Yeah I mean it isn't that different at all from the original series, and that was about Nazism. So I was surprised people were reading into it as a modern interpretation when I was still seeing it as Nazi!
About health care, for one, didn't they do similar things in the original V to gain our trust?
I know there was a SG1 episode where aliens made friends with us by curing things like cancer and all dieases, only was actually systematically killing us by making us infertal. And this was years ago, so they can't be accused of taking a swipe at Obama. And that's the only one I can specially name, but I'm sure it's been used as a tatic by aliens before to keep us from asking to many questions in other shows and movies. The "How to Serve People" twilight zone episode could be used as a similar allegory if you looked at it just the right way.
It's possible that the reporters wording could have be a way to take a jab, but then if our world and his are the same and consdering that it's such a high button topic at the moment, it's pretty realistic how he would react. But, really, whatever he said could have been taken as a jab to someone. I mean, would we even have this conversation if this show came out two years ago or in two years?
As for the "worship"... again, I'm going to refer back to How to Serve People, the "Angel" Vorlons in Babylon5 and hell, even the Jedi... it's like a legal religion now and LFL didn't even try. So there is a history of this kind of thing in SciFi... and would we be having this conversation two years ago? I'm sure someone would, but it would more of a postivie "Hey, this show is being deep and thoughtful, going to tackle social issues. It's trying to be StarTrek or BSG."
I think the only thing the V producers and writers are guilty of... is really bad timing.
I just watched the pilot. I'm a MASSIVE fan of the original miniseries, even the sequel miniseries, and yes even the god awful tv series that came afterwards (both of which the original creator had nothing to do with). I've been looking forward to seeing this new imagining of the classic since it was announced, so I'm incredibly happy to say that I really, really enjoyed it. An incredibly strong pilot that I hope, hope, hope gets picked up for a second season and more.
This all goes back to an episode of The Twilight Zone. i'm uncertain if they were the first ones to do it, but I do recall it was one of the major Twilight Zone episodes. Hmm let me look it up. Oh of course! To Serve Man. Remember that? Aliens come down and give us all the cures to illnesses and make the world bountiful and healthy and happy. Everyone worships them. And then it turns out they merely have come to fatten us all up and eat us like cattle. So it's not like this is an original concept that is only spearheading one thing in particular.
LOL, I kept saying "How to Serve People" when I meant "To Serve Man"... how PC of me. :p
So yeah, like I said, there is a history of this so I don't know why they are making such a fuss about it now. Again, just bad timing since it's such a hugh issue at the moment.
a big deal is being made about the scifi show imitating reality b/c it has become such a big deal in reality. you said it yourself...2 yrs plus or minus, it would be less of an issue.
01 or 02 would have had the counter-terrorism angle being played up. I love how she got stopped from entering by a soldier. that would not have happened 6 years ago.
Exaclty, and it was those little touches that I liked. I just hope they dont' start going overboard with the realizism, that can actually ruin a good scifi story IMHO.
I dont seeing realism being a problem. Not when all you have to do to bring back the scifi is have a good knife fight to expose the lizard beneath.
the fight scene w/ the V and Nichols, and the way the had Nichols moving and watching his opponent.
I also hope to see a MRI or some other scan of the V's so we can their lizard body and how it inlays the fleshy exo-suit. Very Terminatorish, if I do says o.
I agree that the realism is awesome but I'm glad we'll have a heavy dose of sci-fi too. I like my fantasy and realism jumbled together, thank you.
The one thing I was surprised about ... if I was Erica or Father Jack I would've taken Tudyk's body somewhere and exposed the lizard inside. Or taken pictures. I get the just running to live though. Or maybe they can use Ryan to be like LOOK LIZARD PEOPLE. Are they waiting to expose the secrets so they have more proof or a stronger retaliation formed? It just seems like there are enough people who doubt the V at this point that exposing this now would counteract a lot of the worship.
Yeah, you would think that if they took the body to FBI building or youtube or something it would cause a lot of trouble. Even if some people thought it was a hoax, it would make a lot of people say "prove this wrong then".
well, according to the leader of the cell, they have infiltrated every aspect of our world, and going by the old show, there will be lots of media situations that will be retconned by the V, and they will use the "terrorist are staging fake events to make us look bad" card.
they wouldnt have to prove anything right or wrong, just dispose of the evidence (i.e returning dead lizards to life by putting the dead 'human' skin on another alien) and discrediting the whistleblower.
Gonna try to watch the pilot as soon as I can get it, but after this I'm not sure I want to get too interested in it. Only 4 episodes and then hiatus? Huge problems behind the scenes? Showrunner already stepping down? It doesn't bode well.
It's a discussion about tactics. NCIS is constantly rated above CSI and Criminal Minds and often tops 20 mil viewers, most other top rated shows tap around 15 to 16... at most hope for 18... even Football doesn't get 20 unless something like the Superbowl.
