So that was THE EVENT, that was...

Like many shows before it, THE EVENT was hyped as the successor to Lost before making its debut last autumn--a marketing plot that's officially become the kiss of death for new sci-fi drama. I dearly wish the American marketing folk would use less hyperbole; all they do is inflate expectations to unreasonable levels, secure a healthy audience for the expensive premiere, and then wonder why there's such a sharp and painful decline in viewership. Of course, in The Event's case, it was understandable why people grew bored of it after a month or so: the limp central characters, the annoying ambiguity of the "non-terrestrials" enemies (or misunderstood friends?), the ludicrously arcane dialogue, that irritating overuse of flashbacks...

By the time we'd started the back-half of the season (after another of those preposterously long hiatuses that kill a show dead all by themselves), I had stopped reviewing the show because I was just repeating the same points over and over. But I did keep watching on Channel 4 here in the UK, as I'm a sucker for most things sci-fi and, to be fair, The Event did return from hiatus with a few exciting developments. And here's the thing: The Event actually got quite good once it admitted it's 24-with-aliens and embraced the possibilities of that concept.

There were always overtones of Fox's 24 in the show, primarily because The Event likewise utilizes the President of the United States as a main character, but the second-half of The Event started to borrow from the now-defunct action thriller more and more. We had a black President (Blair Underwood) being removed from power by the 25th Amendment; a misguided Vice President (Bill Smitrovich) who became the show's "Charles Logan" figure because of his corruption and role as the enemy's pawn; and de facto hero Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) ditched his dreary fiance Leila (Sarah Roemer) to globe-trot with bad-girl-gone-good Vicky (smoking hot Taylor Cole). Sean's no Jack Bauer figure (the one element The Event couldn't replicate within its ensemble), but he was doing Bauer-lite things on a weekly basis. The story even took some later turns into pure 24 territory by having the aliens try to decimate the world's population using a doomsday virus—even lifting a memorable set-piece from 24's fifth season, regarding a shopping mall test-site for a lethal contagion.

And let's face it, in a US TV landscape that no longer has 24 on its airwaves, The Event's decision to copy that show worked in its favour. It helped that it was even free of 24's often problematic real-time format (Sean and Vicky could jet to France and back over a few episodes), and its sci-fi underpinnings could raise the stakes to a level that would be far too ludicrous even for 24. Bauer had to deal with nationwide threats on a regular basis, but The Event could takes things truly global—with literally billions of lives hanging in the balance.

In the season/series finale, the writers even answered the core question used to promote the show all last summer: "What Is The Event?" Well, the answer wasn't crystal clear, but it has something to do with a predicted moment of volatile "evolution" for the aliens. A moment that so concerned them they left Earth millennia before humans ever existed. I'm still scratching my head, if I'm honest, and I'm not sure the writers really know the details, but at least we have an idea that "the event" is something genetic and relevant to alien physiology.

I'm rather annoyed The Event has been cancelled now, which surprised me. The majority of season 1's second-half was mostly enjoyable and silly fun, even if it started copying the broad strokes of a different show entirely. The year's big cliffhanger also promised huge change and excitement for a second season we'll now never see, as the alien race literally transported their entire planet to sit beside Earth. Forget about the science of that actually happening (imagine the gravitational effects on Earth's rotation and tides, for starters!), and consider the awesome visual of an alien world suddenly appearing in the sky. There's no way to contain that in a government conspiracy! How would the world have reacted to this event in season 2? Would our characters have visited the alien planet at some point, or would that have been beyond the budget? And was it always the plan to end the season on this note, or was it just an epic final image the producers wanted to leave fans agog with, forever, knowing their show was doomed?

I don't know. But I do know that The Event, while never able to shake off its core problems, definitely improved as it time ticked along, and became an enjoyable and reliably entertaining piece of nonsense. With a whole summer to rethink their tactics, flesh-out some characters, introduce some fresh faces, and tackle the things that went wrong, I suspect The Event could have returned later with an even better sophomore season. It's just a pity US TV shows are launched on a tidal wave of hype most nascent shows can never justify from their pilots, as many shows need a whole year to find their voice, realize their strengths, and iron out their problems. I don't blame anyone for giving up on The Event as early as episode 3 or 4, and I'm not saying it evolved into a truly wonderful show by the end... but it most definitely became a consistently fun one. I'll miss it more than FlashForward, anyway...

NBC end 'The Event'; ABC vaporize 'V'

Unsurprisingly, NBC have decided to cancel their sci-fi mystery drama The Event. The show has been averaging 7.4 million viewers this season, which isn't enough to justify the cost. On a similar note to FlashForward, the show was hyped as "the next Lost" and publicity surrounding it resulted in strong ratings for the pilot (10.8m), but audience interest dropped sharply. On the surface, a 24-esque mystery thriller with aliens replacing the terrorists should have been a winner, but great concepts are only half the battle.

I'm still watching The Event on Channel 4, although I stopped reviewing it mid-season. Again like FlashForward, it started to become oddly enjoyable once the writing was on the wall, as I suspect the writers have thrown caution to the wind and started to just do whatever they can to keep your interest.

