The Event (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Event is an American television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 containing elements of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, action/adventure and political allegory. The show was created by Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters is a Belgian television writer and editor, best known as the creator and co-executive producer of the NBC television series The Event....

, and premiered on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 on September 20, 2010. The plot centers on a group of extraterrestrials
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

, some of whom have been detained by the United States Government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 for sixty-six years since their ship crashed in Alaska, while others have secretly assimilated among the general populace. The series was picked up for a full first season of 22 episodes on October 18, 2010. NBC canceled the series on May 13, 2011.

Overview

Near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, a craft of undetermined origin crashed in the Brooks Range
Brooks Range
The Brooks Range is a mountain range in far northern North America. It stretches from west to east across northern Alaska and into Canada's Yukon Territory, a total distance of about 1100 km . The mountains top out at over 2,700 m . The range is believed to be approximately 126 million years old...

 of northern Alaska. It carried passengers who appeared outwardly human, but were eventually determined to be of extraterrestrial origin. Their DNA is slightly less than one percent different from humans, and they age at a much slower rate. Ninety-seven of the survivors were captured by the U.S. government and held in a secret facility nearby, Mount Inostranka, run by intelligence agencies, since they have refused to disclose much about their origin. The remaining survivors, also known as the Sleepers, who only sustained minor injuries, were able to escape the crash scene and currently live among the population.

President Martinez learns of the facility's existence shortly after his inauguration and decides, after meeting the leader of the detainees, to release them and disclose their existence to the world over the objections of the intelligence agencies. His plans are put on hold when an assassination attempt on him is foiled by means beyond human technology. The CIA realizes there are other aliens and secretly plans to find and detain them. Unknown to the agency, the agent chosen to head the effort is himself an alien. The aliens are divided internally on how to respond to this.

Caught in the middle of these events is Sean Walker, whose plans to propose to his girlfriend Leila on a Caribbean cruise are cut short when she mysteriously disappears from the ship. His investigation eventually leads him to uncover the assassination plot.

Narrative technique

The show's pilot episode is told almost entirely in retroversions to three different time frames. According to Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters is a Belgian television writer and editor, best known as the creator and co-executive producer of the NBC television series The Event....

, the show's creator, later episodes will use flashbacks more to develop the characters. "There will be big reveals and big clues in each episode," he said, promising that viewers will not have to wait too long for answers to questions raised. After the pilot aired, he and executive producer Steve Stark answered some viewer questions on their Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 feeds, for example explaining that the fate of the plane will be disclosed early in the next episode. The characters also have Twitter feeds, and one has a blog, truthseeker5314.com, which may reveal additional information. The last two episodes before and all episodes following its hiatus no longer feature flashbacks. Cast member Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...

 said regarding the removal of the flashbacks, "We had been jumping around a lot and doing flashbacks and that was confusing to people," and "So when we come back, that device is done with! We are now telling the story straight through so people can track it and follow it easier."

Main cast

  • Jason Ritter
    Jason Ritter
    Jason Morgan Ritter is an American actor, son of the late actor John Ritter and actress Nancy Morgan. Ritter is probably best known for his role as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event.-Early life:Ritter was born in Los Angeles,...

     as Sean Walker – a software engineer who becomes involved in a government conspiracy when his girlfriend and would-be fiancée mysteriously disappears during their Caribbean cruise. Sean later finds Leila and the two begin to uncover the conspiracy.
  • Sarah Roemer
    Sarah Roemer
    Sarah Christine Roemer is an American model and actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Disturbia, Asylum, and Fired Up!.-Life and career:...

     as Leila Buchanan – Sean's girlfriend, who is kidnapped. After being rescued, she tries to find her younger sister who has also been kidnapped. It is revealed that she and her little sister are half non-terrestrial as their father, Michael Buchanan, was one of the survivors of the 1944 crash.
  • Laura Innes
    Laura Innes
    Laura Elizabeth Innes is an American actress and director, probably best known for her role as Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER, and most recently, as Sophia on the NBC thriller The Event.-Career:...

     as Sophia Maguire – the leader of a mysterious alien group of detainees being held at a top-secret facility. She becomes a critical liaison to the President of the United States amidst the cover-up.
  • Blair Underwood
    Blair Underwood
    Blair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...

