"The Event"
I've just finished watching every episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look on Netflix. By far my favorite sketches are the ones about "The Quiz Broadcast," a game show being put on by some of the human survivors of a catastrophe that they call "The Event."
The thing that I love about those sketches in particular is that they comprise a fine work of speculative fiction. Through a series of hints and small revelations, we get a tantalizing idea of the big picture. We never find out what "The Event" was, but it clearly traumatized everyone who lived through it. Everyone is terrified of "them," and eventually we get a sort of idea who "they" are. The setting feels stronger for not being elaborated upon, which works out well because they wouldn't have time to do much elaboration in a sketch show anyway.
"The Event" has ingrained itself into my brain. I wonder about it, now. I find myself idly considering what could have happened, and how the survivors have made do in their post-apocalyptic world. I wonder if there are any other survivors besides the people involved in The Quiz Broadcast. I wonder if there is any kind of future for these people.
That series of sketches, regardless of their context in the larger sketch show (which is on the whole worthwhile, but not what I want to talk about at the moment) constitute Good Television, as far as I'm concerned. They had characters I cared about, a story I was interested in, and took place in a fascinating and intricate world, though I only got to see a part of that world.
And I can't help but thinking that "The Quiz Broadcast" would be much more deserving of the momentous title "The Event" than the TV show The Event was.
I think about The Event far too often. It's not on my mind all that much, but considering that it was a wholly forgettable, unloved, and short-lived series that I only saw the first episode of, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it. That's probably because they did this viral-marketing thing for it at Comic-Con that got me all intrigued and hoping for something really cool. But what I saw of it turned out to be boring, and my disappointment turned into a weird obsession. Seriously, I have no desire to watch the rest of The Event, but I can't stop occasionally pontificating about it.
So really, all I want to say is: I would much rather watch a full-length dramatic television series based on "The Quiz Broadcast" from That Mitchell and Webb Look, and have it be called The Event, than watch The Event.
Oh, and also, "The Quiz Broadcast" even predates The Event. The last episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look aired before the first episode of The Event did. So not only was the much-promoted dramatic presentation one-upped by a silly sketch comedy program, but the silly sketch comedy program beat them to it.
NOTE: There is nothing in common between The Event and "The Quiz Broadcast" other than the phrase "The Event." So really, the people who made The Event have nothing to be ashamed of. Except, of course, for the fact that they made The Event.
So you can all get an idea of what the hell I'm going on about, here's the first Quiz Broadcast sketch.
The thing that I love about those sketches in particular is that they comprise a fine work of speculative fiction. Through a series of hints and small revelations, we get a tantalizing idea of the big picture. We never find out what "The Event" was, but it clearly traumatized everyone who lived through it. Everyone is terrified of "them," and eventually we get a sort of idea who "they" are. The setting feels stronger for not being elaborated upon, which works out well because they wouldn't have time to do much elaboration in a sketch show anyway.
"The Event" has ingrained itself into my brain. I wonder about it, now. I find myself idly considering what could have happened, and how the survivors have made do in their post-apocalyptic world. I wonder if there are any other survivors besides the people involved in The Quiz Broadcast. I wonder if there is any kind of future for these people.
That series of sketches, regardless of their context in the larger sketch show (which is on the whole worthwhile, but not what I want to talk about at the moment) constitute Good Television, as far as I'm concerned. They had characters I cared about, a story I was interested in, and took place in a fascinating and intricate world, though I only got to see a part of that world.
And I can't help but thinking that "The Quiz Broadcast" would be much more deserving of the momentous title "The Event" than the TV show The Event was.
I think about The Event far too often. It's not on my mind all that much, but considering that it was a wholly forgettable, unloved, and short-lived series that I only saw the first episode of, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it. That's probably because they did this viral-marketing thing for it at Comic-Con that got me all intrigued and hoping for something really cool. But what I saw of it turned out to be boring, and my disappointment turned into a weird obsession. Seriously, I have no desire to watch the rest of The Event, but I can't stop occasionally pontificating about it.
So really, all I want to say is: I would much rather watch a full-length dramatic television series based on "The Quiz Broadcast" from That Mitchell and Webb Look, and have it be called The Event, than watch The Event.
Oh, and also, "The Quiz Broadcast" even predates The Event. The last episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look aired before the first episode of The Event did. So not only was the much-promoted dramatic presentation one-upped by a silly sketch comedy program, but the silly sketch comedy program beat them to it.
NOTE: There is nothing in common between The Event and "The Quiz Broadcast" other than the phrase "The Event." So really, the people who made The Event have nothing to be ashamed of. Except, of course, for the fact that they made The Event.
So you can all get an idea of what the hell I'm going on about, here's the first Quiz Broadcast sketch.
Click to view