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.
I live in the UK and watch the show here on our channels, not NBC, but I’m assuming that if the show fails there, it’s going to stop here too. Please don’t!! I LOVE IT!!
Why do networks either move or interrupt the shows that are promising? It would be one thing if they replaced it with some worthwhile options, but so far, NBC has not.
My son and I love The Event and in its absence, we watch little else on NBC. Bring it back!
I like the show but it is really hard to watch with all the “flash backing” they do. I mean I get it already,,,, they had previous lives. To all but a die hard sci fi person the back flashes make it painfull to watch for the average viewer looking to be “entertained”. It almost seems like it is to cover for a lack of new content? Put more meat in each epsiode and rely less on the past and pick up the pace and I think it would do well. You are trying to run too many story lines… Read more »
I watched the first episode and then missed a few others. I re-started watching with my kids during the final two episodes and found out I needed to watch the series re-runs from the beginning to really appreciate it…….I did and am now totally addicted to it. By the way so are the kids…….we can’t wait for it to come back and are very glad you’re bringing it back. Advertise it more so you can get more viewers. Show them what they’re missing and all it has to offer…..V is coming back and you’re doing a decent job of advertising… Read more »
I watched the first show and then missed most of the others. At some point during the last 2 episodes I began to watch it from the beginning with my kids on the website’s re-runs and we are totally addicted to it……we are anxious to see it come back and think it is a nail biting, thriller of a show……much like V or Flash Forward which was taken off the air…..we hope The Event doesn’t get cancelled. It offers everything from suspense, to romance and we are simply getting tired of the tease of a few episodes and just as… Read more »
As a person who watches very little television now that I no longer have h.b.o, the Event became the 1 show that both my husband and I looked forward to watching together. However, it started becoming “old” after every episode started becoming familiar. It is just too boring that almost every weak Jason falls into some dilema that most normal humans could not survive, yet he manages to pull through so well by the end of the episode. Those parts are becoming so customary yet so unbelieveable that it overshadows the intrigue of the show for me. Nonetheless, I look… Read more »
I really enjoyed it and had no idea why it was off the air. I hope they bring it back.
I’ve missed some of the last shows, but overall I like the shows. I was concerned with the format, though, in that there were too many flashbacks which confused the main story plot. The writers are doing a good job of keeping one’s interest in the next shows. Many of my coworkers are tuned into the series, but the abrupt stoppage will probably lose viewership.
My husband and I always look for a show to watch together, The Event got our vote for our one show to watch together…..bring it back!!!
My husband and I really enjoyed the show but the fact that the network skipped weeks showing the new episodes leads us and others to lose interest. they should restart the series and continue them weekly. We would really like to see further episodes.
LOVE the show!!!!!! It is sooo much better than Lost. This show actually makes sense and you can follow it. Looked forward to it every week. Now what will I watch? The Kardashians?:(
I love the Event. My daughter and I look forward to watching it every week. We miss it and cannot wait until is returns in February. It is full of interesting turns that keep you watching in anticipation of th next event.
My husband and I watch very little TV, but we really enjoyed The Event, and we would be dreadfully disappointed if it didn’t continue.
I just watched the first 10 on NBC on-demand – and really liked it. I don’t watch shows during primetime often – this one like some others (flashforward) seems well suited to watching 2-3 in a row and this helps keep track of the story line. Thank you NBC for brining this one to us!
It is defintely worth saving. I personally love it. What I DO NOT like is when they stop showing it and don’t bring it back for three months! I stopped watching V because I lost interest when they show it, take it off for a couple of weeks, show it a few times, then, again, take it off. They should repeat it in the summer.