ABC have also decided to cancel alien invasion drama V after two seasons, which isn't entirely unexpected either... but more of a shame. The remake couldn't shake deep problems with the quality of its characters/actors, but I quite enjoyed the majority of season 2 (in terms of its pace and bravado), while Morena Baccarin's performance as alien queen Anna was singlehandedly worth tuning in for. Considering the potential for a far more ostentatious and exciting third season (if season 2's cliffhanger is to be taken at face value), I'm saddened we won't be seeing more of the sexy space-lizards... how about you?

'THE EVENT' 1.11 & 1.12 - "And Then There Were More" & "Inostranka"

Every TV show needs need characters the audiences care about and want to watch every week. It sounds so simple. But that's the key ingredient missing from The Event, and all of the Lost-inspired shows that have failed to replicate that island mystery's success. They seem to have willfully forgotten that Lost spent the majority of its first season as a piecemeal character study and castaway drama (with only occasional weirdness), not the knotty sci-fi spectacle it became.

The Event doesn't have great characters you can feel passionate about, just (mostly) decent actors trying their best to imbue two-dimensional plot-movers with some semblance of depth. Jason Ritter's a likeable guy, but did you ever care about his character Sean's search for his kidnapped fiancé? Or his drippy fiancé Leila's resulting search for her kid sister? Not really. Blair Underwood's charismatic, but are you behind his stoical President to the extent you were 24's President Palmer -- who's the clear inspiration? Unlikely. Are there any other characters we're supposed to feel engaged with -- considering the majority are aliens with hazy motives, at best? I don't see any. To add further estrangement, they all speak in riddles and vagaries -- even when they're sharing the screen with characters they don't need to be so unforthcoming around.

I'm past caring what "The Event" is now (if the writers even know), although I'm not angry the show's been teasing us with its titular mystery. Well, when it remembers to. The series has arguably provided more answers in its first dozen hours than Lost managed in two whole seasons, so how it's drip-feeding answers isn't too much of an issue. As I said, the key problem is how it's hard to care about a show that's 90% governed by plot and more excited by its premise than the viewers. I mean, ultimately, it's hard to see The Event going anywhere beyond an alien invasion scenario. We got that in the first 10-minutes of the V remake, and The X Files already spent years teasing a similar apocalypse that didn't even occur in its lifespan.

There's a lot of running around trying to catch "non-terrestrial" terrorists in The Event; plus sub-mysteries about kidnapped children with craggy faces, that undoubtedly tie into the bigger mystery. But without characters you care about it's all for naught.

Here's a game I play sometimes, in my head: if any of these characters were killed, would you feel the tragedy from the comfort of your sofa? I'm guessing not. Compare The Event's current status to Lost's first season, where pretty much every character could have died mid-season and I'd have felt the loss.

To some extent, I blame the decision to imbue The Event with forward-momentum akin to 24, only minus the real-time aspect. This has definitely given us quicker answers to questions, but almost by necessity rather than planning. You simply can't write a story as fast as The Event and keep as tightlipped as most mysteries would prefer, but it also means you can't develop characters particularly well. 24 often struggled, but it helped that the show was an ensemble with the focus on Jack Bauer. The Event's an ensemble with no focus -- with characters spread all over the place. The writers are just trying to keep various plates spinning. A few characters also disappear for extended periods, until the writers think of a way to bring them back.

This hasn't been a review of The Event's two-part mid-season return so far. Apologies. That's because I don't have much to say about particular developments in "And Then There Were More" and "Inostranka". As usual, stuff happened: Leila found her sister and discovered her dad's an alien, the President tried to keep a lid on the alien cover-up, and Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) played Bruce Willis in a takeover of Inostranka by Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr), who was playing the Hans Gruber role.

FlashForward had a decent re-launch to try and correct its problems last year, which ultimately failed, but The Event chose to continue like it had never been away for almost four months. Maybe these episodes were in the can before the writers knew they'd be part of last gasp attempt to lure back viewers. The only noteworthy difference was the absence of any annoying flashbacks (a device that's wisely been disposed of, the writers say), and the debut of Virginia Madsen as an Alaskan governor who stumbles onto the top secret Mount Inostranka project. Madsen's a wonderful actress, but like all of the actors involved with The Event, she still has to work with the dicey material she's given. It's like getting Luciano Pavarotti to sing Pop Goes The Weasel.

I will probably continue watching The Event until the end of season 1, partly because it's a "dead show walking" according to the ratings (this two-part relaunch only mustered 5.23m), but reviews won't be weekly occurrences. How about you? Did you stop watching The Event early on? If so, did you come back to see this relaunch? Was it good enough to keep you watching more? Is the fact it's unlikely to be renewed for a second season putting you off?

"And Then There Were More" written by David H. Goodman (story by Leyani Diaz & Vanessa Rojas) / "Inostranka" written by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie (story by David Schulner) / directed by Jeffrey Reiner / 7 March 2011 / NBC

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.