The Event : Season 1
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 20, 2010
  • Season #: 1
User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 137 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 90 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 137
  3. Negative: 26 out of 137

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  1. brownallaround
    Sep 28, 2010
    2
    Two episodes is enough. The Event is just another overblown, glossy, Bruckheimer-esque action thriller with a soap opera-ready cast and plot holes big enough to fly the vanishing jetliner through. The producers clearly wanted to cash in on the popularity of 24 and Lost, but the show lacks the tension and edge that both of those former series managed to carry on occasion. Despite the mystery of the conspiracy theories and the ulterior motives of some characters, The Event falls flat on several levels. It doesn't engage the viewer or give us any characters that hold our interest. It's like one big game of Sims where you drop random people into a prefab plot and just play things out. If you want intelligence-insulting, mindless action TV with plastic actors and no substance, then The Event is perfect for you. For all the explosions, bloodcurdling screams, chases and tense confrontations it has, the show simply has a limited brain and no soul.… Expand
  2. Chosen1forlife
    Sep 23, 2010
    1
    Dumb, predictable, preachy. We get it. CIA=Evil. War on Terror=Evil. Secret/Evil/Unconstitutional CIA Prison=GITMO. Location of said EVIL PRISON (Alaska) = Sarah Palin. Event President=Obama. Confusing, constantly time jumping, unlikeable cast, etc. Don't waste your time like I did.
  3. Brainstrained
    Sep 26, 2010
    3
    Really don't care about any of the characters. None of the actors stand out. And the multiple timelines and plots have jarring transitions and not much appeal. Hope it gets better quick because there are a lot of other things I can spend my time on.
  4. Joshua_Jamaar
    Sep 22, 2010
    3
    NBC's the Event had just finished airing its first episode, and man was it completely stupid with its horrendous transitions, and pacing within its story. It goes from future tense to present tense then to future again, then lastly to the past then back to the future then to the present! How ridiciously retarded the st...ory was told, and on top of all of that it turns out this is a science fiction show near the end!… Expand
  5. myfajahas400
    Nov 19, 2010
    4
    Let's just think for a second. What two popular, long running shows ended this year? Lost and 24. So the people behind this show thought, what if we combined those two shows together, the outcome was this show.
  6. Acriminal
    Oct 5, 2010
    0
    There is little entertainment value to be gained from watching this show. It's just another overdone cookie-cutter plot involving government conspiracies and an alien cover-up, put together with incessant flashacks that frustrate you right from the start. What is most laughable is how seriously this show takes itself - but it's clearly made for the intelligence of a pre-teen. An African American President of the US with a Hispanic name - can we please be a bit less obvious about who we're trying to brainwash here? This will be a one-season Event at most.… Expand
  7. Krby71
    Sep 22, 2010
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Too much suspension of reality already and the over use of hand-held shake cameras make many parts of this un-watchable. It implication of a superior race or aliens immediately turned me off. Show is way too choppy (unless it is trying to corner the ADD crowd). I was a huge fan of 24 and this is no 24.… Expand
  8. LoveSomeTV
    Sep 23, 2010
    2
    Total non-event. This was a shocker. A poor man's Flashforward, which was another poor man's Lost. They'll ask infuriating questions about characters we don't care about for the entire season and I already (as you've guessed) just don't care about anyone or anything about this show. The non-linear story-telling is trite and unsubtle, and the twist at the end screams - oh wow I couldn't think of anything more underwhelming.… Expand
  9. havacritic
    Sep 25, 2010
    1
    Just couldn't get into this and really didn't want to try, after Heroes, Lost, Flashforward just tired of this genre. Too many characters to follow, get to know, jumps around too much maybe 6 months before the cancel, that is the main reason to not get involved
  10. Journeyfan
    Sep 28, 2010
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The whole feel kept me expecting Mark Benford & Dimetri to breeze across the screen (Flash Forward). An alien nation with female leader and some living amongst us (V), an African American president doing the right thing (24), not to mention the back & forth timeline - where was Jack in that plane crash? (Lost). Un-Inspiring and Un-Original.… Expand
  11. rdank
    Oct 11, 2010
    2
    Quite simply, The Event sucks. The primary issues lie in the show's complete and utter ignorance of emotional depth, instead focusing on cryptic dialogue and time-jumping episode structures too deliberate to be intriguing. It's one-dimensional characters exist only as chess pieces in a plot that refuses viewers a glimpse at the board it's being played on, yet expects them to continue buying into increasingly far-fetched story lines. Combine that with atrocious acting, and you have a real disaster of a show.

