Here is what Kristin is reporting.
Holy email onslaught!
So many of you have written in after seeing Michael Ausiello's post about the possibility of a fourteenth hour of Lost this season, I feel I should respond before you hunt me down with pitchforks. (Just kidding. You know I share your obsession—In fact, I see your obsession and I raise it!)
Truth told, I heard the news last night that Lost's producers met with ABC about the extra hour; however, I was told by inside sources it was "much too early to report," since the pitch meeting just happened yesterday and since ABC has not yet had a chance to respond. I was asked to hold off since my sources didn't want the fans to be disappointed if the extra hour didn't end up happening.
That said, please don't shoot the TV Diva if this doesn't end up going down, but in case it's of any help to you, here's what my well-connected insiders say about where things stand:
* It is looking "highly likely" (yay!) that there will be an additional hour of Lost for season four, for a total of six hours coming up in the spring run, starting April 24.
* Producers pitched the idea of a two-hour finale to ABC, and if they end up getting an extra hour but it is not to extend the finale, well...that could be messy.
* The sense among insiders is that ABC execs very much want to make this happen, but like I said, they have not yet had a chance to respond. Fingers crossed they will soon and it'll be the right (i.e. "yes") decision!
You'll know more when I do. In the meantime, keep your pants on, your nose clean and April 24 circled in glitter on your calendar. And if you're feeling frisky, post your hopes for Lost's spring run below!
Source: E!Online
Thanks to Jay for the heads up on this great news :)
OK, I've left you hanging long enough, Ausholes. The scintillating piece of Lost prattle I've been holding over your heads since Ask Ausiello went live early this morning (i.e., the better-than-the-coffin-reveal scoop) goes a little something like this....
According to one of my 815 snitches, Team Darlton is in advanced talks with ABC to produce — wait for it, wait for it — an additional hour of Lost this season!
[The crowd roars]
Now, before you go French-kissing a total stranger out of sheer elation, my source stresses that this is by no means a done deal. In fact, the scheduling hurdles alone are enough to make a grown man cry. But you have to admit, the prospect of a 14th hour is a tantalizing one. And it raises so darn many questions. For instance:
• If the dream becomes a reality, how would it work? As it stands, Lost's Season 4 climax is slated to air on May 22 on a season-finale-themed night that also includes the cappers of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. So would the additional Lost hour be broadcast the following Thursday? Or would it perhaps run on another night?
• What does this do to the finale that was going to air on May 22? Would elements of it be incorporated into the new finale? Would this 14th hour come before that episode? And since we were originally supposed to get 16 eppies this season before the strike cut that number back to 13, does this mean we would now be getting a season finale that is more in line with what Darlton intended? Or more exposition that they ran out of time to include? The mind boggles.
So what do you think, people? And where does the line for the 14th-hour prayer group form? I'm in.
Source: TV Guide
Namaste!Welcome to DarkUFO, one of the most popular Lost sites on the net! We hope to have everything that a Lost fan wants: Spoilers, Theories, Screencaps, Recaps, Contests and lots of other great things to keep a dedicated Lost fan occupied. Please have a look around, post a comment, and even visit our forums or chatroom to interact with other Lost fans. Have fun, and namaste!
An extra hour of Lost for Season 4
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62 Comments:
Coooooooooool!
:-)
hey Dark, thank you for give me the best news in this week! =D
OH THIS IS GREAT!! im so excited, and im going to miss it when it leaves for the season... but an extra hour would be great and i've got my fingaz corssed!!
I don't know how this could be possible, but still good news!
Bring it on!
I don't want to jinx anything, so I'll keep my mouth shut.
6 is the new 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42!
My guess is that the two hour finale won't be split up and will instead be moved back to the 29th. The new episode will air on the 22nd following the Grey's Anatomy finale. BAM! Damon Lindelof said he would have no problem running into June to get all 16... the rest of the season is in ABC's hands though. Maybe instead of an additional episode they could do an ARG featuring the main actors... or more (good) webisodes!
WAHOOO!!
I'm assuming that the season finale will be 2 hours, rather than 2 episodes like it is now...so like, you'll get your one hour like normal, then 2 hours the following week.
This...is FANTASTIC news!
:) Wonderful news!!!!
Keep thingers crossed!!
YAHOO!!! Oh please let this come true! Best news all week!
Sure, an extra hour they're giving us! Shall we start the bettings that the 14th epi is actually a season 4 recap to prepare for the finale? Who knows, its just a gut feeling! I pray they dont recap it for us!!!
