The Event

[HoodieBets]

More than a lot. Originally we were told Undercovers was going the cable route.

Def has that USA vibe

 

[Chaplin]

Tonight's ep was interesting, revealing the first big "twist" of the series. I actually like the twist, but I had some major problems with the way the show was cut. Mainly surrounding the attempted escape from the hospital.

You have this thrilling chase through the hospital, frantic, suspenseful and then they do what? They stop everything and go five years earlier to a boring and lame meet-cute between two characters. Totally takes you out of the moment. THEN they cut back to the running through the hospital, and in the end, it doesn't matter. The FBI still gets him. An audience can't invest in a show like this when it's cut like that. A great show like Lost knew when to do their flashbacks--this show has no clue how to do it.

The jumping around in time still was problematic in this episode--not as much as the pilot, but still not good.

 

[Griffin]

It seems to me like the show is trying really hard to manufacture a conspiracy and to get viewers to care before they've really given us anything to care about. I much prefer the slower pace of Rubicon or Lost where we're slowly drawn into the plot and the characters. I also don't care much for the extraterrestrial angle. I wanted something a bit more original. I agree the time shifting is getting a bit annoying.

 

[Gaddabout]

I agree with Chap. Lost was brilliant because every single flashback was impeccably timed to make you more emotionally invested in the moment they were cutting away from. It gave great insight to character motivation. These edits don't seem tactical at all.

BTW, I think the extraterrestrial line is a red herring. I suspect they're from Earth after all.

 

[HoodieBets]

I agree with Chap. Lost was brilliant because every single flashback was impeccably timed to make you more emotionally invested in the moment they were cutting away from. It gave great insight to character motivation. These edits don't seem tactical at all.

BTW, I think the extraterrestrial line is a red herring. I suspect they're from Earth after all.

I was under the impression that they aren't aliens but is a DNA problem where they have less of it and never age could be wrong.

 

[Gaddabout]

I'm guessing who they are will be one of the lingering questions throughout the show. It seems they've liberally borrowed from:

- Lost
- 24
- X-Files

A lot of this stuff doesn't feel fresh, and I think that's why even people who jump on board any old sci-fi show are hesitant. Just waiting for something that has a look-and-feel of something new. Just hoping it's the writers and not the producers who are driving the show content.

 

[Russ Smith]

I said to my girlfriend last night should we continue to watch this or should we just wait until the whole show ends up on SyFy reruns?

I like the premise that they're not human but so close to us there can be a great story about why. They are descendants of humans abducted by aliens years ago, over generations the differences in DNA evolved, something like that.

But so far it's just not made well, as Chaplin said their timing is off and the jumping back and forth is driving me nuts.

 

[HoodieBets]

A little off topic but why monday night? i know they are thinking the chuck audience is the same as the event but not the best choice if you want this to draw like Lost. You are going up against DWTS and Monday Night Football. MNF and the event share the same audience and football trumps episodic tv any day of the week. You segregate almost the whole female audience bc of DWTS and a good portion of males 18-34 due to MNF prob not where i would have slotted the show.

 

[Chaplin]

A little off topic but why monday night? i know they are thinking the chuck audience is the same as the event but not the best choice if you want this to draw like Lost. You are going up against DWTS and Monday Night Football. MNF and the event share the same audience and football trumps episodic tv any day of the week. You segregate almost the whole female audience bc of DWTS and a good portion of males 18-34 due to MNF prob not where i would have slotted the show.

Keep in mind this is NBC. They've had problems like this for years now.

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

But so far it's just not made well, as Chaplin said their timing is off and the jumping back and forth is driving me nuts.

Aside from what Chap said (breaking an attempted dramatic moment with a BS flashback) why in the name of Sam Hell do we need a flashback of events 11 minutes ago?!?!?!

Just show it in it's proper order and move on for Kripes sake.

In my opinion, as a rule of thumb, flashbacks must be at least 5 days out to be in some way relevant, and not get called for a reaching foul.

I do like the fact that they are beginning to set the pieces for the protagonists, antagonists, and those who'll be fought over, but I felt like I was getting pushed into a Tokyo subway at rush hour with the pacing of episode's conclusion.

 

[Chaplin]

This episode really moved--very much a 24 vibe this week. Only 2 flashbacks (Two Hours Ago and 1944) and lots of action.

