Before The Event started, the show was promoted with teasers about “The Event” and what it was NOT.
What do we know? From the original teaser trailer:
Since that original promo, what have we learned about the Event? Nothing. Unless I’m missing something the coming Event has been dropped from promos and hasn’t been talked about on the show. For full disclosure, it is possible I missed some promos. I just caught up on all the 2011 episodes prior to last Monday’s episode, which I watched live. I was close to giving up on the show because of this ambiguity about the Event and the very slow progression in the story. But, after catching up, I’m interested in the show again. But, the question about what the Event is … driving me crazy. Give us some hints!
Well, between the time I started writing this post after last Monday’s episode and now, a clue to the Event has been provided! Maybe.
What is my best guess from this information? We know that Sophia is worried that a “he” is going to tell “them” about the Event. Executive Producer Nick Wauters talks about a conspiracy theorist blogger in the above video, “a blogger, who may pop up sometime in the story,” that writes at TruthSeeker5314. It is a real blog that supplements the show.
What do you think the Event is? Are you annoyed that we don’t know more, yet? Or, did you already give up on the show?
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Apr 03, 2011 @ 12:07 EST5EDT
The event is the implosion of a potentially great idea that was executed worse than the war in Iraq.
HAHAHAHAHA
Well said!
I don’t think it even matters what ‘the Event’ is anymore. It would be more of a suprise and ‘event’ if this show gets another season.
Here’s the problem with our short attention span society. TV producers aren’t given any time in this day and age to develop a story before people start wanting an answer to the show’s central mystery (and not just hints). A lot of people got tired of waiting for answers to the Lost mysteries by season three, which is a lifetime nowadays. FlashForward suffered because people wanted answers by episode four. The Event gets backlash because people wanted answers by episode two. How can a network even begin to go into production on a serialized show these days – a show that one would assume they would expect to have a healthy, multi-season run – if all the answers have to be revealed before the holiday break? Do people buy books and read only the first chapter and the last chapter? It bugs me that no one has patience to let a story develop and grow over the course of a season (or many seasons). I’d be unhappy if I didn’t know at least a little something by the season finale cliffhanger that would make me eager to come back for more, but I’m perfectly happy to let the story unfold over time instead of having to know what it’s all about by episode six. If we knew what the “event” was already then there would be no point in continuing the show or calling it The Event. Patience, people, patience!
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree, Chuck. My concern with The Event is that there hasn’t even been mention of the Event. That leaves me wondering whether that even a focus of the show? The show should be building up to whatever the Event is, but it just seems to be meandering around with no purpose or next point in the story.
Where is the show going? I’m not sure.
My assumption is that the event has something to do with the alien race coming to earth. They’ve mentioned in the promos about various calamities that have reduced the world population and that the next one will kill 7 billion people. Sophia and her people keep saying that what her son is planning to do will wipe out the human race, so I take all of that to mean that once he fires up that array and the rest of their people arrive (if they can get here before their planet dies) is “the event” of the title. Once they arrive, it will almost be a V scenario with humans fighting for survival against the alien race bent on taking over our planet.
the problem I had was the two “kids” who were on the cruise … their acting is just terrible.
The Event is the revelation that contact with another race of beings who look uncannily human themselves from another planet, although they have far superior technology and live a lot longer, has been made. Basically, the show is piggy backing on the human-cylon relationship of Battlestar Galactica. I actually like it, and hope it gets a second series and more.
but I thought they said that the “aliens” wanted earth back … as in they were here first … so that makes them not aliens right?
People didn’t ditch the show because they didn’t give answers in the first episode, they ditched the show because the pilot was horribly bad.
The show didn’t fail because it’s slow, it failed because it’s horribly written and acted, and executed! it was trash, and you know what? Still is! Viewers were smart to ditch in this case.
My guess is that the human looking aliens taking back the planet is the event, but really in the show they never talked about what it really is. Does the president even know there is an event coming?
Well here’s my statement of profundity:
When the gal who is on the run with Ritter put on the blond wig, she looked like a young Sharon Stone. Am I right? *Nods Affirmative*
I still watch and enjoy it, but at this point I wish “the event” was a surprise return of “Flash Forward.”
I think Chuck makes an extremely valid and relevant point about viewers not having any patience any more. Everyone wants satisfaction immediately which means no story, just WHAM, BANG here’s your answer before the question has been raised. With that kind of thinking and attention span it’s no wonder reality TV is so popular since it’s a steady diet of garbage and the cattle want their feed now, no matter the quality.