Before we get too excited, we should remember that there were already supposed to be 14 hours of Lost this season -- 12 one-hour episodes and a two-hour finale. This news is meaningful only if there's to be a 14th episode, not a 14th hour. Right?
YES!!! i would sell my house for this to be true! well, i dont own a house but i would if i did!
Looks like they are struggling to fit everything in plot wise, which should mean that its gonna be cram packed with action and excitment! Go team Darlton!!!
Wow, something I was absolutely not expecting anymore. That's awesome.
Still, aren't they about to start filming the finale? So for this to work they'd have to stop production, rewrite the last 2 hours, write another hour from scratch, film the episodes and do post-production on all 3 and all that in little more than 5 weeks?
Impossible I'd say, unless there's a several-week hiatus between episode 12 & 13.
Id jump up and down if this is true, YAY!
My guess is what is happening is similar to what happened with season one. They wrote so much stuff into the two hour finale that they are probably faced with 2 and a half episodes worth of content. Rather than cut a lot, they probably want to add more character moments that they sadly had to cut for time and will now split the show into three episodes. I could see what happens going 5 ways:
- ABC doesn't want the extra episode and makes them cut down to two. (sounds like this won't happen)
- They will air the 2 hours the week before the finale. (i.e. May 15th - part a and b, may 22nd - part c)
- They will air all three parts of the finale on separate days, with the finale airing on the 29th, sperate from Grey's.
- They will push back the premiere date by one week and have the final two episodes air as a two hour block on the 29th.
- Or finally, they will push back the premiere by two weeks, and air the finale as a three hour block on the 29th. (while this would be cool, it is not likely)
This isn't new. We've known for a while that the finale would be 2 hours.
This isn't new.
Trust me this is very very new. Originally we had only 5 hours of Lost, if all goes as planned we will get 6.
Awesome news!! Team Darlton rocks!! If this turns outto be true, I'll be very happy. Just thinking about it, gives me goosebumps.
I'm in ! Lookin to join the prayer group.
Hallelujah, I believe, I believe!
Made my week. And it's only wednesday. Woohoo :)
Two things though..
'Ausholes' is cringeworthy.
'Coffin reveal scoop'? Did I miss something?
Yes this is new. Instead of 5 hours, we are now getting 6. Everyone is splitting hairs on how it was intended to air, how it will now air, etc.
The point is that we MAY be getting one more hour than expected once the strike ended.
I wasn't having a great day...until this. Its's perfect now!
"Trust me this is very very new. Originally we had only 5 hours of Lost, if all goes as planned we will get 6."
True, originally we were only supposed to be getting 5 more hours. But that all changed when the producers announced that they were planning for a 2 hour finale, and that it would have to be split up because of the Grey's Anatomy finale with part 2 airing the following week. Therefore, instead of a 2-hour episode 13, we get an "extra" episode the following week. We've known this for a while.
Rats! I french kissed 3 total strangers before I read the rest of your post. That'll teach me!
if they managed to pull that off, cause i know they got a crazy deadline. i'd love them long time. forever even.
Just a reminder to everyone.
The season finale of Lost season 4 is one hour long and airs on May 22. This has been the plan since mid February.
With this news, it's possible the finale will actually be two hours long on the same night. To most people, a "finale" airs all on one night, and most people I've spoken to do not consider, for example, Exodus part 1 to be part of the "finale."
Regardless, we were NEVER supposed to have a two hour finale like some people are saying here. As far back as mid February Damon was saying that there would be 5 hours over 5 weeks. The finale was never supposed to be two hours long ON THE SAME NIGHT.
Therefore this IS new. There were supposed to be 13 hours of Lost on 13 different weeks. Now we may get 14 hours, in 13 or 14 weeks.
tallerghostwalt--
we were originally getting this-
hour 9
hour 10
hour 11
hour 12 (season finale part 1)
hour 13 (season finale part 2)
now they're saying they might add an extra hour somewhere. this is an EXTRA NEW hour, not just a tricky one.