Only thing I didn't like is the RV crashing into the cars. On a highway in Arizona. In the desert with nothing around. That was pretty bad, IMO. Why would a huge RV be speeding down a long deserted highway with nothing but TWO cars right in front of them, one of which was a sheriff's car?

 

[Griffin]

Does this show have the same writers as 24? There are so many similarities already. It's like a supernatural 24 minus Bauer. This does not bode well, imo. 24 had a lot of problems that became more and more evident with each new season, and The Event seems to follow the same path.

 

[Griffin]

This episode really moved--very much a 24 vibe this week. Only 2 flashbacks (Two Hours Ago and 1944) and lots of action.

Only thing I didn't like is the RV crashing into the cars. On a highway in Arizona. In the desert with nothing around. That was pretty bad, IMO. Why would a huge RV be speeding down a long deserted highway with nothing but TWO cars right in front of them, one of which was a sheriff's car?

Yeah, like I said above, I think this show will end up being very similar to 24, including using similar plot devices, featuring rather shallow characters, and requiring a substantial suspension of disbelief. Personally, I wasn't looking for a 24 replacement though.

 

[Chaplin]

Does this show have the same writers as 24? There are so many similarities already. It's like a supernatural 24 minus Bauer. This does not bode well, imo. 24 had a lot of problems that became more and more evident with each new season, and The Event seems to follow the same path.

Well, the supernatural elements of this show are easier to write off as being part of the show's world. 24 had a lot of conveniences and unrealistic stunts that it sometimes bordered on ridiculousness (A cougar in Griffith Park? Hello?).

24's problems were a lot different than The Event's problems.

 

[Griffin]

Well, the supernatural elements of this show are easier to write off as being part of the show's world. 24 had a lot of conveniences and unrealistic stunts that it sometimes bordered on ridiculousness (A cougar in Griffith Park? Hello?).

24's problems were a lot different than The Event's problems.

Speaking of unrealistic stunts, that shootout at the FBI office seemed a bit ridiculous to me, something right out of 24's universe. They may be able to write off the supernatural elements like you say, but that wasn't supernatural.

What also annoys me are scenes like when the cop pulled over the kidnapper girl. This scene has been done a million times and usually only has two variations: the cop fails to notice anything and lets her go, or the cop is persistent and gets killed. Either way the outcome is that the kidnapper gets away, which of course we knew would happen. So why even bother doing that scene? What does it contribute to the show other than a false sense of suspense?

 

[Chaplin]

Speaking of unrealistic stunts, that shootout at the FBI office seemed a bit ridiculous to me, something right out of 24's universe. They may be able to write off the supernatural elements like you say, but that wasn't supernatural.

What also annoys me are scenes like when the cop pulled over the kidnapper girl. This scene has been done a million times and usually only has two variations: the cop fails to notice anything and lets her go, or the cop is persistent and gets killed. Either way the outcome is that the kidnapper gets away, which of course we knew would happen. So why even bother doing that scene? What does it contribute to the show other than a false sense of suspense?

How is that different then any espionage show? Stuff like that happens in a lot more shows than just 24. 24's biggest problem was always how the real-time worked, which really didn't. But you suspend your disbelief enough that you don't think about it until later. (the bathroom questions, the getting from one location to another in record time) 24 had 8 years to solve a lot of these problems, and really didn't solve the ridiculous subplot thing at all, even in its final season with Starbuck and the parole officer.

Right now, The Event's biggest problem IMO has been the time jumps although they appear to have fixed it a bit in tonight's episode. Another is the massive number of characters--and since the "non-humans" don't look any different than anyone else, I get the feeling it's going to get tough to tell them apart from the human characters. But the show hasn't developed enough yet to say that it's a 24 clone.

 

[Griffin]

How is that different then any espionage show? Stuff like that happens in a lot more shows than just 24

I agree 24 wasn't the only show (or movie) guilty of that, but imo the really good shows do not succumb to that. It's almost like they had a few minutes to fill and browsed through an inventory of common plot elements to find something that fit. But that's just one example. My biggest problem with 24 was that they used the same formula every season, using the same plot elements and just changing names and locations, and that formula wasn't very original to begin with.

Take for example a show like Rubicon. They just had this big scene in the last episode that was a predictable plot element and had a predictable outcome, but it was a very important sequence in character development on that show (I won't go into details to avoid spoilers for those watching that show). But the scene in The Event had no purpose at all, other than just to fill time and build artificial suspense. Yes, many shows and movies do that, but the really good ones are either very creative and original in how they approach it, or those scenes serve a greater purpose other than just to generate suspense, imo.

