Cool News
‘It’ll Place All Our Lives At Risk!!’ Hercules Has Seen Tonight's Two-Hour Return Of THE EVENT!!
NBC says of tonight’s installments of "The Event," titled “And Then There Were More” and “Inostranka”:
President Martinez (Blair Underwood) and his longtime Chief of Staff (guest star Roger Bart, "Desperate Housewives") charge the intelligence community with decrypting Thomas's (Clifton Collins, Jr.) satellite message, but more importantly determining to whom it was sent. While they are distracted, Thomas unveils a surprise attack, but he does not anticipate a heroic stand-off with Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek), who learns an important lesson about Sleepers from Maya (guest star Clea DuVall, "Conviction"). Meanwhile, newly appointed Alaskan Senator Catherine Lewis (guest star Virginia Madsen, "Sideways") threatens to divulge information about the Mt. Inostranka detention facility on an episode of "HARDBALL with Chris Matthews" (playing himself). Elsewhere, Sean (Jason Ritter) and Leila (Sarah Roemer) get a fresh lead on the whereabouts of Samantha, but it leads them to a dramatic turn in their lives. James Dempsey (guest star Hal Holbrook, "Water for Elephants") foresees that he and Sean will once again cross paths. Ian Anthony Dale, Bill Smitrovich, Taylor Cole, and Lisa Vidal also star.
The big news is some fairly big stuff does happen tonight. Enough big stuff for these installments to feel more like a season finale than a mid-season premiere. Enough big stuff for me to want to watch next week’s episode. I’m even likely to try to stick with it till May, when (producers tell us) we’ll finally learn what The Event is. Things are moving forward.
But in some ways this series is starting to feel a little too much like “V.” There are now good aliens and bad aliens. And it bugs me that the “Event” aliens speak in American English when they’re alone with each other.
I also don’t like that tonight’s episode doesn’t tell us what Sophia Maguire’s plan was before her plane crashed in Alaska 66 years ago. Or why the aliens so resemble us. Or why Sophia has an Irish surname.
I get that they’re trying to fill 22 hours, but I also feel like more cards should be on the table already.
This show gets compared a lot to "Lost" and “24” (“Event” and “24” even share a key writer-producer in Evan Katz) but I wish it shared more with “24” than the running and kidnapping and gunplay. What it lacks most is a Jack Bauer tasked with making those impossible moral choices. Tonight the writers could have driven the bald, hateful national intelligence director, Blake Sterling (the ubiquitous Zeljko Ivanek), to commit some really fucked-up friendly-fire mayhem, and I believe we would have liked him a lot better for it. More than anything, this series needs characters we can sink our teeth into.
And that character is not Blair Underwood’s President Martinez, who gets bogged down in a boring storyline about a new U.S. senator from Alaska (Virginia Madsen) who wants to go public with what she just learned about the Inostranka detention center. It feels, of course, like a big step backward because Martinez himself wanted to go public with Inostranka at the beginning of the season. I grow weary of this secret government conspiracy, largely because too many people have known about Inostranka for too long for this conspiracy to appear credible.
The show frustrates mostly, I think, because I’d love to see a better, ballsier version of “The Event” on NBC. I miss “24” and I miss “Lost.” “The Event” at least feels like it’s somehow helping to keep the spin-offs of “Law & Order” and the shitty Jerry Bruckheimer hourlongs (“Miami Medical”! “Chase”!) and the latest unfunny rip-off of “Modern Family” (“Perfect Couples”!) at bay.
