title: Lost (TV series)

text: Season 5 follows two timelines. The first timeline takes place on the island where the survivors who were left behind erratically jump forward and backward through time. In one of these time periods, John speaks with Richard Alpert, one of the Others, who says that to save the island, he must bring everyone back. John goes to the same underground station Ben went to. After moving the wheel himself, John is transported to the Sahara in 2007, as the time shifts on the island stop and the survivors are stranded with the Dharma Initiative in 1974. In 2007, John contacts the Oceanic Six, but no one wants to return. The last one of the Oceanic Six he finds is a depressed Jack. John tells Jack his father is alive on the island. This seriously affects Jack, and he begins taking flights, hoping to crash on the island again. Ben finds John and kills him. After John's death, the Oceanic Six are told to board the Ajira Airways Flight 316 to return to the island and in order to go back, they have to take John Locke's body in the plane. They take the flight, but some land in 1977, where they meet with the other survivors who are now part of the Dharma Initiative, and others land in 2007. The survivors in 1977 are told by Daniel Faraday that if they detonate a nuclear bomb at the hatch's construction site, the electromagnetic energy below it will be negated; as a result, the hatch would never be built and their future could be changed. In 2007, John Locke apparently comes back to life. He instructs Richard Alpert to speak with a time-traveling John and tell him that he must bring everyone back to the island. After this, he goes to speak with Jacob. The season finale reveals that John Locke is still dead and another entity has taken over his form to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob. In 1977, Juliet detonates the fission core taken from the hydrogen bomb.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Season 6, the final season, follows two timelines. In the first timeline, the survivors are sent to the present day, as the death of Jacob allows his brother, the Man in Black, the human alter-ego of the Smoke Monster, to take over the island. Having assumed the form of John Locke, the Smoke Monster seeks to escape the island and forces a final war between the forces of good and evil.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The second timeline, called the "flash-sideways" narrative, follows the lives of the main characters in a setting where Oceanic 815 never crashed, though additional changes are revealed as other characters are shown living completely different lives than they did. In the final episodes, a flashback to the distant past shows the origins of the island's power and of the conflict between Jacob and the Man in Black, who are revealed to be twin brothers, with Jacob desperate to keep his brother from leaving the island after he is transmogrified by the power of the island and becomes the Smoke Monster.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In this season, Jacob's machinations are revealed: everyone was pushed by fate and his manipulation to be on the Oceanic flight as many of the members of the flight were deemed "candidates" by Jacob to be the new protector of the island after his passing. The Man in Black's mission since the beginning of the series: kill all of the candidates, thereby allowing him to leave the island once and for all. The ghost of Jacob appears to the last-of-the-surviving candidates, and Jack is appointed as the new protector. Jack catches up with The Man In Black, who says that he wants to go to the "heart of the island" to turn it off and, therefore, finally leave the island. They reach the place, but after doing this, The Man In Black becomes mortal. The Man In Black is killed by Kate, but Jack is seriously injured. Hurley, one of the survivors, becomes the new caretaker of the island. Several of the survivors die in the conflict or stay on the island, and the remaining escape in the Ajira Plane once and for all. Jack returns to the "heart of the island" and turns it on again, saving it. Hurley, as the new protector, asks Ben to help him in his new job, which he agrees to do. Having saved the island, Jack dies peacefully in the same place in which he woke up when he arrived on the island.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The series finale reveals that the flash-sideways timeline is actually a form of limbo in the afterlife, where some of the survivors and other characters from the island are reunited after death. In the last scene, the survivors are all reunited in a church where they "move on" together.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Episodes of "Lost" include a number of mysterious elements ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these elements as composing the mythology of the series, and they formed the basis of fan speculation. The show's mythological elements include a "Smoke Monster" that roams the island, a mysterious group of inhabitants whom the survivors called "The Others", a scientific organization called the Dharma Initiative that placed several research stations on the island, a sequence of numbers that frequently appears in the lives of the characters in the past, present, and future, and personal connections (synchronicity) between the characters of which they are often unaware.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: At the heart of the series is a complex and cryptic storyline, which spawned numerous questions and discussions among viewers. Encouraged by "Lost"s writers and stars, who often interacted with fans online, viewers and TV critics alike took to widespread theorizing in an attempt to unravel the mysteries. Theories mainly concerned the nature of the island, the origins of the "Monster" and the "Others", the meaning of the numbers, and the reasons for both the crash and the survival of some passengers. Several of the more common fan theories were discussed and rejected by the show's creators, the most common being that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are dead and in purgatory. Lindelof rejected speculation that spaceships or aliens influenced the events on the island or that everything seen was a fictional reality taking place in someone's mind. Carlton Cuse dismissed the theory that the island was a reality TV show and the castaways unwitting housemates, and Lindelof many times denied the theory that the "Monster" was a nanobot cloud similar to the one featured in Michael Crichton's novel "Prey" (which happened to share the protagonist's name, Jack).


title: Lost (TV series)

text: There are several recurring elements and motifs on "Lost", which generally have no direct effect on the story itself but expand the show's literary and philosophical subtext. These elements include frequent appearances of black and white, which reflect the dualism within characters and situations; as well as rebellion in almost all characters, especially Kate; dysfunctional family situations (especially ones that revolve around the fathers of many characters), as portrayed in the lives of nearly all the main characters; apocalyptic references, including Desmond's pushing the button to forestall the end of the world; coincidence versus fate, revealed most apparently through the juxtaposition of the characters Locke and Mr. Eko; conflict between science and faith, embodied by the leadership tug-of-war between Jack and Locke and their stark disagreements on subjects such as the hatch, the button, and leaving the island; the struggle between good and evil, shown by the relationship between Jacob and the Man in Black, several times by Locke using symbols such as his backgammon set, also the white and black rocks that the Man in Black referred to as an "inside joke"; and references to numerous works of literature, including mentions and discussions of particular novels. One notable reference to a novel is John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", usually when Sawyer is seen reading it or referencing it. There are also many allusions in characters' names to famous historical thinkers and writers, such as Ben Linus (after chemist Linus Pauling), John Locke (after the philosopher) and his alias Jeremy Bentham (after the philosopher), Danielle Rousseau (after philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Desmond David Hume (after philosopher David Hume), Juliet's ex-husband (after philosopher Edmund Burke), Mikhail Bakunin (after the anarchist philosopher), Daniel Faraday (after physicist Michael Faraday), Eloise Hawking (after physicist Stephen Hawking), George Minkowski (after mathematician Hermann Minkowski), Richard Alpert (the birth name of spiritual teacher Ram Dass), Boone Carlyle (after pioneer Daniel Boone and philosopher Thomas Carlyle), and Charlotte Staples Lewis (after author Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis).


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Of the 324 people on board Oceanic Flight 815, there are 70 initial survivors (as well as one dog) spread across the three sections of the plane crash. Although a large cast made "Lost" more expensive to produce, the writers benefited from added flexibility in story decisions. According to series executive producer Bryan Burk, "You can have more interactions between characters and create more diverse characters, more back stories, more love triangles."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" was planned as a multicultural show with an international cast. The initial season had 14 regular speaking roles that received star billing. Matthew Fox played the protagonist, a troubled surgeon named Jack Shephard. Evangeline Lilly portrayed fugitive Kate Austen. Jorge Garcia played Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, an unlucky lottery winner. Josh Holloway played a con man, James "Sawyer" Ford. Ian Somerhalder played Boone Carlyle, chief operating officer of his mother's wedding business. Maggie Grace played his stepsister Shannon Rutherford, a former dance teacher. Harold Perrineau portrayed construction worker and aspiring artist Michael Dawson, while Malcolm David Kelley played his young son, Walt Lloyd. Terry O'Quinn played the mysterious John Locke. Naveen Andrews portrayed former Iraqi Republican Guard Sayid Jarrah. Emilie de Ravin played a young Australian mother-to-be, Claire Littleton. Yunjin Kim played Sun-Hwa Kwon, the daughter of a powerful and incredibly wealthy Korean businessman and mobster, with Daniel Dae Kim as her husband and father's enforcer Jin-Soo Kwon. Dominic Monaghan played English ex-rock star drug addict Charlie Pace.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: During the first two seasons, some characters were written out, while new characters with new stories were added. Boone Carlyle was written out near the end of season one, and Walt became an intermittent character, making occasional appearances throughout season two after he is captured by The Others in the season one finale. Shannon's departure eight episodes into season two made way for newcomers Mr. Eko, a former Nigerian militia leader and fake Catholic priest played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje; Ana Lucia Cortez, an airport TSA guard and former LAPD police officer played by Michelle Rodriguez; and Libby Smith, a purported clinical psychologist and formerly mentally ill woman portrayed by Cynthia Watros. Ana Lucia and Libby were written out of the series toward the end of season two after being shot by Michael, who then left the island along with his son.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In season three, two actors were promoted from recurring to starring roles: Henry Ian Cusick as former Scottish soldier Desmond Hume; and Michael Emerson as the manipulative leader of the Others, Ben Linus. In addition, three new actors joined the regular cast: Elizabeth Mitchell, as fertility doctor and Other Juliet Burke; and Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro as background survivor couple Nikki Fernandez and Paulo. Several characters died in the season: Eko was killed off when Akinnuoye-Agbaje did not wish to continue on the show, Nikki and Paulo were buried alive mid-season after poor fan response, and in the third-season finale, Charlie dies a hero.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In season four, Harold Perrineau rejoined the main cast to reprise the role of Michael, now suicidal and on a desperate redemptive journey to atone for his previous crimes. Along with Perrineau, additional new actors—Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, a nervous physicist who takes a scientific interest in the island; Ken Leung as Miles Straume, a sarcastic supposed ghost whisperer; and Rebecca Mader as Charlotte Staples Lewis, a hard-headed and determined anthropologist and successful academic—joined the cast. Michael was written out in the fourth-season finale. Claire, who mysteriously disappears with her dead father near the end of the season, did not return as a series regular for the fifth season but returned for the sixth and final season.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In season five, no new characters joined the main cast; however, several characters exited the show: Charlotte was written out early in the season in episode five, with Daniel being written out later in the antepenultimate episode. Season six saw several cast changes: Juliet was written out in the season premiere while three previous recurring characters were upgraded to starring status. These included Néstor Carbonell as mysterious, age-less Other Richard Alpert; Jeff Fahey as pilot Frank Lapidus; and Zuleikha Robinson as Ajira Airways Flight 316 survivor Ilana Verdansky. Additionally, former cast members Ian Somerhalder, Dominic Monaghan, Rebecca Mader, Jeremy Davies, Elizabeth Mitchell, Maggie Grace, Michelle Rodriguez, Harold Perrineau, and Cynthia Watros made return appearances.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline. Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan)—a French member of an earlier scientific expedition to the island, first encountered as a voice recording in the pilot episode—appears throughout the series. She is searching for her daughter, who later turns up in the form of Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde). Alex has been kidnapped by Ben Linus and brought to the Others where she was raised. Cindy (Kimberley Joseph), an Oceanic flight attendant who first appeared in the pilot, survived the crash and, subsequently, became one of the Others.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In the second season, married couple Rose Nadler (L. Scott Caldwell) and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson), separated on opposite sides of the island (she with the main characters, he with the tail section survivors), were featured in a flashback episode after being reunited. The second season also introduces Dr. Pierre Chang (Francois Chau), a member of the mysterious Dharma Initiative who appears in the orientation films for its numerous stations located throughout the island. Corporate magnate Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) has connections to both Ben and Desmond. Desmond is in love with Widmore's daughter Penelope "Penny" Widmore (Sonya Walger).