The truth of the matter is, as stated by "Darlton" and several publications posted here on DarkUFO's site, despite what people have said, the plan has been to produce and air 5 more hours of Lost to finish the season ever since the strike ended. This has been referred to as both 5 "hours" as well as 5 "episodes", and the truth is both are correct. Yes, the producers DID mention a "2-hour finale", basically saying that that's what it would be if the scheduling allowed, airing all at once, but because of how things are would be split in two with the SECOND to air following the Grey's finale on the 22nd (which I believe to be the de facto end of Sweeps anyway). So if you were to count what was to be a 2-hour finale initially as ONE episode, then there are (at least before this revelation) only four remaining. But really, 5 weeks, an episode a week, its 5 episodes in my book (and most other peoples as far as I can tell), but unfortunately has resulted in alot of confusion due to misinterpretations of the information released. I hope this clears things up some but if not there are as I said several articles on the site (publications and the word of Dark and Ausiello themselves) substantiating this.
SO...
As I understand it, Right now we have FIVE coming (two of which making up aforementioned 2 parter), and hopefully a SIXTH if TPTB let our beloved Team Darlton have their way (please please please!!!!!) Not a done deal, we didn't know it before (in fact kinda came out of nowhere but a good nowhere), but still...freakin amazing.
awesome, i'll have my fingers crossed until i hear for sure.
john pritzlaff,
First of all, is there not some sort of rule against abuse in this forum? There's absolutely no need to be calling anyone an idiot.
Secondly, the producers made it very clear in their previous statements that they originally intended to air the finale as 2 solid hours on one night, but that they needed to break it up into two parts because of a conflict with the Grey's Anatomy finale, and that part 2 would be airing the following week. The Grey's Anatomy finale is scheduled for the 22nd of May, the same night as episode 13 of Lost. If episodes 12 and 13 were parts 1 and 2 of the finale, then there would have been no need to split up the finale into 2 episodes, as there would have been no conflict to begin with. Therefore, it stands to reason that episode 13 was intended to be the 2 hour finale.
I don't really see how this is so controversial.
I merely commented on how Ausiello hadn't really given us any new information, as this really only confirmed what we already knew (unless, of course, he's talking about an extra-extra-hour). I never expected name calling to enter the mix, and frankly I'm disappointed.
Perhaps in future we can try treating each other with a little bit of respect.
If this happens it will be awesome!
I think the reason they split it up was so that they had an episode to air on the 22nd as it's the same night as the finales for other shows. So the 2-hour finale was originally supposed to be on May 15, but they split it up so that they'd have an episode to air on sweeps night. And so yes, I'm pretty sure you are wrong. I called you an idiot because you stated your position with such certainty, even after Dark insisted that you were wrong, and acted as if you had realized something that everyone else had missed, when in fact it appeared you were the wrong one. I'm sorry but one of my pet peeves is when people feel extremely certain about something which is demonstrably false.
I apologize for calling you names, but I do feel I had a good reason to be annoyed by your behavior.
At the risk of being cynical, I think this magical extra episode will consist of the losties standing in line to use the Dharma-port-a-potty, brushing their teeth, washing their clothes, darning their socks, combing the shore for seashells and then, wait for it, a really cool hook at the end just so Abrams and his crew can say F**k you! See you in February 2009!
How's this for a schedule:
Since we know ABC wants to do 3 finales on Thursday 5/22, instead of trying to put another episode of Lost on on they 29th, they add the extra hour to Finale Pt. 1 so its like
Ep 9
Ep 10
Ep 11
Ep 12 - 2 hours
Ep 13 - 1 hour.
I know that would be weird, but I really don't have any problem with it.
That, or they could show Lost on Wednesday and Thursday night, 3/21 and 3/22. I think that would be pretty cool.
Name calling aside, yes, Ausiello refers to the season-ender airing on May 22, and I seriously doubt he made an error here (he is, after all, Ausiello, and if one doesn't trust Dark, certainly we would at least trust him). Additionally, They mentioned in another interview that the aforementioned date is in fact the "end of the TV season," and in my own view it would not make sense (prior to or following this potential sixth-episode announcement alike) to air the finale AFTER the official sweeps period/main TV season is over. I don't believe in degrading people and I very much believe in educated (or even otherwise, whatever we're here to enrich ourselves in the world of LOST correct?) discussion, but it does indeed aggrevate people when some state "controversial" ideas (justifiably or not) as absolute fact, because it feels as if we're being looked down upon and labeled as "WRONG!".
That's my take.
OH and I just listened to a previous podcast where Damon and Carlton said they had (at the time) mostly finished the first three scripts, and getting ready to break into the finale...indicating those last two episodes as the two-parter as previously suggested. The other information they gave regarding the episodes to come was consistent with everything else everyone's been citing on here as well, so it's not like they randomly changed their mind.