How it stacks up again other current NBC shows ratings-wise:
(ranked by last new episode; previous weeks in parentheses; repeats in gray)
1.3 (3.2) (3.3) (3.5) (3.7) (4.0) (4.5) (1.5) (1.7) (1.7) (1.0) (1.8) (3.7) (3.7) (---) (3.8) (3.6) (3.8) (4.0) (3.4) (3.8) (3.5) (3.7) (4.4) The Office
1.6 (2.5) (2.2) (2.6) (2.9) (1.7) (2.3) (2.5) (2.9) (1.3) (1.5) (1.9) (1.8) (2.5) (---) (2.1) (2.0) (2.2) (1.3) (2.7) (2.3) (2.6) (2.8) (3.2) Law & Order SVU
2.4 (2.7) (2.7) (3.0) (3.3) (3.2) (2.9) (3.2) (3.3) (---) (---) (4.0) (3.1) (2.9) (2.3) (2.5) (2.4) (2.4) (2.4) (2.6) (2.6) (2.5) (2.7) (2.9) Biggest Loser
--- (2.4) (2.2) (2.5) (2.4) (3.0) (3.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Parks And Recreation
--- (2.3) (2.0) (2.3) (2.4) (2.4) (2.7) (1.2) (1.2) (1.1) (0.8) (1.4) (2.1) (2.3) (---) (2.2) (2.4) (2.4) (---) (2.2) (3.1) (2.1) (2.6) (2.6) 30 Rock
--- (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (1.9) (1.7) (1.7) (1.7) (---) (2.0) (2.2) (2.2) (2.4) (2.9) (3.6) The Event
1.9 (2.1) (1.9) (1.9) (2.2) (---) (2.1) (2.2) (2.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (1.9) (1.8) (2.1) (---) (2.0) (1.9) (2.0) (2.1) (2.0) (2.5) Parenthood
--- (1.8) (1.8) (1.8) (2.0) (2.2) (2.2) (1.2) (1.0) (0.9) (0.7) (1.2) (1.9) (1.9) (---) (1.9) (2.0) (1.9) (2.4) (1.9) (2.2) (1.8) (1.9) (2.2) Community
1.8 (1.7) (1.7) (1.7) (2.1) (2.1) (2.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Harry’s Law
1.7 (1.7) (1.7) (1.7) (1.7) (1.9) (2.1) (0.8) (0.7) (0.7) (---) (---) (---) (2.0) (1.7) (1.8) (---) (2.0) (1.9) (1.9) (1.9) (1.9) (2.0) (2.0) Chuck
1.6 (1.4) (1.9) (1.7) (1.4) (1.5) (1.3) (---) (---) (1.4) (1.4) (0.7) (---) (1.2) (1.4) (1.3) (1.3) (1.0) (1.2) (1.6) (1.3) (1.6) (1.4) (---) Dateline
--- (1.4) (1.5) (1.7) (1.8) (1.9) (1.8) (---) (1.2) (1.2) (0.8) (1.5) (---) (---) (---) (2.6) (2.6) (2.7) (2.7) (2.3) (2.6) (2.5) (2.8) (3.6) Outsourced
--- (1.4) (1.4) (1.5) (1.4) (1.7) (2.1) (---) (---) (---) (---) (1.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Perfect Couples
1.3 (1.4) (1.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Who Do/You Are?
1.2 (1.2) (1.2) (1.3) (1.5) (1.6) (1.8) (1.0) (2.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) The Cape
1.0 (1.0) (1.0) (1.7) (2.4) (1.4) (1.6) (1.5) (2.1) (---) (1.8) (1.8) (1.9) (1.6) (1.9) (2.1) (1.9) (1.8) (2.0) (2.1) (---) (---) (---) (---) Minute To Win It
8 p.m. Monday. NBC.
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Colour me not-at-all surprised...
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kindly provide a link.
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Mar 07, 2011 3:18:26 AM CST
Herc quickly editing his old post calling The Event "The future of television" IS NOT THE EVENT.
by dandelion
Ahahahaha..
I kid, I kid.
At least we have Justified in common. -
I still stand by my original prediction: they are from the future, 4400-style.
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A cross between Jersey Shore and a bastardised Big Brother type thing where viewers vote to kill the participant who speaks the most inane, self-obsessed tripe by means of remote controlled sniper rifle operated with their computer mouse hooked up to a broadband enabled TV. Presented in 3D.
So the future is violent, substance devoid trash which makes no attampt to make sense and just hooks viewers with a premise that it struggles to deliver on. Out of date notions of characterisation, plotting and pace are entirely discarded.
In which case, The Event IS the future of television -
Mar 07, 2011 5:35:28 AM CST
This is a very obvious play on the "watchers" and other theories that the angels in the bible are alien beings from another planet.
by dailysportspages
Even down to one of the most prominent angels betraying his leader and splitting the angels into two factions.
With earth and humanity as the field of play.
There is clues to it like crazy from the first episode down to the most recent.
The last episode had the line about how the aliens mission was to protect the humans but not do anything that would change or affect their culture.
Yet some fall in love with earth culture, marry and have kids, make lives for themselves, introduce scientific innovation, etc...
That falls in line with the belief that one group of angels decided to start teaching humans in the various sciences.
