NBC's 'The Event': The secret even the President does not know

This looks like a good ole watch! I wonder how long it will be before a YouTube parody?

Eating a sausage is not the Event...

Or something much more clever.

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It's already been on and no one likes it? Oh well I guess I'll read a book.

Not that we don't like it overall (from the opinions in this thread, generalization here), just that based on the hype, it had some let downs.

Still though, it's just one episode, so kind of hard to really make an informed decision here.

Time will tell. Just that these days, shows don't get so long anymore to find their sea legs, so here's to hoping they fine tune the little things from this first episode.

I suspect the story jumping around in time was just for the pilot. Most of the jumping was done to set up the fact that Sean and his girlfriend were normal people just going on a regular vacation. It also introduced other characters and gave us information about why they were doing something in particular. Now that we know who they are, I'm hoping there won't be a need for so much jumping around.

With that said, I thought it was a decent show. Left me disappointed that we barely know anything about the so-called "event" or why things were happening as they were, though. If they're going to leave each episode on such a cliffhanger in an attempt to get us to return next week wanting more, then it's going to backfire, at least for me. What's the point of watching the whole season? Just watch the finale episode.

The Event; all that is good has already on the trailer.....nothing more...the only they left out from the trailer is the wormhole at the end of episode one.

reply to post by Nicodeme


The writers and producers claim the show will not go that route. They say that by the end of episode 2 a lot will be answered and that this show will not go the way of Lost, e.g., endless flashbacks, endless speculation, endless cliffhangers, etc....

Show runner Evan Katz ('24') teases that what occurs in the pilot is "not the event." He adds that the second episode will answer some obvious questions that are left. "What happened to the plane?" "Who are the detainees?" "We don't want people to feel like we're making this up as we go along," says Katz. Is he referring to criticisms some had of 'Lost'? "Everything is designed to answer questions," he says. "We'll spool out some of our mysteries and keep people guessing in a fair way."

Source: Event

I might watch one more episode, but so far I am totally unimpressed. I might have enjoyed it more if it weren't for all the pre-show publicity which tried to paint this as some sore of "disclosure event". Enough already with the overblown hype.

It was a rather garbled story and I don't expect it to get any better than Lost, which they seem to be targetting an audience that loves a totally meaningless storyline that goes nowhere. As I say, I'll probably watch the next episode anyways, hoping it is not another LOST fiasco.

(Note: I read the story is written to go on for five years. Uh, does that mean we have to wait for five years to find out that "The EV3NT" is actually just another smoke monster?

My knee jerk reaction to the pilot episode is much the same as other people....Lost again?
Its good to read that they plan to take this in a new direction than that. The pilot was an intro to characters and events (no pun intended) leading up to the episode final...wormhole...and the very mysterious statement..."they saved us". It was too jumpy and muddled to make any sense and never really grabbed my total attention.

I am guessing the "event" that this is based on has something to do with alien disclosure, but I hope they dont take it too far. There are enough super sci-fi space based shows in the last decade already that have done wormholes, aliens, fantastic events and discoveries, and the mystery around them.

I also hope they dont try to parody anything from "V", because that one tanked early, even before the season ender. Anything that does the likes of the Star based shows (Gate, Trek, Wars) is going to tank because they all have such cult-like followings.

Anyway, I will give it a couple of episodes before I call foul. Here's hoping they found someone with an original brain to work on the writing team.

They should've done a 2hours pilot... Too little to get people hooked!

reply to post by frimilden


Good, I certainly hope so. And my God, if they have enough material for 5 years, then it better be extensive and not drawn-out crap with the "event" being revealed in the last few episodes. The show's not going to last a single season if they do that.

Lost and V are pretty amazing shows.

But they have been done already. This shows pilot was almost boring.... And it jumped around so much it was annoying. If they keep jumping back 14 minutes here, 5 years there, 5 minutes ago..... like frick....How can anyone follow that forever? They're gonna have to get to the point, otherwise, I ain't gonna make it past the next episode. And if it has to do with aliens coming to earth, I'll just stick with V thanks. Not much point in telling the same story over and over again. Are all the original ideas gone?

Saw the pilot of the episode, looked kinda interesting.But no gripping excitement,I hope it evolves into a better show later on though.cause you know! it'd be awesome to have a show about conspiracies

You can watch it anytime you like if you have Cox on Demand.

I must have missed something because i'm not sure what the series is about.

I think it's safe to say that whatever "The Event" was...it was responsible for depositing the people now being detained in Alaska. It either brought them, or made them the way they are (which we still don't know how they are different).

