will The Event learn from Lost?

[Temis the Vorta]

Has The Event found the magic formula?

What to imitate from Lost:
*Big, years-spanning mystery
*Flashbacks
*A little about sci fi, but mostly about characters
*Don't suck like FlashForward and all those other shows did (okay this one's a little vague)
*Don't play hide and go seek with the schedule
*Good bad guys
*Know where you're going (in general)

What not to imitate: No answers no answers and still no answers! And even more no answers! People will be annoyed and write you letters.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I hope so, I'm looking forward to The Event. Has a really good cast and all of the previews I have seen so far, look great.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I'm going to be giving The Event a try hoping it won't end up being another LOST wannabe that fails--in fact, it is the only new series I'll be watching this fall.

The main thing it needs to learn from LOST is you have to hit the ground running because in this day and age no one is going to stick around very long if you don't start out with a solid pilot that is truly engrossing. You also need interesting characters which V/FF didn't have, heavily serialized storytelling with no filler, don't stall and frustrate your audience, you need inventive writing, WTF cliffhangers to make you want to see what happens next, a sense of urgency which V/FF lacked, some excitement, cool revelations you don't see coming, expectations being turned on their heads, have a map of where everything is going and the one thing LOST didn't quite succeed in and The Event would be wise to avoid is answer every damn question you raise because we'll be keeping track.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

You also need interesting characters which V/FF didn't have

That's a real killer. Who could have predicted that an accomplished actor like Joseph Fiennes would come off so badly in the role, which was an anti-hero role, which works fine on other shows all the time. Good actor, decently written role. Why didn't it work?

Sure you can point to Ryan and Tyler on V and say they're miscast and that should have been caught in the auditions, and of course Joel Grestch is wasted on an underwritten role, but I think sometimes, nobody can predict these things. They become apparently only after it's too late.

Here's something I hope they don't forget: HUMOR! Lost had tons of humor, which was worked into the story in a natural way that didn't clash with the overall tone of sturm und drang.

 

[Samurai8472]

Being on NBC and with the "Heroes" level hype

"They're tell everyone about the Event"

I wouldn't be surprised if by the second season we know all about this event and they scramble to make up more about the event.

"Oh the event wasn't just humans turning to aliens it was about the search for lost treasure in Egypt"

 

[Guy Gardener]

Joe invented a terrible American accent. The cast was terribly Brit heavy and not all of them could be trusted to act while faking a silly voice or let lose with what god gave them and it not seem like some sort of invasion to reclaim the colonies.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I missed the link to the article the first time and just now finished reading it. The producers say all the right things so if they actually come through this could end up being my LOST replacement.

It also sounds like they are very aware of not dragging stuff out so it will probably be kind of like S1 of Heroes where we get a lot of questions but the writers do a pretty good job of answering them at a good pace. Let's just hope it doesn't implode like Heroes though in S2.

 

[shivkala]

I am a little worried about their focus on Lost. Part of what made Lost so great was that it felt fresh. All of the shows that hoped to learn from its success failed, in my opinion. The two that stand out, Invasion and Flash Forward came out of the gate trying to capture lightning in a bottle.

Granted each show had its own flaws, but I think they also tried so hard to do what Lost did without success. I think they also forgot that Lost lost steam after it's first season, but that first season was strong enough (with enough strong episodes for the remaining seasons) to create fans for the long haul.

Then again, Heroes had a very strong first season and fell apart after that.

So, somehow the show needs to have a central mystery which reaches some sort of crux point in the season finale, and changes the nature of the show dramatically enough, but also on a minor scale that the show doesn't become something else. It's characters need to be interesting, but you can't have one character overpower the others. The show needs to have a definitive end, but not one that's easy enough to guess. It also needs to be serialized, but not so much that people who miss a few episodes aren't totally lost. They also need to seed the first few episodes with clues and tidbits that they'll revisit later, but not to the point where you'll have to remember small details for a few seasons until they get around to mentioning/explaining/revisiting it, etc.

Oh, and they also need to be able to wrap it up sooner if the show is cancelled before the end, because I think some of us are gun shy enough to avoid shows like this for fear that, like the other shows that tried to emulate Lost, they'll be cancelled before we know anything (if we still care by that point).

No small order, that.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The producers say all the right things

Funny how they're from NBC and get things right about other networks' shows. At the same time I run across an article from NBC producers who are saying the usual clueless baloney about their own failed shows. I give up, I can't figure these people out!

 

[bigdaddy]

The Event should be a miniseries.