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), introduced in the third season, is Daniel Faraday's mother and also has connections with Desmond. The introduction of the Others featured Tom Friendly (M. C. Gainey), and Ethan Rom (William Mapother), all of whom have been shown in both flashbacks and the ongoing story. Jack's father Christian Shephard (John Terry) has appeared in multiple flashbacks of various characters. In the third season, Naomi Dorrit (Marsha Thomason), the team leader of a group hired by Widmore to find Ben Linus, parachutes onto the island. One member of her team includes the ruthless mercenary Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand).


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In the finale episode "The End", recurring guest stars Sam Anderson; L. Scott Caldwell; Francois Chau; Fionnula Flanagan; Sonya Walger; and John Terry were credited under the "starring" rubric alongside the principal cast. The mysterious black smoke cloud-like entity, known as "the Monster", appeared in human form during season five and six as a middle-aged man dressed in black robes, who was played by Titus Welliver, and in season six, it appears in the form of John Locke played by O'Quinn in a dual role. His rival, Jacob, was played by Mark Pellegrino.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Robot Productions, and Grass Skirt Productions. Throughout its run, the executive producers of the series were Damon Lindelof, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, Jeff Pinkner, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Jean Higgins, and Elizabeth Sarnoff, with Lindelof and Cuse serving as showrunners.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The series was conceived by Lloyd Braun, head of ABC at the time, while he was on vacation in Hawaii during 2003 as a television adaptation of the 2000 Tom Hanks film "Cast Away", crossed with elements of the popular reality show "Survivor". Braun later pitched his ideas for "Cast Away – The Series" at the network's gathering of executives at the Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in Anaheim, California, describing the concept as "parts "Cast Away", "Survivor", and "Gilligan's Island", with a "Lord of the Flies" element." Many found the idea laughable, but senior vice president Thom Sherman saw potential and decided to order an initial script from Spelling Television. Spelling producer Ted Gold turned to writer Jeffrey Lieber, who presented a pitch to ABC in September 2003 titled "Nowhere", which Sherman approved. Unhappy with the eventual script by Lieber and a subsequent rewrite, in January 2004, Braun contacted J. J. Abrams, who had developed the TV series "Alias" for ABC, to write a new pilot script. Lieber would later receive a story credit for the "Lost" pilot and, subsequently, shared the "created by" credit with Abrams and Lindelof, after a request for arbitration at the Writers Guild of America. The one inviolable edict Braun made to Abrams was that the show's title must be "Lost", having conceived of the title and being angry at its change to "Nowhere" by Lieber.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Although initially hesitant, Abrams warmed to the idea on the condition that the series would have a supernatural angle to it and if he had a writing partner. ABC executive Heather Kadin sent him Damon Lindelof, who had long intended to meet Abrams as he wished to write for "Alias". Together, Abrams and Lindelof created the series' style and characters and also wrote a series bible that conceived and detailed the major mythological ideas and plot points for an ideal four-to-five-season run for the show. The novel idea of a story arc spanning several years was inspired by "Babylon 5." Because ABC felt that "Alias" was too serialized, Lindelof and Abrams assured the network in the bible that the show would be self-contained: "We promise ... that [each episode] requires NO knowledge of the episode(s) that preceded it ... there is no 'Ultimate Mystery' which requires solving." While such statements contradicted their true plans, the ruse succeeded in persuading ABC to purchase the show. The game "Myst", also set in a tropical island, was noted as an influence by Lindelof, as in its narrative, "No one told you what the rules were. You just had to walk around and explore these environments and gradually a story was told."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Abrams created the sound opening of the show and its title card being inspired by "The Twilight Zone". He withdrew from production of "Lost" partway through the first season to direct "", leaving Lindelof and new executive producer Carlton Cuse to develop much of the overall mythology of the series themselves. However, Abrams briefly returned to help co-write the third-season premiere along with Lindelof. The development of the show was constrained by tight deadlines, as it had been commissioned late in the 2004 season's development cycle. Despite the short schedule, the creative team remained flexible enough to modify or create characters to fit actors they wished to cast.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost"s two-part pilot episode was the most expensive in the network's history, reportedly costing between US$10 and $14 million, compared to the average cost of an hour-long pilot in 2005 of $4 million. The world premiere of the pilot episode was on July 24, 2004, at San Diego Comic-Con. ABC's parent company Disney fired Braun before "Lost"s broadcast debut, partly because of low ratings at the network and also because he had greenlighted such an expensive and risky project. The series debuted on September 22, 2004, becoming one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the 2004 television season. Along with fellow new series "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy", "Lost" helped to reverse the flagging fortunes of ABC, and its great success likely caused the network to ignore that the show almost immediately broke Lindelof and Abrams' promises to it regarding "Lost"s plots.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Many of the first season roles were a result of the executive producers' liking of various actors. The main character Jack was going to die in the pilot, and the role was planned for Michael Keaton. However, ABC executives were adamant that Jack live. Before it was decided that Jack would live, Kate was to emerge as the leader of the survivors; she was conceived as a middle-aged businesswoman whose husband had apparently died in the crash, a role later fulfilled by the recurring character Rose. Dominic Monaghan auditioned for the role of Sawyer, who at the time was supposed to be a slick suit-wearing city con man. The producers enjoyed Monaghan's performance and changed the character of Charlie, an over-the-hill former rock star, to fit him. Jorge Garcia also auditioned for Sawyer, and the part of Hurley was written for him. When Josh Holloway auditioned for Sawyer, the producers liked the edge he brought to the character (he reportedly kicked a chair when he forgot his lines and got angry in the audition) and his southern accent, so they changed Sawyer to fit Holloway's acting. Yunjin Kim auditioned for Kate, but the producers wrote the character of Sun for her and the character of Jin, portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, to be her husband. Sayid, played by Naveen Andrews, was also not in the original script. Locke and Michael were written with their actors in mind. Emilie de Ravin, who played Claire, was cast in what was supposed to be a recurring role. In the second season, Michael Emerson was contracted to play Ben ("Henry Gale") for three episodes. His role was extended to eight episodes because of his acting skills and eventually, for the whole of season three and later seasons.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" was filmed on Panavision 35 mm cameras almost entirely on the Hawaiian island of Oahu given the easily accessible, wide diversity of filming locations. The original island scenes for the pilot were filmed at Mokulē'ia Beach, near the northwest tip of the island. Later beach scenes take place in secluded spots of the famous North Shore. Cave scenes in the first season were filmed on a sound stage built at a Xerox parts warehouse, which had been empty since an employee mass shooting took place there in 1999. In 2006, the sound-stage and production offices moved to the Hawaii Film Office-operated Hawaii Film Studio, where the sets depicting Season 2's "Swan Station" and Season 3's "Hydra Station" interiors were built.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Various urban areas in and around Honolulu are used as stand-ins for locations around the world, including California, New York, Iowa, Miami, South Korea, Iraq, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Paris, Thailand, Berlin, Maldives, and Australia. For example, scenes set in a Sydney Airport were filmed at the Hawaii Convention Center, while a World War II-era bunker was used as both an Iraqi Republican Guard installation and a Dharma Initiative research station. Scenes set in Germany during the winter were filmed on Merchant St., with crushed ice scattered everywhere to create snow and Russian store and automobile signs on the street. Several scenes in the Season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass", were shot in Los Angeles, including a hospital set borrowed from "Grey's Anatomy". Two scenes during season four were filmed in London because Alan Dale, who portrays Widmore, was at the time performing in the musical "Spamalot" and was unable to travel to Hawaii. Extensive archives of filming locations are tracked at a repository at the "Lost" Virtual Tour.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: During its six years of broadcasting, "Lost" developed an extensive collection of promotional tools ranging from the traditional promotions of the TV show made by the channel, to the creation of alternate reality games, such as the "Lost Experience". "Lost" showed innovation in the use of new advertising strategies in the sector and the transformation of the conventional devices used previously.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" features an orchestral score performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra and composed by Michael Giacchino, incorporating many recurring themes for subjects, such as events, locations, and characters. Giacchino achieved some of the sounds for the score using unusual instruments, such as striking suspended pieces of the plane's fuselage. On March 21, 2006, the record label Varèse Sarabande released the original television soundtrack for "Lost"s first season. The soundtrack included select full-length versions of the most popular themes of the season and the main title, which was composed by series creator J. J. Abrams. Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack featuring music from season 2 of "Lost" on October 3, 2006. The soundtrack for season 3 was released on May 6, 2008; the soundtrack for season 4 was released on May 11, 2009; the soundtrack for season 5 was released on May 11, 2010; and the soundtrack for the final season was released on September 14, 2010. A final soundtrack, featuring music from series finale, was released on October 11, 2010.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The series uses pop culture songs sparingly, and has a mainly orchestral score (consisting usually of divided strings, percussion, harp, and three trombones). When it features pop songs, they often originate from a diegetic source. Examples include the various songs played on Hurley's portable CD player throughout the first season (until its batteries died in the episode "...In Translation", which featured Damien Rice's "Delicate") or the use of the record player in the second season, which included Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and Petula Clark's "Downtown" in the second and third-season premieres respectively. Two episodes show Charlie on a street corner playing guitar and singing the Oasis song "Wonderwall". In the third season's finale, Jack drives down the street listening to Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice", right before he arrives to the Hoffs/Drawlar Funeral Parlor, and in the parallel scene in the fourth season's finale, he arrives listening to "Gouge Away" by Pixies. The third season also used Three Dog Night's "Shambala" on two occasions in the van. The only two pop songs that have ever been used without an on-screen source (i.e., non-diegetic) are Ann-Margret's "Slowly", in the episode "I Do" and "I Shall Not Walk Alone", written by Ben Harper and covered by The Blind Boys of Alabama in the episode "Confidence Man." Alternate music is used in several international broadcasts. For example, in the Japanese broadcast of "Lost", the theme song used varies by season: season one uses "Here I Am" by Chemistry, season two uses "Losin'" by Yuna Ito, and season three uses "Lonely Girl" by Crystal Kay.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" has been described by numerous critics as being among the greatest television series of all time. Bill Carter, television reporter of "The New York Times", defined "Lost" as "the show with perhaps the most compelling continuing story line in television history." "Entertainment Weekly" put the show on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Name another network drama that can so wondrously turn a ? into a !" In 2012, "Entertainment Weekly" also listed the show at #10 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", with a hot-and-cold description: ""Lost" was initially celebrated as a moving character-driven drama with a broad humanistic worldview that also presented itself as dramatic cryptography that demanded to be solved. The appeal narrowed as seasons progressed and the mythology became more complex, culminating in a still-debated finale that was deeply meaningful to some and dissatisfying poppycock to others." In 2007, TV Guide ranked "Lost" as the #5 cult show. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it as the #5 sci-fi show and the #36 best series of all time. In September 2019, "The Guardian" ranked the show 71st on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The first season received critical acclaim. "USA Today" said a "totally original, fabulously enjoyable lost-at-sea series, "Lost" had taken "an outlandish Saturday-serial setup and imbued it with real characters and honest emotions, without sacrificing any of the old-fashioned fun." The "Los Angeles Times" praised the production values and said "it knows the buttons it wants to push (fear of flying, fear of abandonment, fear of the unknown) and pushes them, repeatedly, like a kid playing a video game." IGN noted that the first season "succeeded first and foremost in character development." "Lost" season one was ranked number one in the "Best of 2005 TV Coverage: Critic Top Ten Lists" by Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe", Tom Gliatto of "People Weekly", Charlie McCollum of the "San Jose Mercury News", and Robert Bianco of "USA Today".


