Tonight marks the last episode of The Event for 2010. NBC plans to relaunch the series in three months, on February 28th, after letting their new series The Cape have the timeslot. Is it a risky move? Not really. Ultimately, they don’t have much choice.
The Event follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter), a young man who’s investigating the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. He slowly begins to uncover the biggest cover-up in the history of the United States. Others in the cast include Sarah Roemer, Laura Innes, Ian Anthony Dale, Scott Patterson, Clifton Collins Jr., Taylor Cole, Lisa Vidal, Bill Smitrovich, Zeljko Ivanek, and Blair Underwood.
The series debuted in September to decent ratings with a 3.6 in the 18-49 demo and 10.88 million total viewers. That’s a healthy sampling but, considering all of the promotion that NBC put behind it, the programmers were likely disappointed by its third place rank in the timeslot.
While some viewers clearly love the show, more than half who watched the first episode have already lost interest. The Event has been losing viewers, sometimes as much as 15 or 20% in one week, and to date has never shown an increase week-to-week in the demo. The most recent installment garnered just a 1.7 rating in the demo and 5.19 million viewers.
You can blame the network for not doing a better job of promoting The Event but clearly there’s a problem with the series when people who already watch don’t feel compelled to return week after week.
Will this February “relaunch” help? Based on recent TV history, the answer is no. Just look at V and FlashForward. People who were interested in The Event have either already tried it and stuck around or given up on it. Those who haven’t watched previously are very unlikely to give a try because they assume that they’ve missed too much backstory already. On top of that, when the show returns, the ratings will likely be lower than what they are now. By the time The Event returns in February, many casual fans will have already gotten involved with other shows.
The one thing that The Event has going for it is the fact that it’s on NBC. The peacock network continues to struggle and The Event is currently the fifth most-watched scripted program on the network. If things go as expected, it will drop much lower on the list next year. Still, with the exception of The CW, NBC is the only network that would consider giving this series more time. They’ll surely let all 22 episodes air.
The Event returns on Monday, February 28th and will have 12 more original episodes to air at that point. Will there be a second season? We’ll have to wait and see but hopefully the producers will plan ahead and not end the show without any resolution.
What do you think? Does The Event have a chance for survival? What could NBC do to save this show? Anything?
Image courtesy NBC.
To many shows getting the axe, how do most scifi fans watch tv? do they download? maybe thats why the viewing figures are low.
embrace the internet don’t work against it!!!
I have watched The Event since the beginning and don’t want it to end. I love the show and look forward to it every week. Please don’t cancel the show. The Event does have faithful viewers and it’s not right to leave us hanging.
It was a well done show. Please do not cancel it. How can I ever watch one of your show’s again knowing that you may end it before the finnish like you are doing this time. Please renew it for next season.
Please don’t cancel this show. It is so gripping and thought provoking. It is clever, thrilling, adventurous and dynamic. A show like this hasn’t come along in a long time. NBC you would be re-miss if you let this one go. Give it it’s just rewards and know intelligent people are viewing your network.
Now that the event has been cancelled I will not be viewing anything on this network again. You say the viewing was bad well if you didn’t stop it for weeks at a time you wouldn’t lose your viewers.
Why the hell cancel this series? It’s totally gripping not boring at all if its cancelled Il never watch anything on this network!
please save the “Event” my friends and family love it. we found in mid season. too much to be resolved..
I felt the Event got better and better once the plot and characters were all layed out. Definately, the second half of the season rose to the occasion of holding viewer interest.
I feel that they left some very good storylines to explore should they be renewed.
Hopefully somewhere the money will come together to continue this wonderful adventure.
please dont cancel the show its awesome, and u cant leave it like that . please bring it back this fall
do not cancel the event! please thank you Michael De Luca .
Please, please, please don’t cancell the event. We too, along with our whole family has watched the show from the beginning, and when we could not watch it on Monday night for whatever reason or another, we recorded the show. We can’t wait for Monday nights to come, it is one of the most talked about subject in our home. You know, it’s like we play detectives, or spies, or trying to think like the Sophia to help foil her plans. The Arrival cannot be the last show. We are left in too much suspense, this can be a regular… Read more »
Our family has been watching this series From the very first episode. I’m sorry to say this isn’t the first time this network has done this to us, but I can promise you this! if they don’t come back with at least a single final ending episode Soon, it will be the last time this family watches shows on this network ever again. Who wants to watch shows on the network that has a constant reputation of ending series in ways that leave you hanging? I have two solutions to this issue. One is to reach out to all the… Read more »
I been watching the event from the beginning and can’t wait for the next show please don’t cancel the show.
I am stunned to have only just heard (and read) that the event may be cancelled. After watching every episode since it started, I feel duped that we may be left hanging indefinitely. That’s no different than if American Idol Cancelled its Finale right before the winner is revealed. How could NBC do that? Ratings, schmatings! Did they ever stop to think that cancelling the show at the precise moment that the series has been leading up to all season might hury their viewership for ALL other NBC show. What’s the old saying, “Fool me once shame on you, Fool… Read more »
STOP WITH THE EFFIN COMMERCIALS EVERY 5 MINUTES!!!!! That’s the problem. I love the event but I timed the show from commercial to commercial and it ranges between 5-10 minutes….it annoys the crap out of me and everyone else I’m sure. Other than that it’s a suburb show, better than all that other crap reality TV out there. The other 5+ million viewers probably DVR the show which doesn’t calculate into your totals.