V (reboot) (spoilers)

[Temis the Vorta]

At this point, they desperately need a zombie attack story.

Edit: oops, I intended this for the Haven thread. Ironically, it also fits well here.

 

[nx1701g]

Are there zombie visitors?

Also, Comic Con reports that we're getting a new visitor next season: Anna's mother.

 

[jgdst]

I think it's awful. The first four episodes were lame, then they retooled it and it became even stupider. The premise is unfocused and makes no sense. It has none of the thematic weight of the original, but just ineptly copies random elements from it with no rhyme or reason. The cast and characters are drab and unengaging. The virtual sets and compositing are poorly done. The story has no direction and no logic. The main characters are fighting a guerrilla war when they should be fighting a propaganda war, getting out the truth about the Visitors and creating doubt. As such, they're just stupidly making themselves look like the bad guys. Although it's not as if the show has bothered to give any clear idea of just what the Visitors' evil plan is.

The one bright spot in this show is Morena Baccarin. She is captivating here, and has really elevated her acting to a new level. She's the only reason I bothered to watch the whole season.

Pretty much my sentiments exactly, so I don't really need to add much myself. Except that I find it too much to accept that conveniently the only people preparing to do anything (and apparently making a difference) is a rather small and unlikely group of people in one city (which also happens to be the High Commander's choice of venue). Compared to FlashForward which also played on a global event, FlashForward seemed to better take advantage of the fact it was an event of global importance.

I've got to admit, if it came down to saving FlashForward and cancelling V, or leaving the situation as it is, I'd vote to sacrifice V every time. No question. Poor choice by ABC, I thought, regardless of anyone's underwear

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be returning for season 2, no matter what colour the sky is.

 

[Christopher]

I've got to admit, if it came down to saving FlashForward and cancelling V, or leaving the situation as it is, I'd vote to sacrifice V every time. No question. Poor choice by ABC, I thought, regardless of anyone's underwear

Yeah, but as a viewer, you have the luxury of approaching the question solely in terms of quality. The ABC executives had to make the decision in terms of money. V is less expensive to produce than FlashForward and had somewhat better ratings (though that was probably due to carryover from its lead-in), so it was a more profitable show. Since they're in the business of making money, they had to choose it over FF regardless of quality concerns.

Well, maybe "had to" is too strong. There are two approaches you can take -- be conservative and try to make as much short-term profit as you can (or at least minimize your immediate losses), or take a risk by investing in making something worthwhile even if it loses you money at first, in the hopes that its quality will give it more staying power in the long run. In this economy, though, it's not surprising that a network would take the former path. And to be honest, it's not as if FlashForward was particularly good itself.

 

[jgdst]

^ I totally understand why FF got the boot. I'm surprised that V isn't at least on a par in terms of expenses though, considering that practically all of the V interiors are CGI.

I know it would've been a big risk to take a chance on FF suddenly picking up a couple of million viewers and justifying the costs of a second season, especially under the current economic circumstances. And for that reason, I can't really blame ABC for their decision. But it felt like FF really hit its stride in the last six or so episodes, and a show I wasn't too fussed on suddenly became must-see TV. The irony is not lost on me, at least

 

[Rett Mikhal]

This is the only V reboot I need:

V: Celebrity Rehab Invasion

 

[Christopher]

^ I totally understand why FF got the boot. I'm surprised that V isn't at least on a par in terms of expenses though, considering that practically all of the V interiors are CGI.

I'm not sure, but I think I read that it's because FF had a larger, bigger-ticket cast and was thus more expensive in that regard. Cast and crew salaries are a huge, huge part of the expense of Hollywood productions these days. Also, doing a lot of location work like FF did is costly too, so shooting a lot of the show on greenscreen might actually save money for V.

I know it would've been a big risk to take a chance on FF suddenly picking up a couple of million viewers and justifying the costs of a second season, especially under the current economic circumstances. And for that reason, I can't really blame ABC for their decision. But it felt like FF really hit its stride in the last six or so episodes, and a show I wasn't too fussed on suddenly became must-see TV. The irony is not lost on me, at least

Funny -- I increasingly lost interest in it toward the end of the season. I never thought it really found its stride.

 

[stj]

V was just awful. When a television series tries to label the so-called freedom fighters the "Fifth Column," a term for traitors helping the Fascists, there are deep, deep problems. The series was flirting with identifying the aliens with the US government in general and with President Obama in particular. No doubt this made it more attractive for some ABC execs and explains a lot about its renewal. Doing a modern BattleStar Galactica reboot of V was a harebrained idea based on the fundamentally wrong premise that the new BSG was in any way good.

FlashForward had a conceptual problem, especially when the premise was expanded for a series. Namely, if the flashforward didn't show the future (which the novel and series quickly revealed,) why then should people pay attention to it. That series even so was much better than V ever hoped to be. But Brannon Braga's name was on the credits, which I gather was enough to keep a number of people here from ever watching the show at all!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Also, Comic Con reports that we're getting a new visitor next season: Anna's mother.

Maybe she can be played by Lynda Carter, then!

I've got to admit, if it came down to saving FlashForward and cancelling V, or leaving the situation as it is, I'd vote to sacrifice V every time.

FlashForward was hopeless. V could be easily improved - just make it funnier and sleazier. It's waaaay too self-serious and staid, which would be okay if it were also good.

Since they're in the business of making money, they had to choose it over FF regardless of quality concerns.

FF was shot in LA and V is shot in Canada. Those tax credits might make the difference.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

V was just awful. When a television series tries to label the so-called freedom fighters the "Fifth Column," a term for traitors helping the Fascists, there are deep, deep problems.

From wikipedia: a fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within, to help an external enemy.

I don't like the fact that the writers are having our heroes refer to themselves (not just the Visitors who are helping them) as Fifth Column. As in the original miniseries, the humans should be the Resistance. It's just one of the things about this show that bothers me.

I hope that Anna's mother is Diana. She could put a little "bite" back in the show.

 

[Christopher]

What's really silly is the Visitors referring to the "terrorists" as the Fifth Column. The Vs claim that the trouble is caused by humans who refuse to accept the Vs' benevolence -- i.e. that the danger comes from outside their ranks. But the phrase "Fifth Column" refers to a resistance movement from within. The show's writers are displaying ignorance by having the Vs employ the term in that way -- and having nobody catch on to what it's implying. (Just as they showed similar ignorance of historical symbols in the pilot where they made the spray-painted red V sign a symbol of support for the Visitors, when in WWII it was a symbol of the resistance and the Allies.)

Anna's mother is being referred to as Diana at this point, but that may just be a placeholder name, and it won't be Jane Badler in the role.

 

[Jack Bauer]

One thing in V's favor over Flashforward is that V will only have 13 episodes while FF would've had 22. IIRC ABC's plan for V has been that it would have smaller seasons than other shows on the network.