New Shows Roundup – The Event

So far, a hijacked plane flown by Luke from Gilmore Girls a pilot whose daughters are held hostage disappears in midair just as it is about to hit its presumed target, the President of the United States, on the day he was to make an announcement about a group of mysterious detainees who had been held by the government for 66 years and are possibly “not of terrestrial origin.” Turns out the plane was zapped to the desert in Arizona by members of the detainees’ group that had escaped capture and infiltrated our society (undoubtedly raising the question of who among those we have seen are not what they seem). The boyfriend of one of the pilot’s daughters, who had lost said girlfriend while they were on a cruise, tried to stop the hijacking but ended up being framed for a murder back on the cruise and in FBI custody (presumably still looking for ways to find his gf).

This is now the series I most want to do well and stay on the air, because, despite somewhat shoddy execution so far, (1) I am really intrigued as to what is going on; (2) I have yet to check out Fringe so [until V returns] this is my only dose of network scifi; (3) even though it is a blatant gimmicky attempt to capitalize on the Lost formula (a move which I think may be backfire in light of the backlash towards the Lost finale), I still think Lost was one of the best shows on television (i.e. lackluster lack-of-answers ending did not take away from my enjoyment of the process), so if this show can be even half as good, I will stay on-board; (4) I was also a fan of 24 and the 4400, and am not seeing the similarities to those shows as a bad thing (yet); (5) some characters have the potential to develop into real bad-asses (here’s hoping!); and (6) on a purely shallow note, Agent Simon Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) is one hottt alien.

That said, the random time jumps and flashbacks are becoming annoying. This approach worked for Lost because the Lost flashbacks were usually coherent stories that revealed characters’ backstories and tied into their actions, motivations and/or dilemmas in their present lives. The transitions from island to flashback in Lost were so seamless and, more importantly, made sense and proved important by the end of the episode (Jack in Thailand episode notwithstanding – still bitter about wtf that episode was about). So far, the Event’s flashbacks have been scattered, borderline-arbitrary and sometimes repetitive. They feel like flashbacks for the sake of flashbacks. They were especially distracting in episode 2 (I am thinking of the swimming flashback between Jason Ritter’s character and his girlfriend – was that REALLY necessary?) I did enjoy the flashbacks to the detainees crashing in Alaska and Agent Simon Lee’s backstory though (because *shocking* they actually related to the scenes prior to the flashback!). I still have high hopes for this show though – Sophia (Laura Innes) and her possee of “aliens” and Toepick from the Cutting Edge D.B. Sweeney and his murderous group, including Vicky the ditzy partygirl turned kidnapping vixen, are the most interesting characters for me so far. Admittedly, the show needs to work on its characterizations in general - I am in fact straining to remember Jason Ritter's character's name right now, and he's being pitched as the main character ... Sean, that's it ...

All in all, I have seen enough to make me continue to tune in, but I hope the non-linear storytelling won’t turn off others. Some networks have already proven this season they have no qualms about being trigger-happy with new shows.