'The Event' review: The new 'Lost'? Or the new 'FlashForward'?

"Lost" and "24" left some pretty big serial mystery show shoes to fill after their departures last season. Can "The Event" fill in? Maybe.

It's hard to tell after only one episode. Certainly the show raises several interesting questions, but will it mete out enough answers to keep viewers tuning in? And can it sustain the mystery all season? We're dubious, but we're already engaged enough that we'll give the show a chance

We don't want to give too much away, but basically "The Event" is about, well, an event. The first episode doesn't get into the details, so right away there's one mystery to get viewers to return. What the first episode does reveal is a prison camp (think Gitmo North) where Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes) and 96 others are being held.

Until President Elias Martinez (Blair Underwood) decides to close the camp, release the prisoners and apparently introduce them to the world. He does this against the recommendations of his advisers, including Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek).

Somehow caught up in the government mystery is average guy Sean Walker (Jason Ritter), his potential fiancee Leila Buchanan (Sarah Roemer) and her father Michael Buchanan (Scott Patterson).

The show plays fast and loose jumping around in time -- the present, 8 minutes ago, 13 months ago, the present, my sister, my daughter, my sister, my daughter. It will help if the time-jumping calms down a bit -- it was like a "Lost" episode on steroids. But the cliffhanger at the end of the first episode left us wanting to know more, particularly Sophia's line to President Martinez, "I haven't told you everything," which is also the title of the first episode.

And making the viewers want to know more is really the goal of a show like this. So mission accomplished. We just hope it doesn't string us along for too much time or viewership will rapidly decline.

Our first instinct is to call it this year's "FlashForward" instead of the new "Lost," but we hope it proves us wrong. Watch a sneak peek trailer below. "The Event" premieres Monday (Sept. 20) at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.



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Photo credit: NBC