Posted at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 9

VOTE FOR "LOST'S" BEN LINUS IN REDEYE'S "BEST CHARACTER ON TV" ONLINE TOURNAMENT

“Lost” fans won’t be shortchanged after all. ABC said it will shoot 17 episodes each for the final two seasons instead of the 16 episodes planned when the show’s creators and ABC made a deal last fall to end the series after three more seasons.

Two episodes were lost to the writers’ strike this season, so they will be added back in 2009 and 2010, according to ABC.

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said last month we’d get to see 17 episodes each season.

Meanwhile, Matthew Fox (right), who plays Jack on the show, told the L.A. Time that the decision to set an end date for the series has given it new momentum. He’s also pleased with this season’s post-island flash-forwarding, which he told the Time has been “a genius move.” It has deepened Jack’s hero-complex.

“Jack’s one thing in life has been to get off the island, and he’s accomplished that and found himself in a pit of despair,” Fox told the paper. “So I’m looking forward to that crawl out of the pit and finding some redemption in him.”

Fox wouldn’t talk much about the upcoming finale, only saying, “It’s got a really, really cool ending.”

Lindelof and Cuse consider the remaining the episodes this season a three-part season finale. The first airs Thursday, and the two-hour conclusion airs May 29.

Posted at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11

I offer good news, “Pushing Daisies” fans. ABC announced Monday that my favorite new show from the fall will be back for a second season.

Also getting green lights were freshman series “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Private Practice” and “Samantha Who?” Veteran ABC shows “Desperate Housewives,” “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Brothers & Sisters” and “Ugly Betty” also will return with full season, ABC said Monday.

ABC’s Hope Hartman confirmed to me Monday that this announcement doesn’t mean that other shows, such as two shows I enjoy—“Women’s Murder Club” and “Eli Stone”—won’t be picked up later on. The network will unveil the rest of its fall schedule in the next few months, it said Monday.

That means we’ll be waiting to hear the fates of “Men in Trees,” “Boston Legal,” “October Road,” “Carpoolers” and “Cashmere Mafia,” as well as the underperforming and presumed done “Notes From the Underbelly,” “Big Shots” and “Cavemen.”

Posted at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6

Last week’s return of “Lost” did what the series has always done: Left viewers with a whole lot of new questions. Don’t expect anything different on Thursday.

A few questions are answered, a few more pop up. But that’s why we love the show so much, right?

If you can’t wait for the episode, check out the three videos in the player above. They’ll give you some hints about what’s in store.

But be warned: Some might consider them spoileriffic.

Last week the survivors split into two groups. Those who want to be rescued took off with Jack, while the ones who believe the “rescuers” from the freighter are really dangerous went with Locke.

On Thursday, the Losties finally meet the “rescuers.” Jeremy Davies (“Saving Private Ryan”), Jeff Fahey (“The Lawnmower Man”), Ken Leung (“The Sopranos”) and Rebecca Mader (“Justice”) play the freighter folks.

“Rescuing your people,” Davies’ nerdy and nervous Daniel Faraday says, "can't say is our primary objective.”

Oh, one other thing: remember the polar bear?

Posted at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Here's ABC's 8-minute, 15-second recap of all three seasons of "Lost."

“Lost” comes crashing back Thursday with new episodes, eight months after the shocking Season 3 finale.

And although it’s disappointing that only half the new season—just eight episodes—were completed before the writers strike stopped production, fans should feel lucky ABC didn’t scrap the season.

The mini-season’s early episodes contain more thrills, chills and “What-the-[bleep]?” moments.

Fans were stunned in May when the action flashed forward—instead of the show’s trademark flashback—and revealed that Jack and Kate make it off the island.

But that didn’t mean they were happy. A scruffily bearded and distraught Jack meets up with Kate, looking better than ever thanks to the beauty perks of civilization, and pleads with her. “We have to go baaack,” he cries.

The flash-forward knocked fans on their ears and raised expectations for the new season. The blogosphere has been giddy with anticipation to learn how Jack and Kate managed their escape from the island and where the show will go now that ABC and the producers have agreed to end the series by 2010.

Don’t expect a big head-spinner in the first episode, but the riveting hour does set the stage for the season’s wild ride.