Both made their debut in 2004. Lost on ABC and House on FOX.
Lost's debut at 18.6 million viewers saved ABC's bacon. Season one averaged 16 million and almost as many for season two. Before that ABC hadn't had that kind of success since Regis and Millionaire. But by the sixth and final season, only the finale had more than 13 million viewers. (source) It was a show that started off to both critical and popular acclaim and ended with a big bummer.
| Three seasons, tops. |
House MD debuted at only 7.05 million viewers on FOX. Season one averaged 13.3 million and viewers peaked in season three with 19.4 million. It outlasted Lost by two seasons or 51 episodes (depending on Lost mobisodes or recap episodes).
Lost's IMDB rating in 2012 was 8.4 but has since climbed to 8.6 in 2014. In the same time frame, House's IMDB rating has climbed from 8.6 to 9.0.
Lost's peak episode S02E01 "Man of Science, Man of Faith" had 23.5 million views. House had nine episodes that tied or bettered that, peaking at more than 29 million for S04E11 "Frozen."
Awards are a tossup. Both shows were critically acclaimed. Tip of the cap to GraphTV for the following charts: House MD vs LOST.
Lost Complete Series DVD on Amazon ranks #20,834th on best sellers. House ranks #9,847 (or 10,987 spots higher) despite having two fewer years on the market.
Gregory House beats both Walt Lloyd and Jack Shephard on googlefight.com.
In conclusion...
Lost started hot out of the gate, but House MD had more staying power and continues to do so in retirement. Because Lost started out as such a buzzy show, it's easy to see why you might assume it was the more popular show. House was sneaky good. So good that House's style even makes Lost's opening credits look better...
I liked both shows quite a bit, though I will say I couldn't finish either. Lost got too convoluted with plotlines and the break inbetween seasons would always make me forget what was going on. For House it was the repetitive nature of the show, combined with the huge cast change that annoyed me. Still, both shows were solid and entertaining all in all.
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