Like another serial scifi drama over at ABC last year called FlashForward, NBC opted not to renew the alien series The Event for a second season.

The Event, which is a series about aliens trying to co-exist alongside humans started out strongly, but after NBC opted to take it off for a few months to make room for another series The Cape, so that they could rework the writing on the show, the network opted not to bring it back. The Cape, by the way was also canceled. If The Event were on a network like USA, TNT or Syfy, it would have survived with 7.4 million viewers, but with the mentality and lack of patience network TV has, it's not enough to survive.

Also after Dick Wolf gave his LA edition of his L&O franchise a much-needed makeover, it wasn't enough for NBC to bring the show back for another season.  NBC also declined to pick up Wonder Woman due to negative test screenings (they just now realized having David E. Kelly on as writer/producer was a bad idea?) on the pilot and fans' outcry over the Amazon's ugly costume. Also sent to the pilot graveyard - Don Johnson’s return to TV in the hairstylist drama Mann’s World with RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Shangela and Youtube celebrity Chris Crocker, the Civil War-era Western Reconstruction and Ron Moore’s magic cops drama 17th Precinct.


A magic cops drama would have been a cool idea - if it were pitched to cable. You see - the networks tried to act like they were all about diversity when clearly fear is setting in. I don't know if the shows were terrible or not but usually when you do something that hasn't been serialized like CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds or basically CBS' entire primetime roster, the risk is too high because they're afraid to fail. Everyone knows the best acting, writing, and biggest risks are on basic cable. Best bet is to try getting your work over there because in a couple of years the only things left on network TV will be a CSI in all 50 states and a bunch of American Idol-esque reality shows.
What the networks need to learn is if you are going to do a serialized drama, take a page out of shows like Lost and 24. Meaning, you can't put a show on for two months pull it for another three and bring it back expect those loyal followers to stick around. It's hard to keep people's attention in the microwave society in which we live, and it also didn't help that the writing for The Event wasn't up to par until the second half of the season and by that time it was too late to recover. As for WW - if they would have taken a more Smallville approach maybe it would have worked. In fact, why doesn't the CW pick up WW and follow the formula of the comics instead of David's ridiculous idea of making her the head of a corporation a la Bruce Wayne? The minute you start looking at comics like some schmalzy cheesefest (since comic fans take their heroes very seriously) is when the geeks will come out and crucify you.