Is "Lost" Gone For Good?

Lost will return next month after an absence of eight months, but fans of the TV drama may still feel deprived because of the Hollywood writers strike, according to ABC television.

The series faces the possibility of a season cut short by the strike, now in its sixth week. Eight episodes of "Lost" have been completed for the series' return Jan. 31 -- half the number originally planned, ABC said Friday.

The network announced this year that the series would end in 2010 after three more years of 16 episodes each.

Most series air 22 episodes a season. ABC decided that fewer episodes of "Lost," aired without reruns interrupting the serial story, would please fans of the show about air crash survivors on a dangerous island. Whether the entire 16-episode order for 2008 can be filled depends on the duration of the contract dispute between studios and the Writers Guild of America.