You probably heard that ABC's V premiere got off to a big start in the ratings. In fact, it was the biggest drama series premiere of the season, seen by 14.3 million viewers and netting a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49. What does all that mean? To me, it says that even without the skywriting promotion that was canned, ABC marketing had raised awareness and drew the curious, the sci-fi fans, the nostalgic and a few more watchers for the launch.
Despite the big number, there's a good chance that V will sink in future outings because viewers like me were not hooked. I wanted to fall in like/love, but it didn't happen. Here's five reasons why:
1. Expectations
Did I expect too much from a remake of V? I did. I remember the original and it was a dazzling mini-series. For its time, it had great effects and it looked amazing. But more than that, I was captivated by the story. I still remember the feelings I got watching it, which were a mix of wonder and fear and shock. Sadly, I didn't feel any of that with the new V. I was unmoved.
2. Too many characters
The scope of V is big enough with the aliens -- oops, visitors -- and the whole world in rapt attention. The show didn't need a dozen characters right from the start. I felt like I was in a pinball machine going from one character to the other, never staying long enough to get involved. Why was Elizabeth Mitchell's son a problem case? What made Morris Chestnut's character feels so apprehensive about proposing? Was the priest really supposed to be the main man in this? We got some answers after an hour, but I thought less would have been more for the pilot.
3. Familiarity
Oh, yes, I know all about V. That's not what I mean by familiarity. I'm talking about the big, special effects, shock opening. We've seen it too often. V jokingly had a character say that the ships arriving was like Independence Day. It was. Other images were like FlashForward and Lost. It's becoming a cliche to have a big splashy first act like this.
4. The unknown
V suffers in that it's a remake and the mystery is gone. I know that the visitors are aliens, and they weren't so different in the ABC remake that I'm sucked in by the peaceful front. In the original, you didn't know that they were lizards. In the original, that girl giving birth to the alien's baby and it sticking out its lizard tongue was a shocker. It creeped me out for years! If the new V does that with Morris Chestnut's girlfriend, only newbies will get the creeps.
5. The future
Ultimately, did I like V enough to stick with it? I don't know. Maybe I'll DVR the next episode and see if I was too hard on the pilot. Maybe it's going to progressively get better and better. That would be nice. But right now, I don't care about any of the characters. Not even Scott Wolf, whom I loved since Party of Five. I want to care about sleeper cells of infiltrating alien terrorists, but even that was too real for me. Jason liked it, but I preferred the World War II allusions from the original more.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-08-2009 @ 2:29PM
scryber96 said...
So half of your problems with it are that it's not enough like the old show and the other half of your problems are that it's too much like the old show?
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 3:04PM
joe brooks said...
You noticed that too? Well at least the author got her 5 bucks for writing this post that we just read.
The twists at the end of V were something I wasn't expecting. Though now that I'm immersed in the V-World I can't help but wonder if the Traitor's soon-to-be wife is herself a V.
11-08-2009 @ 3:31PM
Gordon Werner said...
The visitors were shown to be reptilian in the first half of the first mini-series when Donovan snuck onto the mothership and snuck into the air vent.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 4:02PM
Vincent J. Murphy said...
"What made Morris Chestnut's character feels so apprehensive about proposing?"
So you are upset that they explained this? Or upset and wanted them not to explain it?
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 4:34PM
D said...
Why do you think you speak for a majority of viewers?You don't.Will the ratings slide?Probably,but that's normal.Will they slide to the point of failure.Nobody knows,not even you.You have judged the entire series in one show.How do you know what will happen going forward?You don't.Look at Flashforward.Poof in one episode last week the entire game changed.And remake doesn't mean exact duplicate.Not sure why you seek to derail this show but go away and come back in 6 months.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 5:08PM
MCW said...
I was mainly disappointed that in 2009, we still can't render a realistic spaceship to match the environment around it (in reference to the pod things that were transporting people to the mothership).
I was un-moved by the show - I really just can't believe ABC decided to pick both Flash Forward & V to go up against each other - considering their very similar themes. Even if they are aired on different days, I almost dread having to watch what I DVR'ed, because it's like taking a freaking pop quiz to see how many character's names I can possibly remember.
I thought I heard that this season of V would air a couple eps., and then come back next year or something. That's really the only reason I'm watching, because I don't want another full time job of a TV show... not when I've got the final season of Lost looming on the horizon. My brain is simply not big enough for all of these new shows flooded with ex-Lost cast members (The Vampire Diaries was the first casualty for me).
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 5:13PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
Yeh, too harsh, Allison, geez, lighten up. You're trying to exert control over the show even though you're not a writer or producer for it! Just chill out and enjoy the damn thing like the rest of us. And please, don't review any more eps if you're already biased against it. Thanks.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 5:33PM
Chaim said...
It never amazes me how disconnected many of the writers of this website are from REAL fans.
I was ready to hate this show being an avid fan of the original, but I was HOOKED. i LOVED it and I can NOT wait till the next one.
I think some writers here think they will seem elite if they knock a show fans are liking.
The sad part is that this site used to rock and the original writers all were VERY connected to what real fans were thinking ...
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 5:55PM
Tim-1 said...
This weekend I visited about five sites to get the feel of what other commenters felt about "V" and "Stargate Universe" (including three sites I've never been on and a couple I used to comment on).
Since this post is about "V" I'll share with you a common complaint people had with the show. One complaint was that it seemed too hurried in the developement in it's plot. I'm not saying most people disliked it....just that this was one of the chief complaints.
