MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 TELEVISION TV PREVIEWS: THE NEW SEASON ‘Event’: Follow me if you can
by Hank Stuever One episode in, the event in
NBC’s “The Event” seems to be the disappearance of a planeload of people, which happens just as their highjacked airliner is about to dive-bomb a photo-op at the Florida vacation compound fre- quented by the president of the United States. There’s a flash of light and the plane vanishes into what sci-fans will interpret as a wormhole just seconds before im- pact. To tell it to you like a teenager would, everybody on the plane’s all “Whaaat?” And the presi- dent’s all “Hunnh?” And the viewers’re all “Dag, yo!’ Here, then, is this fall’s inten- tionally obscure head-scratcher. Debuting Monday night, “The Event” is a cynical grab for the or- phaned fans of both “Lost” and “24,” a hybrid drama incorporat- ing threats to national security and a minority president by a group of terrorists (a la “24”) and supernatural episodes of disloca- tion and unexplained phenom- ena (a la “Lost”). The come-ons are everywhere in this show, from the vaguely Oceanic color scheme on the doomed airliner to the very CTU-
‘THE EVENT’: Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) has a hard time figuring out what’s going on. So will viewers.
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staff is under strict orders to touch nothing, lest the whole show go to hell. That may have already hap- pened. “The Event” is an inten- tional mess, daring you to go wherever it thinks it’s going. Within the first five minutes, po- tential viewers will have to make their own personal choice: Am I up for this? If you get hooked on “The
Event” — and I’m not saying you shouldn’t; the first episode is fre- netically tempting if a tad medio- cre — then you are setting your- self up for heartbreak, of the sort suffered by those hardy fools who fell for “FlashForward” last sea- son.
If “The Event” gets canceled, PATRICK ECCLESINE/NBC
like font choice in the title cards, which tell you the names of char- acters and what day and hour this is.
You’ll need those title cards.
“The Event” prefers the layering effects of today’s non-linear nar-
rative device, so each scene comes with a time stamp based on its relation to the event: 23 hours before. Eleven days before. Eight minutes before. The first episode unfurls in no particular chronological order except the
order that the writers have dictat- ed, which demands that each epi- sode ends in a cliffhanger. I can only imagine what the pushpin board of 3-x-5 note cards must look like in that conference room, but I’m sure the night janitorial
you’ll always wonder where it was headed, and worse, you’ll be sending TV critics e-mails desper- ately asking if “The Event” is go- ing to be picked up by some cable network. But if “The Event” does all right in ratings, then you may have to put up with extra layers of convolution for a season or lon- ger, while the writers try to crawl out of a complicated hole of their own digging. I feel there ought to be some sort of federal Viewer Protection Act governing series like “The Event”: A mandatory 13-episode arc — no more, no less — until we all agree that the show is at least mildly interesting, or Entertainment Weekly features the show (with headlines such as “Secrets revealed! New an- swers!”) on its cover, whichever comes first.
I wish I could say more about
“The Event,” but it flew by so ex- asperatingly fast that I barely had time to notice. (And anyhow, I’ll probably get a ticket from the spoiler police for telling you al- ready about the plane disappear- ing.) Laura Innes (Dr. Kerry Weaver from “E.R.”) is always a pleasure to see; here she’s Sophia, a mys- terious and controversial figure who seems to have the key to a terrorist plot and also a passing knowledge of the supernatural physics that cause the in-need-of- an-expert event. Blair Under- wood plays President Elias Marti- nez (part Cuban-American), and he seems up to the task. The show’s first panicky, and thereby most engaging, performance comes from Jason Ritter, who starts the episode on a Caribbean cruise vacation with his girlfriend and by episode’s end is fleeing from menacing men and trying to prevent the event. Wouldn’t you know that his [spoiler redacted] is piloting the plane. I, for one, have decided I can’t
do anything about preventing the event, nor will I help plan for the event or worry about the event; I have something else scheduled. So do let me know how the event went.
stueverh@washpost.com The Event
(one hour) premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on NBC.
Roly-poly rom-com ‘Mike & Molly’ wears a bit thin by Hank Stuever
There’s something blandly nu- trition-less and sugary about “Mike & Molly,” CBS’s new Host- ess Twinkie of a Monday night sit- com. As you’ve probably been made aware, it stars two fat peo- ple. Quite fat. Every other joke in it is a fat joke — of the safe, self- deprecating variety. “You’re always going to be the big-boned girl,” remarks Molly Flynn’s mother while Molly huffs away on a stair-climbing contrap- tion in the family room of the house they share. “Bones don’t jiggle, Mom,” snaps Molly, played by Melissa McCarthy. Now see, you only thought the
“Cathy” comic strip was dead. “Mike & Molly” springs forth from a similar, Guisewite-like
headspace — a realm where birthday cards come with bath- room scale jokes and feature kitty cats who like chocolate cake. A tiny bit more edge peeks out of the show, here and there: “You’ve just got to accept that you’ve got your daddy’s genes. I mean, if you had a turkey leg in one hand and one hand down your pants, I’d swear he was risen from the dead,” remarks the mom (who is played by Swoosie Kurtz, slumming here). Molly, who teaches fourth
grade, goes to her first Overeaters Anonymous meeting. When she walks in, one of the OA members is standing before the group and giving a comic spiel on his own fatness. He doesn’t want to be one of those lonely old fat people liv- ing alone with “six or seven cats who happened to wander into my gravitational field.”
