The first hour of the sixth season premiere of “Lost” has shown up on-line but fans aren’t downloading and watching it.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, fans are instead waiting for the episode to air tonight at 9 p.m EST on ABC instead of giving in to temptation to download and watch it now.
Of course, part of this could be that only the first hour is showing up on file sharing web sites and fans want to see the full two-hour premiere tonight.
The file is showing up on YouTube and is reportedly a shaky recording of a premiere event held on a beach over the weekend in Oahu.
“Why spoil it now?” wrote one fan with the moniker MyWhiteNoise. “I’d rather watch it in hi-def and surround sound than ruin the surprise and watch some (low-quality) video.”
To TV executives, such statements are like something from an alternative universe, the polar-bear opposite of how young, Web-savvy viewers typically respond to content. Fans usually embrace any short cut that skips the linear TV and advertiser-supported experience.
“We never had a show like ‘Lost’ before that had these kind of fans that love it so much that they don’t want to know what happens before the premiere,” said Michael Benson, co-executive vp marketing at ABC. “Fans feel like they own this thing, just like we do.”
On Monday, fan commitment was given an even greater test when the entire premiere appeared on YouTube. The video was taken from hand-held cameras discretely shooting during a fan screening on Oahu. The Hawaii event itself was a revelation — can any other TV drama rally 12,000 fans to an island in the South Pacific? Some flew in to see just the 44 minutes of video that ABC will air Tuesday night.
“I’d rather watch it in hi-def and surround sound than ruin the surprise and watch some (low-quality) video.”
And I’ll still do that without watching it via broadcast TV.
WTF. There were way too
Many commercials! It ruined the premier!!!!
Commercials? What is this “advertising” of which you speak? 😉