Since I liked "V" I want to extend a theory that in retrospect, the rushed plot might turn out to be a planned detail....a good thing so to speak. Maybe the producers assumed everyone knew the gist of the original show and decided to get the buildup out of the way in a hurry so to expand and create all new storylines for this generation. This is just a theory of mine because, of course I have no idea of how things will turn out.
One thing is certain....I like this show and hope it succedes. A guest appearance of Grace Park would really turn it around (I could not resist that)!
Reply
11-11-2009 @ 11:28PM
Tom said...
I think you hit the nail right square on the head. I was happy to see them develop all these things early (though I was a bit shocked Elizabeth Mitchell's partner was revealed to be a visitor right off the bat) BECAUSE they were the "shockers" from the original. It's like, OK, that's out of the way, let's see what stories they can tell. It's about my 5th favorite show, but I'll keep watching to see what they do with it. It's much better than the retreads of "Knight Rider" (which I couldn't sit through a full episode of) and "Bionic Woman" (which was dreadful, slow and boring). Plus, this show seems perfectly cast so far...
11-08-2009 @ 6:27PM
Alex99 said...
I'm disappointed that there aren't any red jumpsuits. And sunglasses.
Reply
11-09-2009 @ 9:35AM
CJ said...
Oh yea... the sunglasses! That's whats missing... I'm hoping there's some sort of explanation like they need to wear the human bodies to exist in our atmosphere (excuse not to break out the CGI since the aliens would have to be very skinny)
I thought the Universal Healthcare comment from Scott Wolf's character was REALLY forced, if they wanted to make a point they could have done it much more subtlety.
11-08-2009 @ 6:34PM
Tripp said...
I really enjoyed the premier. I thought the intro was very well done by interlacing each of the characters in their daily lives to only be shaken by the arrival of the visitors.
And it's got a stellar cast. Many faces from past series like Party of Five and Firefly (sigh, how I miss the latter) with one of my favorites from Lost all interacting? Awesome.
As a Christian, I was totally expecting to be annoyed by the church aspect, since Hollywood tends to get that all wrong most of the time. I wasn't and I adore the priest character. Can't wait for more.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 7:29PM
hugeliver said...
This was just the answer to people hungry for another regoot after BSG.
This was EXACTLY like BSG in that they reversed characters. ALL OF THEM pretty much. Different sexes than originals and even different races in some cases.
The first episode was forced, pretentious and completely geared to people who have little independent thought and rely on the powers that be at networks to supply something to fanboy about.
Too much story, too many revelations and too much trying to be dark. Wooden acting and just bad writing provide us with absolutely nothing of substance. Try coming up with an ORIGINAL show networks.
It was a truly sad start to something that never should have been.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 7:37PM
caiuslupus said...
my top five reasons that I didn't like V lite:
1. It relied too much on knowledge from the first series. Why do they have human names? Why do they speak our languages if they just found us? Never even asked in this one.
2. Unsympathetic characters. Bland Homeland security chick, her cardboard cutout son, the action!Priest. Yawn.
3. Too rushed. We're not shown why everyone suddenly thinks that aliens are the best thing since sliced bread. "They have the most dangerous weapon... devotion!!!111" Why?
4. Which leads me to my next point... It watches like a Teabagger's fantasy. Aliens come from space (Kenya...) take over our planet (country...), get rid of our national divisions, establish Universal Health Care, and, um, kill us all. And the only ones that care are fringe loonies and internet cranks. All it needs is a cameo by a crying Glenn Beck...
5. In the end, it brings nothing new to the plate.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 9:09PM
bsgfan2003 said...
History details how fascism unfolds. Preying on the fear of people. Taking advantage of chaotic events. Specific power grabs on media, industry (medicine in this case), religion, and the armed forces are all formula for fascism.
In my opinion it's silly to think the the current V is pointing fingers at anyone. They are simply putting forth another story about fascism. The very same alien story that existed in the 80's.
11-08-2009 @ 7:57PM
D said...
I knew the left would show up with the Anti Obama paranoia sooner or later....yes that's right the program was created for teabaggers and as a message against health care reform...that's exactly why it exists and therefore you must hate it.
Repeat.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 8:09PM
Todd Erickson said...
Too many characters? Let's see. In the first hour of the original, we were introduced to Mike Donovan, his partner Tony, Julie, Ben, Eli, their father, the Maxwell family, Daniel, his parents and Grandpa, Ruby, Diana, John, the reporter lady, Donovan's mother and stepfather, Steven, Brian, Donovan's son, the gardener.. That's a lot of people for one hour. I didn't have a hard time keeping track of them or anybody in this new version.
Reply
11-08-2009 @ 11:42PM
TV on the Brain said...
I didn't honestly mind the pilot, but there were a few things that just annoyed the hell out of me as well.
Firstly, it was entirely too rushed. I'm glad to see I'm not the ONLY one saying this. Really, way too many plotlines revealed in 1 episode. Draw it out a bit more, make your viewers want it more!
Secondly, a few parts of it were just way too cheesy. That "alien skin" was just about as bad as it was in the 80's. Come on, you couldn't do SOMETHING better there?
Thirdly, the marketing for this sucks. ABC is really doing a job on it's fans, making them wait like this. Of course, their intention is to get people to lose interest in it during the olympics so they have a reason to drop it, but still, come on!
Reply
11-09-2009 @ 5:02AM
Dr_Venkman said...
I wonder where the rush came from - why not stick with the "first contact day" instead of having that for a couple of minutes and then jump directly ahead a couple of weeks, completely leaving the audience behind...
Have seen worse pilots, but I've certainly seen better.