IF YOU'RE `LOST'... WITH FANS WONDERING JUST WHAT THE @#$% IS GOING ON, PRODUCERS SAY THEY HAVE A PLAN ... AFTER JUST ONE MORE CLIP SHOW.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

As the second season of ABC's hit ``Lost'' concluded last spring, it left fans of the drama about plane-crash survivors on a mysterious, deserted island with the usual batch of questions to answer:

What do The Others plan to do with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway)?

Now that the island's existence has apparently been made known to the outside world -- including to Desmond's (Henry Ian Cusick's) girlfriend -- does that actually mean anything?

After killing two Lostaways and selling out three others in order to retrieve his son and get off the island, will Michael (Henry Perrineau) return for an encore?

What exactly did that cacophonous light show borne from the bowels of the hatch do, anyway?

And what happened to Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoy-Agbaje)

Most importantly, is ABC going to do anything about those annoying repeats?

As you might imagine, the producers are keeping mum regarding those first five questions. But we can tell you that steps have been taken to minimize the jerking around of the fans with all the repeats and recap episodes.

Fans came close to the breaking point last season when new episodes proved vexingly slow in coming between repeats and recap shows and, when they did air, failed to advance the story line or provide deeper insights into the island's mysteries.

Getting the runaround

Even the guy who recaps the show for televisionwithoutpity.com ended his season finale narrative with: ``Thanks to ABC for turning the exercise of broadcasting a simple television show into as much of a cynical mind game as anything Dharma (a sinister corporation with bases on the island) could come up with -- what with the screwy schedule, clip shows this season, few-minutes-past-the-hour running times, crass projects like books and Web sites that you like to call `interactive' but are really just excuses to try to grab more advertising revenue.''

This season, ABC vows, will be different. When ``Lost'' returns Oct. 4 (tonight's installment will be -- you guessed it -- another recap episode), it will air six consecutive episodes, ending with what it promises will be a spectacular cliffhanger, then return in February 2007, and finish the season with, the network promises, no repeats.

(In the interim, ``Day Break,'' starring Taye Diggs, will take over the time slot.)

Though ABC declined to participate in this story, network entertainment president Stephen McPherson said in July, ``It's a very, very difficult show to produce. If we could run 22 straight in the fall, we probably would. But we just can't get the shows done in that amount of time. ... We've just really listened to the audience about the repeats, and it felt like this was really the best way to run the show.''

In the interim between mid-November and February, online productions such as ``The Lost Experience,'' which ran through the summer, will be available for fans who can't go cold turkey.

``Lost'' producers made a few promises as to what the new season will hold:

The Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle will be resolved. The light show and seeming contact with the outside world will be explained.

And three new cast members will be added: Elizabeth Mitchell (``ER''), Kiele Sanchez (``Related'') and Rodrigo Santor (``Love, Actually'').

But will this be enough to mollify fans irked by the foibles of season two?

The mystery machine

Nikki Stafford, author of ``Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide,'' says, ``In most cases, viewers are not forgiving, and they're going to move away, and `Lost' lost some momentum -- its ratings were down slightly. It's a tribute to the show's writing that most viewers didn't go away, because they can certainly stamp their feet and declare, `No! I've had it!'

``Season three,'' she adds, ``is definitely make it or break it.''

Both Stafford and Orson Scott Card, editor of the book ``Getting Lost: Survival, Baggage and Starting Over in J.J. Abrams' `Lost,''' agree that divvying the season up into two packages is a terrific idea.

``The real problem is that even though this series has characters strong enough and fascinating enough that we would watch it for them and their relationships alone, the writers have made the `questions' aspect so powerful that during the first run in the regular season, repeats feel redundant,'' Card notes. ``That means we say, `Saw that,' and we tune out. ... So ABC is smart to put something first-run in that time slot when they don't have new `Lost' episodes, so they can avoid cheapening the viewer averages for this premier series. It will also build excitement with the fans -- if the show is on at all, it's something new that you don't dare miss.''

``What Fox did with `24' (delaying it until midseason, then running episodes straight through without repeats) did wonders for that show,'' Stafford adds. ``These first six episodes of `Lost' will serve as an appetizer for the main course of the rest of the season.''

Less talk, more action

Card also believes it's time for the writers to put up or shut up when it comes to unlocking the keys to some of the show's mysteries.

``Merely withholding information does not build suspense -- suspense actually comes from giving information that makes the story deeper and richer and truer, so that we care even more to find out what happens next. At this point, I think the writers are relying too much on withholding things. ... The gimmick of withheld info was a lot of what made this series such a phenomenon, but we're reaching the point of diminishing returns.''

Card also notes, ``The longer a mystery is withheld from us, the more likely we are to be disappointed when the secrets are revealed.

``Remember the massive letdown of the `Matrix' movies? There was a huge moan of `Is that all?' from thousands of theaters around the world when the third movie came out. ... The earlier they reveal the mysteries now, the better we can deal with the fact that, by now, none of the reveals are going to measure up to the expectations.''

Now that ABC has figured out how to appease fans with its new scheduling, Stafford hopes the show's producers don't end up alienating them again by overstaying their welcome.

``You don't want `Lost' to become `ER,' this thing that will never die,'' she says. ``It should go four or five years. If you look at a show like `Babylon 5,' the producers knew they would go five years and that was it. It was mind-blowingly good because they knew precisely where it was going.

``With a show like this, you have to wrap it up; you can't ask, `Can we drag this out?' '' she adds. ``I hope they know where to stop it, and I hope they do.''

David Kronke, [phone]

[e-mail]

LOST

What: Clips episode recapping the drama behind the deserted-island phenomenon readying audiences for its third-season premiere Oct. 4.

Where: ABC (Channel 7).

When: 9 tonight.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) WHO SURVIVES?

`Lost' tries to find itself again

(2 -- color) Will Michael return to the island?

(3 -- color) What will happen to Mr. Eko and Locke?

(4 -- color) Who will Kate choose - Sawyer or Jack?

(5 -- color) Desmond's girlfriend knows about the island. Now what?