As for the sixth episode, however, we could categorize that under a whole different out of nowhere category...it was never annouced and they are still IN TALKS to do it according to Ausiello, so not confirmed.
Namaste All.
Thank you, halowax. It's nice to see someone here capable of posting a polite and thoughtful response.
I just want to clear up a few things before I head off to bed.
1. I never once claimed to be smarter/know more/have access to more information than anyone else here. In fact, john pritzlaff, it was you, not I, who said, "we are smarter than you". As far as I know, everyone here's operating on the same limited information. If you know something that the rest of us don't, please share it.
2. I never stated anything as absolute fact, or called anyone wrong. It was john pritzlaff and jake3988 who made those claims. Ausiello said they are "in talks" with ABC regarding this extra hour. Nothing yet has been confirmed one way or another. Maybe we'll be getting 13 hours this season, maybe we'll be getting 14. Who knows? What makes the two of you think you know more than anyone else? Until we know more, I'm just going to go by Damon and Carleton's most recent statements (which may for that matter prove to be false. Perhaps they spoke too soon. Perhaps they misspoke. Who knows?). Until we get a confirmation from an official source nothing is certain. Believe me, I'd love an extra hour as much as the next fan (as far as I'm concerned there can never be too much Lost), but until we know more I'd prefer to remain cautious and skeptical.
3. "I do feel I had a good reason to be annoyed by your behaviour." No, john, you did not. Not once did I insult you, or anyone else for that matter. Using words like "idiot" "dumbass" and "dense" with respect to me and other on this board is not only disrespectful and unproductive, but also against the rules of this board. My behaviour, on the other hand, has been entirely consistent with the rules of the board. If anyone has a right to be annoyed with anyone else's behaviour, it is I who should be annoyed by the your behaviour, and by jake's as well.
4. Can't we all just get along? We're all here for the same reasons. We all want to find out as much about what's planned for the road ahead. And we're all equally in the dark about exactly what's going to be happening. So why can't we all just remain calm, and wait for the smoke to clear, and once we get an official statement regarding the outcome of these talks then we'll know exactly how many hours of Lost we get this season. Name calling and bullying isn't going to make that happen any faster.
Good night.
So then the next newest episode might be shown either with the Finale Part 2, which makes the Part 2 become Part 1 and the newest 6th hour to be Part 2; or they will show the 6th hour on May 29th - whatever, both ways we have an extra episode!
The way I like Team Darlton is that; they both make us feel the WTF moments in the episodes and besides the episodes. :D I'm very glad to hear this news. But the question is: what will be the new order for the schedule? The 6th episode will be put through ep 12 and 13, or after 13?
Some people are getting close to being banned from commenting here.
NAME CALLING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
The offending posts have been removed. Those involved are on a final warning.
I'd rather spend what little spare time I have finding you good lost news and scoops rather than moderating comments.
In future re-read your post before hitting the SEND button.
If the season finale is two hours then THIS WOULD BE THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!
Although I resfuse to circle the date in glitter, I am very, very excited! Hope this really happens...
I just hope it's not a clip show ;-)
Please let this mean a 2 hour season finale the thought of only a 1 hour finale is heart breaking. I look foward to those 2 straight hours of Lost. to have them spread over 2 weeks would be terrible.
This is some great news!
If TPTB make this happen, I swear I will buy ANY product advertised within that extra hour.
Okay Team Darlton/ ABC, GAME ON!
-Dan
*Praying that Tampax is not an advertiser*
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!
I hope they make a 2 hour finale and air it on one night (or two consecutive nights).
IMO they do this because they can't place all the people involved in the finale on various places on the Island where they should be in order to get prepared for the WTF moment
Anyway, one more hour of Lost this season is the most awesome piece of news that anyone can bring to us.
Originally there were only five more hours of Lost this year, five one-hour episodes. The final two would be produced as a two-hour finale, but would be aired as two one-hour episodes for timeslot reasons. What they're saying now is that there may now be a sixth hour of Lost, for fourteen one-hour shows total.
No matter what ABC decides regarding the possibility of a fourteenth episode, you have to understand that the finale will still be split up, unless they take a week off somewhere in the middle of May sweeps. They aren't going to cancel the finale of Grey's Anatomy just so Lost can have a double-length finale. Just like how the world doesn't revolve around you, ABC doesn't revolve around Lost. If there is a sixth new episode, it will air May 29th. If you're strongly opposed to watching the two parts of the finale seperately, I have no doubt that the first part of the finale will most likely encore the 29th at 9, so simply do not tune in on the 22nd if you want to watch both episodes back-to-back.
