So that was THE EVENT, that was...

Like many shows before it, THE EVENT was hyped as the successor to Lost before making its debut last autumn--a marketing plot that's officially become the kiss of death for new sci-fi drama. I dearly wish the American marketing folk would use less hyperbole; all they do is inflate expectations to unreasonable levels, secure a healthy audience for the expensive premiere, and then wonder why there's such a sharp and painful decline in viewership. Of course, in The Event's case, it was understandable why people grew bored of it after a month or so: the limp central characters, the annoying ambiguity of the "non-terrestrials" enemies (or misunderstood friends?), the ludicrously arcane dialogue, that irritating overuse of flashbacks...

By the time we'd started the back-half of the season (after another of those preposterously long hiatuses that kill a show dead all by themselves), I had stopped reviewing the show because I was just repeating the same points over and over. But I did keep watching on Channel 4 here in the UK, as I'm a sucker for most things sci-fi and, to be fair, The Event did return from hiatus with a few exciting developments. And here's the thing: The Event actually got quite good once it admitted it's 24-with-aliens and embraced the possibilities of that concept.

There were always overtones of Fox's 24 in the show, primarily because The Event likewise utilizes the President of the United States as a main character, but the second-half of The Event started to borrow from the now-defunct action thriller more and more. We had a black President (Blair Underwood) being removed from power by the 25th Amendment; a misguided Vice President (Bill Smitrovich) who became the show's "Charles Logan" figure because of his corruption and role as the enemy's pawn; and de facto hero Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) ditched his dreary fiance Leila (Sarah Roemer) to globe-trot with bad-girl-gone-good Vicky (smoking hot Taylor Cole). Sean's no Jack Bauer figure (the one element The Event couldn't replicate within its ensemble), but he was doing Bauer-lite things on a weekly basis. The story even took some later turns into pure 24 territory by having the aliens try to decimate the world's population using a doomsday virus—even lifting a memorable set-piece from 24's fifth season, regarding a shopping mall test-site for a lethal contagion.

And let's face it, in a US TV landscape that no longer has 24 on its airwaves, The Event's decision to copy that show worked in its favour. It helped that it was even free of 24's often problematic real-time format (Sean and Vicky could jet to France and back over a few episodes), and its sci-fi underpinnings could raise the stakes to a level that would be far too ludicrous even for 24. Bauer had to deal with nationwide threats on a regular basis, but The Event could takes things truly global—with literally billions of lives hanging in the balance.

In the season/series finale, the writers even answered the core question used to promote the show all last summer: "What Is The Event?" Well, the answer wasn't crystal clear, but it has something to do with a predicted moment of volatile "evolution" for the aliens. A moment that so concerned them they left Earth millennia before humans ever existed. I'm still scratching my head, if I'm honest, and I'm not sure the writers really know the details, but at least we have an idea that "the event" is something genetic and relevant to alien physiology.

I'm rather annoyed The Event has been cancelled now, which surprised me. The majority of season 1's second-half was mostly enjoyable and silly fun, even if it started copying the broad strokes of a different show entirely. The year's big cliffhanger also promised huge change and excitement for a second season we'll now never see, as the alien race literally transported their entire planet to sit beside Earth. Forget about the science of that actually happening (imagine the gravitational effects on Earth's rotation and tides, for starters!), and consider the awesome visual of an alien world suddenly appearing in the sky. There's no way to contain that in a government conspiracy! How would the world have reacted to this event in season 2? Would our characters have visited the alien planet at some point, or would that have been beyond the budget? And was it always the plan to end the season on this note, or was it just an epic final image the producers wanted to leave fans agog with, forever, knowing their show was doomed?

I don't know. But I do know that The Event, while never able to shake off its core problems, definitely improved as it time ticked along, and became an enjoyable and reliably entertaining piece of nonsense. With a whole summer to rethink their tactics, flesh-out some characters, introduce some fresh faces, and tackle the things that went wrong, I suspect The Event could have returned later with an even better sophomore season. It's just a pity US TV shows are launched on a tidal wave of hype most nascent shows can never justify from their pilots, as many shows need a whole year to find their voice, realize their strengths, and iron out their problems. I don't blame anyone for giving up on The Event as early as episode 3 or 4, and I'm not saying it evolved into a truly wonderful show by the end... but it most definitely became a consistently fun one. I'll miss it more than FlashForward, anyway...

NBC end 'The Event'; ABC vaporize 'V'

Unsurprisingly, NBC have decided to cancel their sci-fi mystery drama The Event. The show has been averaging 7.4 million viewers this season, which isn't enough to justify the cost. On a similar note to FlashForward, the show was hyped as "the next Lost" and publicity surrounding it resulted in strong ratings for the pilot (10.8m), but audience interest dropped sharply. On the surface, a 24-esque mystery thriller with aliens replacing the terrorists should have been a winner, but great concepts are only half the battle.

I'm still watching The Event on Channel 4, although I stopped reviewing it mid-season. Again like FlashForward, it started to become oddly enjoyable once the writing was on the wall, as I suspect the writers have thrown caution to the wind and started to just do whatever they can to keep your interest.

ABC have also decided to cancel alien invasion drama V after two seasons, which isn't entirely unexpected either... but more of a shame. The remake couldn't shake deep problems with the quality of its characters/actors, but I quite enjoyed the majority of season 2 (in terms of its pace and bravado), while Morena Baccarin's performance as alien queen Anna was singlehandedly worth tuning in for. Considering the potential for a far more ostentatious and exciting third season (if season 2's cliffhanger is to be taken at face value), I'm saddened we won't be seeing more of the sexy space-lizards... how about you?

'THE EVENT' 1.11 & 1.12 - "And Then There Were More" & "Inostranka"

Every TV show needs need characters the audiences care about and want to watch every week. It sounds so simple. But that's the key ingredient missing from The Event, and all of the Lost-inspired shows that have failed to replicate that island mystery's success. They seem to have willfully forgotten that Lost spent the majority of its first season as a piecemeal character study and castaway drama (with only occasional weirdness), not the knotty sci-fi spectacle it became.