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The second season received favorable reviews, but it was noted that the season "stumbled with some storylines going nowhere and some characters underutilized." IGN also noted the addition of Desmond Hume as a standout new character. The "San Francisco Chronicle" called Season 2 an "extended, mostly unsatisfying foray into deeper mythology with very little payoff." After winning "Best Drama Series" for season one, "Lost" was snubbed by the Emmy Awards in Season 2. Nearing the end of the second season, "USA Today" listed the most popular fan theories during Season 2—the island as a psychological experiment, that the hatch had electromagnetic properties, string theory of time, and that everyone on the island had developed a "collective consciousness" that allowed them to appear in each other's past. One fan interview by "USA Today" said that "Real suspense comes from answers, not questions. Suspense comes not from wondering what's going on but from wondering what happens next. If you withhold answers, it becomes impossible to satisfy."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The first block of episodes of the third season was criticized for raising too many mysteries and not providing enough answers. Complaints were also made about the limited screen time for many of the main characters in the first block. Locke, played by Terry O'Quinn, who had tied for the highest second-season episode count, appeared in only 13 of 23 episodes in the third season—only two more than guest star M.C. Gainey, who played Tom. Reaction to two new characters, Nikki and Paulo, was generally negative, and Lindelof even acknowledged that the couple was "universally despised" by fans. The decision to split the season and the American time-slot switch after the hiatus were also criticized. Cuse acknowledged that, "No one was happy with the six-episode run." The second block of episodes was critically acclaimed, however, with the crew dealing with problems from the first block. More answers were written into the show, and Nikki and Paulo were killed off. It was also announced that the series would end three seasons after the third season, which Cuse hoped would tell the audience that the writers knew where the story was going.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The fourth season opened to praise not seen since the first season. "Metacritic" gave season four a weighted average of 87 based on the impressions of a select twelve critical reviews, earning the second highest Metascore in the 2007–2008 television season after the fifth and final season of HBO's "The Wire". For the first time since season one, "Lost" received an Emmy nomination for 'Outstanding Drama Series'. Tim Goodman of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said that the Season 4 episodes were "roller coasters of fast action and revelation" and that series was "back on track." In a survey conducted by "TVWeek" of professional critics, "Lost" was voted the best show on television in the first half of 2008 "by a wide margin", apparently "crack[ing] the top five on nearly every critic's submission" and receiving "nothing but praise." "The New York Times" said the show reveled in critiques of capitalism, using the fictional Mittelos Bioscience and the "malevolent British industrialist" character of Charles Widmore as examples. The critic also said that the show was "in the dark business of exploring just how futile the modern search for peace, knowledge, recovery or profit really is." The critic did go on to say that the series was not as "philosophically refined" as "The Sopranos" or "The Wire" but that it "has maximized the potential of narrative uncertainty and made it a beguiling constant."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The fifth season once again received mostly positive critical reception. Season 5 was given a weighted average of 78 out of 100 by Metacritic. "Variety" said that "The ABC series remains one of primetime's most uncompromising efforts, and this year's latest wrinkle on flashbacks, flash-forwards and island-disappearing flashes of light does nothing to alter that perception." Alan Sepinwall of "The Star-Ledger" said that season 5 may finally be "a day of reckoning between those viewers who embrace the show's science-fiction trappings, and those who prefer not to think about them." Sepinwall also related that "I loved every minute. But I'm also a geek who read Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov growing up."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com criticized the use of time travel, saying that "when a narrator brings magic or time travel or an act of God into the picture, then uses it without restraint, the story loses its anchor to real life." The critic also asked "Why does it matter what Locke and Richard Alpert and Daniel Faraday or anyone else does, when they all seem as clueless and unfettered from reality as we are as viewers? How can these characters have any concrete agenda or strategic approach or philosophical perspective on anything when the rug is pulled out from under them by another Act of God every few seconds?"


