Lost and Found

It’s taken a plane crash and some bored suburban housewives to resuscitate ABC. After years of ratings doldrums and a dearth of compelling programming -- a drought that allowed even Fox to surpass ABC in the broadcast pecking order -- new shows “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” are showering the Disney-owned network with some much-needed critical acclaim and monster ratings. ABC won the ratings race among the coveted 18 to 49 demographic for the week ending Oct. 3, the first time it has scored such an early season win in 10 years.

Many of Michael Eisner’s detractors will of course relish the irony of ABC, long a financial albatross for Disney, showing signs of life only weeks after the media giant’s chief executive announced that he would step down in 2006. Nobody should begrudge a lame duck some success, though plenty of his lieutenants will be angling for the credit leading up to the announcement of Eisner’s successor. ABC’s boss, Robert Iger, clearly stands to gain the most if the network’s apparent turnaround is sustained.

ABC’s failure was partly a case of what can only be called anti-synergy. There was, after all, plenty of good TV emanating from Disney, but much of it was being outsourced to other networks. As head of the Touchstone Television studio, Stephen McPherson oversaw the development of such popular shows as “Scrubs” and “CSI,” which now appear on other networks because Disney passed on them. Now McPherson is overseeing ABC’s prime-time lineup, and he is widely being credited with the turnaround.

As for the on-screen dramas, “Lost” and “Housewives” are the standouts of a strong slate of new ABC shows. Disney spent a staggering $12 million on the two-hour “Lost” pilot -- compared with an average pilot cost of $2 million. It is refreshing that ABC’s bounce is not mainly because of the reality-TV craze -- though the network does peddle extreme makeovers and wife-swapping. The real cultural significance of “Lost” may lie in its being the first drama inspired by reality TV. It looks like “Survivor,” but with better acting.

Critics love the new ABC dramas, and the network also gets high marks for its creative marketing campaign. It included billboards, targeted pitches to “Lord of the Rings” fans, Internet chat rooms and bottles strewn on beaches with a scrawled message inside reading: “Help. I am lost. You can find me on ABC.” Although they were once guaranteed a captive audience, the old-fashioned networks find themselves having to work awfully hard to assemble an old-fashioned audience of 20 million viewers.