     as Elias Martinez – the recently elected President of the United States, who is stunned to learn that his own government is keeping secrets from him. As he tries to do right by the public, he soon finds himself in the midst of the cover-up, and the target of a spectacular assassination attempt.
  • Ian Anthony Dale
    Ian Anthony Dale
    Ian Anthony Dale is an American actor.Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he attended school in Madison, Wisconsin. He is of Japanese, French and English descent. Dale currently stars as Simon Lee on The Event, and was previously known for playing Davis Lee on Surface and his recurring role on Charmed...

     as Simon Lee – a CIA operative and an alien who was stationed at Mount Inostranka.
  • Scott Patterson
    Scott Patterson (actor)
    Scott Gordon Patterson is an American actor. He is known for his role as Luke Danes in Gilmore Girls and Agent Strahm in Saw IV, Saw V and Saw VI...

     as Michael Buchanan – Leila's father, who is thrown into the conspiracy and must go through great lengths to protect his family. He is later revealed to be one of the non-terrestrials that survived the 1944 crash. He is shot and killed by a number of Sophia's people while trying to help Leila and Simon escape.
  • Lisa Vidal
    Lisa Vidal
    Lisa Vidal is an American film and television actress.-Early years:Vidal was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of Josie, a secretary, and Manny Vidal, a tax consultant and businessman. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico and settled in Manhattan, New York, where Vidal and her two...

     as Christina Martinez – the First Lady of the United States. In the final episode, it is revealed that the First Lady is one of the "sleepers" as she calls the planet entering Earth's orbit "Home".
  • Bill Smitrovich
    Bill Smitrovich
    -Personal life:Bill Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a tool and die maker. Bill is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport and holds an MFA from Smith College . He is married to Shaw Purnell from Pittsburgh, PA...

     as Raymond Jarvis – the opposition party Vice President of the United States who is revealed to be involved in the conspiracy. He was later named acting president while Martinez was incapacitated in hospital.
  • Clifton Collins, Jr.
    Clifton Collins, Jr.
    Clifton Craig Collins, Jr. is an American actor.-Life and career:Clifton Craig Collins, Jr. was born in Los Angeles, of half Mexican descent and the grandson of actor Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez. He has sometimes been credited as Clifton Gonzalez-Gonzalez to honor his grandfather...

     as Thomas – a member of the non-terrestrials who escaped capture, but now is in contact with the other "sleepers" who are not imprisoned. He is Sophia's son, and is much more militant than she. He is killed by a Hellfire missile launched from an Apache helicopter in a strike ordered by President Martinez.
  • Željko Ivanek
    Željko Ivanek
    Željko Ivanek is an Emmy award-winning Slovenian American actor best known for his role as Ray Fiske on Damages. He is also known for playing Blake Sterling on short-lived NBC series The Event and Emile Danko on Heroes....

     as Blake Sterling – the Director of National Intelligence, who has long kept secrets from the President. He was fired by Jarvis when he questioned Jarvis' involvement in Martinez's poisoning, but later reinstated.
  • Taylor Cole
    Taylor Cole
    Taylor Quinn Cole is an American actress and former fashion model.-Early life and modeling:Cole was born in Arlington, Texas. Cole attended Mirabeau B. Lamar High School where she traveled with the Junior Olympics volleyball squad. It was also in high school she got her start as a model. Cole...

     as Vicky Roberts – a woman who Sean and Leila meet while on a cruise. She is later revealed to be an assassin who formerly worked for the CIA. Vicky kidnaps Leila in an attempt to draw Sean out. She fosters a child she orphaned after participating in a mission where she assassinated the child's family.

