The peacock network has announced that they are ordering nine more episodes of The Event. Loyal fans of the series may be overjoyed but, it’s important to look at the news in context with the ratings.
The Event follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter)who’s investigating the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. He slowly begins to uncover the biggest cover-up in the country’s history. 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.
On September 20th, the freshman series had a positive debut with a 3.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.88 million viewers. Unfortunately, viewership didn’t stay at that level for subsequent episodes and the show’s numbers have been declining each week. Last week’s episode fell all the way to a 2.2 demo rating and 6.5 million viewers. That’s a loss of nearly 40% in the all-important demo rating — in just four weeks.
What’s more, The Event has been ranking in third place for the timeslot in the demo numbers. For the first two weeks, it was opposite FOX’s ratings disaster Lone Star but now, running against FOX’s Lie to Me, The Event could easily slip to fourth place.
The NBC press release about the renewal touts that The Event is outperforming last year’s timeslot holder (Trauma) by 30% in the demo. That’s not exactly very hard to do considering Trauma tanked in the ratings right from the start. It only lasted as long as it did because NBC ended up having lots of airtime to fill because of the Jay Leno Show debacle.
While the full season order for The Event is a positive thing for fans who want to see more of it, the series will have to turn their numbers around to survive to see a second season. That’s a really hard thing to do considering the fact that it’s an ongoing serial with lots of mysteries and a growing mythology. History has shown us that this kind of show’s audience typically shrinks over time, not grows.
If the show is cancelled after one season, hopefully the producers will give loyal fans some closure by the last episode — instead of what happened with FlashForward last season.
What do you think? Will The Event see a second season or be cancelled? Why do the ratings keep dropping? How would you attract new viewers — or at least keep those that the show already has?
Image courtesy NBC.
NBC, you are a third place network and if you keep cutting shows after 6 weeks you will be a 4th place network soon. Promote your new shows more. The Event is a cross between “Lost” and “24”. Can’t you see a hit. You need to show replays in time slots where you don’t have snything to show or advertise a marathone for people who didn’t watch from the beginning to see. For heavens sake to drop this hit show.
I love this show. At a time when TV is full, with a few exceptions, of stupid realty shows and cheap unfunny sitcoms, we finally have a show that actually holds my attention. Please, please, please don’t cancel it.
The Event does have acting, and inventive camera work, and a suspenseful plot. Seesawing doubt about the CIA chief’s loyalty are is a nicely original turn; and the actor playing the role is outstanding. Sci-fi is supposed to lift you out of the every day to a realm of wonder. Unfortunately “wonder” to a lot of TV’s audience is wondering why “elitists” dare to say Sarah Palin isn’t intelligent. Almost all crime shows on TV and their direction are from the same mouldering by-the-dots instruction book that died centuries ago but still walks among us! I.e., “Still, I think the… Read more »
I am the target group for advertisers. 57, full time college student, head of household, and the shopper for everything they want to sell. I love the event, and being full time student I watch it on my laptop a lot. You have to watch the ads online, unlike zapping ads when I record it. This is what we want to see, keep it on and wait for the following to build. It takes a couple of seasons for the word to get around to students and working people. How can we commit to a show that is rumored to… Read more »
Amen, sister!
I love this show, but hate that it may be cancelled. Give it time to grow!
I like the drama and unexpectation of the plot, but going back to previous times makes it impossible for me to keep up. If I turn away for a second I may miss “two years ago” and come back and wonder what’s going on. There’s too much flashback. I have to watch it On Demand so I can rewind because that’s the only way I can keep up.
Bring back KINGS!
I kept watching the show and must admit that I like how the storyline is coming together and that I’m glad that I stayed with it. Still, if KINGS were still on I would be so happy.