And that then some angels had sex with human women as is present in the bible account of the nephilim.
And that the ultimate fight between the two warring factions was really because of the jealousy one angel felt regarding the love his leader "god" had for humans.
Fits a lot into Mormon theology as well, with Satan being the brother of Jesus and both being the sons of god.
So maybe its more like Battlestar Galactica in that sense. -
but another example of the pitfalls of judging a book by its cover (pilot).
For those still interested enough to watch, they've apparently taken the viewers' wishes to heart and eliminated the flashbacks. -
I'd say the aliens are previously evolved humans who became starfarers shortly before the last supervolcano blew [25k years ago?] which erased all remnants of their society. They are the descendants of the first wave of African emigrees, as opposed to our ancestors from the subsequent emigration.
Dont' even know why I'm reading article or writing this, as I dropped the show at ep3. It reminded me of all the stuff I didn't like about 24, without the inexplicably-charming charisma of Jack Bauer.
And I'm still enjoying Supernatural Season 6 more than anything else on TV. For those intereted, TNT is going to restart the series run sometime this week. Pick it up from Season1. You will not regret it. -
they still have never explained how the Jason Ritter character made it on the plane that was about to crash into the President's beach house...this show bores me though...no really interesting characters...I actually like the campy 'Cape' show better
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In one of the previews for the start of this second half of the season, I'm pretty sure I saw Sophia tell the prez that they were here to reclaim their planet.
I think these "aliens" were actually humans from Earth from thousands of years ago. They are more evolved (DNA is 98% human-or something like that). They could have left prior to a species extermination event (asteroid impact) and now they're back. -
but the prizeeeeeeeee....
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But I've been guessing they'll be revealed to actually be advanced humans from the FUTURE of Earth. And the fact they're trying to return home doesn't mean another planet.
Now, I suppose this show may not give us that kind of twist but if you pay attention, the "aliens" never refer to themselves as such in any dialogue, and never refer to some other home planet. On the regular folks have been suggesting extra-terrestrials. There's a chance the writers just don't want to say "aliens" to make things sound less science fictiony or something, but I'm guessing they avoid saying it by design.
Unfortunately, that revelation would be the only thing that I would find interesting on this show at this point. -
Cheer up emo kid!
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Jokes are never funny when they have to be explained..... But here we go, explanation time...
Way back in the dawn of the 2010/2011 TV Season, when The Event was a mere blip on our radars, one AICN user (name of ForgetfulPete) kept spamming the talkbacks with "THE EVENT IS THE FUTURE OF DRAMA ON TV (SERIOUSLY!) " and attributed it to Herc.
Was it an actual quote? No.
It was a dig at something else which had been going on in Coaxial at the time. Namely the late night Coco/Leno wars.
Time Magazine ran a cover story claiming JAY LENO IS THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION (SERIOUSLY!) which Herc cut-and-pasted into *every* *single* *one* of his numerous reviews attacking THE JAY LENO SHOW and, more specifically, Jay Leno.
Since in Pete's mind, Herc's view on THE EVENT was skewed through equally rose tinted glasses as Time's view on Leno, he felt that his posts should state THE EVENT IS THE FUTURE OF DRAMA ON TV (SERIOUSLY!)
It was part joke/part sig/part prophecy. (And yeah, The Event did plummet in the ratings, as did Jay Leno's show.) I always found the line amusing, whether it said Drama or Television. It may have come from Time, but it's totally in synch with some of Herc's more ridiculous pronouncements and uses of "anti-penultimate". But having to explain it now for the cheap seats, you've managed to beat any humour out of it.
It's dead Jim. -
WGAF
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Am I the only one who caught the line from Supernatural two weeks ago:
"Who wrote this? no one says 'Penultimate?"
I'm sorry, but that HAD to be a shot at Herc...
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I put a question mark at the end of a sentence that is not a question 'no one says Penultimate?'
I miss Media Messiah... a part of me wishes fox would bring back dollhouse so I could get more weekly Media Messiah insanity and comedy. -
It's the cancellation of this show after season is over.
The first half of the season felt like too much jerking the audience around. Everyone having conversations where they tip toe around the thing being discussed *because the audience is listensing* got old fast. As someone who felt burned by Lost, I just don't feel the need to give this show any benefit of the doubt.
