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Fall TV: Monday’s returns and premieres
The Event, 8 p.m NBC
NBC is asking a lot of viewers, asking them to buy into another “Lost”-like serialized drama after the disastrous decline of “Flash Forward” they made us sit through last year. The network is marketing the heck out of it, too — if you haven’t seen at least one commercial telling you what the event in “The Event’ isn’t, you haven’t been watching network television. They don’t tell us what it is, but I’m okay with that — I think starting with the flash-forward on “Flash Forward” was the show’s biggest mistake.
We do learn, tonight, that there is a science-fiction element to the show, but we don’t discover much else: there’s an assassination plot against the President; a secret U.S. government detention facility harboring mysterious detainees; and lots of action on a hijacked jet plane, but we’re never told what it’s all leading to. At the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour in Los Angeles, producers insisted that they would not string viewers along in “Lost” fashion. Instead, they repeatedly asked for viewers’ “trust” and promised to walk a fine line between questions and answers. In fact, they said they would answer at least two of the biggest questions raised in tonight’s episode next week.
The time-shifting elements in tonight’s pilot will scare some viewers away, but I found the device to be effective in delivering character information in an economical and swift manner. The acting is great (I especially like Zeljko Ivanek — “True Blood,” “Damages,” “Big Love” — as the President’s possibly-nefarious advisor) and found the production values to be of high quality.
I liked “The Event’ a lot, but I was hot on “Flash Forward,” too … for a short while. I’m hopeful “The Event” will fare better, and I’m willing to stick with it — for now. If you’re at all interested, I would suggest that if you miss tonight’s episode you might find it difficult to catch up.
Also premiering tonight (new shows are indicated by an asterisk):
Dancing with the Stars, 7 p.m. ABC
How I Met Your Mother, 7 p.m., CBS
House, 7 p.m. Fox
Chuck, 7 p.m. NBC
Rules of Engagement, 7:30 p.m., CBS
Two and a Half Men, 8 p.m., CBS
*Lone Star, 8 p.m. Fox
*Mike & Molly, 8:30 p.m., CBS
Castle, 9 p.m. ABC
*Hawaii Five-0, 9 p.m. CBS
*Chase, 9 p.m. NBC
Find more details on these shows in our Fall preview by http://www.austin360.com/television/fall-television-preview-897108.html.
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