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Matthew Fox stars in "Lost"

With so many TV slots filled with reality shows and animated series, production costs for networks keep getting cheaper. And while there will always be an exception to the rule, that defiantly decadent series is about to come to an end.

Starting Tuesday, Feb. 2, the survivors of Flight 815 that crashed back in September 2004 will, hopefully, start making their way home when the final season premieres.

While details are minimal regarding what will actually happen this season, there is one thing for sure: millions and millions of fans have been waiting desperately to find out.

Diehard fans need not worry about a disappointing ending, however, because the "Lost" writers and producers have been planning their exit strategy for almost three years.

The finale date for the series was set back in 2007 when creators J.J. Abrams (who most recently made a little coin making 2009's "Star Trek"), Carlton Cuse ("Nash Bridges") and Damon Lindelhof ("Crossing Jordan") decided that they wanted to end the series before it got stale. And though they'd originally wanted two seasons, they decided on 48 episodes over three seasons instead.

"In making this deal, we had two priorities: defining an end point for the show and keeping the quality bar high," said Cuse. "To do that, we are fully committed to the day-to-day running of the show right up until the very end. Unlike '24,' we can't reset each season, we need to really plan out the specifics of our storytelling."

And keep the quality bar high they did. In addition to filming most of the episodes on location in Hawaii, "Lost" set the bar for other series when it started producing episodes in high definition in only its second season. This was a new concept back in 2005, when nearly all of the shows in HD were in the high numbers on cable.

Deemed the most expensive show of all time to produce, the hit ABC series "Lost" cost upwards of $45 million for its first season alone.

The high quality of filming, plus a large ensemble cast and incredible, but necessary, special effects are only some of the reasons why this series generated record-breaking audiences almost every week.

The cast of ABC's "Lost"

Pitched originally as a straight-up drama to the networks, the series has blurred the lines between genres and made even the most skeptical viewer question the power of the island.

The series helped to pull an ailing ABC out of a troublesome spot, both financially and in the ratings -- the season before "Lost's" premiere was the network's worst showing ever -- though producers took a long shot by spending more than $10 million (more than twice the usual cost) on the two-part pilot.

Much of the series has been left up to viewer interpretation and skepticism, but it has also provided adequate explanations for why certain events took place. At a glance, the show seems scattered and hard to follow, but diehard fans never miss an episode and swear that everything gets explained. And though there is no simple way to describe what took place on the island over the past six years, many who watched it were instantly addicted and eager for more.

Since the very first day on the island, "Lost" producers and writers have thrown around so many new ideas that had never been seen, or at least combined, on TV before. Early critics said the series was a rip off of "Lord of the Flies," "Survivor" or "Gilligan's Island," but they were quickly proven wrong when science-fiction concepts were quickly introduced into the storyline.

The series almost immediately dropped the pure-drama idea, and a fair chunk of money, when the first scene of the series was a horrific crash. The wreckage on the beach was staged, however they were all real, functional pieces of a Boeing jet that had been dissected and shipped to Hawaii for shooting.

It is never made clear where the island physically exists. In fact, several episodes suggest the island doesn't actually exist at all, and that's where the theme of time travel was introduced and it all gets too complex to explain in print.

From the day the plane crashed to when the curtain will fall, this momentous series has brought in dozens of awards for its actors, producers and even its soundtrack. "Lost" has brought home at least one Emmy award nearly every year it has been on the air, with the exception of 2006 when "The Sopranos" dominated the awards for its last season. In addition to nine Emmys, "Lost" has earned dozens of other accolades, including Golden Globes and statues from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

Series star Matthew Fox had several big-name shows and movies under his belt before getting stranded on the island, but even his powerful portrayal of Charlie Salinger in "Party of Five" was not enough to warrant him any wins, or even nominations. It wasn't until "Lost" came along that he received his first nomination and win.

However, many other series stars were pretty much no-name actors before joining "Lost." The list of the dozens of cast members has only a few names that you'd have recognized pre-2004: Daniel Dae Kim is a martial arts master who has appeared in several movies with Jet Li; Cynthia Watros rose to fame with a four-year, off-and-on run on "Guiding Light" before joining the sitcoms "The Drew Carey Show" and "Titus."  Several other actors are recognizable by face but are far from household names, such as Terry O'Quinn ("Alias") and Emilie de Ravin ("Roswell").

Since becoming castaways, however, multiple "Lost" stars have bloomed on other series and genres. Ian Somerhalder, who played Boone in "Lost," has recently joined the new CW hit "The Vampire Diaries."