The Event doesn't have great characters you can feel passionate about, just (mostly) decent actors trying their best to imbue two-dimensional plot-movers with some semblance of depth. Jason Ritter's a likeable guy, but did you ever care about his character Sean's search for his kidnapped fiancé? Or his drippy fiancé Leila's resulting search for her kid sister? Not really. Blair Underwood's charismatic, but are you behind his stoical President to the extent you were 24's President Palmer -- who's the clear inspiration? Unlikely. Are there any other characters we're supposed to feel engaged with -- considering the majority are aliens with hazy motives, at best? I don't see any. To add further estrangement, they all speak in riddles and vagaries -- even when they're sharing the screen with characters they don't need to be so unforthcoming around.

I'm past caring what "The Event" is now (if the writers even know), although I'm not angry the show's been teasing us with its titular mystery. Well, when it remembers to. The series has arguably provided more answers in its first dozen hours than Lost managed in two whole seasons, so how it's drip-feeding answers isn't too much of an issue. As I said, the key problem is how it's hard to care about a show that's 90% governed by plot and more excited by its premise than the viewers. I mean, ultimately, it's hard to see The Event going anywhere beyond an alien invasion scenario. We got that in the first 10-minutes of the V remake, and The X Files already spent years teasing a similar apocalypse that didn't even occur in its lifespan.

There's a lot of running around trying to catch "non-terrestrial" terrorists in The Event; plus sub-mysteries about kidnapped children with craggy faces, that undoubtedly tie into the bigger mystery. But without characters you care about it's all for naught.

Here's a game I play sometimes, in my head: if any of these characters were killed, would you feel the tragedy from the comfort of your sofa? I'm guessing not. Compare The Event's current status to Lost's first season, where pretty much every character could have died mid-season and I'd have felt the loss.

To some extent, I blame the decision to imbue The Event with forward-momentum akin to 24, only minus the real-time aspect. This has definitely given us quicker answers to questions, but almost by necessity rather than planning. You simply can't write a story as fast as The Event and keep as tightlipped as most mysteries would prefer, but it also means you can't develop characters particularly well. 24 often struggled, but it helped that the show was an ensemble with the focus on Jack Bauer. The Event's an ensemble with no focus -- with characters spread all over the place. The writers are just trying to keep various plates spinning. A few characters also disappear for extended periods, until the writers think of a way to bring them back.

This hasn't been a review of The Event's two-part mid-season return so far. Apologies. That's because I don't have much to say about particular developments in "And Then There Were More" and "Inostranka". As usual, stuff happened: Leila found her sister and discovered her dad's an alien, the President tried to keep a lid on the alien cover-up, and Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) played Bruce Willis in a takeover of Inostranka by Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr), who was playing the Hans Gruber role.

FlashForward had a decent re-launch to try and correct its problems last year, which ultimately failed, but The Event chose to continue like it had never been away for almost four months. Maybe these episodes were in the can before the writers knew they'd be part of last gasp attempt to lure back viewers. The only noteworthy difference was the absence of any annoying flashbacks (a device that's wisely been disposed of, the writers say), and the debut of Virginia Madsen as an Alaskan governor who stumbles onto the top secret Mount Inostranka project. Madsen's a wonderful actress, but like all of the actors involved with The Event, she still has to work with the dicey material she's given. It's like getting Luciano Pavarotti to sing Pop Goes The Weasel.

I will probably continue watching The Event until the end of season 1, partly because it's a "dead show walking" according to the ratings (this two-part relaunch only mustered 5.23m), but reviews won't be weekly occurrences. How about you? Did you stop watching The Event early on? If so, did you come back to see this relaunch? Was it good enough to keep you watching more? Is the fact it's unlikely to be renewed for a second season putting you off?

"And Then There Were More" written by David H. Goodman (story by Leyani Diaz & Vanessa Rojas) / "Inostranka" written by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie (story by David Schulner) / directed by Jeffrey Reiner / 7 March 2011 / NBC

Channel 4 receive 519 complaints about 'The Event'

519 people have officially complained about the loss of The Event from Channel 4's schedule, owing to the show going on hiatus in the US. The sci-fi mystery drama will return to NBC on 7 March with a two-hour special intended to revamp the series (they're ditching the multiple flashbacks, I hear.) Channel 4 should hopefully resume airing it next month.

Obviously the British complainers don't realize Channel 4 are at the mercy of NBC's schedule, which is the downside of UK broadcasters trying to please fans by narrowing the trans-Atlantic transmission gap from months to weeks. You didn't get complaints like this when UK broadcasters were airing US TV shows straight through with no interruptions, because they'd only started showing it 6-12 months after its US premiere. And that's a good thing.

Still, 519 Brits are passionate enough about The Event to have actually lodged a formal complaint. That's surprising. FlashForward was similarly popular in the UK, and overseas, so what is it about these kind of shows that Brits like? Is it simply the fact they're being shown on terrestrial channels, which is a rarity for US hits nowadays? It's easy to forget that many, many people in the UK don't have access to cable/satellite and don't buy or rent TV box-sets. For those people, US shows like The Event, FlashForward and Heroes must feel like special treats.

'THE EVENT' 1.10 – "Everything Will Change"

I think this is where my reviews of The Event come to an end. "Everything Will Change" was another episode where things happened, but it's hard to care. Leila (Sarah Roemer) and Sean (Jason Ritter) found the whereabouts of her sister Samantha, hidden beneath a hospital (accessible with everyday keycards the staff hand out to visitors?); Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr) once again split from his mother Sophia's (Laura Innes) plans, having created a satellite to communicate with their homeworld and launching it aboard a missile the US mistook as a nuclear warhead; and the episode's stab at a climactic shock was tepidly revealing that Leila's father Michael is an alien -- as he hasn't aged in photos dating back to the '40s. I suppose there's added intrigue now about Leila, who's assumedly an alien-human hybrid, particularly as Sophia seemed to be against her kind procreating with humans. It's evidently achievable, but is Leila unable to reproduce herself, or something? What exactly is the danger? Longterm overpopulation, if Leila and her offspring have similar lifespans to the aliens?