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "The New York Times" also commented that "what has been most dispiriting about the current season is the show's willingness to abandon many of the larger and more compelling themes that grounded the elaborate plot: the struggles between faith and reason; the indictments of extreme capitalism, the futility of recovery. All that remains is the reductively limned battle between fate and free will largely playing out, now, in Jack Shephard's belief that returning to the island is his Destiny." "The A.V. Club" said of the fifth-season finale, "Me? I found the ending frustrating, but in a good way. This finale was entertaining as all get-out to me, and despite the occasional groaner moment, I think this may be Lost's most purposeful, surprising finale."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Season six opened to much hype and curiosity. "The A.V. Club" asked, "I'm guessing that one of the biggest fears of Lost fans as we ride out this sixth and final season—bumps and all—is that we're going to come to the end and find a big nothing in return for all we've invested in these characters. We don't just need answers, we need justifications. Why has whatever happened, happened? Who has called this particular meeting to order, and does it really matter who showed up?" The episodes "Dr. Linus", "Ab Aeterno", "Happily Ever After", and "The Candidate" opened to highly positive critical reception while the third-to-last episode "Across the Sea" was the episode with the most negative reception. The time spent at the Others' temple was criticized. E! Online described the show as "lightning in a bottle" and picked it as "Top TV Drama of 2010."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The series finale opened to highly polarized critical and fan reception. According to the web site Metacritic, "The End" received "generally favorable reviews" with a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of 31 critical reviews—of 74 out of 100. "IGN" reviewer Chris Carbot gave the finale a 10/10, tying it with the initial review of "Pilot, Part 1", "Through the Looking Glass", "The Constant", and "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3" as the best-reviewed episode of "Lost". He described it as "one of the most enthralling, entertaining and satisfying conclusions I could have hoped for." Carbot also noted that the discussions about the episode may never end, saying ""Lost" may be gone, but it will hardly be forgotten." Eric Deggans of the "St. Petersburg Times" also gave the finale a perfect score, stating "Sunday's show was an emotional, funny, expertly measured reminder of what Lost has really centered on since its first moments on the prime time TV landscape: faith, hope, romance and the power of redemption through belief in the best of what moves mankind." Robert Bianco of "USA Today" rated the episode perfect as well, deeming the finale "can stand with the best any series has produced." Hal Boedeker of "Orlando Sentinel" cited the finale being "a stunner."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "The Guardian" and "The Daily Telegraph" both reported that "The End" had received negative reviews and disappointed its viewers. Alan Sepinwall of "Star-Ledger" was less enthusiastic of the finale, stating "I'm still wrestling with my feelings about 'The End'... I thought most of it worked like gangbusters. ... But as someone who did spend at least part of the last six years dwelling on the questions that were unanswered—be they little things like the outrigger shootout or why The Others left Dharma in charge of the Swan station after the purge, or bigger ones like Walt—I can't say I found 'The End' wholly satisfying, either as closure for this season or the series. ... There are narrative dead ends in every season of 'Lost,' but it felt like season six had more than usual." Mike Hale of "The New York Times" gave "The End" a mixed review, as the episode showed that the series was "shaky on the big picture—on organizing the welter of mythic-religious-philosophical material it insisted on incorporating into its plot—but highly skilled at the small one, the moment to moment business of telling an exciting story. Rendered insignificant ... were the particulars of what they had done on the island." David Zurawik of the "Baltimore Sun" gave the episode a highly negative review, writing "If this is supposed to be such a smart and wise show, unlike anything else on network TV (blah, blah, blah), why such a wimpy, phony, quasi-religious, white-light, huggy-bear ending. ... Once Jack stepped into the church it looked like he was walking into a Hollywood wrap party without food or music—just a bunch of actors grinning idiotically for 10 minutes and hugging one another."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from September 22, 2004, to May 23, 2010. The pilot episode had 18.6 million viewers, easily winning its 9:00 pm timeslot, and giving ABC its strongest ratings since 2000 when "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was initially aired—beaten only the following month by the premiere of "Desperate Housewives". According to "Variety", "ABC sure could use a breakout drama success, as it hasn't had a real hit since "The Practice". "Lost" represents the network's best start for a drama with 18- to 49-year-olds since "Once and Again" in 1999, and in total viewers since "Murder One" in 1995."


title: Lost (TV series)

text: For its first season, "Lost" averaged 16 million viewers, ranking 14th in viewership among prime-time shows and 15th among the eighteen to forty-nine-year-old demographic. Its second season fared equally well: again, "Lost" ranked 14th in viewership, with an average of 15.5 million viewers. However, it improved its rating with 18- to 49-year-olds, ranking eighth. The second-season premiere was even more viewed than the first, pulling in over 23 million viewers and setting a series record. The third-season premiere brought in 18.8 million viewers. The seventh episode of the season, back from a three-month hiatus, saw a drop to 14.5 million. Over the course of the spring season, ratings would plunge to as low as 11 million viewers before recovering to near 14 million for the season finale. The ratings drop was partially explained when Nielsen released DVR ratings, showing "Lost" as the most recorded series on television. However, despite overall ratings losses, "Lost" still won its hour in the crucial 18–49 demographic and put out the highest 18–49 numbers in the 10:00 p.m. time slot ahead of any show on any network that season. The fourth-season premiere saw an increase from the previous episode to 16.1 million viewers, though by the eighth episode, viewers had decreased to a series low of 11.461 million. A survey of 20 countries by "Informa Telecoms and Media" in 2006 concluded that "Lost" was the second most popular TV show in those countries, after "". The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Capping its successful first season, "Lost" won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and J. J. Abrams was awarded an Emmy in September 2005 for his work as the director of "Pilot." Terry O'Quinn and Naveen Andrews were nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. "Lost" swept the guild awards in 2005, winning the Writers Guild of America Awards 2005 for Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Dramatic Television Series, the 2005 Producers Guild Award for Best Production, the 2005 Director's Guild Award for Best Direction of a Dramatic Television Program, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2005 for Best Ensemble Cast.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Drama Series three times (2005–2007), and it won the award in 2006. In 2006, Matthew Fox and Naveen Andrews received Golden Globe nominations for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Best Supporting Actor respectively, and in 2007, Evangeline Lilly received a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series. "Lost" was nominated for the 2005 British Academy of Film and Television Award for Best International. In 2006, Jorge Garcia and Michelle Rodriguez took home ALMA Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, in a Television Series. It won the Saturn Award for Best Television Series in both 2005 and 2006. In 2005, Terry O'Quinn won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a television series, and in 2006, Matthew Fox won for Best Lead Actor. "Lost" won consecutive Television Critics Association Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Drama, for both its first and second seasons. Consecutively as well, it won in 2005 and 2006 the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program. Malcolm David Kelley won a Young Artist Award for his performance as Walt in 2006.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In 2005, "Lost" was voted "Entertainment Weekly"s Entertainer of the Year. The show won a 2005 Prism Award for Charlie's drug storyline in the episodes "Pilot", "House of the Rising Sun", and "The Moth." In 2007, "Lost" was listed as one of "Time" magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-"TIME"." The series was nominated for but did not win a Writers Guild Award and Producers Guild Award again in 2007. In June 2007, "Lost" beat out over 20 nominated television shows from countries all over the globe to win the Best Drama award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. In September 2007, both Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn were nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, the award going to O'Quinn. "Lost" was again nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008. The show also garnered seven other Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Michael Emerson. It won a Peabody Award in 2008. In 2009, "Lost" was again nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, as well Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Michael Emerson at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, of which the latter won.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In 2010, the sixth and final season was nominated for twelve Emmy Awards at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series; Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, for Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof for the show's series finale, "The End"; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, for Matthew Fox; Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, for Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn; and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for Elizabeth Mitchell. It won only one Emmy (Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing) out of its twelve nominations for a series total of 11 wins and 55 nominations in its six-year run.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In 2010, Kristin dos Santos of E! Online ranked "Lost" the best TV series of the past 20 years. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked "Lost" No. 27 in its list of the 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time. In 2014, the series was nominated for the TCA Heritage Award. In 2016, "Rolling Stone" ranked it the fourteenth best science fiction television show ever.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: As a mainstream cult television show, "Lost" has generated a dedicated and thriving international fan community. "Lost" fans, sometimes dubbed "Lostaways" or "Losties", have gathered at Comic-Con International and conventions organized by ABC but have also been active in developing many fan websites, including Lostpedia and forums dedicated to the program and its related incarnations. Because of the show's elaborate mythology, its fansites have focused on speculation and theorizing about the island's mysteries, as well as on more typical fan activities, such as producing fan fiction and videos, compiling episode transcripts, shipping characters, and collecting memorabilia.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Anticipating fan interest and trying to keep its audience engrossed, ABC embarked on various cross-media endeavors, often using new media. Fans of "Lost" have been able to explore ABC-produced tie-in websites, tie-in novels, an official forum sponsored by the creative team behind "Lost" ("The Fuselage"), "mobisodes", podcasts by the producers, an official magazine, and an alternate reality game (ARG) "The Lost Experience." An official fanclub was launched in the summer of 2005 through Creation Entertainment.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Due to the show's popularity, references to it and elements from its story have appeared in parody and popular culture usage. These include appearances on television, such as on the series "Fringe", "Will & Grace", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "30 Rock", "Scrubs", "Modern Family", "Orange Is the New Black", "Community", "The Office", "Family Guy", "American Dad!", "The Simpsons", "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (under the sketch parody title "Late"), and "The Venture Bros.". "Lost" is also featured as an Easter egg in several video games, including "Dead Island", "", "Fallout 3", "", "World of Warcraft", "Just Cause 2", "", Grand Theft Auto V, and "Singularity". Similarly, several songs have been published whose themes and titles were derived from the series, such as Moneen ("Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do"), Veil of Maya ("Namaste"), Cosmo Jarvis ("Lost"), Senses Fail ("Lost and Found" and "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"), Gatsbys American Dream ("You All Everybody" and "Station 5: The Pearl"), and Punchline ("Roller Coaster Smoke"). Weezer named their eighth studio album "Hurley" after the character, with a photo of actor Jorge Garcia on the cover.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: After the episode "Numbers" aired on March 2, 2005, numerous people used the eponymous figures (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42) as lottery entries. According to the "Pittsburgh Tribune-Review", within three days, the numbers were tried over 500 times by local players. By October 2005, thousands had tried them for the multi-state Powerball lottery. A study of the Quebec Lottery showed that the sequence was the third most popular choice of numbers for lottery players, behind only the arithmetic sequences 1–2–3–4–5–6 and 7–14–21–28–35–42. The issue came to attention after a Mega Millions drawing for a near-record US$380,000,000 jackpot on January 4, 2011, drew a series of numbers in which the three lowest numbers (4–8–15) and the mega ball (42) matched four of the six numbers. The No. 42 is also the "Mega Number" in Hurley's "Mega Lotto" ticket. The players who played the combination won $150 each (or $118 in California).


