TVSquad

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:

Reportedly, before Michael Jackson died suddenly in June, his brothers – and other family members – were putting together a reality show for A&E. After all, celebrity reality shows have a certain appeal, especially train wrecks like Being Bobby Brown or Hey, Paula. Not that the Jacksons were thinking that way. I'm sure they envision something classy and edifying.

Since Michael's death, the interest in this miniseries has escalated, much like the interest in all things Jackson. Will the brothers talk about Michael? How much? Will Michael's children be included in the show? All that and more will be answered when The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty debuts on A&E December 13, at 9 p.m. The plan is for two hour-long episodes to kick off the series.

Just imagine how much fun Harper's Island could have been if it had been written by and starred The Kids in the Hall. If you live in Canada, you don't have to imagine it, because the Kids are creating just that.

Death Comes to Town is to be an eight-part comedy where the Kids (Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch and Kevin McDonald) will each play multiple roles, possibly including some of the characters made famous on The Kids in the Hall sketch comedy show. I'm hoping the murderer kills people by crushing their heads.

Well, nobody can accuse Kate Winslet of not being courageous. The actress -- also an Oscar-winner for The Reader -- is going to do a remake. Right now Mildred Pierce is slated as a miniseries starring Kate Winslet with Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) writing and directing. HBO is first in line to broadcast the mini, but the contracts haven't been signed yet.

Remakes always make me a little queasy. After all, for every success like The Fugitive, there's a debacle like The Wild Wild West. But this time around it's not a television series being remade, it's a famous and semi-classic Oscar-winner, Mildred Pierce. The name alone evokes images of Joan Crawford with shoulder pads you could die for and a horrible teenage daughter played by Ann Blyth.

I'm hearing a lot of things about NBC's Meteor miniseries, that it was deliriously awful, stupid, ridiculous, and overall a candidate for Mystery Science Theater 3000. Is that true?

I think these "Earth being destroyed by rocks from space" movies played themselves out years ago, and I thought the casting of people like Christopher Lloyd and Jason Alexander was kinda funky, but was it that bad? Give us your thoughts below and let me know if I should even bother watching it.

Television has done Stephen King miniseries before. I recall watching The Stand in its entirety. I could have sworn said he was going to retire from the business several years ago, yet he still keeps writing.

Mike Harrison (who wrote and directed the Sci Fi Channel's Dune miniseries) is working on a four-hour miniseries of the horror novel Cell for the Weinstein Company. Harrison has worked with King's material before on the movies Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside: the Movie.

Having never read Cell, it's difficult to have an opinion over whether this will evolve into a quality miniseries. There is some talent behind the show, so that's encouraging.

At first I thought this clip from The Tonight Show was going to have a scene from NBC's Meteor miniseries merge with footage of Tom Hanks being hit by a fake meteor when he was a guest last month. But it actually has a much better ending than that.

Back in the late 70s, there was a major disaster movie about a huge meteor coming to Earth and causing havoc. It was called Meteor and it starred Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Henry Fonda, and a ton of other big names, like all 70s disaster movies had.

Now we have another movie about two large meteors coming to Earth to cause havoc called Meteor, only this time it's on television and it's a miniseries and it stars Christopher Lloyd, Stacy Keach, and Jason Alexander. What did you think? Here's Part 1 if you missed it (Part 2 airs next week).

John has already told you about the V remake that will air on ABC next season, and that got me thinking about the original 80s version. I clearly remember one scene where head baddie Diana (Jane Badler) chowed down. Here's the clip. I really hope they redo this scene in the new version.

A week from now, HBO will probably be one of the big stories from the Primetime Emmys thanks to the success of the John Adams mini-series. But it's not sitting on that success, the premium cable net is banking on it. HBO announced today a mini series based on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln called Manhunt. That news would be interesting enough because the series will deal with the 12 days after Lincoln was shot when the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was on the run. However, the guys that HBO have tapped to work on Manhunt are two of the best in television -- David Simon and Tom Fontana.

HBO knows Simon and Fontana's work really well. Simon was the creator of The Wire and Fontana's brainchild was Oz. This is also not a new collaboration. Fontana turned Simon's book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, into the Homicide: Life on the Streets TV series for NBC.

The original '80s V miniseries is ingrained in my memory. In fact, when I was pregnant, I would get the inevitable question: do you want a boy or a girl? My pat answer was, "As long as it's not a lizard baby, we'll be happy."

If you watched V, you know my reference, and it was fun when the askers got it too.

Beyond lizard babies, lovable aliens who went on to play Freddie Kreuger (Robert Englund) and heroines imported from The Greatest American Hero (Faye Grant) -- I swear, I remember all of this; I didn't even look it up! -- V was so unique and addicting that if you haven't seen it, I suggest getting that DVD release tout de suite.

Yigal Naor will play Saddam Hussein in a new four-hour miniseries about the Iraq president's reign that lasted from 1979 to 2003.

The miniseries, Between Two Rivers, is being produced by both HBO and the BBC. It will begin shooting this summer in North Africa. It will focus on Saddam's family and his personal relationships. The cast also includes Shoreh Aghdashloo, Christine Stephen-Daly, Said Taghmaoui, Phillip Arditti, Mounir Margoum, Uri Gavriel, Amr Waked and Sasson Gabay.

HBO has just announced that they are going to take Richard Ford's acclaimed trilogy of books, The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and Lay of the Land, and turn them into a six hour miniseries titled The Sportswriter.

The books focus on sportswriter Frank Bascombe and the problems he has in his life. The books cover everything from Vietnam to 9/11 and so will the miniseries. It will be directed by James Mangold (Men In Trees, Identity, Walk The Line) and written by Mark Bomback, who also wrote the upcoming third Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis and Justin Long.

This should be an interesting miniseries, especially if they get someone good to play Bascombe and stick close to the books. I've only read The Sportswriter. It's quite good.

[via TV Tattle]

This summer, filmmaking brothers Tony and Ridley Scott will begin production on a miniseries version of Michael Crichton's novel The Andromeda Strain for A&E. The brothers will executive produce the miniseries, which is being directed by Mikael Solomon (whose TV credits include Rome and Nightmares and Dreamscapes) and written by Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American).

Crichton's novel was also made into a motion picture in 1971.

The miniseries could run as long as six hours. In addition, A&E has plans for more original series to air in 2008, including The Cleaner, about an addict who helps others kick their habit; Homestead, a cop drama; The Beast, an FBI drama; Takedown, a drama about U.S. Marshals; and Under, about a mob informant turned NY City cop.

AMC hasn't produced a miniseries since Broken Trail back in June of 2006, but now the network hopes to develop several new ones from producers and screenwriters most known for their work in film.

The first miniseries, Against the Guns of Quantrill, tells the story of Confederate prisoners who defend a Union town. It's being written by Michael Blake (Dances with Wolves). Other miniseries include Berlin Mesa from Spy Game writer Michael Frost Beckner and producer John Baldecchi (Simon Birch, The Mexican), about FBI and Nazi prisoners in the southwest United States; Skylark, about a Jewish woman helping American soldiers in France during World War II from writer and producer Michael Nankin, whose television credits include helming episodes of Battlestar Galactica; writer and producer John Leekley's White Rose, about an investigation into a Nazi youth movement in Germany; and L-19, about German pilots stranded at sea in a crashed blimp.

AMC hopes to draw viewers in with original material that still maintains a theatrical quality. Also, it apparently has a proclivity for anything with Nazis. Most likely, only one miniseries will be aired each year.