The problem I have with The Event is that it's one of those shows that has a decent enough premise, but doesn't know how to make the audience care about any of it. You can accept the idea that Sean cared about rescuing his fiancé, and then helping Leila find her sister, but do we truly care? On paper we should (a missing sister isn't something to be happy about), but the writers haven't constructed compelling actors and relationships for us to invest in the situation. Also, the fact Sean is ostensibly the lead actor, but has spent the majority of this season stuck in the least interesting storyline, is a disastrous issue that needs to be fixed.

It would be much simpler if Sean was a Jack Bauer-meets-Fox Mulder typ, fighting to expose an alien conspiracy involving the US government. Trouble is, we spend half our time with the President (Blair Underwood), so the government will never be perceived as all-out villains because we're sympathetic towards them. Likewise, Sophia still doesn't seem that unreasonable, so the show's alien leader isn't a menace, and her son Thomas isn't really a dangerous warmonger either. In fact, you get the impression the whole show would resolve amicably if the President, Sophia and Thomas simply had a meeting and came to an arrangement: the aliens give mankind great technology (like a drug to make the elderly live longer, which is why Dempsey has been experimenting on children), and in return the humans will help them get back to their homeworld. Or agree to let some of the aliens remain on Earth as citizens, with caveats. Why is that so impossible?

The overuse of flashbacks has also been a terrible crutch, designed to make the plot feel knottier than it really is. But considering the show's similarities to 24 (which was vehemently linear in structure), why not keep the flashbacks as irregular treats to contextualize things, but keep the show rolling like an unstoppable boulder? I don't see how a sci-fi version of 24 is so hard to achieve, really.

Maybe I'll check-in with occasional reviews next year (if there's a notable upswing in quality that honours this episode's title), but considering all the new mid-season shows starting in the new year, I suspect The Event will be replaced in my blogging rotation with something new... and, hopefully, better.

WRITERS: David Schulner & Nick Wauters
DIRECTOR: Norberto Barba
TRANSMISSION: 17 December 2010, Channel 4/HD, 10PM

'THE EVENT' 1.9 - "Your World To Take"

I'm close to giving up on The Event (having already decided to switch to UK-paced reviews so close to the mid-season hiatus), but something keeps me watching. Maybe it's the uncertainty with the aliens, regarding their long-term plans, motivations and back-story. With the exception of Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr) they seem like reasonable people who don't mean us any outright harm, and Thomas was only taking desperate measures to secure the release of his mother Sophia (Laura Innes) and maintain the secrecy of his people. In many ways, it's the humans who are the real villains: President Martinez (Blair Underwood) represents a country that detained aliens for no apparent reason, other than they fact they're aliens; while Dempsey (Hal Holbrook) is using alien DNA to experiment on human children he kidnaps, in the hope of reversing the ageing process. Or so it seems.

"Your World To Take" threw up a few good moments, all exclusive to the alien storyline. Sophia realized that the majority of her people don't want to return home, as "the sleepers" have made lives for themselves on Earth and don't see their native world as a viable place to live now; Thomas was coerced by his girlfriend Isabel (Necar Zadegan) into seizing power from his mother, which didn't go according to plan; and Leila (Sarah Roemer) and Sean (Jason Ritter) found the parents of a missing girl who was held captive with Leila's sister before she escaped, and tried to find clues to her whereabouts.

I liked the suggestion that Sophia's been locked away for so long that she's lost touch with what the majority of her kind want. She seems oddly determined to get her people home, despite the fact it sounds like their planet is a hellhole compared to Earth. This appears to be because she believed their presence will cause lasting damage to humanity. I assume she means human-lien offspring are not a good idea, as hybrids don't survive long? If so, are there really so many aliens that them having short-lived progeny would affect the world's population to any noticeable extent? Then again, these aliens appear to live a very long time (perhaps hundreds, maybe thousands of years), so she may be thinking a few millennia ahead.

It was also great to see Sophia justify her standing as leader within the show, in how she went about trying to reassert her power with her son and his conniving girlfriend. The final scene with Sophia forcing Isabel to shoot herself in the leg, in order to prove her loyalty, was exactly the kind of tension The Event needs to find more examples of, more often.

On the downside, everything involving Leila and Sean is becoming almost unwatchable. Sean's one-man battle to find his fiancé worked quite well in the early episode, but now he's been joined by his rescued fiancé and both their attention is focused on her sister, it's losing something for me. Maybe it's because the search is so one-sided, as you can't flip to see things from Samantha's perspective, because the actress isn't old enough to do anything but look like a victim. Maybe it's because Roemer's limited acting skill is becoming clearer, or that Ritter's charisma's burnt its fuse. If they were stronger characters, it might not be so bad, but it's difficult to really care about them and their search.

Asides

• The show has been compared to 24 (minus the real time format, but with aliens as villains) and that feels increasingly apt. The fact Necar Zadegan is fresh from appearing in 24's final season as Dalia Hassan certainly gave this episode more of a 24 vibe than usual, too.
• During the opening seminar, with Sophia addressing a huge room full of "sleepers", did anyone else think of Roald Dahl's The Witches? I was half-expecting Sophia to ask everyone to "rrrremove zer vigs!"
• I think the theory that Sophia's people are from the future is well and truly kaput now. They talk about their planet in terms that aren't loose enough to mean a future Earth. But if they're true aliens, why do they resemble humans so much, including having different ethnic looks? Just something you'll have to suspend your disbelief about?

WRITERS: Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie
DIRECTOR: Michelle MacLaren
TRANSMISSION: 10 December 2010, Channel 4/HD, 9PM

'THE EVENT' 1.8 - "For The Good Of Our Country"

I think that's me done reviewing this series at US pace. It's frankly not good enough to require a fortnight's jump on the UK broadcast "For The Good Of The Country" used the flashbacks in a more competent way (as the show has done post-episode 6), shedding light on a particular character's past, but I still don't see why The Event needs to be using flashbacks so extensively. It should stick to the forward momentum of the current story, which is where it's occasionally built in-the-moment thrills. As it stands, it's kind of like watching an episode of 24 and getting a sudden flashback to explain Jack Bauer's decision to torture someone. It's just not necessary and drags the pace.

