Last night, NBC aired the series finale of The Event. As fans know all too well, the series has struggled in the ratings for much of the season and the network decided to cancel the show last week after just 20 episodes.
The Event started decently in the ratings but the numbers quickly declined. Once they fell as low as a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, NBC decided to pull it and planned to relaunch the series in early 2011. When they did, the ratings dropped even lower.
The producers knew there was a good chance that The Event wouldn’t be back for a second season and tried to give viewers some sense of satisfaction. They constructed the finale so that it would answer some questions but leave plenty of room for a second season, just in case they got lucky. Though it was cancelled, there’s still a glimmer of hope that it may continue elsewhere.
If you missed it, you can catch up with what happened on the series finale or watch it below. Either way, we’d like to know what you thought.
Was there enough information to satisfy you? Would you recommend that people watch the series or not bother because it doesn’t have a definitive ending? Which unresolved questions or storylines will bug you the most?
Image courtesy NBC.
I loved The Event from the first show and it just got better. This is one of the few shows I have come to look forward to, it gives hope for mankind, because I am sure some day in the future this kind of scenario may become all to real. We need to know what to believe and what to question. We are all part of the same plan, the Event was a glimpse into that future and would we survive as a species. Yes they have their own agenda, but would we act any differently in their position? KUDOS
Let’s face it, The Event was too similar to Flash Forward, and thus suffered the same fate.
With respect to viewers, I really do not wish to offend anyone and nor do I want to sound elitist, but programmes like “The Event”, “V”, “Flash Forward” and even “Lost” require a lot of skills that many viewers simply do not possess. These shows all have complex plotlines that span long time periods AND continuously require both the introduction of new characters and several interweaving storylines, some of which occur randomly. This requires good memory skills, an ability to understand multifaceted issues and a good working knowledge of current affairs and key international agencies or concepts. Viewers lose interest… Read more »
I love The Event!
I believe it would be a serious mistake to cancel this show……
Alot of World events have happened in the news this year that would easily pull focus from any television series, to not take this into serious consideration is simply ridiculous.
Again, it would be a mistake to cancel this show, among others that should stay, V.
Barb
IF NBC executives had half a brain with half their balls in tact, they would put the EVENT back on, resign them to more episodes period. We have been TV series watchers for YEARS, and we’ve seen series come and go, and the last five years of programming, they tend to time slot good shows in the wrong time slots, and they leave the corny, cult-like, boring, same old soup-but-different-day shows on to make the audience search for other types of programming. What in the world are they thinking? Put the show back on in the right time slot on… Read more »
I don’t know if they are relying on “Nielsen” still to rate this stuff, or if they have come up with some other mysterious way of collecting data, but like many of my preceeding commentors, I’m baffled. Of the 5 shows THE EVENT included, that my husband and I religiously watched, THREE were cancelled. Yes, we have to DVR them because we do not work “normal” hours, and would not bother paying for cable or dish if we had to rely on watching “live TV”. We couldn’t qualify as a “Nielsen” family because we are MAC people not Microsoft. So… Read more »
I think the networks screwed up in a number of different ways which ultimately effected the ratings of a lot of shows. *Scheduling was an issue: lots of breaks in the shows (1-2 new episodes per month) *To much competing with each other by playing all the shows same time verses spreading the shows out (Monday nights a bunch of shows being played, if they were all new) *Cut back on number of episodes (House increased 1 episode this yr vrs last yr, but most of my shows decreased) I was a 24 fan, FOX did 24 episodes in 19-20… Read more »
But, American writers are not as skilled in writing multi episode arcs either. If anyone compares a season of almost ANY BBC series, Dr. Who, Torchwood, Primeval, and so on… You will see that things in one episode from the beginning are just as important in the end. US shows throw in so many non related episodes in a season that do nothing to advance a storyline… I think there are possible writers who can do such arcs, but I do not know if the networks are the ones killing this creative flow or if in fact the writers do… Read more »
I am a Trekkie who enjoyed The Event series and am disappointed that it has been cancelled. Plot wise, Sophia’s seemingly effortless abandonment of her “prime directive” to do no harm easily substituted by a thirst for genocide seems contrived. However, her willingness in the season finale to “do no further harm” , coupled with the arrival of her impaired planet into Earth’s solar system (whose star is not imploding), could develop into a more contemporaryt version of Star Trek’s “First Contact” .
Here is hoping that Earth and all of its neighbors will survive in peace and prosperity
Well I think you missed the part where it was said that by giving people on Earth the virus, they were actually doing us a favor.
She knew that and found it to be the better option.
As Simon said, when they Evolve, I can only imagine it will be ala SG-1 and the Ancients, I think there will have been a catastrophic event that kills most life on Earth….
Although from my point of view, if that was so, why not stay on your broken up planet then???
You have reminded me that we (baby boomer) trekkies are hopelessly optimistic about the future.
I have the last 12 eps waiting to watch this summer when there’s nothing on. Once I heard it was to be cancelled, I stopped watching and decided just to save them to watch in series order.
The Event was excellent programming in a bad time slot!! Enjoyed the ending but wanted MORE DETAILS!! Idiots in programming would do well to keep good shows like this and get rid game shows like Minute to Win It!!
How about putting Event in that slot instead?!!!
You tell it… The ratings for MTW was about the same.
Minute to Win It costs almost nothing to make. That is the difference, unfortunately.
I didn’t like the end. I was hoping for a non-happy ending for once. Even when it seems like the humanity will be wipe out, although it is not clear how, I think it would be great if, for once, the bad guys can win. I would let the good guys to stop one of the points of distribution, but fail at the very last moment….. And again, like with flashforward, they leave an open ending hoping to find someone to continue the series… it won’t happen!!!
I love that you watched flashforward but I’m mad you wanted the human population to be wiped out. I think if that would have happened then there wouldn’t have been much room for growth but then again it was the series finale and that would have been cool too.
I am getting discouraged. Every TV show that comes along that has some promise or intrigues me gets pushed into a late night slot and/or cancelled. These silly reality shows seem to hog prime time and I think that is part of the problem. Put the real entertainment on in prime time and shove the other nonsense to the late night slot, then perhaps the good stuff will win out.
You are right…I don’t think they consider the competition that is out there on a Monday night or any night for that matter. I think before getting rid of a show they must consider changing the day and/or time.
These TV network executives are all a bunch of clueless brain dead morons!! They cancel every show that isn’t some cancerous reality TV nonsense! It amazes me how retarded these people are it really does!!
I loved the event and no ordinary family and as i think i speak for most people when i say im tired of these good shows being cancelled when all these other shows i never freakin watch that suck keep going???
Well said Anthony. I said the same thing to my girlfriend. You set your dvr for all these shows and then just when you get into it, they whack it. Makes me really upset. The networks just screw us over.
They screw us BIG TIME.
This show certainly didn’t have to be cancelled. My wife and I enjoyed it immensly.The ending was just terrific very suspenceful I would compare it to “24”in its heyday. NBC and Fox must be run by the same people because they kill great programming and replace it with mediocre fare.