Struggling Sci-Fi Series ‘The Event’ Going On Hiatus, To Relaunch In January

Struggling in ratings NBC’s sci-fi thriller “The Event” will be going on a short hiatus this Winter. Since it’s debut, its had trouble capturing is demographic and maintaining its viewership. Executives at NBC believes that pausing the show and relaunching it in January would help jump start it next year.

Over the weekend it was determined among the execs that the series would take a short break following the airing of the 13th episode and then return shortly in January. Actor Bill Smitrovich assessed of the situation saying, “We will finish up with our first 13 and then there [will] be a break, and then we’ll come back with a one-hour compilation clip show of the first 13 so everybody can catch up with [the] story.”

“Ratings are one of the variables that we don’t have control over,” added Blair Underwood, who stars on the show as U.S. President Elias Martinez. “There is the crossfire competition from Dancing With the Stars, football, and the No. 1 comedy Two and A Half Men. Then, this is the type of genre show like 24 and Lost where viewership always picks up in the second season because people go back and watch during the summer or get the DVD. That builds an audience. And this show was sold in 200 international markets before it premiered here so there is incentive to keep the show going. We are in a good place.”

Personally, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. As hyped as I was for “The Event,” I can’t say I really gave it a chance after the first episode. For fans who are devoted to the sci-fi thriller, rest assure that the producers have a contingency plan waiting in case the show gets the axe. According to leading man Jason Ritter, the show will kick into “short cut” mode to wrap up the storyline by the end of the first season in case the January reboot fails.

“We probably would have seen them start to come to a close,” said Ritter. “They would need the time to start doing those short cuts. But so far, so good. Ratings have not been the most ideal, but a lot of people are watching the show on their DVRs.”

Source: EW