The Event seems to be using flashbacks so heavily because, well, it worked for Lost. What they're ignoring (or trying to work around because the A-story isn't strong enough to handle full attention), is that Lost's characters were enigmas the audience wanted to know more about, whereas The Event's mystery is primarily plot-based. Nobody really cares about seeing exactly how Vice President Jarvis (Bill Smitrovich) was recruited by villain Dempsey (Hal Holbrook) to organize the kamikaze attack on the President's retreat, especially if the episode's reveals don't amount to anything by the end. Jarvis winds up taking important information to his grave, and what we learned has no lasting significance.

It also didn't help that this week's story for Sean (Jason Ritter) and Leila (Sarah Roemer) was ripped straight from a Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, with Sean suffering a gunshot wound and Leila kidnapping a doctor from a hospital to help with his injury. Cue the predictable trip to a pharmacy for supplies where (surprise, surprise) two cops strolled in. It was all very humdrum, although the level of research into how to treat a gunshot wound using items from a chemist was fascinating. Not that I'm an expert, but it felt realistic and persuasive. It's just a pity Roemer was required to shoulder the weight of this story, as it singularly proved her abilities aren't up to the challenge. Suddenly out of her comfort zone (smiling girlfriend, frightened victim), Roemer floundered and sank her scenes.

There were no direct ties to the aliens (sorry, EBEs) this week, which hurt the show. In concentrating on the White House staff and Sean/Leila it lost its uniqueness, becoming a lax 24 knockoff. And it's frustrating that we still don't have a clear handle on why Dempsey needed to prevent the President (Blair Underwood) releasing the detained aliens and took such drastic measures. It's like being 8 episodes into a season of 24, where you're not sure what the terrorists even want yet, and that makes the whole thing tough to get behind.

Overall, I'll keep watching because I'm a sucker for sci-fi shows that squander their potential in fascinatingly inept ways (FlashForward, Heroes), and I guess it's encouraging that NBC are "re-launching" the show in February after winter hiatus. The problem is, if the writers demystify the things that make it hard to engage with the story/characters, it thus loses the mystery it's predicated in.

WRITERS: David H. Goodman & James Wong
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Reiner
TRANSMISSION: 15 November 2010, NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.7 - "I Know Who You Are"

This week's flashbacks were better enmeshed in the story and had thematic resonance to the present-day, so in that sense The Event came closer to echoing Lost than ever before. But let's not get carried away here; "I Know Who You Are" was just okay for a disposable sci-fi caper, told in the manner of a perfunctory hour of 24. It's therefore a pity Sean (Jason Ritter) is no Kiefer Sutherland, because what The Event lacks is an actor with muscle who can shoulder the ridiculousness of this show, allowing the audience to latch onto them when all else fails. Ritter's been fine as the resourceful everyman type, but his character's beginning to bore me ever since he rescued his fiancé.

Sean and Leila (Sarah Roemer) learned of the involvement of aliens this week -- or, more accurately, Extra-Terrestrial Biological Entities. EBE's -- is that what we're meant to call them now? From there, Sean and Leila agreed to accompany conspiracy "nut" Madeline (Paula Malcomson) to see her code-breaking friend, who can decrypt a list of female names and numbers that Leila's father wrote down in a journal. Credit to the writers for lifting the curtain on this subplot finally, as it became clear the man behind chasing Sean, who also had Leila's sister kidnapped and organized the kamikaze attack on the President's retreat, is an ageing man called Dempsey (Hal Holbrook). He's someone who appears to be dying and, once we learn that the list of female names belong to kidnapped little girls with wrinkled faces (in a freaky final shot), it seems obvious his plan is to use alien DNA to prolong his lifespan. It's suddenly become very X Files, no?

However, the episode was mainly focused on Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek), whose character/career was fleshed out via a 14-year-old flashback to the time his beautiful wife was exposed as a Russian spy by his belligerent father. In having his trust compromised to heartlessly, this led to Blake becoming a very insular, suspicious man, and his past echoed a current situation with word of a "mole" in his team. The prime suspect is the convalescing Agent Lee (Ian Anthony Dale), but fortunately Lee's fellow aliens (sorry, EBE's) are able to frame the innocent agent who pointed the finger at Lee to begin with, which satisfied Blake and has thus maintained Lee's cover at the CIA.

We also learned that Sophia (Laure Innes) is the mother of Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr), and that Thomas's 60-year-plan has been to develop mankind's technology so it can reach a level advantageous to people getting home. Thomas has had success developing wormholes, but so far they can only teleport large objects a few thousand miles, and to extend its range for a trip home they'll need to find nuclear components.

This leaves me reiterating this question: why don't the aliensEBE's come clean about their desire to get home, and strike a deal with the President to let that happen? Help us get home and we'll return the favour by giving you improved technology? I also don't understand why the EBE's were detained for decades, with no positive outcome. Were they interrogated? Wouldn't you question aliens about a thousand different things, if you had so many under lock and key? As far as I can tell, locking up Sophia and her compatriots only succeeded in angering the escapees so much they've spent 60 years trying to get the others released, at whatever cost. And that's understandable, no? The more I think about it, the more I'm siding with the EBE's.

Overall, I think it's becoming clear that The Event's beginning to drift into FlashForward-level quality, but is being kept afloat because it's doing a reasonable job unspooling its mystery. Then again, I'm not sure if there even is a "mystery" (beyond the ominous series title - which hasn't been referred to in ages), as large swathes of the show doesn't feel that mysterious to me. I have questions and want clarifications on many things, sure, but a good mystery is told in a manner than demonstrates that it's worth the viewer's time. So far, The Event is already ignored some plot-holes (like how Sean ever got onto a passenger plane with a gun in the pilot), and it feels like the writers are half-improvising the majority of events.