I’ve been telling myself I need to stop watching this show because I get irritated while watching it but I refuse to let the time I spent with the past episodes go to waste. My biggest pet-peeve is the dating. How do these “aliens” from 66 years ago, still look the same in 2010. Can NBC at least make an effort to make it believeable. 66 years ago would mean tomas would be over 80 years old now..and his mom have to be even older, yet she looks 40!…but then again they are aliens..(i guess). and these flashbacks are draining.… Read more »
If you actually watched the show, you would know the reason they look the same is because they don’t age.
I’m generally into these types of shows (Lost, Heroes, FlashForward, 24), but The Event just isn’t doing it for me. I stuck it out for 4 episodes, but was never compelled to keep watching. It’s not awful, but I’m just not interested in what’s going on.
NBC the next time you try to get me hooked on a new show, I will remember THE EVENT.
This seems like another “Persons Unknown”. It was A LOT of mystery and very little in answers. The Event is trying to build the storyline, but seems quite unsuccessful. It is difficult to watch and many things to remember. The flashbacks are confusing and not very eventful to flashback to. We hope it gets better and I think if the show gives up a few more answers, they will draw a bigger audience. Most people don’t like to feel confused trying to figure out a show. They want to be entertained. Mystery is a good thing but it’s only a… Read more »
I find the flash backs very annoying.So much so that I quit watching lost after the second season.Might have made a good 2 hour movie.I like the story here in the Event(without the flashbacks).Some writers today want to make it so egotistically confusing,that it drives people away.I like to be entertained without straining my brain to figure out 9 different plots.I loved the Unit,and it was taken off.WHY????THE EVENT HAS BEEN LIKE A NEW GIRL FRIEND WHO APPEARS TO INVITE YOU OVER FOR A ROMANTIC WEEKEND,AND THEN DUMPS YOU.NBC QUIT BEFORE THEY STARTED.I COULDN’T EVEN TAPE THE SERIES.Had to record… Read more »
I agree with Terry, the show is awful. The acting is terrible, and so is the storyline. And in regards to Bob’s comment; you truly never watched LOST the way it was meant to be watched. It was about character development, how they interacted, and how every audience member (except you of course) could relate themselves to their situation on or off the island. The Sci Fi aspect to it was to do something no other show has ever done before; to confuse the hell out of you, so as an audience you form websites like LOSTwiki to discuss further… Read more »
LOST was in deed awful, they fool you.
“it was about character development”, really?
Read my comment. I never said the acting was bad on Lost or that it wasn’t enjoyable. I just said it was a stupid storyline that teased you, while mixing fantasy with sci-fi, to a ludicrous end result. TE is not garbage. It may well not have the same quality through and through as Lost but I can at least see a proper story unravel with a few twists and turns to keep me interested along the way. Instead of just doing anything possible to keep the audience hooked. Have you not turned on a TV recently? Garbage is on… Read more »
I just dont think the show is smart enough, everything is predictable.
I love, love, love this show! I will be so upset if it cancels! I loved Flash forward too! If this show gets cancelled, I will be giving up on any new future shows released on network TV!
Oh right. Just because they haven’t put a polar bear on a desert island – It’s not worth unravelling? Lost, the biggest ball of twine in TV history, looked like it was worth it but it totally wasn’t. When you’re finished unravelling after 5 years, you’re left with a polar bear **** – With the words “Fooled you” embossed. Lost… quite easily one of the stupidest stories I’ve ever really enjoyed…most of. Do you not think you might be judging TE too quickly Terry? Plus, I don’t know how any of the flashbacks could confuse you. Perhaps you’d had a… Read more »
Bob, don’t put LOST and “TE” in the same paragraph. Read my full comment.
I watched THE EVENT with a sense of hopeful optimism last week on British tv. Sadly, this was optimism misplaced. Once you strip away the excessive and confusing flashbacks, you are left with a very thin and weak storyline (and a format which is actually over 50 percent padding) concerning aliens who conveniently share 99 percent of our DNA . Isn’t this just a cheap way of avoiding having to make the aliens seem more interesting? Let’s face it – Homo Erectus had less in common with our DNA than that, and they WERE interesting! The flashbacks do not make… Read more »