However the "good bad guys" thing is a good point. On Lost the bad guys were awesome! That's a must.

 

[Mooch]

The producers say all the right things

Funny how they're from NBC and get things right about other networks' shows. At the same time I run across an article from NBC producers who are saying the usual clueless baloney about their own failed shows. I give up, I can't figure these people out!

Maybe these guys are smarter than the people running Heroes. Time will tell!

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Sure you can point to Ryan and Tyler on V and say they're miscast and that should have been caught in the auditions, and of course Joel Grestch is wasted on an underwritten role, but I think sometimes, nobody can predict these things. They become apparently only after it's too late.

I just want to remind you Josh Holloway could not act himself out of a paper bag in Season 1.

 

[JWD75]

Sure you can point to Ryan and Tyler on V and say they're miscast and that should have been caught in the auditions, and of course Joel Grestch is wasted on an underwritten role, but I think sometimes, nobody can predict these things. They become apparently only after it's too late.

I just want to remind you Josh Holloway could not act himself out of a paper bag in Season 1.

True, but Holloway improved greatly and Sawyer became an awesome character.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Sure you can point to Ryan and Tyler on V and say they're miscast and that should have been caught in the auditions, and of course Joel Grestch is wasted on an underwritten role, but I think sometimes, nobody can predict these things. They become apparently only after it's too late.

I just want to remind you Josh Holloway could not act himself out of a paper bag in Season 1.

I don't remember him being terrible as an actor. Maybe you think that because the character was still at the level of cliche for much of S1 (the angry, jackass redneck). All the characters needed time to develop beyond their initial trite levels. A trite character can make an actor look bad. I'm not sure Holloway improved so much as he looked better as the writing added more layers to the character.

And it was always obvious that he well-cast in the role from the start, even if the character had never progressed beyond cliche. He could have been an amusing jackass redneck for years on a less ambitious show. But the actors cast for Tyler and Ryan are simply wrong for the part. The kid playing Tyler would be far better off as a football jock rapist, the villain of the week in one of those police procedurals. Morris Chestnut, who plays Ryan, would be okay as a cop investigating the crime on the same show.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Being on NBC and with the "Heroes" level hype

"They're tell everyone about the Event"

I wouldn't be surprised if by the second season we know all about this event and they scramble to make up more about the event.

"Oh the event wasn't just humans turning to aliens it was about the search for lost treasure in Egypt"

"...where they would find out, the aliens had....'a plan'..."

 

[Dream]

I'm starting to get tired of whenever the media says a show is going to be the next LOST.

LOST wasn't trying to copy off the success of another show. That's why it's great. It did it's own thing. New shows need to stop trying be LOST, and just try to be good first.

 

[bigdaddy]

We will know a lot about The Event by the end of the 13th episode. That's the problem with the way USA shows are, they get 13, then another 9 then maybe several more years. So really they need to have several "events" planned out, and I just don't see that working.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Or one Event with many repercussions and facets.

The backwards E in the ads makes me think the Event was this: a parallel reality crashed into ours so that there's a permanent opening between the two. The prisoners are duplicates from this other reality who are being kept in prison so that their duplicates from our side won't meet them.

Lots of stuff could be spun off from that. What happens when duplicates meet? Matter/anti-matter? Or just social disruption as people realize they are no longer unique? Would duplicates from one reality be brought over as spies in the other? etc etc

And that's just one idea. It could be completely different, but still could spin off various storylines. Maybe the Event is an event horizon: a black hole at the center of the planet that will swallow Earth. The story is, how to stop it.

I wouldn't sell them short already. They may already have thought about the problem of extending interest while not delaying answers too long, and have a workable solution.

On another topic, have people seen the latest ad campaign on NBC for the show? it's terrible! It makes the show look like some doltish soap opera!

 

[tomalak301]

I'm starting to get tired of whenever the media says a show is going to be the next LOST.

LOST wasn't trying to copy off the success of another show. That's why it's great. It did it's own thing. New shows need to stop trying be LOST, and just try to be good first.

Agreed. I didn't watch Lost, but I don't want to see a show be a new Lost. I want to see a show be it's own thing and even surpass Lost. There are so few good/great shows so if The Event is a good/great show, than that's really good enough for me. Haven't really seen much about it though but the critical response so far has been pretty positive.

 

[Sci]

Hm. I'm a bit disappointed to hear that The Event is going to have a sci-fi element. The ads I'd seen for it made it seem like a non-sci-fi political/conspiracy thriller, and that's what I was hoping for. Oh well.