The Event is not this phone call.
Last night kicked off the beginning of premiere week for the new fall TV season. Technically, it started Sunday, but most were watching football or doing nothing at all. Many fan favorites returning from cliffhangers while some showed debuted for the first time ever, hoping to attract a brand new audience to their brand new show. I tuned into two brand new shows and one returning. How I Met Your Mother, The Event and Hawaii Five-O. The 30 minutes in between HIMYM and The Event I spent at Cartoon Network, in case anyone is wondering.
Just to get it out of the way, HIMYM was funny as usual. I may have to rewatch this episode due to missing a few things due to a badly timed nap and later a badly timed phone call. But apparently we are off to a good start.
I’m going to jump ahead and talk about Hawaii Five-O which I’ll admit I didn’t give my full attention to. For what it’s worth, it’s not a bad show and I’ll watch a few episodes due to my like of Daniel Dae Kim aka Jin from LOST and Scott Caan who I’m a fan of due to the Ocean’s movies. From what I saw, it wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t blown away, nor was I expecting to be. I never watched the original show, so I really didn’t know what to expect to be honest. But despite not fully paying attention or being thoroughly impressed, I’ll try out the show a few more times but I don’t see myself making any commitments to watch it. I even wonder if this show is a hit, I haven’t read too many reviews about it yet, but I know a lot of the Twitterverse followed the same route I did and tuned into this show after The Event. And like The Event, a good chunk of people liked it, while the others dismissed it.
And it’s The Event that I’ve been waiting to see and here to talk about. All the while, replaying the teasers and commercials we saw all summer long telling us what wasn’t “the event.” I was also convinced over the summer that “the event” wouldn’t be shown until possibly the second episode… unless that was deliberately misleading information. To which I say, good show sir. Even if it wasn’t the last five minutes of the show, or we won’t see it until the last episode, I’m interested.
But what everyone is and was talking about: is this our answer to the void left by LOST (and apparently 24 for those who watched that show)? Or is this possibly a show that will follow in FlashForward‘s footsteps and only be a one season show? I hope not, because like FlashForward, The Event has a five season plan that I hope they can follow through.
It’s no question LOST changed the game when it comes to best pilot ever for a serial drama. I think Heroes may have come close and kept it going with their stellar first season. But I hope The Event learns from past serial shows how to survive in this ADD entertainment world we live in. What is that exactly? As most shows do, they take a break in the winter. Where I think FlashForward failed is they took too long of a break, and fans forgot and/or lost interest by the time it came back on. I know I did. Plus a good handful of the writers/producers left the show, so there were signs something was wrong. The same happened with Heroes. I didn’t follow LOST until late in the game, but I like how they handled their last season, they only showed one rerun.
Story is also of crucial importance. And so far, there is more than enough going on in The Event that I don’t worry that will be its’ problem. It was and is continuing to be compared to LOST in many ways: airplanes, flashbacks, tropical areas, multiple character back stories. Oh yeah, and lots of mystery. All that’s missing is a couple polar bears and a smoke monster. Who are these prisoners? (I guessed aliens, like a bunch of other critics did too.) Where did this dude’s girlfriend go? What’s so special about these characters and who are they really? And by the way, for people like me, character development is what made LOST and even Heroes so great.
I wanted to keep this somewhat spoiler free so people still have the chance to watch the pilot for themselves. I’m pretty sure it’s not really a secret at this point, but the payoff was definitely worth the build-up of that hour watching these characters fight about this airplane and vacationing in paradise and dealing with government cover-ups.
So I don’t know about you, but I’m in. For the sake of having at least one serial drama to be committed to (since there aren’t any left unless you want to count Fringe), I ask that you check it out too. I’m interested in seeing where this is going and hoping this show becomes a hit so I can at least see a second season. But it’s so early in the game, who knows what’s in store? And in time, I think the LOST comparisons will start to fade as long as this show gets the chance to make a name for itself and NBC doesn’t do anything foolish. What’s also interesting, and probably what producers intended, it’s got people talking. If the ads didn’t get you, hearing your friends and family talk about it will. Or it might. Some have already signed off. Some are reluctant. I know this, and so do they. But I’m always up for a good story and I hope we get to see this one played out until it’s planned ending.
But we shall see. See you at The Event next Monday at 9PM, Indoobians!
And for the reviews I’ve read so far: CNN, EW’s Ken Tucker and Doc Jensen.
I’m slacking with the new shows of fall 2011, predicting who will last, what shows I’ll be watching, etc. I’m so late, there have already been a number of cancellations like Charlie’s Angels, The Playboy Club, Free Agents, How To Be A Gentleman… am I missing any? It doesn’t matter, I don’t think anyone is going to miss them. I only watched two of those four shows just to get the flavor of it and predicted it’s demise.