But the show hasn't developed enough yet to say that it's a 24 clone.

I hope you are right, but after tonight's episode I am not too confident. I checked and indeed the show's main writer and executive producer is the same one who did 24. But I'll keep watching for now. For what it's worth, I did like the final scene with all those people waking up. It didn't make sense to me why they all would have been killed, so at least that cleared that up.

 

[dogpoo32]

Like Chap and Grif said, there were some "seriously?" moments in last night's episode, but I liked it more than the other two previous. I was on the fence, but last night's episode was good enough to buy my viewership for at least two more episodes.

 

[thirty-two]

I havent watched since the Pilot, but if it gets picked up for the season I might have to start watching.

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

...there were some "seriously?" moments in last night's episode...

My "seriously?" moment of the last episode (aside from those already mentioned):

Spoiler

After Walker clocks the "alien" fakie-FBI guy with the fire extinguisher, he and Agent Hottie make a break for it. During their escape, fakie-FBI guy shoots out their back window.

Here they are, having gotten the drop on the lone surviving fakie-FBI guy...who just took out HALF OF THE AGENTS IN THE REGIONAL FBI OFFICE! Fakie-FBI guy is obviously in on whatever it is that they are trying to discover.

They don't handcuff him, and try to question him...nor do they handcuff him and call it in so that someone else can question him and charge him for friggin MURDER!

WTF?

Hell, I'd been ok with the sequence of events if they had just shot him in the head and left him for dead, only to have him use a special alien self-resurrection technique and then chase after them.

I can suspend disbelief right up until the characters do something that really only makes sense to a writer with a deadline 10 minutes away, unless the show is stellar like 24, or Lost.

Pitiful...just plain pitiful.

 

[Gaddabout]

I think good shows have those moments, but they do it in a tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink kind of way that makes you feel like they're making fun of those situations. Like how the Lost writers would scan the message boards for people poking plot holes in the show, and the critics' very words would end up as Hurley dialogue. I also think X-Files was very clever in this way, too. They would never beg for someone's suspension of disbelief. They'd address it head on in the Mulder-Scully dialogue. Another more subtle part of that was having Mulder be very vulnerable. He was always getting his butt kicked. He was not invincible nor even really capable of escape. He was just a man driven by his passion for some kind of cosmic truth, and was even willing to die to find out if he had to. Stuff like that will resonate with just about anyone, even people who think belief in UFOs are for nuts.

This reminds me of French playwright Moliere, who loved to poke holes (and fun) at political and religious leaders of his day. In Tartuff he set up a house full of noble fools and used the servant (who never spoke lines) as the one who pointed out the foolishness. It's what the TV show Soap was based on -- the servant Benson being the actual hero of the show. It's an extreme example, and it's comedy, but I think any network sci-fi serial drama has to recognize that if it takes itself too seriously and if it can't have self-aware characters who acknowledge the ridiculous nature of their reality, it sets itself up to be mocked.

I'm still waiting for some kind of broader theme in The Event. Even bad or broken sci-fi serials like The Millennium let you in right away on what the writers are attempting to say with the show, an over-arching theme. If this really is another 24 and it's just plot-driven good guy, bad guy stuff, I won't really care if the show gets picked up. I'm out.

 

[Bucaguy]

The seems to be getting better... I am almost hooked now

 

[Pariah]

I like it, but I think they tried to hard to compare it to Lost--as mentioned, it doesn't seem to have an over-arching mystery to the story. It's pretty straight-forward: There are aliens among us, we thought we'd captured them all but we didn't, and now the ones that are free (who, BTW, have infiltrated the government) are making a move to bust them out.

It's entertaining, but if you're waiting for a water-cooler show, I think you'll be disappointed.

JMHO

 

[Chaplin]

I like it, but I think they tried to hard to compare it to Lost--as mentioned, it doesn't seem to have an over-arching mystery to the story. It's pretty straight-forward: There are aliens among us, we thought we'd captured them all but we didn't, and now the ones that are free (who, BTW, have infiltrated the government) are making a move to bust them out.

It's entertaining, but if you're waiting for a water-cooler show, I think you'll be disappointed.

JMHO

There's rumors that they're not really "aliens", but I don't really have an opinion one way or the other.

 

[Pariah]

There's rumors that they're not really "aliens", but I don't really have an opinion one way or the other.

If that's the case, it hasn't been alluded to in the show. Right now the show is what it is.