No longer are the masses willing to enjoy learning about how the story unfolds, to enjoy the journey, or to even try and invest in the characterizations; all they want is satiation and they want it now. No wonder decent shows are dying as viewers with low expectations, short attention spans, and an invulnerability to quality writing bleat with discontent that they aren’t getting their toys now. They storm off in a huff to watch unscripted shows about other people that are set up to bring out the worst in humankind so that they might feel a little better about their own sad existence rather than being inspired by good writing and a story that plays out, albeit slowly, rather well in the long run. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but it’s better than these people are able to comprehend, which in a sad way is not even their fault.
Quality entertainment is suffering because, at the very least, the people AC Nielsen set up to be the masters of the fate of all television are the kind of people I’ve described above. That 0.02% of the total population has the power over the life and death of all our shows. Something is very wrong with both the system and those people. Something needs to be done, and soon.
Yes, Tom, you are right about people not wanting to invest the time in the storytelling journey. The lack of attention to serialized shows may have led to the increase in popularity of the reality genre, but the shows that may be more directly responsible for the demise of serialized dramas are the self-contained procedurals like the CSI, NCIS, L&O and now the Criminal Minds franchises. You don’t have to be invested in these shows week to week to remain interested and even the repeats do well in the ratings where serialized shows do not because it’s hard to take an episode out of context and have it make any sense to a new viewer. It’s sad that we can’t enjoy long-form storytelling anymore.
I think you’re right about the self-contained procedural being more responsible for the diminishing popularity of the serialized drama, but if it started it I contend that the onslaught of mindless reality television shifted it into high gear. First came the removal of the need to invest in a story, then came the removal of the need to engage the mind. I actually enjoy both compartmentalized procedural episodes and serialized storytelling and don’t find it difficult to keep up with both.
A lot of this can also be blamed on the networks’ slow move to embrace new technology and methods of making their shows accessible. People these days, myself included, don’t want to be forced to an “appointment” with a show, we want it available when we have both the time and inclination to enjoy it. Were this possible for all televised entertainment perhaps serialized storytelling would regain popularity. The watch it live, record it, or miss it methodology currently in place for many shows is a huge reason for their lack of counted viewership. Even the ones that are available that way aren’t counted in the ratings, so for all we know many shows getting the axe are actually very popular, they’re just not mainly enjoyed through the antiquated systems the myopic Nielsens focus on and therefore considered unpopular.
I really believe that these long, slow and deep stories are watched by more people than are counted, it’s just these viewers are more technologically savvy than the current system of ratings wishes to consider. Even that tiny fraction of viewers who are part of this Nielsen family may be watching utilizing streaming video and even they go uncounted when they do so. It’s both ironic and frustrating.
There are some reality shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race that do have people to construct storylines from the hours of footage that are shot. They aren’t scripted in advance, but stories are built around the competitions and viewers know that there will be an ending after 13 weeks.
Nielsen does need to work on a way to better track viewing habits, I agree. I prefer to watch shows like The Event in chunks, 2 or 3 episodes at a time, but I also skip through the ads when I do that and that is where these shows get hurt. It doesn’t matter if the show attracts the exact same number of viewers based on DVR, On Demand or online viewers because if the ads aren’t being watched, that’s less revenue for the networks. It’s all more about money than eyeballs.
I completely understand that the existence of television is for advertisement and the shows really are just the bait to lure us to watch those ads. It just seems like it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to replace most or all of those ads with creative and subtle product placement that, at least IMHO, would be more effective than annoying as current ads and product placement unfortunately are. Couldn’t we have our characters head to their favorite watering hole at the end of a hard work day and order “A Bud Light” and “A Crown and Coke” without the need for the camera to zoom in on the products while the characters tell us how great they are? We’ve seen that hyper-obvious talk about how great the character’s new vehicle is so many times that it does the opposite of what it’s supposed to do.
Subtlety will get the message across better than most people realize, but there isn’t a lot of subtlety in advertising any more. I think if there was, product would be sold and the problem with alternative media streams not getting the adverts across would be solved. The real problem is the nets and advertisers being too afraid to try changing something they perceive as working, which it is, but it’s steadily losing ground and they’re unwilling to take a chance on something that could solve everybody’s issues with this subject.
Check out some of the product placement going on on daytime TV. They may as well be doing a commercial spot because they basically have to read the ad copy. It’s horrible and hilariously surreal at the same time. Product placement is also painfully obvious on reality shows like The Biggest Loser, Survivor and The Amazing Race. I think the advertisers would expect some kind of mention in the show which would seem like a commercial as opposed to just seeing a can of Coke sitting on a table. Sometimes those things are product placement and sometimes they’re just props. When it comes to selling a product, even through product placement, there doesn’t seem to be any room for subtlety.