What I think:
Episode 09 - April 24th
Episode 10 - May 1st
Episode 11 - May 8th
Episode 12 - May 15th
Episode 13 - May 22nd - Part 1
Episode 14 - May 29th - Part 2
(This is mostly for tallerghostwalt and Dark, so I know most people won't read it, obviously it's very long.)
tallerghostwalt, I was annoyed with you because, contrary to what you're saying now, you were saying that you were right and that we were wrong, which would be fine, but you said it with complete, absolute, irritating certainty and it made me angry, because you were very likely wrong.
Again, according to Dark episodes 12 and 13 were always planned to be the post-strike finale, which it seems would have aired as a 2 hour episode on the 15th, but they split it up so that they could use the second hour on the 22nd, finale night. This is my understanding of it, and never once did I say I was sure I was right. I'm only stating what I think is true based on the best available evidence. You, on the other hand, were acting quite certain, when your stance was actually contrary to the evidence, and it was infuriating, as is the way you are acting like the good guy now, who just wants everybody to be nice and not fight, when in actuality you are diverting attention from you having to answer my and others' responses. I don't want to fight either, and I wasn't trying to fight -- I was just dismissing your claims. However, I made the mistake of calling you names, which I have already apologized for. I do feel, though, that you are ignoring my actual criticisms of what you said, by trying to act like I was the one who was acting absolutely certain. I'm sorry but you were the one doing that, and I was just dismissing what you said based on the best available evidence. You were (and still are, I think) incorrect, based on the current information that we have, and that is why I strongly disagreed with you, and still do. And, I do want to point out that I will have no problems with changing my position if we get new information, because I never felt absolutely certain. I was only stating a hypotheses based on the best evidence we had at the time, whereas your claim was contrary to the evidence we had.
That said, I'm sorry to everybody, especially Dark, for all this bickering over something that's not very important, I just wanted to be understood, because I don't think tallerghostwalt (and probably others) understood my position.
Anyways, I really really hope that this news is true, and we get another hour. And here's hoping in the future some people (like tallerghostwalt) won't state things that are contrary to the evidence with annoying confidence, and some people (like myself) will only reply with the facts, not with unnecessary name calling on top of it, because name calling only cripples discussion and prevents true discourse from taking place.
John Pritzlaff
Thanks John, nice post.
Okay, thank you too, and thank you for making this great site. And again, tallerghostwalt, I'm sorry for calling you names, it really did derail the thread. I just got annoyed.
Getting back to the original purpose of this thread, if this happens, I think (as someone may have already said... not sure) that we will end up with a "three hour finale"... I think 4.13 will be moved up to May 15th, so it will air right after 4.12 (possibly what was originally intended after the strike). And then we will get one more hour on "finale night", May 22nd.
However, I think bladealchemist and sean's version sounds likely too. They may make 4.12 (May 15th) just a regular episode instead of "part 1 of the 2 hour, 2 week finale" and then 4.13 (May 22nd) will become "part 1 of the 2 hour, 2 week finale" (instead of part 2) and 4.14 will become "part 2 of the 2 hour, 2 week finale" to air on the 29th. Then again, this would mean the 2nd part of the finale would be on the 29th, a week after the big finale night for other shows, and ABC might not like that...
I also like the idea of doing something with a wednesday night episode with a thursday nighter the next day. Maybe 4.12 will be a regular ep on May 15th, then 4.13 will be part 1 of the finale and air on the 21st (Wed.) and 4.14 will air on the finale night after Grey's Anatomy.
My biggest problem with the wednesday theory is that it's well out of Lost's usual timeslot. Whenever you take a serial drama and air it out of timeslot, the ratings are traditionally a fraction of their normal ratings.
I also don't think they're gonna air an extra episode on the week before. I'm sure there's already a new episode of Grey's in place for those five Thursdays, so a two hour episode at all is fairly unlikely.
ABC can still market Lost's episode as a part of a finale package. You have two actual finales, and then part one of Lost's season finale.
Unless ABC started the remaining episodes a week early, I don't see how an extra episode will do anything but extend the season to May 29th.