Like FlashForward, The Event's starting to rely on erratic action sequences and bizarre cliffhangers to hold your attention -- and that works, to a point, but after awhile you start craving a tangible sign The Event has real ambition and, more importantly, the talent to see it through. It would also be nice to have characters who, alone, are worth tuning in to watch every week. The annoying thing is how The Event has some high-quality actors at its disposal -- like Emmy winner Ivanek -- but even in a more character-focused episode like "I Know Who You Are" the material wasn't strong enough to truly stretch him.

What did you think? Are you close to ditching The Event? Is it brainless fun, best enjoyed in the moment? Or do you think it's showing signs of improvement most weeks?

Asides

• If you enter a room full of little girls playing with dolls, and they don't turn around to acknowledge you entering the room, expect bad things when they do show their faces. It's one of life's little rules.
• Does Thomas have an Oedipus complex? I get a weird vibe between him and Sophia. Just me?
• Is Laura Innes a cutprice Julianne Moore?

WRITERS: Evan Katz & Lisa Zwerling
DIRECTOR: Milan Cheylov
TRANSMISSION: 8 November 2010, NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.6 - "Loyalty"

"Loyalty" appeared to commence The Event's "second cycle" after last week's mini-climax, suggesting the show will be hitting regular turning points. I'm increasingly likening The Event to 24, which also divided its seasons into "batches", accumulating into a full season's story. That feels like the correct direction to take for this series, as The Event doesn't have much depth of characterisation, so it might as well focus on delivering 5-6 episode waves of action, where the characters are gradually solving a deeper mystery.

There were three main storylines in play this week: Sean (Jason Ritter) told Leila (Sarah Roemer) about her mother's murder and sister's kidnapping, agreeing to take her back home to look for clues, where they met investigative reporter (Paula Malcomson), who revealed Leila's father discovered a secret facility called Inostranka in Alaska; the President's (Blair Underwood) team tracked Sophia's (Laura Innes) movements on the city's subway, unaware she's receiving help from CIA Agent Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) in avoiding detection, so Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr.) can reach her without blowing his cover; and flashbacks to 1954 revealed Lee was once in love with a beautiful woman, whom he was forced to leave in order to maintain his cover with Thomas.

The flashbacks were handled well for once -- actually shedding light on Lee's character and making him more sympathetic, while showing us the downside of slow-aging aliens falling in love with humans, when Lee was reacquainted with an elderly Val at the turn-of-the-millennium, 50 years after he left her without a word of explanation. It was an angle I expected The Event to explore, and while it deserved more screentime to sell it, I thought it worked as something character-based to break up the action. Dale was actually rather good in the bedside scene where he atoned for his actions to his aged sweetheart. It all showed that Lee's a benevolent man, as Sophia appears to be (despite being detained for decades!), which makes you wonder what they see in Thomas, who comes across as a hardhearted villain.

Now we know the Buchanan's were targeted because Leila's father discovered the Inostranka facility, which appears to be situated in an area of UFO activity, according to clippings in a scrapbook. That seems to suggest Carter (D.B Sweeney) and Vicky acted on behalf of Inostranka officials, who were against the President releasing the aliens they'd detained indefinitely, and hired them to kill two birds with one stone: assassinating the President using a plane piloted by the meddling Michael Buchanan. I guess that makes sense, if that's the case.

Overall, "Loyalty" was another enjoyable and reasonable episode, with a few standout sequences: the way in which Sophia escaped detection by having Lee generate multiple targets using spiked water at a coffee shop; and the visually stunning sequence towards the end, with Thomas escaping with Sophia as his hideout imploded with the appearance of another portal. I wonder if the rubble will be transported to Arizona, as the plane was...

How are you enjoying The Event so far? Is it taking shape, or becoming a bore?

Asides

• My pet theory that the "aliens" are humans from the future appears to have smashed, as Lee mentions the lack of water where his people come from. Unless this was an intentional red herring (and Lee just didn't live near the coast), it suggests the planet the aliens come from doesn't have H20. So it can't be a future Earth, surely. But really, aliens that are only 2% different to human physiology, consequently comprised of water, come from a planet with no water? Ridiculous. So does that mean the aliens only assumed human appearance after their crash-landing?
• I'm guessing this portal technology is what Thomas has been working on, as a means for his people to return home. As of right now, I'm wondering why the government don't just help these aliens get back home, seeing as how the ones who escaped detention in the '40s have done nothing but seek a way off the planet.
• Paula Malcomson will be familiar to fans of Syfy's Caprica, where she played Amanda Graystone.

WRITERS: Leyani Diaz & Vanessa Rojas
DIRECTOR: Jonas Pate
GUEST CAST: Clifton Collins Jr., Paula Malcomsen, Julia Campbell, Holland Roden & Anna Clark
TRANSMISSION: 25 October 2010, NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.5 – "Casualties Of War"

Are you surprised by my star rating? I don't think anyone can deny "Casualties Of War" was a stronger episode than usual, and arguably the best so far. That's not to say anything here was a searing display of originality, because it was mostly reheated 24 leftovers, but I'm treating The Event as a series that wants to be a combination of 24 and The Invaders but has the scripting prowess of Prison Break. And, having freed myself of expectations for Lost caliber characterisation and an intricate mystery, this fifth episode turned in a fun hour that reached a number of turning points...

The passengers of Avias 514 are dying from an infection they've been given by Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr) during their teleportation from Florida to Arizona, and Thomas calls President Martinez (Blair Underwood) to offer him the antidote in exchange for the release of the Inostranka prisoners and Sophia (Laura Innes). The President instead decides to call his bluff and turns the tables by threatening to kill Thomas's people if the antidote isn't delivered before the passengers die.

In Arizona, Leila (Sarah Roemer) finally manages to get in touch with Sean (Jason Ritter) and directs him to the small-town police station she's being kept safe, but then realizes the "cops" looking after her are stooges part of the plot to kidnap her. However, as Sean and Agent Collier (Heather McComb) arrive to retrieve Leila, an old friend of Sean's calls with the suspicious news that Vicky's (Taylor Cole) cell phone is transmitting from the same location. Sensing a trap, Sean manipulated Vicky into helping him rescue Leila by threatening to expose the existence of her son, a young boy Vicky spared from death when she was assigned to assassinate a suburban family 5 years ago.

