What is The Event? Suspense Builds for NBC's New Fall Show

NBC is pinning a lot of hopes on its new fall thriller "The Event." The show could be the biggest hit of the season, and the network is cranking up the publicity. Suspense-filled promos ran during the Emmy Awards broadcast, reaching a huge audience.

The executive producer and showrunner of "The Event" is Evan Katz, who was the Emmy-winning executive producer of "24." From what's been shown so far in the promos, "The Event" seems to have a lot in common with the pilot episode of "24" -- a black president, an assassination attempt, and a terrorist on an airplane.

Jason Ritter stars as Sean Walker. The show's official site describes Sean as an "everyman" who stumbles across "the biggest cover-up in U.S. history." Blair Underwood is the popular and honest President Elias Martinez, and Sophia Maguire Is Laura Innes, who leads "a mysterious group of detainees,"

A four-minute preview clip teases us with glimpses of events that are not the Event. We see an assassination plot apparently aimed at the President, but the preview tells us the assassination plot is not the Event. We see that someone has taken over Sean's hotel room, where his girlfriend was supposed to be waiting for him, but we learn that her disappearance is not the Event either. We hear of a CIA cover-up. That, too, is not the Event.

From the promos, the show looks promising. It has an intriguing premise and good acting.

What remains to be seen is how long the show will rely on deferring answers to the question about what the Event is. There's a risk for shows that are built around mysteries whose solutions are deferred. The danger is that the shows could be canceled before we, the viewers, ever get our answers. That happened with "FlashForward," canceled at the end of its first year, leaving its fans hanging, never to find out what the flash forwards were really about. A few years ago, the series "The Nine" debuted with a lot of fanfare. It presented a number of intriguing mysteries, and then was canceled after one season with none of the answers revealed, greatly frustrating its loyal viewers.

Now, viewers may be leery of committing to watching a show based on a mystery, afraid it might get canceled before they learn the resolution. But it's not clear yet if "The Event," like "FlashForward" and "The Nine," will delay answering its main questions, or if the unanswered questions are just part of the pre-show publicity.

In any case, I'm intrigued by the promos and am looking forward to watching the premiere.

"The Event" begins on Monday, September 20, 2010 at 9:00 pm (8:00 pm Central).

Sources:

Deadline Hollywood: '24' Veteran Evan Katz To Run New NBC Drama Series 'The Event' Under Overall Deal
YouTube: Promos and preview from NBC
The Event official site