At the same time, though, they're not going to produce the Lost finale any differently than if it was a normal 2 parter, as I believe the past few 2 part finales have all had recaps anyways. Chances are, ABC May 29th will devote 3 hours to Lost if the 14th episode happens, with a recap at 8, part 1 of the finale at 9, and part 2 of the finale at 10. Now, the problem if you wanted to simply experience it like this is that you'd have to essentially avoid the internet for a week, but it's an option.
I don't know if this has been mentioned already but I've just been checking out the ABC schedule at www.abcmedianet.com. It's a complete mess and has Lost and other shows as airing until the end of June which they obviously aren't. It's not showing a 2 hour Grey's finale either. So it can't really be trusted but—
—it does have Lost listed for 2 hours, 8-10pm, on Wednesday May 21. Grain of salt but shifting the finale to the Wednesday does seem like a likely solution to this problem, or splitting it over the two nights as already suggested.
At the risk of re-derailing this thread...
john,
I appreciate your apology. I'm sorry if I offended you. Admittedly, tone of voice is difficult to convey using text alone, which is why I try to choose my words carefully. I never meant to suggest that anyone was right or wrong, which is why I didn't use words like "right" or "wrong". Similarly, I never meant to offend anyone, which is why I didn't use any offensive words or phrases or attack anyone personally. Please believe me when I say that there was never meant to be any subtext or hidden agenda behind my statements. I hope that we can coexist peacefully in the future.
(Ironically, my original post was intended to inject some levity into the thread, given the tendency of Ausiello, Kristen, etc. to report spoilers some time after they appear on sites like this one...)
I wasn't actually referring to the comments they made in the podcast, but the following quote Damon gave in an interview (as well as other articles which referred to a 14 hour season):
"We are writing it as a two hour but they want to air it as two different hours because on May 22nd, which is essentially the last day of the season, they have a two hour Grey's [Anatomy] finale which going to run from 8 to 10, and that is only going to leave an hour for us."
That statement isn't logical if they were writing episode 12 as a 2 hour, given the scheduled date for episode 9 and the intention of airing the episodes on consecutive weeks. Admittedly, this statement contradicts the 5 more hours statement, which is hard to explain unless negotiations with ABC were ongoing, which is why I figured Ausiello was a little behind the curve (Again, sorry, not meant to be directed towards anyone here). I expect we'll be getting some sort of official statement soon enough, at which point we'll know for sure exactly how many hours we'll get this season.
And now back on topic:
So I've been thinking about what this extra hour might mean. What I had previously been led to believe was that the schedule was going to look like this:
April 24 - Episode 9
May 1 - Episode 10
May 8 - Episode 11
May 15 - Episode 12
May 22 - Episode 13 (finale pt.1)
May 29 - Episode 14 (finale pt.2)
Though if the finale is planned for Episode 12/13, then I think we'll most likely see this:
April 24 - Episode 9
May 1 - Episode 10
May 8 - Episode 11
May 15 - Episode 12 (finale pt.1)
May 22 - Episode 13 (finale pt.2)
May 29 - Episode 14 (finale pt.3)
Given the time it takes to write an episode before it goes to camera and how far into production they currently are with this final block of episodes it's far more likely they'd add another hour to the finale than insert an extra episode somewhere in the schedule. It's also possible that they'd add the extra hour to Episode 12, but it just sounds weird to me that part 1 of the finale would be longer than part 2, and based on Damon's comments it doesn't sound like they'll be airing 2 hours on the 22nd (Episode 13).
Thoughts?
And who else thinks that if this season ends up being 14 hours long they'll make up for the missing 2 hours by making episode 16 of seasons 5 and 6 2 hours each?
I think Damon's comments in the podcast and elsewhere about Grey's being the reason for the finale being split were bs. He was just trying to give a simple explanation to the fans for why there wouldn't be a 2 hour finale. His excuse, as already outlined above, clearly makes no sense.
I think the real reason for the split was that given the limited post-strike time in which to make and air episodes ABC would prefer to have as many week's airings of the show as possible. The writers originally felt they could safely produce 5 hours of the show, if they gave 2 of those hours to the finale it meant only 4 week's worth of episodes. From ABC's POV 5 weeks of the show is better than 4.
But obviously production has gone fast enough that the writers now feel they can produce another hour/episode of the show.
Makes sense, given this new news about the 3 hour finale. Guess Damon's explanation really was bs after all. But at least we've got a definite statement now.
Weird that they would put a one week break in between parts 1 and 2 of the finale, though.