Schedule Rewind 2004-05: After Lost Became a Hit, The Broadcast Networks Found Sci Fi Again

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

The broadcast networks were mostly a wasteland for sci fi and fantasy television in the early 00’s, even though the genre had been doing quite well on the cable channels and in syndication. Only eight shows aired during the 2004-05 season across the five broadcast networks, some of which only marginally counted as genre entries. But an unexpected hit arrived on ABC’s schedule that season that would revive interest in sci fi and make it a major player on the small screen for years to come.

ABC

Lost (Wednesdays 8 PM EST)
Alias (Wednesdays 9 PM EST)

ABC took a gamble with a rather expensive series (due to a large cast with location shooting in Hawaii) that came from J.J. Abrams who had previously delivered the minor hit spy fi series Alias for the network. Lost certainly had the look of a longshot at the time with a premise that seemed unlikely to carry a series for an extended run. The sci fi elements were also muted in the show’s first season, kept mostly to the background with producers claiming there was a rational explanation to the mysteries (we would later learn that was all bunk). So the network was not all-in on a sci fi drama when this show kicked off, but when it turned into a surprise ratings hit, Lost was given much more leeway in the seasons to come.

Lost managed to appeal to the sci fi base, but its ongoing mysteries, character drama, and serialized story-telling also drew the attention of a broader audience who had maybe grown bored with the standard network diet of procedurals and sitcoms. It immediately became a watercooler show and proved that sci fi could succeed on the broadcast networks if done right. It has since become a somewhat controversial show because many believe it padded out its run too long and also failed to resolve all of its storylines. But no matter your opinion on the show itself, you have to acknowledge that it sent tremors across the Prime Time landscape and revived interest in genre for the larger audience.

Alias, which premiered in Fall 2001, had paved the way for Lost to an extent with its serialized story-telling and sci fi elements on the edges of its drama. That show was in its second-to-last season for the network, but ABC would soon be adding more genre entries to its line-up as it tried to replicate the success of Lost.

CBS

No Genre Entries

The eye network stuck mostly to its formula of sitcoms, procedurals, and reality shows and had little interest in sci fi during the 2004-05 season. It had flirted with the genre the prior season with the futuristic legal drama Century City, but that one was yanked from the schedule after a brief, low-rated run. The network would try again in the 2005-06 season with Threshold, but that show would also fail to find many viewers on the network. CBS would remain mostly averse to genre entries in the years to come, though it did eventually deliver at least a couple of shows of note with The Ghost Whisperer and Person of Interest.

FOX

Point Pleasant (Thursdays 9 PM EST)

FOX was another network that had little interest in genre shows and had become infamous for its cancelling of fan favorites such as Firefly, Tru Calling, and Wonderfalls. For the 2004-05 season, it did offer the quasi-paranormal drama Point Pleasant, but that counted as a minor genre entry at best. It would go on to be cancelled after less than a season, and the network would continue to prove unreliable for sci fi shows for years to come.

NBC

Medium (Mondays 10 PM EST)

The supernatural drama Medium had its debut on NBC in the 2004-05 season and it would prove to be a hit, leading to a five-year run on the network (with the show’s last two seasons airing on CBS). But this one followed the Prime Time-friendly procedural format and kept its genre elements mostly in the background. The network would eventually jump on the sci fi bandwagon, though, scoring a big hit with Heroes in the 2006-07 season.

UPN/The WB

Charmed (The WB, Sundays 8 PM EST)
Jack & Bobby (The WB, Sundays 9 PM EST)
Smallville (The WB, Wednesdays 8 PM EST)
Star Trek: Enterprise (UPN, Fridays 8 PM EST)

The part-time networks had more genre entries to offer than the Big 4 nets, though only Star Trek: Enterprise counted as a full-on sci fi show. Charmed and Smallville both skewed to a younger audience and the latter series was still more focused on the interpersonal drama and less on the superhero aspects of its premise. Charmed was in its second-to-last season that year, though Smallville would continue on for a record-breaking ten-year run. Jack & Bobby only marginally counted as sci fi with its look-aheads to the lead characters’ future in the 2040’s as part of its story structure. That one would be cancelled after one season, though.

Star Trek: Enterprise was wrapping up a rocky run on UPN, having never garnered the ratings that the network expected from an entry in that franchise. It had changed format the prior season from episodic stories to a season-long arc, but changed back for its fourth and final year. The ratings did not improve and the network decided to bring the show to an end (with a very controversial series finale) despite a raucous campaign by fans to save it (they even lobbied Congress to demand a fifth season). That made Enterprise only the second Trek series since the original to get cancelled and the franchise would go dormant until J.J. Abrams revived it on the big screen in 2009.

The Sci Fi Channel

Battlestar: Galactica
Stargate: Atlantis
Stargate: SG-1

Sci fi fans may remember that there was a time that Syfy was The Sci Fi Channel and was fully dedicated to its namesake. And this was a banner season for the network. Battlestar: Galactica kicked off its acclaimed first season after the mini-series had proven a hit the prior year. The show would eventually go on to a controversial ending, but its first few seasons delivered some great sci fi stories. Stargate: SG-1 was still a force in its eighth season and that would be the last to have the main cast together as regulars. Stargate: Atlantis came right at the end of the season in July, but it was quite an accomplishment at that time to have three major space-based shows airing together in the same season.

The television landscape changed notably after the 2004-05 season as sci fi became more than a niche genre. By the next season, more sci fi and fantasy shows would hit the Prime Time schedule, and within a few years, most of the broadcast networks had multiple entries each season. Some may consider the wave of genre shows that followed the Lost success to be somewhat dubious, with offerings like Flashforward, The Event, Journeyman, The River, and more failing to capture the same lightning in the bottle. But the genre revival did ultimately deliver some notable shows with lengthy runs such as Fringe, Person of Interest, the Arrow-verse entries, and more. If Lost had stumbled in the ratings and disappeared after a single season, it’s very likely that the networks would have continued their aversion to sci fi and fantasy throughout the 00’s and into the 2010’s and we would have had far fewer genre selections on television over that time.

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