Monday provided another example of how acclaim for quality cannot always prevail in the world of television. Even though NBC’s “The Event” premiere was well-received and garnered considerably more favorable reaction than other recent serialized drama launches, its second episode took a standard dip in the ratings.
It would be premature to sound the alarm, but following a series premiere that ended in a cliffhanger, Monday’s episode could definitely have performed better. The show garnered a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating with 8.98 million viewers in the fast nationals, a decline of 22% in the demo and more than two million viewers.
NBC would be happy if the show settled around this level, but if it ultimately trends down the way “FlashForward” and “V” eventually did for ABC last year, its status could get murky.
Lead-out and fellow freshman NBC drama “Chase” also took a bit of a tumble, although given its weakened lead-in support and less stellar reviews, the drop was more expected. With a 2.1 rating and 6.36 million viewers, the show was down by 16% in the demo and about one million viewers.
NBC Marketing Exec:
How do you occupy an idiot?
Random Producer of a wanna-be hit series:
With an over-blown marketing campaign about a series of episodes that entail flashbacks about characters you know nothing about wrapped up in a plot that’s prematurely released yet struggles to convince you there’s more bang for your buck coming if you’ll only sit through 12 more episodes of confusing flashbacks and hollow character interaction posing as drama chock full of commercial breaks right when you think something significant is actually going to present itself with curbhanger endings that promise even ‘more’ of the same a week later?
NBC Exec:
“Brilliant! We’ll take 8 episodes!”