Cheers & Jeers: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Jeers to NBC for airing The Event despite troubling parallels to tragic real-life events.

 

Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

 

As news continued to break of a potential nuclear catastrophe in Japan, the network's ill-fated sci-fi series unveiled an episode that invoked containment domes, fallout zones and a possible meltdown at a nuclear power plant. It seems the aliens use uranium to create portals to bring in more of their own, which was the real reason behind the Chernobyl disaster (there was even a deformed alien survivor of the 1986 calamity in the Ukraine). President Martinez (Blair Underwood) juggled a visit from the Japanese prime minister with the decision to remove uranium rods from a nuclear facility in Southern California. Ultimately, the rods fell into alien hands when renegade leader Thomas (Cliff Curtis) ambushed the convoy carrying them, so the prospect of a radioactive release still looms.

 

Sure, it's just a silly sci-fi show, but the story line seems to trivialize the tragedy that's still unfolding in the aftermath of the tsunami, and the timing couldn't be worse. Neither could The Event's ratings, which is all the more reason why NBC should yank it pronto. Maybe they can just show the rest online, like they're doing with The Cape, and replace it with the revamped Law & Order: Los Angeles. At least when LOLA rips plots from the headlines, they do it on purpose.

 

Do you think NBC should put an end to The Event?

 

Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!