title: Lost (TV series)

text: "Lost" has been cited as a key influence on several of its contemporaries. The ABC series "FlashForward" was heavily compared to "Lost", because of its similar use of nonlinear narrative and mysteries. The NBC series "Heroes" drew comparisons to "Lost" during its run, because of some similarities such as its ensemble cast. Damon Lindelof was involved in the early stages of the creative process of "Heroes", as he was friends with "Heroes" creator Tim Kring. Ever since its premiere, "The 100" has been compared to "Lost" because of its similar setting and the importance of survival in its story. The TBS comedy "Wrecked" has been defined as a parody of "Lost", because of its very similar premise and multiple references to the drama.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, former writers of "Lost", created the fantasy series "Once Upon a Time", which has also been compared to "Lost". Even though their series started after "Lost" ended, they conceived it in 2004. Damon Lindelof was involved in the development of their series. Despite the comparisons and similarities to "Lost", the writers intend the shows to be very different from each other. To them, "Lost" concerned itself with redemption, while "Once Upon a Time" is about hope. As a nod to the ties between the production teams of "Once Upon a Time" and "Lost", the former show contains allusions to "Lost". For example, many items found in the "Lost" universe, such as Apollo candy bars, Oceanic Airlines, Ajira Airways, the TV series "Exposé" and MacCutcheon Whisky can be seen in "Once Upon a Time".


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Both during and after "Lost"s run on ABC, its success led to dozens of new shows attempting to enter the same "mystery-driven sci-fi" genre as networks sought to cater to viewers' evolved affinity and demonstrated loyalty to this specific subset of drama. In 2018, NBC introduced "Manifest", a show about the mysterious disappearance of a commercial passenger jet. While the show's preview and pilot alone sparked media coverage highlighting the show's central mystery to be seemingly the same as that of "Lost", subsequent seasons have furthered controversy around the extent of key similarities. Noted parallels include the passengers' collective experience of displacement in spacetime, the acquisition of supernatural abilities and medical phenomenons post-disappearance, the use of flashback/flashforward sequences to expose dark secrets harbored by passengers, the revelation of unusually high levels of interconnectedness between the lives of passengers, the polarized beliefs held by passengers regarding science versus faith as a means to explain their shared experience in different ways. Season 4 of "Manifest" reveals a plot twist suggesting the passengers were in some way chosen, prompting critics to point out this same key plot twist introducing predestination was featured in "Lost".


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In addition to traditional terrestrial and satellite television, "Lost" is available from various online subscription services, including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and on Disney+ outside of the US via Star. It was one of the first series issued through Apple's iTunes Store beginning in October 2005. On August 29, 2007, "Lost" became one of the first TV programs available for download in the UK iTunes Store.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In April 2006, Disney announced that "Lost" would be available for free online in streaming format, with advertising, on ABC's website, as part of a two-month experiment of future distribution strategies. The trial, which ran from May to June 2006, caused a stir among network affiliates who were afraid of being cut out of advertising revenue. The streaming of "Lost" episodes direct from ABC's website was only available to viewers in the United States due to international licensing agreements. In 2009, "Lost" was named the most-watched show on the Internet based on viewers of episodes on ABC's website. The Nielsen Company reported that 1.425 million unique viewers have watched at least one episode on ABC's website.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The first season of "Lost" was released under the title "Lost: The Complete First Season" as a widescreen seven-disc Region 1 DVD box set on September 6, 2005, two weeks before the premiere of the second season. It was distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, it included several DVD extras, such as episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as deleted scenes, deleted flashback scenarios, and a blooper reel. The same set was released on November 30, 2005, in Region 4. The season was first released split into two parts: the first twelve episodes of season 1 were available as a widescreen four-disc Region 2 DVD box set on October 31, 2005, while the remaining thirteen episodes of season 1 were released on January 16, 2006. The DVD features available on the Region 1 release were likewise split over the two box sets. The first two seasons were released separately on Blu-ray Disc on June 16, 2009.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The second season was released under the title "Lost: The Complete Second Season – The Extended Experience" as a widescreen seven-disc Region 1 DVD box set on September 5, 2006. The sets include several DVD extras, including behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes, and a ""Lost" Connections" chart, which shows how all of the characters on the island are inter-connected. Again, the season was initially delivered in two sets for Region 2: the first twelve episodes were released as a widescreen four-disc DVD box set on July 17, 2006, while the remaining episodes of season 2 were released as a four-disc DVD box set on October 2, 2006. The set was released in Region 4 on October 4, 2006.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The third season was released under the title "Lost: The Complete Third Season – The Unexplored Experience" on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on December 11, 2007. As with seasons 1 and 2, the third season release includes audio commentaries with the cast and crew, bonus featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers. The third season was released in Region 2 solely on DVD on October 22, 2007, though this time, only as a complete set, unlike previous seasons.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The fourth season was released as "Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience" in Region 1 on December 9, 2008, on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc. It was released on DVD in Region 2 on October 20, 2008. The set includes audio commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers, and bonus featurettes.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The first three seasons of "Lost" have sold successfully on DVD. The season 1 box set entered the DVD sales chart at number two in September 2005, and the season 2 box set entered the DVD sales chart at the number one position in its first week of release in September 2006, believed to be the second TV-DVD ever to enter the chart at the top spot. The season 3 box set sold over 1,000,000 copies in three weeks.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Both the season 6 box set and the complete series collection contained a 12-minute epilogue-like bonus feature called "The New Man in Charge". The season 6 DVD set entered the DVD sales chart at the number one position in its first week of release in September 2010 boasting strong sales in the DVD and Blu-ray format for the regular season set as well as for the series box set.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The characters and setting of "Lost" have appeared in several official tie-ins outside of the television broadcast, including in print, on the Internet, and in short videos for mobile phones. Three novelizations have been released by Hyperion Books, a publisher owned by Disney, ABC's parent company. They are "Endangered Species" () and "Secret Identity" () both by Cathy Hapka and "Signs of Life" () by Frank Thompson. Additionally, Hyperion published a metafictional book titled "Bad Twin" (), written by Laurence Shames, and credited to fictitious author "Gary Troup", who ABC's marketing department claimed was a passenger on Oceanic Flight 815.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Several unofficial books relating to the show have also been published. "Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide" () by Nikki Stafford and published by ECW Press is a book detailing the show for fans and those new to the show. "What Can Be Found in Lost?" () by John Ankerberg and Dillon Burrough, published by Harvest House is the first book dedicated to an investigation of the spiritual themes of the series from a Christian perspective. "Living Lost: Why We're All Stuck on the Island" () by J. Wood, published by the Garett County Press, is the first work of cultural criticism based on the series. The book explores the show's strange engagement with the contemporary experiences of war, (mis)information, and terrorism and argues that the audience functions as a character in the narrative. The author also writes a blog column during the second part of the third season for Powell's Books. Each post discusses the previous episode's literary, historical, philosophical, and narrative connections.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The show's networks and producers have made extensive use of the Internet in expanding the background of the story. For example, during the first season, a fictional diary by an unseen survivor called "Janelle Granger" was presented on the ABC web site for the series. Likewise, a tie-in website about the fictional Oceanic Airlines appeared during the first season, which included several Easter eggs and clues about the show. Another tie-in website was launched after the airing of "Orientation" about the Hanso Foundation. In the UK, the interactive back-stories of several characters were included in "Lost Untold", a section of Channel 4's "Lost" website. Similarly, beginning in November 2005, ABC produced an official podcast, hosted by series writers and executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The podcast typically features a discussion about the weekly episode, interviews with cast members, and questions from viewers. Sky1 also hosted a podcast presented by Iain Lee on their website, which analyzed each episode after it aired in the United Kingdom.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: The foray into the online realm culminated in the "Lost Experience", an Internet-based alternate reality game produced by Channel 7 (Australia), ABC (America), and Channel Four (UK), which began in early May 2006. The game presents a five-phase parallel storyline, primarily involving the Hanso Foundation.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: Short mini-episodes ("mobisodes") called the "Lost Video Diaries" were scheduled for viewing by Verizon Wireless subscribers via its V-Cast system but were delayed by contract disputes. The mobisodes were renamed "" and aired from November 7, 2007, to January 28, 2008.


title: Lost (TV series)

text: In addition to tie-in novels, several other products based on the series, such as toys and games, have been licensed for release. A video game, "", was released to average reviews, developed by Ubisoft, for game consoles and home computers, while Gameloft developed a "Lost" game for mobile phones and iPods. Cardinal Games released a "Lost" board game on August 7, 2006. TDC Games created a series of four 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles ("The Hatch", "The Numbers", "The Others", and "Before the Crash"), which, when put together, reveal embedded clues to the overall mythology of "Lost". Inkworks has published three sets of "Lost" trading cards, "Season One", "Season Two", and "Revelations". In May 2006, McFarlane Toys announced recurring lines of character action figures and released the first series in November 2006, with the second series being released July 2007. Furthermore, ABC sold a myriad of "Lost" merchandise in their online store, including clothing, jewelry, and other collectibles. In October 2010, DK Publishing released a 400-page reference titled "The Lost Encyclopedia", written by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry. The book compiled information from the TV show producers "writers bible", listing nearly every character, chronological event, location, and plot detail of the series, filling in the gaps for die-hard fans.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about . Budapest, which is both a city and county, forms the centre of the Budapest metropolitan area, which has an area of and a population of 3,303,786; it is a primate city, constituting 33% of the population of Hungary.