I'm the first to admit that the situations being faced by the President and Sean this week weren't exactly revolutionary and, at times, all that plausible or unpredictable, but they were a step in the right direction. The episode had some spirit to it, and the flashbacks actually informed the story more. The flashback to Vicky was only there to remind the audience that Sean has a means to blackmail her, but the flashback to the '40s following the Alaskan crash was more illuminating. We learned that the "aliens" helped humanity develop nuclear power decades before we were supposed to, all as part of their plan to get off the planet. But a part of me still suspects they're from the future, not another world. The moment Thomas realized '40s technology was too antiquated for their needs felt like a time traveller upset he won't be able to fix his time machine, because Thomas knew the correct terminology for the innards of a radio. Would an alien from another planet know such lingo?

There was a strong 24 vibe this week, too -- perhaps aided by the fact Milan Cheylov, a veteran of the Fox action thriller, helmed this episode. But the storyline evoked 24 in other ways: a President being given an ultimatum by a terrorist threatening to release a deadly virus unless his demands are met; the fact the government has a "mole" in Agent Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) who's reporting to Thomas; even the agreement to release Sophia in exchange for the antidote felt like something 24 would end an episode with.

Overall, I felt "Casualties Of War" did a very good job and felt like the end of a five-episode arc. Sean is now reunited with Leila, Carter (D.B Sweeney) has been captured for interrogation, Vicky's been humanized, the President showed balls in his handling of a crisis, the flashbacks were briefer and felt more relevant, the action sequences were decent, and Sophia's finally been released from that interrogation cell.

Asides

• The Event starts on Channel 4 tomorrow night with a double-bill, so the UK's four episodes behind. Knowing that US TV often have 1-2 week hiatuses, it's feasible Channel 4 will soon be only a few weeks behind. If that happens, or The Event becomes less enjoyable for me, I'll probably start reviewing at UK pace. There's the added incentive of HD with Channel 4, too. Some of my decision rests on how popular these US-paced reviews are, so comment if you'd prefer I continue as I am.
• Sean was a passenger on Avias 514 when it teleported, so why hasn't he come down with the same illness as the others? Was he spared? Did the process not work on him? Does this mean the passengers were given the sickness after Sean had left them in the desert when those choppers were approaching?

WRITERS: Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie
DIRECTOR: Milan Cheylov
GUEST CAST: Clifton Collins Jr., Lisa Vidal, Tessa Germaine, Casey Kramer, Heather McComb, Gonzalo Menendez, Keith Middlebrook, Wes Ramsey & Sayeed Shahidi
TRANSMISSION: 18 October 2010 – NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.4 – "A Matter Of Life And Death"

We're four episodes in, so now that I have to decide if The Event is worth the effort to review every week. It boils down to how much I find myself itching to write about each episode, and how much there is to write about (beyond just recapping proceedings), combined with how much response these reviews are generating from readers. For me, The Event hasn't been the disaster or disappointment many other reviewers claim, but it's definitely less immersive and impressive than I was hoping for.

"A Matter Of Life And Death" continued to back flip to arbitrary moments of the past, intended to give us emotional context to the contemporary storyline, but it's not working for me. I understand how much Leila (Sarah Roemer) and Sean (Jason Ritter) love each other; I don't need to be shown him getting the blessing of her parents five years ago. These flashbacks have to be giving us valuable information, and they're mostly failing to. In one we learned that Sean's estranged from his parents, but that's nothing he couldn't have mentioned in the present.

The show is beginning to remind me of Prison Break's later seasons, regarding Sean's storyline. Substitute Sean for Michael Scofield, Leila for Sarah Tancredi, and Vicky for Gretchen Morgan, and you have a storyline I could imagine that show doing. The way Leila's subplot was developed and the twist revealed (her captors were letting her escape all along!) were very reminiscent of something Prison Break would have done. And I used to enjoy Prison Break's post-season 2 "wilderness years", because there was always the feeling the actors and writers know how crazy their show had become, so were often playing events for laughs and leaning on the charisma of the cast to keep things afloat. The Event could go down that route, but at the minute it's a little po-faced because the storyline with the President (Blair Underwood) is being tackled much straighter.

Maybe if The Event hadn't been marketed as a compelling mystery series, reaction would be different? I can't help imagining that a conspiracy action show that astonished people by involving a teleporting passenger jet and "aliens" would have sparked greater interest. It could be 24-meets-The Invaders. But with everyone watching the premiere and already expecting mysterious weirdness, with the high watermark of Lost fresh in their minds, The Event just comes across as a yawning chasm inviting you to spend years extrapolating answers from a mystery the writers clearly won't reveal anytime soon. And having just finished Lost's six-year opus, I think the majority of its natural audience just want a rest.

The Event's delivering a few eyebrow-raising moments every episode, which is great -- although that's easier than you'd imagine in these early days, with no real pressure to explain whatever crazy twist you think up. The dead passengers being restored to life, only to start getting nosebleeds, is the kind of thing that invites theorizing and interest on a basic level. The suggestion the show's ultimately about the US government versus a faction of earthbound aliens who feel aggrieved half their kind were detained in Alaska for decades, is also a good premise to work with.

Overall, The Event hasn't sunk to a depressing level of boredom just yet, but I'm becoming restless because few of the characters are that interesting in themselves. It's making the FlashForward mistake of putting the emphasis on the plot instead of letting the characters dictate the developments and inspire the big emotional moments, although Jason Ritter's managing to make Sean's quest to find Leila more gripping than it should be. I'll keep watching, but reviews may fall away as they did with FlashFoward last year, because I get the feeling I may end up repeating my thoughts in a slightly different recapping context week after week.

Comments for The Event haven't been that healthy, considering this is all new ground for people to talk about. I'm taking that to mean everyone else feels the same as me: it's fun to watch, kills an hour quite nicely, has some good moments mixed with the dumb moments, but you don't feel compelled to think about it between episodes. It hasn't hit that after-show sweet spot, where viewers are keen to hear everyone else's thoughts on the latest episode's goings on. It's just ticking along, and I'm waiting for the boom.

