Here are my first impressions of “The Event,” which airs at 8 p.m. Central Mondays on NBC.
1. If you put the “Lost” pilot at the top end of the scale (10) and the “FlashForward” pilot at the bottom end (0), then the first episode of “The Event” — this season’s only Big Event Series — is a solid 7. Jason Ritter — as Sean Walker, a guy whose life is turned upside down when his girlfriend disappears and no one believes him — is worth rooting for, and it looks like other compelling characters could emerge. The pilot episode concludes with one huge question on top of all the little ones: Where did the plane go when it flew through the rip in the sky? “Lost” had “Where are we?” “The Event” has “Where did they go?”
2. Ritter plays the son-in-law-to-be of Scott Patterson. Fun fact: Both actors have played love interests of Lauren Graham — Ritter last season on “Parenthood,” and Patterson as Luke on “Gilmore Girls.”
3. The rip in the sky makes me think of alternate dimensions, as does the story of Sean not only finding his girlfriend missing but also finding random, oblivious people occupying his cruise ship room. It’s as if he somehow got warped into another dimension himself. All of this calls to mind the two worlds of “Fringe,” but I’m not ready to declare “The Event” a rip-off just yet.
4. The pilot episode is told out-of-order (a scene would end and then cut to the next one with a title card that said “11 days earlier,” or something along those lines). And like the movie “Pulp Fiction,” it is told from different perspectives, so in some cases we saw the same scene multiple times, getting a little more context each time. I think “backward” and “different points of view” are valid ways to tell stories, but the idea of the writers doing it every week is exhausting to think about. They need to prove they can tell a gripping yarn in linear fashion, too.
5. I’ve just given a positive review to “The Event” and I still don’t really know what it’s about. Not only do I not know the “answers” yet, I don’t even know the questions we’re supposed to be asking. For how many weeks can such a thing go on? Sooner rather than later, the show needs to gain an identity.
Verdict: The first episode isn’t a home run like the pilot of “Lost,” but it is a solid double. I’ll be tuning in next week.
What kind of show do you think “The Event” will be? Did you enjoy the first episode? Share your thoughts below.