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.
Bring it back. Great show. My wife and I love it. The event
Like the show. Have not missed an episode. Disappointed to hear that it has a 3 month hiatus.
I gave up 10 minutes into Episode 2.
The Event should have been made into a TV movie. It’s too long and tedious, or should I say, just boring? Why did they keep this show and drop “Outlaw?”
To compare this series to 24 was it’s first mistake. It just lack excitement! The constant going back in time is very annoying, just get all the past events that led up to the present in one episode and be done with it.
I think it could be a very big hit, but needs some reworking.
I absolutely love The Event..I hope that they keep it on the air!
Many stayed away because they were not ready to commit to another show like 24 or Lost and I think those that watched and then stopped watching were not the least bit interested in the subject material (so as not to spoil it for those planning to watch the re-launch.)
Will the relaunch be successful? For the fans I hope so.
I love The Event. The only other shows I watch on TV are MSNBC, the food network, and HGTV. I think most of what is on TV is not worth my time….but along came The Event. It is suspenseful, exciting, psychological, interesting, captivating, etc etc etc. I look forward to its return in three months. Please don’t let me down by cancelling it!!! PS I think it is too deep for a lot of viewers who think that the Kardashians deserve a minute of the publics’ attention, let alone a TV show. And for people who think that watching Bristol… Read more »
Most likely they’ll just kill it. I mean it was already an uphill battle, now the battle almost seems pointless. We’re gonna need a miracle for this show to be renewed. From where I’m standing, I’m not postitive I would want one. When I first saw the promos I was really tn the fence, mostly because of V and flashfoward. Mystery. But this show just like those ones just aren’t living up to the hype. It’s a little better, but not alot better. If trauma didn’t survive, then this show is definetely not going to. Simple as that,
Call it the “Law & Order Jinx”. Until NBC brings back Law & Order, every new show will fail.
I am so mad that the shows I watch and like are always canceled…think I am going to think twice about getting into another series….I will stick with shows that don’t leave you hanging…just my 2 cents
I can’t tell u how excited I was to watch this show before it premiered. I really liked shows like LOST, 24, Flash Forward and Heroes and since they were all cancelled the same year I was hoping to see another show with a similar story telling style. It started off promising and then it just died for me by the 5th episode. It was just tedious and awful writing. It just never feels its really going anywhere. I stopped watching after the 7th episode and have no interest watching the last episode tonight. I just stopped caring along with… Read more »
Btw, I think the Cape looks interesting… Looking forward to seeing it…
Although I do like The Event and really like Jason Ritter in the show, THEY SHOULD HAVE KEPT HEROES!! I think the hiatus will probably kill the show but maybe tonights episode will help?
I hope they keep it around though…
I LOVE THIS SHOW! I am disappointed to see it’s dismal ratings and also surprised. I am addicted, and feel like it’s the best new drama of the season. I hope they decide to keep it going.