Here’s another of the many problems with TV: They don’t know when to quit. (Sorry for the TV rant, these posts are a lot easier to write than the several I have in queue that need actual research to complete.)
Berta and I watched The Event last night on NBC. Actually, first we watched Chuck (which I enjoyed) during which we saw many commercials for The Event, which was described as something like “If 24 and Lost had a baby, it would be The Event.” And you know how you can tell a show is going to be bad from the way they promote it? Yeah, like that.
First, the narrative style was completely disjointed. It jumped around way too much. I realize that if they want to get you to the point where the jet does/doesn’t crash into something, they need to give you a lot of background first to understand it, but I believe there had to be a better way to do it. Unfortunately, Lost had some success with their flashback concept in their first season, and it seems like this was an attempt to mimick it in some way. A failed attempt.
What’s sad about this is if it doesn’t play well to the audience (and I can’t see how people would like this), then this storytelling stylel be declared by the TV industry as a failure overall. This is unfortunate because The Event is simply an example of the technique used and poorly applied. The haphazard time and character jumping could be followed, but there wasn’t and realy reason to do it other than to orient the action into a certain order. I think if you’re going to present such a high-concept show as The Event, you could do better to lay the groundwork and trust the audience. But that’s not something TV does…
This is the the real killer: This is another one of those “we’re not going to tell you anything” shows. Or at least, they’ll tell you stuff, but they’ll leave enough out that you have to keep coming back for the next episode. For example, at the end of the pilot, a jet inexplicably disappears. Why? Tune in next time!
Also, what is it with TV and jets? Why are these shows tapping into the national subconscious fear of jets crashing into things? Can’t anyone think of a more original way of killing off the president in these shows? I guess the writers can’t.
So I guess my main question is whether I will watch again next week. Right now, the answer is “probably not”. I’m anxious to reduce my TV watching significantly this fall – but that’s a topic for another post. This new show simply doesn’t make the cut.