The mid season break killed my interest. Look at the rating trajectory. Anyone think this show will recover? And a major newspaper newspaper reviewed the episode tonight, gave it a C. Like that will help draw people back in. Stick a fork in The Event cause it's done. -
I thought the "Event" was the crash in Alaska that stranded the aliens (or whatever). Don't the President and co. make reference to the "event" in the first episode? Since the President seems to be completely in the dark about what the aliens are all about, he couldn't have been talking about something that hasn't happened yet.
I've seen this episode. Minor **spoilers** in my comments.
Is it just me or is that the most ineffective lockdown protocol in the history of lockdowns? Only the outside door is shut, leaving everyone locked in to wander freely throughout the base and enter any room they like. When they initiated the lockdown I assumed everyone would be trapped in whatever section they found themselves in. But, no.
I'm guessing this particular military base doesn't have any explosives or an acetylene torch lying around. Otherwise, why would a locked door be such a problem for them. They'd already taken the base, no need to be stealthy or quiet anymore.
As Sean walked down the road wearing his backpack my head was playing the sad piano tune from The Incredible Hulk tv show. -
Mar 07, 2011 11:55:00 AM CST
The Show will totally jump the shark when the Event happens
by domi'sinnerchild
Oh wait, I quit the show after two weeks. I'm just guessing.
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that is what the Event really is
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Sticking with this show for unknown reasons. But I'll be too busy watching sports/chicago code to pay full attention to it. So I'm recording it. Recording shows now allows me to stick with programming I'm half interested in. Love technology.
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I really hope this show is decent... there aren't enough big story arc shows on right now... I have very low standards when it comes to what I find entertaining (and I'm probably on the wrong website because talkbackers seem to take a perverse kind of enjoyment out of bashing anything any time the opportunity arises)... I mean, shit, I find V entertaining but that could be because I caught up on all the episodes in the middle of this season, and shows are always better when you can watch them back to back to back etc....
And myphdisdoom -- I'm a huge sports fan but this time of year (for me) there's a huge void in sports, sports radio and espn because I just cannot get into the game of basketball... Baseball cannot come around soon enough... I can't wait... I"m pumped because in an hour I'll be watching Brewers preseason baseball...
Sports = the ultimate reality TV... always has been, always will be. -
The Event is the funniest show on t.v.
Not intentionally, of course, but one of my favorite things is when the couple who are running around the country doing things (I'm not sure if any of the characters on The Event even have names, they just seem like 'dumb guy' or 'perpetually kidnapped woman') hide behind things or park their car right in front of a place where the bad guys are, and no one ever sees them. Comedy gold. I hope tonight they hide behind a potted plant or something.
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Mar 07, 2011 1:36:12 PM CST
I thought the commercials have totally given away what "the event" is...
by stevestevens
... and it's that the "aliens" on the show are actually past or future residents of the planet who have come to our time to take over, and that "the event" will be the mass extinction of the current human population of the planet.
Or was that just my imagination? -
I guess I'll keep watching to find out what the event is at the end of the season, but if they screw us on that I'm done.
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I don't remember getting that from the commercials.
My opinion since the pilot is that the Inostranka residents are from a future where humans are enslaved by aliens. The aliens are already on Earth in our time, and have positioned themselves in power. The event is the takeover and enslavement of the human race, and the inostranka detainees are here to stop it.
Of course there's no telling who actually knows about the event. From the previews in the summer it looked like everyone in the White House knew, but now it seems like no one really does. -
those big scary aliens, why can't they just get him to deal with the limper lezbo from ER and the stutterer from The Last Castle?
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Is that for real? Isn't that the one that Phil and Claire went to see in Modern Family?
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...and at its worst, painful. Any and all "characterization" they have is in the service of moving whatever the plot of the week is, there's no concept of how much time is elapsing during this crisis, and the fact Jason Ritter is still alive during all these crisis-es makes you have an aneurysm if you think about it too long. The best description I've seen for this show was somebody comparing it to if 24 followed around Kim and Jack was a character who showed up every few episodes.
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Who the hell can even keep track. I don't recall in the slightest what was happening last time it was on. I wonder why none of these "high concept" shows can ever build an audience.
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It doesn't have an original bone it's whole fucking body... it takes itself WAY to seriously... it's terribly written, awkwardly acted, poorly paced, and it's so reliant upon being fucking cryptic, that it just comes off as forced and insincere. It's a crutch for bad writing, and a weak plot. Of course, the half-way astute viewer can see right through that shit.
This show fails on all levels.
