Channel 4 receive 519 complaints about 'The Event'

519 people have officially complained about the loss of The Event from Channel 4's schedule, owing to the show going on hiatus in the US. The sci-fi mystery drama will return to NBC on 7 March with a two-hour special intended to revamp the series (they're ditching the multiple flashbacks, I hear.) Channel 4 should hopefully resume airing it next month.

Obviously the British complainers don't realize Channel 4 are at the mercy of NBC's schedule, which is the downside of UK broadcasters trying to please fans by narrowing the trans-Atlantic transmission gap from months to weeks. You didn't get complaints like this when UK broadcasters were airing US TV shows straight through with no interruptions, because they'd only started showing it 6-12 months after its US premiere. And that's a good thing.

Still, 519 Brits are passionate enough about The Event to have actually lodged a formal complaint. That's surprising. FlashForward was similarly popular in the UK, and overseas, so what is it about these kind of shows that Brits like? Is it simply the fact they're being shown on terrestrial channels, which is a rarity for US hits nowadays? It's easy to forget that many, many people in the UK don't have access to cable/satellite and don't buy or rent TV box-sets. For those people, US shows like The Event, FlashForward and Heroes must feel like special treats.