Tonight’s episode of “The Event” will be the last one audiences see for three months.
Whether you think that’s a good or a bad move by NBC is open for debate.
The network is hoping to re-energize the show and bring in new fans by relaunching it in late February. The hope is to establish the serialized show like “Heroes” or “Lost.” However, there’s also the danger of the show tanking or losing audience interest during the three month break as happened last year with “Flash Forward.”
Part of the strategy for NBC is to run the serialized drama in a block of first run episodes to finish the season.
The series is also taking a few steps to try and lure in new fans or win back those who may have tuned out.
Series executive producer Evan Katz says that the event of the title will slowly be revealed when the series returns in February. He also says the second half of the season will see the pace of the show pick up a bit.
“We’re increasing the pace of what’s happening, sort of like a good movie or novel would. As we come down the stretch, things will start happening quicker,” Katz tells USA Today. As for changes, “You kind of respond to what you see and your general sense of patience or impatience.”
Series star Jason Ritter says the show’s creative team have already mapped out where the first season is headed and that there will be some surprises ahead for viewers when the show returns in February.
“One of the main things I heard when we were starting the show was that our creator (Nick Wauters) had a whole little bible of where the show was going, so there weren’t going to have to be meetings where people were going, ‘Now what?’,” Ritter says.
But before we get to all of that, the series has one new episode to air tonight–and it will contain a variety of cliffhangers to keep the audience (hopefully) buzzing until February. Viewers will learn more about two of the aliens, the mother-son pairing of Sophia (Laura Innes) and Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr.).
The story of Sean (Ritter) and Leila (Sarah Roemer), who are searching for Leila’s kidnapped sister, will move more to the forefront, with Leila learning surprising news about another character. “It’s fair to say there will be some big answers and some big cliffhangers,” Katz says.
Ritter is confident the break will give the show a chance to rest, breath and bring back fans.
“I certainly didn’t think (Sean) would have rescued Leila by Episode 5 or Sophia would have been released I thought both of them would be at least season-long problems,” he says. “It’s been a lot of fun to see them moving forward. Because they know where they’re going, they’re not afraid of moving too fast.”
“The Event” airs its mid-season finale tonight at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.
[poll id=”10″]
The people who make the shows and the ones that watch those shows seem to be completely different. When we watch a season of our favorite shows, we want to see the entire season, one episode after another. We all HATE the 3 months hiatus’s.
The people that make the shows want to put out the DVD’s for half seasons and charge the same as the full season. What is going to happen is that there will be more and more first seasons canceled because we refuse to keep watching tv the way they want us to.
This is a decent series, but i refuse to go season after season waiting for each 3 month hiatus to see what happens. I’ll just drop the show and watch another on a different network.
I don’t mind a three-month hiatus, especially if at least half the season is shown before the break. What I DO mind is a six- or nine-month hiatus. Fortunately, network TV has yet to venture down that road. Unfortunately, cable TV already has and continues to do so, whether we like it or not.
I heartily dislike 3 month breaks, particularly with shows that are serialized like The Event. While I will be back for The Event, this time, I am losing patience with this tactic.
More and more often I’ve decided to wait until a show finishes a season, then I’ll rent the dvds to watch all at once. I don’t have time to be jacked around by networks that may not even bother letting the show reach a satisfactory conclusion.
I’ll be back. It’s interesting and the “end of episode twists” are fairly decent. As long as they can keep that up, I’ll keep watching. It’s a fairly interesting story. Not over compelling, but if it’s between Hawaii 5-0 or The Event, then I choose the latter.
By the way, all the episodes of “The Event” end on a cliffhanger, so that’s really not so special of a thing.