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By John J. Joex

Lost wrapped up its six year run this past season and did so on a high note. Though quite a number of people did not care for the series finale, I thought it delivered a satisfying resolution and a decent amount of closure (and you can read more of my thoughts about that at this link). But now that Lost will march off into television history (until ABC assaults us with the inevitable spin-off series or TV movie continuation) where does Science Fiction and Fantasy television go? What will be the next “big thing”? Lost has been the tentpole for the genre on television for more than half of the past decade and it actually made sci fi/fantasy shows a viable commodity on the broadcast networks. I have covered in a previous series of articles how the success of Lost led to all of the networks and cable channels scrambling to replicate that show’s success and has since given us a wide number of genre shows to choose from. But the actual product that followed brought us quite a number of mediocre entries and few candidates to carry the torch now that Lost is gone.

Take a look at this past season as an example. ABC touted FlashForward as the next Lost and had its V remake in the pipeline as well. But FlashForward failed to take advantage of the momentum of its strong debut and meandered throughout the first half of its season leading to a steep decline in its ratings. It got back on track during the second half of the season, but by then it was too late. V managed to survive the cut, but it saw a similar drop-off in its ratings, just not as steep, so it will not go into its sophomore season on solid footing. And the fact is that the show is just not very good. Heroes, once the heir apparent to Lost’s throne, finally got put out of its misery this season as it received the axe following three years of declining ratings and an inability to recapture the magic of its first season. Dollhouse showed a ton of promise on paper and had several stand-out episodes, but ultimately it fell short of expectations. Fringe survived for a third season and probably stands as the strongest genre entry on the broadcast networks heading into the 2010-11. But I would not put that show in the same class as Lost. Sure, when it soars it delivers a first rate Science Fiction show. But it has too many instances where it misses the mark and just looks like an X-Files retread. The cable networks have delivered some decent entries lately like Stargate: Universe, True Blood, and perhaps Caprica, but still none of these have managed to match the quality of Lost or even previous off-network standouts like Battlestar Galactica or Farscape.

So what is the next “big” series or trend for Science Fiction and Fantasy television? I’ve written before that I believe this past decade represented a Second Golden Age for the genre on television, but I would say that era has come to an end with the departure of Lost. And it’s hard to place a label on the era we are ceding into until it has really had its defining moment. So for now, I will just call it the “post-Lost” era and we can ponder what it will bring.

A few trends that I see could give us a hint as to what direction we are heading. First, the broadcast networks (with the exception of the CW) seem to be shying away from Science Fiction and Fantasy with fewer entries on their schedule for the upcoming season than we have seen over the past few years. And this seems to be leading to a greater off-network presence like we saw back in the 90’s with Syfy offering an expanded slate and the pay channels getting into the game with HBO’s True Blood and upcoming Game of Thrones along with Starz’s continuation of the BBC’s Torchwood. And speaking of Great Britain, could we have a sci fi British Invasion on our hands with BBC America offering a serious challenge to Syfy with its genre programming moves (including reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation)? And then there’s the Dr. Horrible factor. That was a huge internet success last year, so could others try to replicate that formula and possibly instigate a move away from the television platform to web productions (and there are already quite a number of web-series out there)? Personally, I’d love to see a move in that direction because it allows for much greater creator control even if they do have to sacrifice some on the production values.

Any of these directions could suggest where Science Fiction and Fantasy television will go in the coming years or something completely different could determine the course for the genre. In any case, I believe that it will once again have less of a presence on the broadcast networks which does not trouble me at all. They’ve never fully understood the genre or known how to market it and have repeatedly enraged fans with their lack of patience and quick trigger finger when it comes to cancelling Science Fiction and Fantasy shows (Firefly, Jericho, Moonlight just to name a few). Lost helped define an era and change the face of network television, but that chapter is closing now with a new one in the process of opening. So stayed tuned to see what happens!