A lot has been made of the big showdown on Thursday nights between Grey's Anatomy and C.S.I. Meanwhile, somewhat under the radar, another battle is brewing that could be just as intriguing. Bob reported yesterday on the Lost premiere being the most watched program of the night. Looking at the numbers though, I'm not convinced that the castaways have a secure hold on the top spot.

While it was the most watched show with 19 million viewers, that is 4 million less than the season two premiere. That's a pretty big drop. Of course, that didn't stop ABC from spinning the numbers in their press release. They make a big deal of the fact that the premiere scored Lost's highest viewer numbers since Jan of 06. Now, call me the cynic, but I read those numbers a completely different way.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a supervising producer and writer on Lost, is leaving the show. He was hired on about two years ago when Lost was just a gleam in J.J. Abrams' eye. On his website, Javi says his gig on Lost was only meant to be a couple of months so he could help create long-term story arcs and basically plan out the series (and write a pilot!). Two years, seven episodes, and "one hanging hobbit" later, Javi said it's the right time for him to leave and let the other writers take the show where it needs to go.

Javi has been one of the most high-profile writers of the show, frequently producing the Radio Free Javi podcasts about Lost and his other interests, including comic books. He also is a frequent contributor to The Fuselage, the ABC-sanctioned forum about the show.

This is the first new Lost of the sweeps, and they've been pimping it on ABC for the past couple of weeks, so it should be a good one. Make sure you check back here at TV Squad at 8:00pm EST tonight, and that's when we will unveil the hidden location for the chat. Eko is guarding over it with his "Bible Stick" at the moment. In the meantime, make sure that you have AIM or a compatible instant messenging system (GAIM, Trillian, etc) installed. I'll be in the room under the id TVSRyan and a couple other of the TV Squadders will probably stop by, so look for us. We've met the Others, we've seen the monsters. What's left on this crazy island? Who kidnaps Sun? We'll find out tonight!