Aside

• Interesting crew information: the director, John Badham, is best known for helming the movies WarGames and Saturday Night Ever, while co-writer Lisa Zwerling worked on FlashForward last season (a show The Event is considered to have replaced in the "next Lost" TV stakes).

WRITERS: David Schulner & Lisa Zwerling
DIRECTOR: John Badham
GUEST CAST: Clifton Collins Jr., Lisa Vidal, Adam Roa, Julia Campbell, Tessa Germaine, Heather McComb, Gonzalo Menendez, Wes Ramsey & Sayeed Shahidi
TRANSMISSION: 11 October 2010 – NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.3 - "Protect Them From The Truth"

A few thoughts on episode 3 of The Event, which is a new show the majority of critics have been quick to dismiss or spit venom at, despite the fact many of the best TV shows had unpersuasive starts. I'm not saying The Event is going to prove itself a marvelous show anytime soon (if ever), or that things won't sink as the writers struggle to keep things mysterious but with a drip-feed of answers, but it's still too early to say for sure. I've been entertained by these three episodes, and each week there are small signs of improvement.

The big problem is how so much of the show is driven by pure plot and action, with little communicated on an emotional level. I think the show would do well to adjust things, angling the story towards fugitive Sean Walker (Jason Ritter), the everyman embroiled in a conspiracy while trying to find his girlfriend Leila (Sarah Roemer). I can buy into that situation, and Ritter's scenes spark more effectively as a result, so hopefully The Event will focus more on that, before the broader scope and multiple flashbacks congeal the gears of this series.

"Protect Them From The Truth" made a few canny decisions: there were only a few unnecessary flashbacks (although the teaser's was textbook pointlessness*), and FBI Agent Collier (Heather McComb) came to believe Sean's tall story after he rescued her from a car crash and made a persuasive argument backed-up by a strange news report about his plane's disappearance. So now Sean has a partner to help him investigate Leila's kidnapping, as they're both on the tail of femme fatale Vicky Roberts (Taylor Cole), who's keeping Leila in a shipping container.

Elsewhere, Sophia (Laura Innes) refused to tell President Martinez (Blair Underwood) who caused Flight 514 to teleport to Arizona, so the President instead offered freedom to any of Inostranka's alien detainees who could give him answers. However, the only volunteer, an inmate called William (Omid Abtahi), was stabbed and killed by his own girlfriend Maya (Clea DuVall), whom he'd arranged to have released along with him, to stop him from talking. So now we have a situation where it's clearly not in the alien's interest to reveal who saved the President's life, and they're willing to kill people close to them to protect this secret from getting out.

Anyway, "Protect Them From The Truth" wasn't great but it wasn't a total bust. This episode was co-written by James Wong, who used to work with Glen Morgan until very recently, and those two helped turn The X Files into a phenomenon. I'm hoping Wong hasn't lost his touch, or that writing without Morgan hasn't dulled his abilities, because in the '90s they were both firm favourites of mine. They turned Millennium into must-see TV for its second season, and their short-lived Space: Above & Beyond was a clear precursor of Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica remake, in terms of style and tone. It's great to see Wong back on TV, having failed to make a successful jump into movies with a string of flops after the promising Final Destination, but it's no guarantee The Event is in safe hands. The concept and characters may be fundamentally flawed, although I was pleased to see this episode was more focused on the current storylines and didn't overcomplicate matters. And the climactic surprise that the dead passengers of Flight 514 are actually still alive was a nice touch (forgiving some bad acting from the actor playing the soldier noticing them "wake up").

I still have questions bubbling away in the mind about what's going on, just not to the extent I'm counting the day till the next episode, or feel the need to debate anything with other people who are watching. The fact it's all to do with aliens still feels very hollow to me, although I'm sticking to me theory that they're not actually aliens, but time travelers from the future.

Asides

• * You open with the inciting scene of Sean tending to the wound of Agent Hillier in a hotel room (whom we don't recognize at that point), then almost immediately jump back in time by 2 hours to show a better inciting incident of Sean and Hillier caught up in a car wreck? I don't understand that thinking. Why not just open with the latter moment?
• Heather McComb (Agent Collier) starred in an episode of The X Files co-written by James Wong with Glen Morgan; Die Hand Die Verletz.

WRITERS: David H. Goodman & James Wong
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Reiner
GUEST CAST: Heather McComb, Omid Abtahi & Clea DuVall
TRANSMISSION: 5 October 2010 – NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.2 - "To Keep Us Safe"

I was puzzled by the snottier reviews of The Event's pilot, regarding how it spent an hour teasing us with questions. It left me wondering what kind of mystery show they'd prefer; one that answers all of its questions in episode 1, just so you can be sure it’s not leading you on? However, what baffled me more is seeing the writers deliver sizeable answers in "To Keep Us Safe", which was both a surprise and a risk. I guess they want to avoid the complaint that serialized mysteries keep posing questions they have no intention of answering for months or years, but you can also go too far the opposite way and answer too much, too soon...

The plane that vanished into a portal seconds before it would have destroyed the president's retreat appears in Arizona, crashing into the desert and necessitating an evacuation of the passengers moments before ominous helicopter gunships appear overhead. Sean (Jason Ritter) is urged by his pilot father-in-law to run for his life, after revealing he only agreed to this suicide mission to spare the lives of his kidnapped daughters. Sean leaves everyone behind, finding himself in a Yuma hospital after succumbing to heat stroke some time later, where the local police are alerted to his presence as a fugitive and fantasist wanted for murder.

Elsewhere, President Martinez (Blair Underwood) dealt with the fallout from the plane incident, cancelling his press conference and helping concoct a cover-story for what happened to the vanished plane. A series of flashbacks reveal that Sophia (Laura Innes) and her fellow detainees at Mount Inostranka are genetically 1% different to regular people, meaning they're aliens. Sophia's people apparently arrived in Alaska in the 1940s and were captured soon after, although some escaped and have since infiltrated human society. In fact, Agent Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) is revealed to be one of these slow-ageing aliens, having passed a CIA medical examination by giving blood via a fake vein he had embedded in his arm.