Now, I am not saying that to not like it means anything, we all like different shows... I'm just trying to figure out why ABC desided to combat V against the number one show for the entire week. If you're trying to get all the sci fi fans, then why not go against something lower rated and sure not to draw many of the sci fi fans, like, say, The Good Wife?
I guess they could do that, but I don't think that V and NCIS have the same audience base. NCIS would have the same base as shows like Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Cold Case, or other crime/mystery shows like that. V would be aimed at sci-fi fans and would have a similar base to Fringe, Heroes, BSG, Star Trek, etc. It doesn't matter which show they put it up against, or how high in the ratings that show is, what matters is a) what's your audience (and I don't think there's much overlap), and b) what time will they be watching.
I guess putting anything against it would make one question, regardless if it's niche' scifi show or a competeing detective show. So do they have that much faith or are they attempting to kill it? As a Firefly fan... I am wary of networks trying to kill shows on purpse..
Really, it's pretty much only Fox that does that...at least, noticeably. And like Chipper said, if they really wanted it to fail, they would have put it on Friday night, like Dollhouse.
And as for your comment about not knowing what was going on? Well... even without having watched V, I knew that they were evil just from the ad alone, it kinda gave it away when they kept showing the scene at the interview... the reptiles, well, write ups for the show commented on it, people I know who had seen the original commented on it, and I'm pretty sure I saw something about it in an ad for when the original was rerunning on the SciFi Channel awhile back... so it wasn't a big secret... and the traitors, I give ya, I honestly didn't know about them, but not like that is an big or original twist, and it was given away in the first episode so completely ruins the prospect of any suspense later on, i mean, they could have drug out Alan being one of them for a whole season and then bam, talk about a dun dun dun moment... this was just... oh... okay... that explains it...
So.. yeah... I think you insulted my intellegence and perhaps that of most of the viewers...
Sorry if you were insulted by that. It was not my intention. But it sounds like most of it was spoiled for you before you watched the show. For people who had no prior knowledge of the old show, or peoples' reviews and write-ups, then most of that would be a surprise. Sure, maybe the commercials hinted that they were evil, but really, most politicians and celebrities that are interviewed dictate which questions and topics are off limits, so that they are evil is more of an inference on the part of the the viewer of the commercial.
And so what if they revealed the fact that there are traitors in the first episode? If it's well written, then there should still be plenty of suspense. Look at the movie Momento. You start by watching the last scene. You know how it will end, but due to the excellent writing, there are still twists, surprises and suspense. The same applies to V. When/how will they attack? Which Vs are good and which are bad? How will the resistance grow and fight?
Finally, again, I think that you're misjudging the show's genre. It's not intended to be a mystery-suspense-puzzler-type like Lost, it's supposed to be an action sci-fi show, like Farscape or Andromeda. How much suspense and hanging questions and mystery were in those shows? Not a whole lot.
Also, V Premiere grabs 14 million viewers. Now, that's no NCIS, but it's not too shabby. It was the second most watched show that night. Also, NCIS viewership dropped by 9% that day over its last original episode.
I think this further proves my point that going up against NCIS doesn't really matter because they target markets are different. This week only 9% (1.8 million) of the NCIS viewers did not watch. Some may have watched V, some may have watched something else (Heroes ratings are climbing too), and maybe some were just out. That makes a very small overlap between V and NCIS where they decided to watch V. Popularity of a competing show doesn't make that much of a difference unless they're the same type of show.
Wow. Actually 14 million viewers to start with is a great opening number for a sci-fi show. Let's see how much it carries into the next week though. "That's the biggest scripted series premiere rating for a freshman show this fall." Wow!
And sorry to be a kill joy, but dont' celebrate too soon. 14mil doesn't even get the show in the top ten for the week, and shows typically drop a decent chunk after the premiere and tap out at their audience share.
But, it is a good sign that it will at least survive in that time slot. It just depends on how many come back next week.
Unfortunately, if we get a 50% drop, then I doubt the show would survive the hiatus it's planning.
I thought that the writing on this show was incredibly amateurish. Filled to the brim with cliches. The acting was atrocious on everyone's part (except maybe the firefly alum, though it's not like they were given difficult tasks. "Act aloof." "go hit that bitch.") I want to like this show, because aliens are fun, but the writing and the acting makes my soul weep.
I'll probably watch this if i need something on in the background, but i think i'll save my attention for when the Prisoner remake comes out.
I just watched the pilot last night. I would say I enjoyed it more than Flash Forward, but at the same time that's probably because the show has a lot of familiar faces and also because it's more fast-paced. The acting and writing in Flash Forward is significantly better. I'll keep on watching it, though.
Maybe, but the characters are more interesting to me than FF. I find the concept of FF very interesting, but the characters are somewhat dull. I found myself liking most of the people in V from the get go. And it can't be just the familiar faces, since both shows are ripe full of familiar faces.
