The Event

So I wasn't impressed with the pilot, found one of the main characters (Sara Roemer)to be a hum-drum drain that we have to work too hard to find believable, still some strong actors to pull it thru like Ritter, Innes and Underwood so I decided to give it another chance. Holy boring-soap-opera Batman! Was that ever a waste of time. The second installment was a duplicate of the first. It simply repeated everything they showed us the first time only from a side view perspective of someone else. OK, we already got that. It was not news, it was wholly predictable and painfully boring. I thought maybe there must be some interesting tidbit of news before the show ended but was ultimately punished for my patience. Unbelievable that producers think so little of our intellectual capability, treating us like toddlers that need everything to be repeated repeatedly. All the flashbacks are just annoying because we live a linear existence and like our stories to not deviate from that natural time flow so drastically. Lost interest now.

I was too busy at the time of premier to get into the program, but I DVR'd all the episodes for a later date. A couple of weeks ago I watched the first 7 episodes all at once, and have stayed up to date since. I am absolutely addicted to this show now, and will be heartbroken for the 3-month hiatus, and if it is subsequently canceled altogether.

I am taken aback by all the haters and pseudo-intellectuals nit-picking this program to death. There is absolutely nothing so onerously out of joint with this show as to draw that level of ire. And some of us prefer a show that requires our attention instead of our minds drifting to the bills or what we're going to make for dinner tomorrow night. I turn my phone off (anyone old enough to remember turning the house phone ringer off for some mini-series everyone wanted to watch?). I swear, there is a generation that simply refuses to be satisfied with anything. If it is infused with reality, the creators lack imagination. If it is imaginative, it has reality boundaries because their "sophisticated" willful suspension of disbelief must be bought off first. It's a cliquish farce.

Make up your own mind.

I was intrigued by the 4 minute extended trailer, and so I eagerly tuned in for the premiere. Unfortunately, it was very underwhelming. I didn't learn anything new from the 43 minute premiere that I hadn't already learnt from the 4 minute trailer. I actually found the premiere to be boring and unnecessarily drawn out.

Also, none of the characters really seemed all that interesting, except for maybe Mike and the lady from ER, but those aren't the main characters, so that's not a good sign.

I don't mind non-linear story telling, but, there didn't seem like all that much of a reason for the tactic here - it felt contrived. Also, this may seem like a minor point to some, but the way the "flashback" subtitles changed sizes really distracted me a lot. What's wrong with normal subtitles?

Anyways, I think I will give it one more episode to suck me in, but if the second episode is as underwhelming as the first, then I won't be tuning in.

This show has been one of the best Sci-Fi series to come out for years, I enjoyed Lost but occasionally got "Lost" with it, The Event is not hard to follow, something happened during each episode leaving a cliffhanger and you wanting for the next. I can understand why NBC has cancelled another season due to a plummet in viewing figures, but I cannot understand their thinking, the pilot and subsequent episodes faired really well with great viewing figures, they decide to allow the show to have a 3 month break, without warning the show restarts at a later time in the schedule and on a different night (In the UK it went from 10pm on a Friday to 11.55pm on a Monday), I would not have noticed this, only did due to the fact I had it on series record on satellite TV so was able to resume my viewing, many people I think will have been unaware of this or unable to do this, I just don't think the viewing figures dropped due to it being a bad show, I think bad decisions by NBC and lack of advertising. It was truly an entertaining show, especially the last 7 or 8 episodes of the series when it all kicked off, its like an emotional roller coaster at the beginning you can sympathise with the Aliens and dislike the humans especially the president and his decisions but all that changes, I don't want to go into it too much but I think its a series that anyone could enjoy given a chance. There are the odd annoyances, there are a few plot holes and a few minor irritations i.e. the character Sophia, her acting at time was a bit wooden and emotionless, but I suppose you get people like that in real life, I know some myself. Anyway give it a chance and I am sure you will end up thinking like I do, hope they back another series, don't want to be left in another forever limbo with the fantastic cliffhanger of the final show of the series !

This is a fantastic show. Excellent cast, spearheaded by the amazing Blair Underwood who plays the African-American President. I'm not too keen on the Sophia character, who seems to have the same facial expression and voice mannerism, regardless of the situation at hand. But the rest of the cast is superb, particularly the President's White House team - they seem to have the gravity and charisma to easily pull off a successful "The West Wing" remake.

The show advertised itself as a "what if '24' and 'Lost' had a baby" TV offspring, and I am definitely getting that vibe. The constant pacing of action and suspense remind me of "24", but with more depth and realism, so it's not as cheesy and convoluted (oh don't get offended, I'm a huge "24" fan but I'll readily admit that "24" had a level of cheesiness and hokiness that was good for unintentional laughs). And the aura of mystery and plot development is reminiscent of "Lost." Admittedly, "Lost" had the more interesting character development, but "The Event" seems to have a stronger, more robust plot that certainly knows where it's headed, which makes me feel as if the writers for "The Event" already have a strong ending in plan many seasons in advance - you brave, disappointed "Lost" fans who hanged on until the series finale know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! There were some painfully sad moments that were very compelling. For example, Agent Lee, who seemingly never ages as a result of his extraterrestrial genes, ran into an elderly woman who was his girlfriend of apparently same age many decades ago, and had to pretend to not recognize his long-lost love for the Greater Good. Those were beautifully done, heart-wrenching scenes.

So far, I have been thoroughly satisfied with this show. Every episode has been great. I can see how someone who joins in midway might get confused and lose interest (of course - this IS a serialized drama!) - so I HIGHLY recommend starting from the first episode and watch at least three episodes. You WILL be hooked, guaranteed.

If this show gets canceled, I'll be hugely disappointed - it would really really say something about us as TV viewers if we allowed disappointing garbage like "Heroes" and "V" to run on for more than a season but allow a high-caliber show like "The Event" with excellent production value and strong plot to go off air. Watch it! You will love it, that is my promise.

Edit: I caught the season finale yesterday - I was THOROUGHLY satisfied with it. It was indeed a wild ride. Without giving anything away, I will just say what I saw in the last few seconds give me hope that we are in for a VERY exciting and compelling second season - that is, if the show's still on the air. Come on, NBC execs, don't let us down!