Country of origin United States Original network ABC | No. of episodes 25 | |
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Original release September 22, 2004 (2004-09-22) – May 25, 2005 (2005-05-25) | ||
The first season of the television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on September 22, 2004, concluded on May 25, 2005, and contained 25 episodes. It introduces the 48 survivors of a plane that broke apart in mid-air, scattering them on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Forced to work together to survive, they come to realize it is no ordinary island.
Contents
The first season aired Wednesdays at 8:00 pm in the United States. In addition to the 25 regular episodes, a special, "Lost: The Journey", was aired on April 27, 2005, between the 20th and 21st episodes of the season. The season was released on DVD as a seven disc boxed set under the title of Lost: The Complete First Season on September 6, 2005 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Crew
The season was produced by Touchstone Television (now ABC Studios), Bad Robot Productions and Grass Skirt Productions and was aired on the ABC Network in the U.S. The executive producers were co-creator J. J. Abrams, co-creator Damon Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse with Jesse Alexander and Jeff Pinkner serving as executive consultants. The staff writers were Abrams, Lindelof, Cuse, Alexander, Pinkner, co-executive producer David Fury, supervising producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, producer Leonard Dick, producers Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, co-producer Jennifer M. Johnson and story editor Paul Dini. Some of the first season's episodes were written or co-written by writers on a freelance basis. The regular directors throughout the season were J. J. Abrams, Jack Bender, Stephen Williams, Tucker Gates, Greg Yaitanes and Kevin Hooks. Its incidental music was composed by Michael Giacchino. Abrams, Lindelof and Cuse served as the season's show runners.
Cast
The initial season had fourteen major roles getting star billing. Naveen Andrews portrayed former Iraqi Republican Guard Sayid Jarrah. Emilie de Ravin played the pregnant Australian Claire Littleton. Until later in the season, de Ravin is only credited for the episodes in which she appears. Matthew Fox acted as the troubled surgeon, leader of the group and protagonist Jack Shephard. Jorge Garcia portrayed Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, an unlucky lottery winner. Maggie Grace played Shannon Rutherford, a former dance teacher. Josh Holloway acted as con man James "Sawyer" Ford. Yunjin Kim played Sun-Hwa Kwon, the daughter of a powerful Korean businessman and mobster, with Daniel Dae Kim as her husband Jin-Soo Kwon. Evangeline Lilly portrayed fugitive Kate Austen. Dominic Monaghan acted as an ex-rock star drug addict Charlie Pace. Harold Perrineau portrayed construction worker Michael Dawson, while child actor Malcolm David Kelley acted as his young son, Walt Lloyd. Ian Somerhalder played Boone Carlyle, chief operating officer of his mother's wedding business and step brother of Shannon. Terry O'Quinn played the mysterious John Locke.
Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline, including: L. Scott Caldwell as Rose Henderson, Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, Kimberley Joseph as Cindy, Fredric Lane as Edward Mars, William Mapother as Ethan Rom, Daniel Roebuck as Leslie Arzt and John Terry as Christian Shephard. Ana Lucia Cortez, played by Michelle Rodriguez, made her first appearance this season, and she became a major character during the second season.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the first season scored 87 out of 100, based on 26 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim".
The pilot episode garnered 18.6 million viewers, winning the 9:00 pm (Eastern) timeslot, and giving ABC its strongest ratings since 2000 when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire initially aired—beaten only the following month by the premiere of Desperate Housewives. Based on its strong opening, Reuters dubbed it a "hit drama" noting that "the show appeared to have benefited from an all-out marketing blitz that included radio spots, special screenings and ABC's first billboard advertising campaign in five years." After four episodes aired, ABC announced Lost had been picked up for a full season order. Lost's first season averaged about 17.6 million American viewers.
The first season was nominated for twelve Primetime Emmy Awards. They won six: Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (J. J. Abrams for "Pilot"), Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) (Michael Giacchino), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. Terry O'Quinn and Naveen Andrews received nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber were nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for "Pilot", with David Fury receiving a nomination in the same category for the episode "Walkabout". The series also received nominations for Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. The show was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.
Episodes
The number in the "No. in series" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "Featured character(s)" refers to the character(s) whose back story is featured in the episode's flashbacks. "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of viewers in the United States in millions who watched the episode as it was aired.
Home media release
Lost: The Complete First Season was released as a widescreen seven-disc Region 1 DVD box set on September 6, 2005, two weeks before the premiere of the second season. It was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. In addition to all the episodes that had aired, it included several DVD extras such as episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as deleted scenes, deleted flashback scenarios and a blooper reel. The season was subsequently released on Blu-ray Disc on June 16, 2009.
The same set was released on November 30, 2005 in Region 4, and on January 16, 2006 in the United Kingdom. For the region 2 release, the season was split into two releases, with part 1 (episodes 1–12) released on October 31, 2005 and part 2 (episodes 13–25) and the complete season set on January 16, 2006.
Notes
^ A. In some regions, the first season has 25 episodes. This is because "Exodus: Part 2" is split into two episodes "Exodus: Part 2" and "Exodus: Part 3."