Shit, at least it's not as bad as The Cape though, right?
That might be the single worst show i've ever seen make it to air on network TV. -
You know you want it!
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Mar 07, 2011 11:38:08 PM CST
I know that this is pointless to ask since theres no logic in this show but
by room23storeblogspotcom
Why did Blake Sterling/(Zeljko Ivanek) not have or use a cell phone to call out of the prison????? I could maybe see him not being able to because he's in the mountains and out of range, but you would think that he would at least try!!!
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TV is a vast gulf of lame shit these days. This, FRINGE, and CALIFORNICATION are the only three shows I give even the slightest shit about until my AMC shows return.
THE EVENT might be pretty sissy in comparison, but its passable. I'll stick with it for now. -
It's all exposition all the time. It's so annoying to see such dumb characters as the Alaskan Senator and the way she's written and dealt with, or the squaddie in the prison. It's insulting to the audience and absolutely ruins what is a great idea for a show.
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I am missing 'Mad Men'. I read the other day that no contract/deal was in place to bring it back for Season5. I've read nothing to contradict this assertion.
HERC, DO WE KNOW IF MAD MEN SEASON 5 IS A GO?
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Mar 08, 2011 8:55:22 AM CST
"why would a locked door be a problem"...
by harryknowlesnonexistentinceptionreview
...Maybe The Event aliens are distantly related to the Signs aliens. Hope no one spills water on 'em!
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That got my attention. The series needed it too.
It's not topnotch, but I like The Event. It's still much better and somehow different than most out there. I just don't really care for the couple, and the liberation of her sister was ridiculous. What you do is pull out a gun to the, unfortunate, driver arriving shortly after and take his car, so they can also save the rest of the girls. The thug was just unconsious. But I guess our NSA-chief makes up for it, I love the evilness he's ouzing. He would have been perfect for 24. -
The Event has much of the same baggage/garbage that made "24" fail. The show runner doesn't have a clear vision of what the show should/needs to be about in order to be interesting and the eps are horribly written... it's the kind of writing that makes even good actors look bad.
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Switched over to Chicago Code. That show goes from strength to strength. Might keep on watching it.
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I just saw a tumbleweed blow through.
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Gave it one last shot last night, and despite the addition of the always lovely Virginia Madsen, there's no reason to stick around.
There's no characters worth a damn. Say what you will about Heroes.....and even The friggin' Cape, but at least they had that going for them. Nothing worse than a predictable, bore of a show without even a decent character or two to hold your attention until they're able to step up their narrative game. And no, Hal's not around enough to count.
Ritter and especially Roemer are fucking horrible. That chick is the worst actress I've seen on primetime television to never get a supporting role on Smallville. The whole bit last night with her questioning Sean's devotion to her because he hadn't touched her since finding out she's an alien and her searching the house for him the next morning should keep her from landing any sizable roles in the future.
So awful. -
decided to catch up and watch the new eps.
It's improved, but based on the ratings for last night it looks like this show is toast. They lost over 30% of their viewers to the hiatus. -
Not a great show by any means, but still very watchable, thanks to the cast like Delroy Lindo.
Lots of familiar faces popped up last night from other shows.
Certain elements remind one of a lesser, watered-down Shield for network TV, without the edge and more on the side of the good guys.
I, too, gave the Chase a 2nd chance last night, and it didn't give me any reason to come back. -
Mar 09, 2011 12:08:49 AM CST
I'm glad to see i'm not the only one still 51% interested in this show
by icetitan
I don't think it's terrible, i just think it's boring. Slightly passable.. what I mean to say is that it's only about 5% better than actually sleeping. That said I keep recording it just because I feel that 10 episodes is too much of an investment to just not see the season through.
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I meant guest role, regarding Smallville.
My apologies to Allison, Erica, and Cassidy. -
Mar 09, 2011 8:40:14 AM CST
Only ONE episode of V left, and it STILL doesn't get a talkback!
by sithdan
What to the hell?! You give this crappy show publicity but not V? And V is so much more fun than this tedious crap.
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NGC 253 is roughly 12 million light years from Earth. According to Wikipedia, it is called the Sculptor Galaxy. Whatever they are using to transport a massive amount of people must be incredibly powerful.
Also, what in the world was that board that Dempsey/Holbrook had at the end? It reminded me of the strings of time in Flash Forward. There is clearly some sort of time travel happening in The Event as well.
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