I still think the head spooks (or whomever they report to) ordered the hit on the President, then whomever was responsible for The Event rescued the plane with advanced technology (whether that someone is a shadow government, or ETs, we don't know).

Almost more like Heroes (where those with abilities were rounded up one season) than Lost, currently.

Watched the 2nd episode...

I don't know who the writers are... and honestly, their names are not something anyone needs concern themselves with. The character of the male betrothed (? character name) is totally unbelievable.

It's better to do what was done with lost, and let real characters interact in surreal environs than put surreal characters in real events.

A waste of a show. I had held out some hope that it might come of something; although, now with the 2nd episode under my belt, I'm thinking I've eaten and was satisfied.

Shame... could have been more.

I guess you messed up, the episode I'm watching, number 2 has already talked about aliens except they're exactly like us

Well, I'm done with the event.

Aliens live among us, they look and act like humans, but they have a secret agenda against the human race.

So did I just describe V, or the event? Lets go a little further....

Select humans discover that there is a conspiracy and are caught in the middle of it, trying to get others to believe them, meanwhile, a war is starting to brew between Humans and Aliens, as the fight for the truth begins....

V or the Event?

I'll stick with V thanks.

Originally posted by Gazrok
I think it's safe to say that whatever "The Event" was...it was responsible for depositing the people now being detained in Alaska. It either brought them, or made them the way they are (which we still don't know how they are different).

I still think the head spooks (or whomever they report to) ordered the hit on the President, then whomever was responsible for The Event rescued the plane with advanced technology (whether that someone is a shadow government, or ETs, we don't know).

Almost more like Heroes (where those with abilities were rounded up one season) than Lost, currently.

i was thinking that the Alaska crash was that as well. The event though seems to be bigger than the other even in 44.

What i think is that the 'Alien people.' were sent here to setup their species arrival and possibly integrate the two groups. didn't they say less than 1% difference in DNA right? at least that's what the writers made us aware of. so anyway, the event itself is probably that.

for the plane/portal thing. I am not sure 'they' saved them at all. if anything they saved their own kind 'leader' from being killed along with the president.

its an interesting story-line. I can see where it is going though.

What I found interesting is that SyFy and Bravo both ran the first episode @ 8pm......& all I have is basic cable - Makes me wonder how many other stations ran the first episode prior to the 2nd episode airing?? I don't recall any other show airing the previous episode on two (maybe more) stations prior to the new episode?? Talk about cross station promotion..........

Personally I was looking forward to watching this, but I have to say I am a little disappointed. In the 2 episodes that I watched, I think they were quite empty really, good story but a shame it felt so forced.

Someone said above it has been written for a 5 year run, if that's the case they have got a decent story, but ruined it by stretching it out like an elastic band and making it very thin and weak, such a shame! Even if it's not running for 5 years, it still feels stretched and forced, and like it's trying to copy other shows with flashbacks - maybe it's just that I feel they're placed wrong.

All the switching around the time 15 months ago, 15 minutes ago 5 years ago, just really annoyed me, I found it hard to concentrate the more this happened. I will watch another few episodes - but I'm not on the edge of my seat, looking forward to the day I can watch it (as I was with Lost, FlashForward and other programmes).

I watched the first two episodes, but won't watch any more. The second episode is perhaps the worst hour of TV I've seen in a long time.

Genre shows on the Big Three networks have an artificial feel to them. Big Three genre programs are too bright, too soap-opera to properly serve the genre. "The Event" is no different. Compare shows like "The Event" and the re-imagined "V" to "Fringe" or the "X-Files"; you will see what I mean. The only exception to this seems to be "Criminal Minds". (If that show is not firmly planted in the horror-genre, I don't know what is).

But despite the artificial feel, some shows are able to overcome it by having good storytelling. "Lost" for instance There is something fundamentally broken about the storytelling on "The Event". In effort to be a new "Lost", they over-employ flashbacks with no real understanding of how "Lost" used them. Flashbacks were relevant to the situation; not on "The Event". A chase through a hospital was interrupted by a flashback about how the main-character met his girlfriend. They interrupted the exciting part of the story for maudlin drama. Somewhere in the chain-of-command someone has forgotten how to properly tell a story and what viewer expectations are.

Though clearly a science-fiction story, the show seems embarrassed by this. It does everything to downplay these science-fiction elements. Much of the show felt like an apology for being science-fiction. Such as the aforementioned interrupted chase-scene. Such as the aliens being 99% human; not only is this incredibly lazy on the part of the writers and producers (they don't have to worry about wasting time, energy or money on making the aliens look alien) but they don't have to be "too science fiction".