title: Budapest

text: The history of Budapest began when an early Celtic settlement transformed into the Roman town of Aquincum, the capital of Lower Pannonia. The Hungarians arrived in the territory in the late 9th century, but the area was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. Re-established Buda became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century. The Battle of Mohács, in 1526, was followed by nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule. After the reconquest of Buda in 1686, the region entered a new age of prosperity, with Pest-Buda becoming a global city after the unification of Buda, Óbuda and Pest on 17 November 1873, with the name 'Budapest' given to the new capital. Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918, following World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, as well as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is a global city with strengths in commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. Hungary's financial centre, it is the second richest capital and city in the region after Bucharest. Budapest is the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College and the first foreign office of the China Investment Promotion Agency. Over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, the Corvinus University, Semmelweis University, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Opened in 1896, the city's subway system, the Budapest Metro, serves 1.27 million, while the Budapest Tram Network serves 1.08 million passengers daily.


title: Budapest

text: The central area of Budapest along the Danube River is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has several notable monuments of classical architecture, including the Hungarian Parliament and the Buda Castle. The city also has around 80 geothermal springs, the largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue, and third largest Parliament building in the world. Budapest attracts around 12 million international tourists per year, making it a highly popular destination in Europe. It also topped the "Best European Destinations 2020" list by Big7Media. Budapest also ranks as the third-best European city in a similar poll conducted by "Which?".


title: Budapest

text: The previously separate towns of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest were officially unified in 1873 and given the new name "Budapest". Before this, the towns together had sometimes been referred to colloquially as "Pest-Buda". "Pest" is used "pars pro toto" for the entire city in contemporary colloquial Hungarian.


title: Budapest

text: All varieties of English pronounce the "-s-" as in the English word "pest". The "-u" in "Buda-" is pronounced either /u/ like "food" (as in ) or /ju/ like "cue" (as in ). In Hungarian, the "-s-" is pronounced /ʃ/ as in "wash"; in IPA: .


title: Budapest

text: Linguistically, however, a German origin through the Slavic derivative вода ("voda", water) is not possible, and there is no certainty that a Turkic word really comes from the word "buta" ~ "buda" 'branch, twig'.


title: Budapest

text: According to a legend recorded in chronicles from the Middle Ages, "Buda" comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of Hunnic ruler Attila.


title: Budapest

text: There are several theories about Pest. One states that the name derives from Roman times, since there was a local fortress (Contra-Aquincum) called by Ptolemy "Pession" ("Πέσσιον", iii.7.§ 2). Another has it that Pest originates in the Slavic word for cave, "пещера", or "peštera". A third cites "пещ", or "pešt", referencing a cave where fires burned or a limekiln.


title: Budapest

text: The first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD. It was later occupied by the Romans. The Roman settlement – Aquincum – became the main city of Pannonia Inferior in 106 AD. At first it was a military settlement, and gradually the city rose around it, making it the focal point of the city's commercial life. Today this area corresponds to the Óbuda district within Budapest. The Romans constructed roads, amphitheaters, baths and houses with heated floors in this fortified military camp. The Roman city of Aquincum is the best-conserved of the Roman sites in Hungary. The archaeological site was turned into a museum with indoor and open-air sections.


title: Budapest

text: The Magyar tribes led by Árpád, forced out of their original homeland north of Bulgaria by Tsar Simeon after the Battle of Southern Buh, settled in the territory at the end of the 9th century displacing the founding Bulgarian settlers of the towns of Buda and Pest, and a century later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary. Research places the probable residence of the Árpáds as an early place of central power near what became Budapest. The Tatar invasion in the 13th century quickly proved it is difficult to defend a plain. King Béla IV of Hungary, therefore, ordered the construction of reinforced stone walls around the towns and set his own royal palace on the top of the protecting hills of Buda. In 1361 it became the capital of Hungary.


title: Budapest

text: The cultural role of Buda was particularly significant during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus. The Italian Renaissance had a great influence on the city. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second in size only to the Vatican Library. After the foundation of the first Hungarian university in Pécs in 1367 (University of Pécs), the second one was established in Óbuda in 1395 (University of Óbuda). The first Hungarian book was printed in Buda in 1473. Buda had about 5,000 inhabitants around 1500.


title: Budapest

text: The Ottomans conquered Buda in 1526, as well in 1529, and finally occupied it in 1541. The Turkish Rule lasted for more than 150 years. The Ottoman Turks constructed many prominent bathing facilities within the city. Some of the baths that the Turks erected during their rule are still in use 500 years later (Rudas Baths and Király Baths). By 1547 the number of Christians was down to about a thousand, and by 1647 it had fallen to only about seventy. The unoccupied western part of the country became part of the Habsburg monarchy as Royal Hungary.


title: Budapest

text: In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed campaign was started to enter Buda. This time, the Holy League's army was twice as large, containing over 74,000 men, including German, Croat, Dutch, Hungarian, English, Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Burgundian, Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as volunteers, artillerymen, and officers. The Christian forces seized Buda, and in the next few years, all of the former Hungarian lands, except areas near Temesvár (Timișoara), were taken from the Turks. In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz, these territorial changes were officially recognized as the end of the rule of the Turks, and in 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was removed from Ottoman rule.


title: Budapest

text: The 19th century was dominated by the Hungarian struggle for independence and modernisation. The national insurrection against the Habsburgs began in the Hungarian capital in 1848 and was defeated one and a half years later, with the help of the Russian Empire. 1867 was the year of Reconciliation that brought about the birth of Austria-Hungary. This made Budapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It was this compromise which opened the second great phase of development in the history of Budapest, lasting until World War I. In 1849 the Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube and in 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The dynamic Pest grew into the country's administrative, political, economic, trade and cultural hub. Ethnic Hungarians overtook Germans in the second half of the 19th century due to mass migration from the overpopulated rural Transdanubia and Great Hungarian Plain. Between 1851 and 1910 the proportion of Hungarians increased from 35.6% to 85.9%, Hungarian became the dominant language, and German was crowded out. The proportion of Jews peaked in 1900 with 23.6%. Due to the prosperity and the large Jewish community of the city at the start of the 20th century, Budapest was often called the "Jewish Mecca" or "Judapest". Budapest also became an important center for the Aromanian diaspora during the 19th century. In 1918, Austria-Hungary lost the war and collapsed; Hungary declared itself an independent republic (Republic of Hungary). In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon partitioned the country, and as a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory, and about two-thirds of its inhabitants, including 3.3 million out of 15 million ethnic Hungarians.


title: Budapest

text: In 1944, a year before the end of World War II, Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids (first attack 4 April 1944).


title: Budapest

text: From 24 December 1944 to 13 February 1945, the city was besieged during the Battle of Budapest. Budapest sustained major damage caused by the attacking Soviet and Romanian troops and the defending German and Hungarian troops. More than 38,000 civilians died during the conflict. All bridges were destroyed by the Germans. The stone lions that have decorated the Chain Bridge since 1852 survived the devastation of the war.


title: Budapest

text: Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died through Nazi and Arrow Cross Party, during the German occupation of Hungary, from 1944 to early 1945.


title: Budapest

text: Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz rescued tens of thousands of Jews by issuing Swiss protection papers and designating numerous buildings, including the now famous Glass House (Üvegház) at Vadász Street 29, to be Swiss protected territory. About 3,000 Hungarian Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest by giving them Swedish protection papers and taking them under his consular protection. Wallenberg was abducted by the Russians on 17 January 1945 and never regained freedom. Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian citizen, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews posing as a Spanish diplomat. Some other diplomats also abandoned diplomatic protocol and rescued Jews. There are two monuments for Wallenberg, one for Carl Lutz and one for Giorgio Perlasca in Budapest.


title: Budapest

text: Following the capture of Hungary from Nazi Germany by the Red Army, Soviet military occupation ensued, which ended only in 1991. The Soviets exerted significant influence on Hungarian political affairs. In 1949, Hungary was declared a communist People's Republic (People's Republic of Hungary). The new Communist government considered the buildings like the Buda Castle symbols of the former regime, and during the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors were destroyed (also see Stalin era).


title: Budapest

text: On 23 October 1956 citizens held a large peaceful demonstration in Budapest demanding democratic reform. The demonstrators went to the Budapest radio station and demanded to publish their demands. The regime ordered troops to shoot into the crowd. Hungarian soldiers gave rifles to the demonstrators who were now able to capture the building. This initiated the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The demonstrators demanded to appoint Imre Nagy to be Prime Minister of Hungary. To their surprise, the central committee of the "Hungarian Working People's Party" did so that same evening. This uprising was an anti-Soviet revolt that lasted from 23 October until 11 November. After Nagy had declared that Hungary was to leave the Warsaw Pact and become neutral, Soviet tanks and troops entered the country to crush the revolt. Fighting continued until mid November, leaving more than 3000 dead. A monument was erected at the fiftieth anniversary of the revolt in 2006, at the edge of the City Park. Its shape is a wedge with a 56 angle degree made in rusted iron that gradually becomes shiny, ending in an intersection to symbolize Hungarian forces that temporarily eradicated the Communist leadership.