Recurring cast

  • Heather McComb
    Heather McComb
    Heather McComb is an American actress.McComb started acting at age 2 in a commercial for Publisher's Clearing House. When she appeared in the telefilm Generation X in 1996, she became the first actress to portray the X-Men character of Jubilee on screen...

     as Agent Angela Collier – an FBI agent that was involved in the arrest of Sean Walker. Initially, Walker's claims of the series of events that lead to Leila's disappearance seem delusional to Collier, but after witnessing her coworkers and friends get killed by the same people after Sean, she becomes entangled with Walker as the truth unravels.
  • D. B. Sweeney
    D. B. Sweeney
    Daniel Bernard "D. B." Sweeney is an American actor.-Early life:Sweeney was born on Long Island, New York and raised in Shoreham by an educator father and a municipal government employee mother. He attended Shoreham-Wading River High School and both Tulane and New York University...

     as Carter – a man who worked alongside Vicky to hold Leila.
  • Hal Holbrook
    Hal Holbrook
    Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...

     as James Dempsey – he gives orders to Vicky and Carter and is the head of the conspiracy. Revealed to have the ability to shift to a younger version of himself. He is a part of an ancient race that has been fighting the aliens for three millennia. He kills himself to motivate Sean to take on Sophia.
  • Scott Michael Campbell
    Scott Michael Campbell
    Scott Michael Campbell is an American actor.Among the roles he has played , there are appearances in ER, Nothing Sacred, House, and more recently, a semi-regular participation in The Event and the movies Flight of the Phoenix, Brokeback Mountain among many others.-...

     as Justin Murphy – an agent working for the Office of Director of National Intelligence who is set up by undercover agents to appear as the traitor in the government who helped Sophia escape.
  • Necar Zadegan
    Necar Zadegan
    Necar Zadegan is an Iranian Americanfilm, television actress and model. She is best known for her recurring role as First Lady Dalia Hassan on the eighth and final season of 24.-Life and career:...

     as Isabel – an alien who is in a relationship with Thomas and supports his own agenda against Sophia. She is killed along with Thomas when Martinez fires a missile on the bus she and Thomas were on.
  • Clea DuVall
    Clea DuVall
    Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sofie on the television series Carnivàle as well as for films such as The Faculty , Girl, Interrupted and The Grudge .-Early life:DuVall was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Rosemary and...

     as Maya – an alien who killed her boyfriend William for telling Sterling secrets about the detainees. She was later shot and killed by Thomas while trying to protect Sterling.
  • Roger Bart
    Roger Bart
    Roger Bart is an American actor and singer.-Life and career:Bart was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of a teacher and a chemical engineer, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey. His uncle is journalist Peter Bart. He made his Broadway debut in Big River as Tom Sawyer in 1987...

     as Richard Peel – the White House Chief of Staff.

Development and production

Producer Steve Stark
Steve Stark
-Career:His credits include The New Lassie, Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show, The Game, Medium, Fairly Legal and The Event. He began his behind-the-camera career as an acting/comedy casting director on Star Search in 1983...

 brought the original script to NBC in 2009, after hearing that the network was looking for "event-type" series to add to its television lineup. The script was written by Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters
Nick Wauters is a Belgian television writer and editor, best known as the creator and co-executive producer of the NBC television series The Event....

 in 2006. The show appeared on NBC's development slate in early January 2010, when the network announced at the Television Critics Association
Television Critics Association
The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming...

 presentation that it had green-lit production of a pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

.

Casting announcements began in early February, with Jason Ritter
Jason Ritter
Jason Morgan Ritter is an American actor, son of the late actor John Ritter and actress Nancy Morgan. Ritter is probably best known for his role as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event.-Early life:Ritter was born in Los Angeles,...

 landing the lead role of Sean Walker. In late February, Željko Ivanek was cast as Blake Sterling, a director at the CIA, and Ian Anthony Dale signed on as Simon Lee, a government operative. This was followed a few days later by the addition of Scott Patterson and Sarah Roemer to the cast. Roemer was cast as Sean's girlfriend, Leila Buchanan, with Patterson portraying her father, Michael. In late February, Laura Innes was cast as Sophia Maguire, the inmate leader at a mysterious prison facility, a role which was originally envisioned as male. Blair Underwood came on board in early March in the role of President Eli Martinez, a role which was originally planned for a Hispanic actor. Finally, the addition of Taylor Cole completed the main cast.

Jeffrey Reiner signed on to direct, after having agreed to a deal with Universal Media Studios to work on new projects. He will also serve as an executive producer. After having read the pilot script, he called it a "page turner." Lisa Zwerling
Lisa Zwerling
Lisa Zwerling is an American physician , television writer and producer...

, who also signed a deal with UMS, will serve as a consulting producer.

