NBC’s struggling serial drama, The Event, returns tonight after 13 weeks away. The network has been giving the series some nice promotion and is bringing it back with a two back-to-back episodes. Will that be enough?
The Event had a solid debut back in September with a 3.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.88 million viewers. Unfortunately, it fell nearly 20% in week two and another 17% in week three. The ratings kept falling until they seemed to even off at a 1.7 rating and about 5.5 million viewers. That’s a far cry from the promise that the series once held.
NBC put the ailing series on hiatus at the end of November, promising a big relaunch in late February. That return was later bumped to tonight to make room for The Cape, another casualty of the timeslot.
Networks have tried putting serial dramas on long hiatuses in the past and they just don’t work out. Many viewers assume that a series like The Event has already been cancelled, that they won’t remember what was going on, or have gotten into the habit of watching other shows. Whatever the reason, a show like The Event has to fight to get the viewers who were watching pre-hiatus to return, never mind attracting new ones.
Sadly, it seems that it will take a ratings miracle to save The Event at this point and NBC certainly hasn’t shown a lot of confidence in getting new people to give the show a try. More than half of the audience who were interested enough to watch the premiere, left over the course of the first 10 episodes. Of those who did stick around, it’s reasonable to expect that a sizable percentage have moved on after 13 weeks.
If you check our season rankings to date, you’ll see that The Event is currently in the middle of the pack with a 2.2 rating and 6.86 million. If the new episodes can attract the same number of pre-hiatus viewers, it will slowly sink lower down the list. If The Event starts doing Cape-like numbers (a 1.2 in the demo), it’ll fall much quicker.
Either way, unless the ratings turnaround or NBC has no faith in its new pilots, it’s very doubtful that The Event will be coming back for season two.
What do you think? Will you be watching The Event? What could NBC do to save this series or is it too late already? Is it worth saving?
Image courtesy NBC.
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CANCELLATION NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Please,can`t be cancell,I know so much people anhappy with the idea,keep goin with the event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dont do that,is so good!Cancellation?NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep,please,can be so good as lost!PLEASE!!!!!
We love The Event. It is our replacement for 24 and LOST. I really hope the keep it around!!!
I like it a lot!! please dont cancel
People just don’t have faith in NBC. So they stop watching b4 they get disappointed.
Please keep The event!! This show is awesome. It’s the only show I look forward to all week! SAVE THE EVENT!!!!!!
I LOVE this show!!! NBC please don’t cancel. This show has replaced 24 for me. I am completely obsessed and can’t wait to find out what’s ahead.
Great cast, great storyline… more realistic and less corney that ABC’s ‘V’. The concept of both shows are compelling, exciting and enjoyable to watch, but ‘The Event” gives you a more dramatic storyline without having to be over the top and cheesey with the Sci-Fi in your face stuff. It starts to become cartoony when the special effect are over done. I love the writing. Very intriguing series.
please keep the event on
The show is smart and compelling. NBC, don’t cancel it; promote it!
I,m really disapointed about the show because it was wonderful. and the ratings are low.
I hope they continue the series. It has kept me watching from the begining
Show is developing really nicely. I really like that they aren’t afraid to kill of characters when they served their purpose, it keeps it fresh and keeps you guessing. KEEP!!!!