title: Budapest

text: From the 1960s to the late 1980s Hungary was often satirically referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc, and much of the wartime damage to the city was finally repaired. Work on Erzsébet Bridge, the last to be rebuilt, was finished in 1964. In the early 1970s, Budapest Metro's east–west M2 line was first opened, followed by the M3 line in 1976. In 1987, Buda Castle and the banks of the Danube were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Andrássy Avenue (including the Millennium Underground Railway, Hősök tere, and Városliget) was added to the UNESCO list in 2002. In the 1980s, the city's population reached 2.1 million. In recent times a significant decrease in population occurred mainly due to a massive movement to the neighbouring agglomeration in Pest county, i.e., suburbanisation.


title: Budapest

text: In the last decades of the 20th century the political changes of 1989–90 (Fall of the Iron Curtain) concealed changes in civil society and along the streets of Budapest. The monuments of the dictatorship were removed from public places, into Memento Park. In the first 20 years of the new democracy, the development of the city was managed by its mayor, Gábor Demszky.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest, strategically placed at the centre of the Carpathian Basin, lies on an ancient route linking the hills of Transdanubia with the Great Plain. By road it is south-east of Vienna, south of Warsaw, south-west of Moscow, north of Athens, north-east of Milan, and south-east of Prague.


title: Budapest

text: The area of Budapest lies in Central Hungary, surrounded by settlements of the agglomeration in Pest county. The capital extends in the north–south, east–west direction respectively. The Danube enters the city from the north; later it encircles two islands, Óbuda Island and Margaret Island. The third island Csepel Island is the largest of the Budapest Danube islands, however only its northernmost tip is within city limits. The river that separates the two parts of the city is wide at its narrowest point in Budapest. Pest lies on the flat terrain of the Great Plain while Buda is rather hilly.


title: Budapest

text: The wide Danube was always fordable at this point because of a small number of islands in the middle of the river. The city has marked topographical contrasts: Buda is built on the higher river terraces and hills of the western side, while the considerably larger Pest spreads out on a flat and featureless sand plain on the river's opposite bank. Pest's terrain rises with a slight eastward gradient, so the easternmost parts of the city lie at the same altitude as Buda's smallest hills, notably Gellért Hill and Castle Hill.


title: Budapest

text: The Buda hills consist mainly of limestone and dolomite, the water created speleothems, the most famous ones being the Pálvölgyi cave (total length ) and the Szemlőhegyi cave (total length ). The hills were formed in the Triassic Period. The highest point of the hills and of Budapest is János Hill, at above sea level. The lowest point is the line of the Danube which is above sea level. Budapest is also rich in green areas. Of the occupied by the city, is green area, park and forest. The forests of Buda hills are environmentally protected.


title: Budapest

text: The city's importance in terms of traffic is very central, because many major European roads and European railway lines lead to Budapest. The Danube was and is still an important water-way and this region in the centre of the Carpathian Basin lies at the cross-roads of trade routes.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is one of only three capital cities in the world which has thermal springs (the others being Reykjavík in Iceland and Sofia in Bulgaria). Some 125 springs produce of thermal water a day, with temperatures ranging up to 58 Celsius. Some of these waters have been claimed to have medicinal effects due to their high mineral contents.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest has a humid subtropical climate when the 0 °C isotherm is used and warm summers (near of an oceanic climate) according to the 1971–2000 climatological norm. Winter (November until early March) can be cold and the city receives little sunshine. Snowfall is fairly frequent in most years, and nighttime temperatures of are not uncommon between mid-December and mid-February. The spring months (March and April) see variable conditions, with a rapid increase in the average temperature. The weather in late March and in April is often very agreeable during the day and fresh at night. Budapest's long summer – lasting from May until mid-September – is warm or very warm. Sudden heavy showers also occur, particularly in May and June. The autumn in Budapest (mid-September until late October) is characterised by little rain and long sunny days with moderate temperatures. Temperatures often turn abruptly colder in late October or early November.


title: Budapest

text: Mean annual precipitation in Budapest is around . On average, there are 84 days with precipitation and 1988 hours of sunshine (of a possible 4383) each year. From March to October, average sunshine totals are roughly equal to those seen in northern Italy (Venice).


title: Budapest

text: Budapest has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a wide range of styles and from distinct time periods, from the ancient times as Roman City of Aquincum in Óbuda (District III), which dates to around 89 AD, to the most modern Palace of Arts, the contemporary arts museum and concert hall.


title: Budapest

text: Most buildings in Budapest are relatively low: in the early 2010s there were around 100 buildings higher than . The number of high-rise buildings is kept low by building legislation, which is aimed at preserving the historic cityscape and to meet the requirements of the World Heritage Site. Strong rules apply to the planning, authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings and consequently much of the inner city does not have any. Some planners would like see an easing of the rules for the construction of skyscrapers, and the possibility of building skyscrapers outside the city's historic core has been raised.


title: Budapest

text: In the chronological order of architectural styles Budapest is represented on the entire timeline, starting with the Roman City of Aquincum representing ancient architecture.


title: Budapest

text: The next determinative style is the Gothic architecture in Budapest. The few remaining Gothic buildings can be found in the Castle District. Buildings of note are no. 18, 20 and 22 on Országház Street, which date back to the 14th century and No. 31 Úri Street, which has a Gothic façade that dates back to the 15th century. Other buildings with Gothic features are the Inner City Parish Church, built in the 12th century, and the Mary Magdalene Church, completed in the 15th century. The most characteristic Gothic-style buildings are actually Neo-Gothic, like the most well-known Budapest landmarks, the Hungarian Parliament Building and the Matthias Church, where much of the original material was used (originally built in Romanesque style in 1015).


title: Budapest

text: The next chapter in the history of human architecture is Renaissance architecture. One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was Hungary, and Budapest in particular. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrice of Naples in 1476. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons came to Buda with the new queen. Today, many of the original renaissance buildings disappeared during the varied history of Buda, but Budapest is still rich in renaissance and neo-renaissance buildings, like the famous Hungarian State Opera House, St. Stephen's Basilica and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


title: Budapest

text: During the Turkish occupation (1541–1686), Islamic culture flourished in Budapest; multiple mosques and baths were built in the city. These were great examples of Ottoman architecture, which was influenced by Muslims from around the world including Turkish, Iranian, Arabian and to a larger extent, Byzantine architecture as well as Islamic traditions. After the Holy League conquered Budapest, they replaced most of the mosques with churches and minarets were turned into bell towers and cathedral spires. At one point the distinct sloping central square in Budapest became a bustling Oriental bazaar, which was filled with "the chatter of camel caravans on their way to Yemen and India". Budapest is in fact one of the few places in the world with functioning original Turkish bathhouses dating back to the 16th century, like Rudas Baths or Király Baths. Budapest is home to the northernmost place where the tomb of influential Islamic Turkish Sufi Dervish, Gül Baba is found. Various cultures converged in Hungary seemed to coalesce well with each other, as if all these different cultures and architecture styles are digested into Hungary's own way of cultural blend. A precedent to show the city's self-conscious is the top section of the city's main square, named as Szechenyi. When Turks came to the city, they built mosques here which was aggressively replaced with Gothic church of St. Bertalan. The rationale of reusing the base of the former Islamic building mosque and reconstruction into Gothic Church but Islamic style architecture over it is typically Islamic are still visible. An official term for the rationale is spolia. The mosque was called the djami of Pasha Gazi Kassim, and djami means mosque in Arabic. After Turks and Muslims were expelled and massacred from Budapest, the site was reoccupied by Christians and reformed into a church, the Inner City Parish Church (Budapest). The minaret and Turkish entranceway were removed. The shape of the architecture is its only hint of exotic past—"two surviving prayer niches facing Mecca and an ecumenical symbol atop its cupola: a cross rising above the Turkish crescent moon".


title: Budapest

text: After 1686, the Baroque architecture designated the dominant style of art in catholic countries from the 17th century to the 18th century. There are many Baroque-style buildings in Budapest and one of the finest examples of preserved Baroque-style architecture is the Church of St. Anna in Batthyhány square. An interesting part of Budapest is the less touristy Óbuda, the main square of which also has some beautiful preserved historic buildings with Baroque façades. The Castle District is another place to visit where the best-known landmark Buda Royal Palace and many other buildings were built in the Baroque style.


title: Budapest

text: The Classical architecture and Neoclassical architecture are the next in the timeline. Budapest had not one but two architects that were masters of the Classicist style. Mihály Pollack (1773–1855) and József Hild (1789–1867), built many beautiful Classicist-style buildings in the city. Some of the best examples are the Hungarian National Museum, the Lutheran Church of Budavár (both designed by Pollack) and the seat of the Hungarian president, the Sándor Palace. The most iconic and widely known Classicist-style attraction in Budapest is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. Budapest's two most beautiful Romantic architecture buildings are the Great Synagogue in Dohány Street and the Vigadó Concert Hall on the Danube Promenade, both designed by architect Frigyes Feszl (1821–1884). Another noteworthy structure is the Budapest Western Railway Station, which was designed by August de Serres and built by the Eiffel Company of Paris in 1877.


