Eduard Khil, a Russian baritone that found relative success in the 60s and 70s, became an Internet pop culture sensation last year when a video entitled “I am very glad, because I’m finally going home” was uploaded onto YouTube. Featuring a 1976 performance by Khil, it quickly became a popular meme and was nicknamed “Trololololololololololo,” while Khil, himself, was dubbed the “Trololo Man.”
Variations of the film exist, most notably the one included above featuring a revealing scene from LOST.
The first episode of the last season of Lost aired last night and every single second of analyzed information is already available, in one form or another, on the internet. One of those unfortunate pieces of collateral brought on by the internet, the dreaded spoiler isn’t a new thing, but definitely more of risk than in the past.
By the time I saw the entire Star Wars trilogy in 1985, I already knew most of the juicy bits. The misquote, “Luke, I am your father” (it’s actually “No, I am your father”) was already part of the vernacular; appearing in sketch comedy routines, movies and re-enacted during recess. The closest equivalent right now is probably The Sixth Sense, whose spoiling has become more locked into popular culture more than the actual movie. The argument could be made that these movies are good even if you already know the important plot points, but there’s no replacing a good twist.
Sites exist for people seeking spoilers. Below is a chart (via Compete.com)that tracks visitors to The Movie Spoiler (http://www.themoviespoiler.com/), a site that’s exactly what it sounds like.
The spike in July is likely due to the release of the latest Harry Potter movie.
In a way, I feel sorry for people a year, 5 years, 20 years from now who are going to watch Lost for the first time. Much like Star Wars, Lost is in the cultural zeitgeist and the major twists, most likely including the ending, will be too. It will be unavoidable. But as anyone who deals with researching the blogosphere will tell you, most sites deal with a variety of topics. TV reviews can show up in personal blogs, culture blogs, parenting blogs, religious blogs, etc. Spoilers are out there and they don’t just reveal themselves to people who are looking for them. They’re out there, hiding within your favorite foodie blog or developer network, waiting to ruin everything.
So how do you avoid spoilers? Never, ever go on the internet.
As internet fans ready themselves for Season 6 of LOST, blogs and message boards explode with theories regarding the conclusion of the series in its final season. But will the show’s loyal following draw enough views to push ABC past NBC in primetime network views? Here, we examine ratings from the week of 1/11/2010 and viewership results from the first five seasons of LOST to see just how big a pull the show will need to lift itself into the top ten.
TV by the Numbers tracks television metrics on a daily basis to report ratings on broadcast and cable programming. Between broadcast networks, CBS and Fox still rank highest with NBC and ABC trailing behind.
Nielson TV Ratings: (Week of January 11):
1 AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF-SA(S) – CBS (30,569,000 viewers)
2 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY – FOX (29,936,000 viewers)
3 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY – FOX (26,393,000 viewers)
4 AFC DIV-PLF-POST-GAME-SU(S) – CBS (25,807,000 viewers)
5 NCIS – CBS (20,845,000 viewers)
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN – CBS (17,266,000 viewers)
7 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS(S) – NBC (16,982,000 viewers)
8 NCIS: LOS ANGELES – CBS (15,596,000 viewers)
9 MENTALIST, THE – CBS (15,375,000 viewers)
10 60 MINUTES – CBS (15,775,000 viewers)
Using the metrics above as a performance guide, we can approximate the performance requirements for LOST’s season premiere. Dan Owen of Dan’s Media Digest utilized Nielson metrics to visually track the ratings results from the first five seasons of LOST:
One can see a decline in viewership as the show progressed (and, depending on who you ask, became either more convoluted or rad). Even with the non-recurring top ten shows removed, LOST would still have to outperform all of Season 5 to get into the top ten. But though LOST may not bring in the views it once garnered, ratings may be ultimately unimportant to the fans of the show during its final season. LOST blogger, Docartz, commented in his blog on how the final season will be a network success even if ratings aren’t up to par:
For those of you who dismiss news of LOST’s wobbling ratings as inconsequential – you’re good, you don’t need to be here. For the rest, let’s take a closer look at the widely publicized ratings trickery and what it means – or better yet, doesn’t mean – for LOST’s future. Most of the fuss seems to come from a lot of very creative (read that as ’shady’) number reporting from a couple of networks, ABC and FOX. FOX is exploiting an overlap trick to inflate their numbers. The trick is, they run their programs over which earns them an artificial share at the turn of the hour or half hour. ABC will soon be doing the same with LOST, and in fact already did to some degree with their claim that 20-million viewers tuned in for LOST’s premiere, when the actual number of live viewers was somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 million. LOST posted its lowest numbers for a premiere, ever – yet LOST won the key demographic of 18-49, which is cool if you are selling advertising, which we are not. What does it all mean for us? Nothing.
So LOST would need a pretty remarkable opening to blip ABC back on the ratings radar. Either way, it’s a certainty that the final season’s premier will at least satisfy its current contingent, and you can be sure I’ll be one of many fans annoying the rest of the world with endless LOST banter:
