For all of us who got used to mysterious and breathless story of “Lost”, ABC cable television announced that they plan to air the first eight episodes of the fourth series which had been written before the writers’ strike began in October.

This decision opposes to that of the two creators of the show Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse who would like to air the series all at once.

The first episode will be on ABC television somewhere in February to the fans’ delight. This is the good news. The bad news is that the fourth series has more eight episodes which haven’t been written yet and won’t be until the writers’ strike ends.
Damon said that the eight episode ends with a cliffhanger which might be seen as a point where they can take a break.

Since the end of the writer strike is not foreseeable any day soon, these eight episodes seem to be the last we will see before early 2009. Leaving the fans in expectation for a long period is not something that the creators desire, but they also do not want to continue the writing until the negotiations after the strike are over.

They are aware of the negative impact that “Lost”’s break will have among its viewers. "It will feel like reading a Harry Potter novel and then being forced to put it down halfway through. You’ll feel frustrated because you'll be forced to wait many months to resume the story," Cuse told, according to San Jose Mercury News.

Damon also commented on this subject: “Yes. And you'd be, like, oh my god, I can't believe I have to wait another year and two months for episode nine of this season,” E!Online reports.

Unlike ABC, FOX decided to put the show on hold until the production starts again and it can air uninterrupted.