title: Budapest

text: Art Nouveau came into fashion in Budapest by the exhibitions which were held in and around 1896 and organised in connection with the Hungarian Millennium celebrations. Art Nouveau in Hungary ("Szecesszió" in Hungarian) is a blend of several architectural styles, with a focus on Hungary's specialities. One of the leading Art Nouveau architects, Ödön Lechner (1845–1914), was inspired by Indian and Syrian architecture as well as traditional Hungarian decorative designs. One of his most beautiful buildings in Budapest is the Museum of Applied Arts. Another examples for Art Nouveau in Budapest is the Gresham Palace in front of the Chain Bridge, the Hotel Gellért, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music or Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden.


title: Budapest

text: The second half of the 20th century also saw, under the communist regime, the construction of blocks of flats (panelház), as in other Eastern European countries. In the 21st century, Budapest faces new challenges in its architecture. The pressure towards the high-rise buildings is unequivocal among today's world cities, but preserving Budapest's unique cityscape and its very diverse architecture, along with green areas, is force Budapest to balance between them. The Contemporary architecture has wide margin in the city. Public spaces attract heavy investment by business and government also, so that the city has gained entirely new (or renovated and redesigned) squares, parks and monuments, for example the city central Kossuth Lajos square, Deák Ferenc square and Liberty Square. Numerous landmarks are created in the last decade in Budapest, like the National Theatre, Palace of Arts, Rákóczi Bridge, Megyeri Bridge, Budapest Airport Sky Court among others, and millions of square meters of new office buildings and apartments. But there are still large opportunities in real estate development in the city.


title: Budapest

text: Most of today's Budapest is the result of a late-nineteenth-century renovation, but the wide boulevards laid out then only bordered and bisected much older quarters of activity created by centuries of Budapest's city evolution.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest's vast urban area is often described using a set of district names. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of villages that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units of former boroughs.


title: Budapest

text: Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without official boundaries.


title: Budapest

text: Originally Budapest had 10 districts after coming into existence upon the unification of the three cities in 1873. Since 1950, Greater Budapest has been divided into 22 boroughs (and 23 since 1994). At that time there were changes both in the order of districts and in their sizes. The city now consists of 23 districts, 6 in Buda, 16 in Pest and 1 on Csepel Island between them.


title: Budapest

text: The city centre itself in a broader sense comprises the District V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and XIII on the Pest side, and the I, II, XI and XII on the Buda side of the city.


title: Budapest

text: District I is a small area in central Buda, including the historic Buda Castle. District II is in Buda again, in the northwest, and District III stretches along in the northernmost part of Buda. To reach District IV, one must cross the Danube to find it in Pest (the eastern side), also at north. With District V, another circle begins, it is located in the absolute centre of Pest. Districts VI, VII, VIII and IX are the neighbouring areas to the east, going southwards, one after the other.


title: Budapest

text: District X is another, more external circle also in Pest, while one must jump to the Buda side again to find Districts XI and XII, going northwards. No more districts remaining in Buda in this circle, we must turn our steps to Pest again to find Districts XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX (mostly external city parts), almost regularly in a semicircle, going southwards again.


title: Budapest

text: District XXI is the extension of the above route over a branch of the Danube, the northern tip of a long island south from Budapest. District XXII is still on the same route in southwest Buda, and finally District XXIII is again in southernmost Pest, irregular only because it was part of District XX until 1994.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is the most populous city in Hungary and one of the largest cities in the European Union, with a growing number of inhabitants, estimated at 1,763,913 in 2019, whereby inward migration exceeds outward migration. These trends are also seen throughout the Budapest metropolitan area, which is home to 3.3 million people. This amounts to about 34% of Hungary's population.


title: Budapest

text: In 2014, the city had a population density of 3,314 people per square kilometre (8,580/sq mi), rendering it the most densely populated of all municipalities in Hungary. The population density of Elisabethtown-District VII is 30,989/km (80,260/sq mi), which is the highest population density figure in Hungary and one of the highest in the world, for comparison the density in Manhattan is 25,846/km.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is the fourth most "dynamically growing city" by population in Europe, and the Euromonitor predicts a population increase of almost 10% between 2005 and 2030. The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion says Budapest's population will increase by 10% to 30% only due to migration by 2050. A constant inflow of migrants in recent years has fuelled population growth in Budapest. Productivity gains and the relatively large economically active share of the population explain why household incomes have increased in Budapest to a greater extent than in other parts of Hungary. Higher incomes in Budapest are reflected in the lower share of expenditure the city's inhabitants allocate to necessity spending such as food and non-alcoholic drinks.


title: Budapest

text: At the 2016 microcensus, there were 1,764,263 people with 907,944 dwellings living in Budapest. Some 1.6 million persons from the metropolitan area may be within Budapest's boundaries during work hours, and during special events. This fluctuation of people is caused by hundreds of thousands of suburban residents who travel to the city for work, education, health care, and special events.


title: Budapest

text: By ethnicity there were 1,697,039 (96.2%) Hungarians, 34,909 (2%) Germans, 16,592 (0.9%) Romani, 9,117 (0.5%) Romanians and 5,488 (0.3%) Slovaks. In Hungary people can declare multiple ethnic identities, hence the sum may exceed 100%. The share of ethnic Hungarians in Budapest (96.2%) is slightly lower than the national average (98.3%) due to the international migration.


title: Budapest

text: According to the 2011 census, 1,712,153 people (99.0%) speak Hungarian, of whom 1,692,815 people (97.9%) speak it as a first language, while 19,338 people (1.1%) speak it as a second language. Other spoken (foreign) languages were: English (536,855 speakers, 31.0%), German (266,249 speakers, 15.4%), French (56,208 speakers, 3.3%) and Russian (54,613 speakers, 3.2%).


title: Budapest

text: According to the same census, 1,600,585 people (92.6%) were born in Hungary, 126,036 people (7.3%) outside Hungary while the birthplace of 2,419 people (0.1%) was unknown.


title: Budapest

text: Although only 1.7% of the population of Hungary in 2009 were foreigners, 43% of them lived in Budapest, making them 4.4% of the city's population (up from 2% in 2001). Nearly two-thirds of foreigners living in Hungary were under 40 years old. The primary motivation for this age group living in Hungary was employment.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is home to one of the most populous Christian communities in Central Europe, numbering 698,521 people (40.4%) in 2011. According to the 2011 census, there were 501,117 (29.0%) Roman Catholics, 146,756 (8.5%) Calvinists, 30,293 (1.8%) Lutherans, 16,192 (0.9%) Greek Catholics, 7,925 (0.5%) Jews and 3,710 (0.2%) Orthodox in Budapest. 395,964 people (22.9%) were irreligious while 585,475 people (33.9%) did not declare their religion. The city is also home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is a significant economic hub, classified as a Beta + world city in the study by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network and it is the second fastest-developing urban economy in Europe as GDP per capita in the city increased by 2.4 per cent and employment by 4.7 per cent compared to the previous year in 2014.


title: Budapest

text: On national level, Budapest is the primate city of Hungary regarding business and economy, accounting for 39% of the national income, the city has a gross metropolitan product more than $100 billion in 2015, making it one of the largest regional economy in the European Union.


title: Budapest

text: According to the Eurostat GDP per capita in purchasing power parity is 147% of the EU average in Budapest, which means €37,632 ($42,770) per capita.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest is also among the Top100 GDP performing cities in the world, measured by PricewaterhouseCoopers.


title: Budapest

text: The city was named as the 52nd most important business centre in the world in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, ahead of Beijing, São Paulo or Shenzhen and ranking 3rd (out of 65 cities) on MasterCard Emerging Markets Index.


title: Budapest

text: The city is 48th on the UBS "The most expensive and richest cities in the world" list, standing before cities such as Prague, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur or Buenos Aires.


title: Budapest

text: In a global city competitiveness ranking by EIU, Budapest stands before Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Moscow and Johannesburg among others.


title: Budapest

text: The city is a major centre for banking and finance, real estate, retailing, trade, transportation, tourism, new media as well as traditional media, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, fashion and the arts in Hungary and regionally. Budapest is home not only to almost all national institutions and government agencies, but also to many domestic and international companies, in 2014 there are 395.804 companies registered in the city. Most of these entities are headquartered in the Budapest's Central Business District, in the District V and District XIII. The retail market of the city (and the country) is also concentrated in the downtown, among others through the two largest shopping centres in Central and Eastern Europe, the 186,000 sqm WestEnd City Center and the 180,000 sqm Arena Plaza.


title: Budapest

text: Budapest has notable innovation capabilities as a technology and start-up hub. Many start-ups are headquartered and begin their business in the city, some of the best known examples are Prezi, LogMeIn or NNG. Budapest is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities' Top 100 index. A good indicator of the city's potential for innovation and research also, is that the European Institute of Innovation and Technology chose Budapest for its headquarters, along with the UN, which Regional Representation for Central Europe office is in the city, responsible for UN operations in seven countries.


title: Budapest

text: Moreover, the global aspect of the city's research activity is shown through the establishment of the European Chinese Research Institute in the city. Other important sectors include also, as natural science research, information technology and medical research, non-profit institutions, and universities. The leading business schools and universities in Budapest, the Budapest Business School, the CEU Business School and Corvinus University of Budapest offers a whole range of courses in economics, finance and management in English, French, German and Hungarian. The unemployment rate is far the lowest in Budapest within Hungary, it was 2.7%, besides the many thousands of employed foreign citizens.