He’s Mike Biggs (played by co- median Billy Gardell), a Chicago cop whose latest diet attempt came from the pages of a Modern Bride magazine. “You better get married quick, then,” snarks his patrol partner (Reno Wilson), “because you’re starting to show.” Love is actually the working theme here — falling in love with someone else who loves you for the fat person you are, in an American culture that at once ac- knowledges its obesity-related health issues and then wishes them away with hugs and jolli- ness. Therefore, learning to love yourself is a subtext. The writers give Mike and Molly ample (no pun) opportunity to let us know that they are content with their respective sizes but unhappy about the lack of control they have with food. In other words, it’s a show about fat people that
shies away from the health issues. “I know I’m never going to be a size 2. I just want to learn to con- trol my eating,” Molly says. “I’d love to be able to walk into a nightclub without having every queen in the room leaping on me like I’m a gay pride float.” Smitten, Molly invites Officer
Mike to come speak to her class. After that, he fumbles around, trying to get the courage to ask her out. Instead, chatting her up at the coffee urn at the next OA meeting, he leans against a table and it falls over. Because he’s so fat!
Gardell and McCarthy are fine (you may remember her from “Gilmore Girls” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), but the show is . . . will you kill me if I say too thin? And I know exactly what it’s missing: “Mike & Molly” should borrow some of the suspense of
RICHARD CARTWRIGHT/CBS
A TWINKIE IN THEIR EYES?Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell, right, find love at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.
all those highly rated weight-loss reality shows, such as “The Big- gest Loser.” We shouldn’t wait around for Mike and Molly to fall in love without the promise of a weigh-in for the actors at the end of each episode. (What if one lost weight and the other did not?) We need some cruel skeletal trainer in the Jillian or Bob mode,
disguised as Cupid, barking the three-sets-of-10-reps commands of tough love.
stueverh@washpost.com
Mike & Molly
(30 minutes) debuts Monday at 9:30 p.m. on CBS.
HIGHLIGHTS Like a long lost friend, fall TV
makes a glorious return to our lives on Monday night, oh-so-many new shows, and quite a few returning. NEW SHOWS » “Lone Star” (Fox at 9): One con man tries to juggle two lives, with a girlfriend in one Texas city and a wife in the other, but of course, chaos ensues when he falls in love with both women and finds it impossible to untangle himself from his double life; the series is previewed by Hank Stuever on Page C1. » “The Event” (NBC
at 9): Conspiracy alert! With a complex, “Lost”-esque plot, a man searches for his missing girlfriend when she disappears on a cruise; preview by Stuever on Page C5. » “Mike & Molly”
makes a return in the Season 6 premiere. » “Dancing With the Stars”
(ABC at 8): Season 11 returns with a more tabloid-friendly lineup than ever before, as contestants include “Jersey Shore’s” Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Audrina Patridge, David Hasselhoff and, of course, Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol. Though Bristol has gotten the most press, don’t forget dark horses Florence Henderson (Mama Brady!) or the competition’s first quarterback, Kurt Warner. » “Chuck” (NBC at
GREG ZABILSKI/ABC
‘STARS’ ALIGN: Bristol Palin will team up with two-time winner Mark Ballas.
(CBS at 9:30): Two lonely souls (Molly, a teacher, and Mike, a police officer) lock eyes at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting in this latest Chuck Lorre comedy; Stuever previews on Page C5. » “Chase” (NBC at 10): True to its name, U.S. Marshals chase criminals in the South on this new crime drama, beginning with an especially dangerous man who escaped from prison. » “Hawaii Five-0” (CBS at 10):
Yes, the theme song is still awesome, as the premiere of this remake starts with the new Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) dealing with the aftermath of his father’s death. RETURNING SERIES » “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS
at 8): All kinds of clues were dropped about the identity of the ubiquitous mother when Rachel Bilson guest-starred as Ted’s fling Cindy last season, and Bilson
8): Chuck kicks off the fourth season with a search for his mother, though he keeps his sister in the dark about the prospect of a family reunion. » “House” (Fox at 8):
As disaster strikes at the hospital, House and Cuddy find time to get very close in the Season 7 premiere. » “Rules of
Engagement” (CBS at 8:30): On the Season 5 opener, Jeff and Audrey deal with issues surrounding their potential surrogate, guest star Jaime Pressly. » “Two and a Half Men” (CBS at
9): Jake is furious when he finds out the identity of Alan’s new girlfriend on the eighth season premiere, and decides to pack up and move out. »“Castle” (ABC at 10): Despite their long and storied history, Beckett is still forced to arrest Castle when he’s found at a crime scene on the Season 3 premiere. Former president Bill Clinton is a guest on “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS at 11:35), along with musical guest Chromeo. “The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno” (NBC at 11:35) hosts singer Justin Timberlake, actress Jane Lynch and musical guest OK Go. — Emily Yahr
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