continue to watch, no casual Lost viewers exist.

but I can't see it being much more that a regular finale

M*A*S*H and Cheers are numbers that will most likely never be done again... too many network options and DVR would dilute the numbers...

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The top rated finales are sitcoms because you don't have to watch every episode of a sitcom to enjoy it. Hell, you could have missed a couple seasons worth of most of those shows and still grown attached to the characters. With Lost, I expect it to be mostly the people that have been watching every episode for the last five years.

With the finale airing on a Sunday night, May 23, methinks the network is looking to capture big(ger) numbers than a typical weekday night.

It's been heavily marketed all season long and I personally know of several viewers who dropped off and said they'd be back for the finale, just to see it end.

Again, it's trivial and I'll/you'll watch regardless of who is or isn't, but anyone rethinking their predictions?

especially after the latest shitty episode.

Would be like just watching the last 10 minutes of The Usual Suspects.

And no I don't mean to compare the 2 in quality or start ony debate along that line, just seeing the end in a big mystery is going to be pretty worthess.

<-----Iron Sheik fuck Nas in the ass, make him humble

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/lost-finale-highestrated-episode-in-two-years.html

Ratings for the series finale of ABC's "Lost" were much like the critic reviews: mixed.

The emotive two-and-a-half hour closer was seen by 13 million viewers and drew a 5.6 preliminary rating among adults 18-49. That's the highest-rated "Lost" episode in two years, but a softer number than one might have expected given the massive amount of anticipation and publicity leading up to the finale.

It's tough for a heavily serialized show to post big spikes once it starts to decline (and "Lost" has been gradually eroding for years). For what was essentially a decorated clip show, ABC's pre-show "Lost: The Final Journey" (11.4 million, 4.0) performed very well.

In general, critics seemed let down by the closer, or at least heavily divided: NY Times said it was a "a bit of a cop out." LA Times gave it one star out of five. Gawker said the finale was "two-and-a-half hours of slow-motion bullshittery." The Onion's AV Club disagreed, writing it was "highly effective." Maureen Ryan loved it. EW called it "refreshing."

My thoughts: Was it necessary? Did we need to spend half the final season explaining what happened to all the characters after they died? The problem with the flash-ultra-forwards was they zapped the final season's island story of suspense and emotional impact -- when Sun and Jin perished, we didn't even know if they were really truly dead or not. In the finale we're told what's happening right now matters and there are no do-overs. Well, this was news to us, and it came pretty late. Think of how much more intense the entire final season would have been without the flashes that muddied the reality of the story we were watching. Now, perhaps the afterlife story does matter because the island is some sort of testing ground for Jack (moreso than living your life elsewhere), as Jimmy Kimmel suggested, or is actually purgatory and they've been dead the entire time -- except the writers refused to make that link too directly. At the end of "Lost," we did not learn what the island was. The "Lost" team can skip answering a lot of the show's mysteries, we don't need every question resolved, but that's a pretty big one to duck.

i woulda thought it would at least do american idol final numbers (i.e., 23-25 million). between that, "heroes" limping off air, and the failure of "flashforward" and "V" to catch on with viewers, i think it's safe to say this sort of twin peaks/x-files style series has run its course as a major media phenomenon.

stop copping pleas, america.

and had no intention of watching the finale. as much pub as the finale got -- ABC basically centered a weekend of events around it -- i thought it would be bigger.

I can't imagine there were that many people who haven't watched Lost tuning in last night.

if you've never watched it, like me, you have no desire to see how it ends. i figured, though, that people who had dropped off from watching it would wanna see it wrap up.

altho someone could have just watched last night and be on equal level knowledge wise with 6year lostie vets soooooooooooooooooo

networks fucked up by not picking that show up. "all good things" was a spectacular end to that show, too. better than the first motion picture, even.

I get kinda sad with a smile when I watch it because you sense they could keep the great show going.

maybe Lost should have taken a page out of that book. They could have had the Jack from the island and LA X meet at the golden light to merge into one, cancelling out both of those universes and resetting everything back to square one in Sydney.

Jacob = Q

Jack = Picard

Desmond = Riker and so on

than the Lost? Lost lost

of course, because of a number of things (internet streaming/DLing/netflix/tivo) viewing has been affected over the years, but has any source try to account for this?

*LOST still lauuwwwssss (c)Raauuuwwwsss.

>of course, because of a number of things (internet
>streaming/DLing/netflix/tivo) viewing has been affected over
>the years, but has any source try to account for this?
>
>*LOST still lauuwwwssss (c)Raauuuwwwsss.

they track the dvr stuff. they have a +7 rating which is the rating a show got plus the amount of people who watched it via dvr within seven days from airing. although the networks pay attention to how a show does on hulu its not counted in the ratings but i imagine it will (and other streaming) be in the future.

and x-files always had shitty ratings and had gone completely down the tubes at the end. I don't think I even watched the series finale of x-files.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I don't even remember if *I* watched that, and I used to love Wings back when it was the only thing USA ever played.

Was Amy Yasbeck still on the show at that point? Did Lowell come back?

I've probably seen a lifetimes worth of Wings episodes, but I can not even remember this.

NBC aired the final episode of the show on May 21, 1997. The episode's plot was a callback to the first episode of the series, in which Joe and Brian are left a suitcase by their father containing a picture of the two as boys and a note reading, "You're rich". In the finale, the brothers discover that not only does the lining of the suitcase contain money, but it sets them off on a treasure hunt which ends up making them $250,000 richer. They argue over what to do with the money; Joe wants to put it into the airline while Brian wants to use the money to retire and move away. Joe's resolve to stay on Nantucket is further tested by the news that Helen has been offered an opportunity to go to Vienna to study music.
The finale featured no guest stars. Most of the extras in the episode were writers and members of the production crew making cameo appearances.
In the final moments of the episode, Brian offers to run the airline for one year while Joe and Helen are in Europe. With Joe's portion of the money, they retire the mortgage on their first airplane, acquire a second airplane, and purchase access to more airline routes, thus doubling the airline's size and rebuffing Roy's desire to "tear down this lemonade stand of a business", as Joe had initially agreed to sell him Sandpiper Air. Helen leaves her lunch counter, while Casey, Helen's sister, having told off everyone on the island, has nowhere to work and no means of supporting herself. Helen steers her toward her old lunch counter, a fate Casey cannot believe, to which Helen says she felt the same way at first. The final scene shows Joe flying Helen to Boston so they can get a connecting flight to Vienna, Austria.

barely edging out Charmed. lol.

for television series. when MASH aired there were like eight channels. you couldn't even rent a movie from Blockbuster.

as mentioned, there are too many other entertainment outlets now.