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 decided to watch the premier on demand…ended up watching the entire series in two days!!! Love it…it had better come back!!!
I forget many shows names that got the poorest ratings, yet became real blockbusters. The Event caught my attention from the start – great actors & storyline (IMHO) and I’m very much looking forward to their 2011 season coming in a few days. We’ve all seen shows where the Earth is visited by ET’s, like My Favorite Martian in the days of old… So many shows, many pretty lame yet they continued on. I don’t consider The Event the least bit lame, boring or like many other similar story lines – I find it quite compelling, and really look forward… Read more »
CBS did something similar to The Unit because of falling ratings. Forget about the fact they had a dedicated fan base which was a mix of military and civilians who watched the show every week. Give The Event a shot; don’t leave us hanging on and wondering what the next seaon could have been like.
I love “The Event”! All my friends and family can’t wait for it. We love science fiction. Please keep it on.
This show is a must keep. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and in suspense until the next episode. NBC must come up with more innovative ways to promote tv shows because they are not doing a good job. I can’t stand shows on one week and the next week its gone with something new. How can you make a show work if your can’t keep any???
When I started watching the event , I did not think it was going to make it!!!! Going back 6 months , back 2 years , back 9 months. I just thought that I was going to get lost with all the time warps , but I stuck with it and truly am a fan. PLEASE don’t cancel it!!!!!!!! I do hope that it will make it back , for maybe 2 more seasons , even though I don’t know if ya’ll can stretch the story that long , but give it a try. I will bbe waiting with baited… Read more »
I agree with all the posts above. NBC as well as all the rest of the networks dont give series the chance to develope a loyal following. Look at Flashforward, the terminator the sarah conner chronicles, stargate universe, caprica and many others. They let them go for a season or so and if the ratings dont beat all the dumbass reality shows, then they are done. Wtf? Are you network people stupid?????????????? Keep these shows for longer than a couple seasons. The reason they fail is because we all know you wont give them a descent chance to compete. We… Read more »
I’ve been waiting anxiously for The Event to return. It’s filling the space that “24” left when it ended. I’m glad to hear that it’s returning on 2/28. Hope it gets more viewers so it can stay around.
I’m with Tom L. I actually stay away from shows at times BECAUSE I’m worried they’ll be cancelled without resolution (this is especially true with sci-fi). I’ve been burned so many times before on shows that I’ve really liked. Now, I don’t mind a show ending (they ALL have to…and should), but I don’t like what networks do when they just cancel something without alowing resolution (this isn’t a big deal in most series, but it can be a huge deal in a lot of sci-fi series because so many of them are more continous and not just stand-alone episodes).… Read more »
let it play i just watched all ten episodes on de mand and i cant wait for a new season. i would’ve watched it from the beginning if i knew about it . So NBC market your shows a little better and don’t be so quick to give up on them. It’s you money invested remember!
You know this is NBC’s problem, they ALWAYS cancel shows if the ratings start to go down. Well have you ever thought that your ratings dont start out all that high because people are sick and tired of starting to watch a show, week after week, wondering what the next episode is gonna be about, and then all of a sudden no more. NBC just out of no where decides to cancel these episodes and we all get stuck hanging. just my personal choice, but I think I wont be watching NBC shows any longer for the simple reason that… Read more »
Agree with that. NBC is about to make me delete them from my channel list. Whats the point show after show gets cancelled.
I liked it very much.I never missed a show.But the same with all the recent Sci-fi shows,they get you hooked then pull the plug. I’m getting to the point I’m afraid to start watching a new show, knowing it’s just going to get pulled anyway.I just don’t like all the cop/lawyer/murder/medical examiner,etc. fodder they keep feeding us. I LIKE Sci-fi !!!
Just not much sense in watching TV anymore.
I agree with you Tom L. Each time I start watching a good scifi show on a network channel and get really interested in it, then they take it off. Please networks promote something more than these shows with cops and murders. It’s depressing.
All the people that I know that watched the show from the beginning are asking the same question that all of us here are. What is NBC thinking? I liked how, in the beginning, they shifted time scenarios. I don’t know what all the fuss was about. Time smoothed out and I thought they did a great job of giving the audience a past time insight of the story. Very clever, and not over used. Ingenious, the writers and producers knew what they were doing.
NBC, if you don’t get this right, I shall drop you like a bowling ball.
I missed watching “The event” when it first came out, so someone told me about it and I went to Comcast On Demand and watched all 10 episodes this past week. Hey Comcast/NBC get your act together (don’t you belong together now?) and promote it on “ON Demand”. The show is intriguing and I believe follows along real events about aliens. Don’t be surprised when this stuff comes true. 🙂
I agree, this is one of the most intense and mysterious shows in long time and NBC decides not to air remaining 12 episodes when they are struggling with their rating and show was comming up with good numbers. No wander they are last of all major networks when they don’t know good thing when they see it.