Martinez's conference was intended to reveal the presence of aliens on Earth, but there are clearly people who would do anything to prevent the President making that fact known to the world. These people appear to be led by a man called Carter (D.B Sweeney), who it's revealed in flashback was the person who kidnapped Jason's fiancé Leila (Sarah Roemer) from the cruise ship, and manipulated her father Michael into doing a Kamikaze dive into the president's abode.

So, there's quite a lot going on, gaps in the plot were filled quite nicely in explanatory flashbacks, and we were given some fairly big answers that slightly demystified the show. In fact, knowing that aliens are part of the mystery (or is that a red herring?), I felt my interest slip. I think I've had my fill of aliens, and ABC's remake of V is already covering that base for me, so hopefully The Event cooks up something else to keep me watching. Otherwise it feels like a serialized rethink of The Invaders, mixing elements of Lost's format and a 24-style conspiracy. And that's not a bad mix of shows to watch, but nothing very original. I can't get excited about aliens posing as humans, unfortunately. That feels like well-trodden ground to me.

Overall, "To Keep Us Safe" certainly maintained the pilot's pace and intrigue, and I can't deny a few reveals were unexpected enough to perk my interest. I'm still not really sucked into the situation on an emotional level, although Jason Ritter's screen presence and likeability is doing a better job than the actual material he's being given, and the flashback to the day he first met Leila (teaching her to swim) was appreciated. But at then moment The Event is all about the story and it's determined to try and grip you any way it can (plane crash, hospital chase, aliens reveal, 40's flashback, cruise ship stabbing, etc.) There's certainly enough here to keep me around for awhile, but it's time to make me care about the people caught up in this plot's web.

What did you make of this follow-up to the divisive pilot? Happy we got some very early answers? Disappointed in the apparent alien connection? Still not interested in any of the actual characters, but enjoying the ride superficially?

Asides

• So Sophia and her detainees are aliens? I think we're being misled. That's too clichéd, no? Might they actually be slightly more evolved humans from the future, who travelled back in time to stop whatever "The Event" is? Or from a different dimension, to jump on the Fringe bandwagon? Aliens from literally another planet would look considerably different to us, even allowing for the fact budget plays a part in what extra-terrestrials look like on TV shows. I mean, even V's aliens are space lizards beneath their flesh.
• The longevity of this show is still in question. How long until we need to be shown The Event? Maybe we'll learn what it is by season 1's finale, it'll actually happen by the end of season 2, and we can deal with the fallout in season 3, but can the show go beyond that? Will it last long enough to even try and keep itself going past season 1, let alone season 3?
• Co-writer Evan Katz was a writer-producer on 24, so that maybe explains the pacing.

WRITERS: Evan Katz & Nick Wauters
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Reiner
GUEST CAST: Scott Patterson, Taylor Cole, Clifton Collins Jr., Lisa Vidal, Dominic Flores & D.B Sweeney
TRANSMISSION: 26 September 2010 - NBC, 9/8c

'THE EVENT' 1.1 - "I Haven't Told You Everything"

Head over to Obsessed With Film for my review of NBC's new mystery thriller THE EVENT, which is being hyped as a replacement for ABC's Lost. Where have we heard that before..?

"Ironically, this pilot was more a collection of different events, told out of sequence via extensive flashbacks. Basically an hour of teasing and provocative incidents, guaranteed to keep you watching for the superficial thrill of unfolding intrigue, but with little emotional weight to anything. As the start of a sci-fi mystery series hoping to replace Lost in audience affections, it succeeds in its aim to pique interest and ensure you watch episode 2, which will hopefully place more emphasis on the characters." Continue reading...

Channel 4 get The Event

Channel 4 have acquired the UK rights to NBC's new conspiracy drama The Event, which is generating a great deal of buzz after the L.A Screenings and San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. The series concerns a man (Jason Ritter) searching for his missing fiancée, who stumbles upon the biggest government cover-up in history -- specifics of which is the show's mystery element, begging the question "what is The Event?"

Julian Bellamy, Head of Channel 4:

"The Event was the stand out show at this year's pilot screenings and so I am delighted to bring it to Channel 4 for its UK premiere. Ambitious, clever, fast-paced and gripping -– the series is the perfect addition to Channel 4's slate of quality US series. UK viewers should prepare themselves for an autumn of thrilling drama."

The Event premieres in the US on 20 September. Channel 4 are expected to start showing it in October.

TRAILER PARK: The Event & Undercovers

What is the event? That's what NBC want us to be asking next year. Of all the pilots on NBC's rosta, I think The Event has my interest the most. I love the casting of Blair Underwood as the US President (currently watching him on In Treatment) and Zeljko Ivanek's a favourite character actor of mine, and it all looks incredibly well put together and exciting. Like all conspiracy thrillers of this ilk, you have to wonder if the writers can keep it going for a season and beyond. I wish US drama was more self-contained or had definite end-dates, because I'm not sure if "the event" in question will be worth the wait, or if audiences will get bored with the tease. And when they do make it clear what The Event is, will we continue to watch? Also, is it a worrying sign that the supposed hero (played by Jason Ritter) barely features here?



"Nothing spices up a marriage like a little sexpionage", right? Groan. Coming from J.J Abrams, I expect this spy-drama to be very entertaining and able to overcome its unoriginality. Interesting to note that NBC's Chuck (which is back for a fourth season) has effectively become this show now, although Undercovers is obviously going to be more grownup in spirit. The trailer looks fun, if nothing remarkable to get me excited. It mainly amuses me that the UK's lost another promising young actress (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to the Hollywood system. We cast her in Bonekickers and as a bit-part in Doctor Who, see. Yeah, we find talent and scare them off. I bet there are British casting agents shaking their heads right now, although Mbatha-Raw's agent is probably rubbing his/her hands together in glee at the money they're making.

So, those are the two NBC dramas that have my attention so far. Do you like the look of them, too?