On May 7, 2010, NBC announced that it had given a series order for The Event, followed by the announcement that Evan Katz
Evan Katz
Evan Katz is a television writer, most notably known as the executive producer of the hit television series 24. Prior to his work on 24 he created, wrote, and executive produced the television series Special Unit 2. He won a 2006 primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, and has been...

 was signed as showrunner and executive producer. A week later the network announced that the series would appear on the Fall 2010 television schedule, airing on Mondays at 9 pm. On October 18, 2010, NBC announced it ordered nine more episodes, adding to the original thirteen.

In mid-July 2010 Clifton Collins, Jr.
Clifton Collins, Jr.
Clifton Craig Collins, Jr. is an American actor.-Life and career:Clifton Craig Collins, Jr. was born in Los Angeles, of half Mexican descent and the grandson of actor Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez. He has sometimes been credited as Clifton Gonzalez-Gonzalez to honor his grandfather...

 was cast as Thomas, a character described as "a key player in the show's secret conspiracy".

The series is a thriller, love story, and mystery with an element of science fiction. Unlike other well known series of the same genre, producers have promised timely answers to mysteries, with some answers provided as early as the upcoming episode. Executive producer Evan Katz stated that "everything is designed to answer questions so you're not frustrated or feeling like we're making it up as we go along" and the writers intend to keep the viewers guessing in a "fair way."

Reviews

The Event was one of four new series screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2010, with The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

 saying the crowd response suggested "NBC's fall drama The Event came up a big winner."

Reviews of the pilot episode were generally favorable, scoring 67 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 many invoking comparisons to Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

 and 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...

, each of which had ended its run the preceding spring. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

 called it "as big, brash and promising as Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...

 was a few years back". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

s Brian Lowry called it "an enticing start". Linda Stasi of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 stated that "if 24, Lost, and The 4400
The 4400
The 4400 is a science fiction TV series produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Sky Television, Renegade 83, and American Zoetrope for USA Network. The show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and it stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie...

 had a baby, it would be The Event".

More cautious commentators said the show had promise but could not go on tantalizing the audience with a proliferation of mysteries. "The effort required to follow the story" said Barry Garron of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

, "goes well beyond what most viewers might be willing to give." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

 called the pilot "an irritating tease" and hoped the second episode would answer some of the questions the pilot asked.

Ratings

The pilot episode received 10.88 million viewers and a 3.6/9 adults 18–49 rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

/share, placing third in its timeslot at 9:00 pm ET. After averaging 9.1 million viewers for the first four episodes, NBC picked up the series for a full season.

However, by the final episode of 2010 on November 29, the series had cut its audience by 46% and its demo rating by 48%, to 5.83 million and a 1.9/5 respectively, although both of these were up noticeably from the previous week. On November 15, NBC announced that The Event would be going into hiatus after the November 29 episode, and would return on February 28, 2011 (later pushed back to March 7). Upon its return, the series received 5.23 million viewers and a then-series-low 1.4/4 18–49 rating/share; the latter of these figures represented a 26% plunge from the fall finale. The series has since gone as low as 3.85 million viewers and a 1.1/3 rating/share in 18–49, first on April 18 and again on May 9.

Home media releases

The complete series was released on DVD in region 1 on August 23, 2011 and in region 2 on October 17, 2011. Special features on the DVD include seven behind-the-scenes featurettes, six audio commentaries with cast and crew, deleted scenes, episode recaps, a photo gallery, and a never-before-seen look at Dempsey's back story.

Broadcast

The Event has been syndicated for broadcast in several countries worldwide, including Canada where it aired simultaneously as the U.S., United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, and Israel.

Possible series continuation

After the series' cancellation, the Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 channel had been rumored to be in talks to continue the series as a miniseries; this was later denied by Syfy's Craig Engler. At the 2011 Television Critics Association Tour, NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt
Robert Greenblatt
Robert Greenblatt is an American television executive and currently the chairman of NBC Entertainment.-Career:Greenblatt began his television career at the Fox Broadcasting Company where he ran prime-time programming and developed such shows as the original Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place,...

revealed a possibility of a TV movie. He said, "It's been discussed with Syfy and a few weeks ago it seemed more possible than it does today, but I honestly don't know." If it were to happen, it would air on Syfy, and not NBC.

External links

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