    The show's biggest blemish is Blair Underwood, who fails miserably as Elias Martinez, the black Cuban-American president who spends his time angry because nobody respects him or tells him the truth. Underwood is boring and non-authoritative, and always seems to be glaring at something or someone, whether the scene calls for it or not. The casting of Underwood (instead of a Latin-American actor, which NBC initially looked for in casting) cheapens The Event as a 24 clone, and Martinez's "do the right thing" agenda seems overtly Obama-esque, to the point of parody.

    Jason Ritter is solid in his role as Sean Walker, a video-game programmer whose girlfriend disappears without a trace. Unfortunately, his talent is wasted by writers who ignore every chance to develop Walker into a multi-layered character. Driven by a love for the girl he wants to marry (mysteriously abducted in the pilot), but with only one poorly written, painfully obvious attempt in the pilot to invest viewers in their relationship, their storyline is rendered pointless. Without the dramatic tension, Walker's motives fall flat, and his annoying mannerisms quickly grow tiresome.

    Why NBC is promoting The Event as a cross between Lost and 24 is beyond me. Without a discernible identity and clear direction, The Event fails to draw viewers into its still-unclear conspiracy. What NBC doesn't understand that Lost and 24 were so good because they had a brain and (more importantly) a heart. Right now, all The Event feels like a cheap, sugar-coated insult to the shows it imitates.

    Synopsis: With major plot holes and cardboard characters, The Event is nothing but a wasted premise that sacrifices depth for weak thrills and a mirage of true mystery.    … Expand
  12. GanymedeJupiter
    Oct 22, 2010
    2
    This show easily takes the gold for the most groan-worthy pilot episode I've ever seen. Horrifically dull characters, flat acting, confusing and unnecessary use of anachronistic storytelling for what little story there probably is here. Not to mention that the twist at the end was so ridiculous it immediately had me swearing off watching any more episodes. The entire first episode just feels like filler so that they could drag everything out long enough until the underwhelming special effects "Event" happened. Clearly they couldn't hire any good writers so just went for a cut-and-paste storyline of ideas executed infinitely better in more successful series. You can't grow attached to any of the characters since they're so bland, and it's hard to get excited about the big driving question of the conspiracy considering similar shows such as FlashForward seemed to just hit a dead end before cancellation. This is worth nobodies time and will hopefully vanish from our screens akin to it's "Event" to make way for a series that is actually interesting and original.… Expand
  13. TheDuke
    Feb 27, 2011
    2
    Truly awful show. It makes itself seem so complex and exciting by havin flashbacks, upon flashbacks upon flashbacks, inducing headaches figuring out why they had to travel 2 weeks earlier to watch a scene which has no relevance and bad acting. I can barely see any innovation also, no true piece that pulls you in to say 'Wow this is unique and original', it seems more like a hybrid of several hit shows in the past decade, without the substance. This might seem like a horrible review, but my friend recommended it, keeping on telling me that 'honestly it gets better' to be more and more disappointing, with not the best of acting, writing, or content.… Expand
  14. drlowdon
    Feb 7, 2013
    3
    Despite the frankly ludicrous amount of jumping back and forth between different time-lines The Events pilot episode certainly had enough intrigue and mystery to bring me back for the following episode. From then on however, obviously inspired by the success of Lost, the show became needlessly convoluted to a point where the creators seemed to being trying to make things seem more complicated than they really were. By the mid-season break we had actually learnt very little. Without the pilot episodes constant jumping around it also quickly became clear that both the writing and acting were mediocre at best. As a result by the time the show returned after its extended break it was very difficult to muster any sort of enthusiasm.

    Deservedly cancelled after its one and only season this is not a show I would recommend even to the most ardent sci-fi fan.    … Collapse
  15. hugoboy
    Feb 14, 2012
    2
    i have never ever seen a story with so much holes in it, that it would definitely take an eternity to patch them all up. It was as if they just made up the plot as they went. Because it clearly didn't looked like one that was careful written and planned.
    In every sense of the word, this show is absolutely terrible.
    With so many obvious cliche, you could completely predict an entire episo    de after the first five minutes.
    I have seen alot of shows and the event without any doubt is up there with the worst. Which makes you wonder just what were they thinking (now that i don't know.)    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 28
  3. Negative: 1 out of 28
  1. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    70
    It's too soon to tell if The Event, the latest entry in the networks' race to find the next "Lost," isn't merely the next "FlashForward," since, by the end of an intriguing-enough pilot, you won't know much more than you did coming in (including whether NBC's willing to hang in there long enough for us to get some answers). But the cast is good.
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  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Storm
    50
    After all those promos, people have the feeling they've seen the whole first episode, which they probably have.
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  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    70
    With its large ensemble cast and frequent flashbacks--visiting and revisiting events that occurred from 23 minutes to 13 months in the past--watching Event is like riding a contraption that is half time machine and half bumper car.
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