ABC appears to have a winner on its hands with the relaunch of “V.”
The first episode of the highly anticipated remake of the iconic 80’s miniseries delivered solid ratings Tuesday evening for the alphabet network.
“V” was Tuesday’s No. 1 program in several demographics, delivering a bigger number than any other new show this season. It was also the highest rated debut for a drama series on ABC since the first episode of “Lost.”
The good news for ABC is that “V” went up against CBS’ hit series “NCIS” and came out the winner.
“V” averaged a hearty 5.2 rating/14 share in adults 18-49 and 14.30 million viewers overall — an 18-49 level attained in drama this season only by two shows (ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and Fox’s “House”).
Meanwhile, it appears that “V” has a new show runner. It was announced earlier Wednesday that Scott Peters will be replaced by Scott Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum may be familiar to fans of “Chuck” where he served as a producer and writer. He also worked on the hit series, “The Shield.”
The change is the third such change for the new series.
I’ve heard that a lot of people hated the premiere, but I thought it was great and I really look forward to more episodes. I like that it’s more of a thriller than a drama, and I like the sleeper cell element, something the original didn’t have. It adds a sense of tension and paranoia.
“Meanwhile, it appears that “V” has a new show runner. It was announced earlier Wednesday that Scott Peters will be replaced by Scott Rosenbaum.”
I don’t know if I like that. One of the main reasons I tuned in was because the creator of “The 4400” was running the show. But at least he’s not leaving the series altogether.
I’m underwhelmed, but that’s due to all the online buzz before the premiere which compared this series to the second coming of BSG or something. The show seems predictable and has no real depth, but still, it has great visuals and a lot of potential to develop. In particular I didn’t like the gullible teen characters (but it says a lot about Obama voters :-). And the Obama references were obvious, but that’s great, seeing how most science fiction, starting with Star Trek, is left-leaning. It’s nice to see a good right-wing series from time to time, and FlashForward seems this way as well. Some constructive backlash will do the Amecican culture some good.
I will ignore the political comments which I don’t think have any place here.
I was underwhelmed as well and a bit bothered by how quickly they revealed the V’s true intent. Sure, we all knew where it was headed but it would have been nice to have it come out more slowly. I suppose they covered that by having the sleeper cell element who already knew what was up.
In any case it all felt too rushed being only 42 minutes. I would have preferred at least a 2 hour pilot.
We will keep watching to see how it goes.
I have to agree that this wasn’t a great way to start. It felt rushed. The kids relationship with is Mom and the visitors. He’s all to willing to tag V and sign up for the program. I didn’t believe his character. In fact, I didn’t believe the report, the FBI agent or any of them. Seemed like they had just be rushing through plot points instead of working on the character development. But I guess that’s why I did like shows such as Defining Gravity, Firefly, DS9, and Farscape .
I agree, very slow to get my interest. Predictable etc. etc. etc.
I liked it.
I was disappointed by the pace of the first episode. The took the MTV style approach. I know that most people are probably familiar with the 80s miniseries…but I was hoping they would still take awhile. The sleeper cell was interesting but I just wonder if they can sustain by giving up all the elements that carried the miniseries in the 1st hour. The teen characters got on my nerves instantly…unoriginal…predictable behavior…did anyone else feel like the boy of FBI main character looked a little too Vampire-ish? God I hate what twilight has done to media thus far…
Bill T.:
Thank you. I thought I was the only sane person here.
This was a big disappointment. The plot and character development were poor in my view. I will watch a few more episodes and hope it improves. If not, I will join the underwhelmed crowd.
My previous comment in another post was: It looks like they tried to fix the cheese from the original, and forgot to bring the characters and plot along…
Kyle-So now anyone who disagrees with you is insane? Can you actually make any arguments against the points that have been brought up or are you just going to call us all crazy and move on?
Underwhelmed. CGI – good. Characters and plotting – ordinary. Alan Tudyk – wasted. Felt like I’ve seen it all before – oh yeah, I have – anybody remember an old tv show called V? It was better paced and lead nicely up to the big reveal. Season 2 was crap and it looks like the new producers have skipped the good stage and gone right to crap. I think possibly in this iteration they decided we knew what was coming so they decided to get it out of the way early but in doing so may it seem rushed and forced. I had hopes for this. The teasers made me go all goose bumpy. Morena Baccarin was delightfully lizzard like (in a good way). Premise – dumb – they want our water? Didn’t they fly past the outer planets and the 4 or 5 moons out there that have about 10 bazillion times more water than on the deep deep gravity well that is earth?
Yeah, I know I’ve only watched one episode. We still have to compare this to the first episode of BSG which was like… wow, more please.
*spoilers*
A reptoid wanting to get married was just weird. Just because I may get dressed up as a furry doesn’t mean I want to marry a sheep (why do they call me Ahmed the sheep shagger?). Dude you’re wearing a people suit!?
Same reptoid declaring that he didn’t want to be part of what ever was happening and it was all in the past for him? Sheeeiit. You’re reptoid preparing for an alien invasion and you want to get down on one knee and and and… logic thrown out the window on that one. I won’t say much about the cliched Hitler Jugen.
Just so everyone knows, I liked V, but I’m completely batshit crazy.
I thought it was fun. Nothing I saw leading up to it made it out to be the next replacement for (fill in the blank). I was looking forward to it because it was going to be a fun alien invasion type show and not yet another stressful show (which I am also a fan of but already have a number in my schedule). It was nice to see Elizabeth Mitchell again and I loved how I somehow missed the fact certain other actors I liked were going to be in it. I was also surprised at how gory parts were. Maybe that was just me though. It was unexpected.
Looking at it from that point of view (not supposed to be dark or too deep) might keep me watching. You have a point that we have enough deep/dark scifi. Perhaps thinking of this show in a lighter way is a good thing. I don’t have to keep track of intricate plot twists or put together clues.
I can just enjoy this for what it is-Us vs Them.
So it wasn’t terrible but I wasn’t expecting it to suck, I however was disapointed that it seemed rushed. The thing I liked about the introduction to The Vistors in the mini-series was that there was some actually suspense. They were gradually filtered into human society instead of just “bam! Here’s Anna!” Yeah so I thought their introduction could have been handled better. Over all, it’s not a bad re-launch and by the way, no spoiler intended but the eyes on the sides of the head are much cooler.
I concur, it felt rushed. A longer pilot would have helped the pacing. I think they revealed too much about where all the characters were going far too soon. However, i will concede that this is normal for tv viewing today. I’ve noticed that if viewers don’t immediately know what the show is giving them then they turn away and the show dies. Those running the business are trying to please enought people with formulas they’re familiar with (ie predictable teen characters) to prove their show has something for them from the get go. For example, dollhouse is great and i love how Joss draws his shows out, slowly lets plots and characters develop and entangle. But i don’t think most audiences and the powers that be in the networks have this patience. I will also say that we don’t need to give this show the pressure of having to be the next BSG/”second coming of BSG.’ really? that’s too much. that show was unique and not everyone can be what BSG was. And that’s ok. i will give V a chance to develop, i hope they do.
“Alan Tudyk – wasted” oh, Alan Tudyk is great. I hope they bring him back. They’re people suits after all, just fit him onto another reptile and let him play with different personality traits. love him. i’ll stop now. 🙂
You know the flaw of the pilot? It totally laid out all their cards on the table at once. I don’t mean the fact that they told you right up front that the aliens were evil. They told us stuff about characters we didn’t need to know yet. They wasted perfectly good stories
I was with it for the first 40 minutes, but the climax totally lost me. I’m going to keep watching the show, but it got ridiculous.