V Has Arrived

Filed under TV, V

As much as it pains me to get sucked into yet another TV series, let alone one revolving around mysterious sci-fi occurrences, I caved and watched the premiere of ABC‘s new series V. This is probably 2009′s hottest new show, right behind FlashForward, also on ABC. Sci-fi, has suddenly become cool. The series is a reboot of a miniseries of the same name that aired way back in 1983, and is produced by the same team behind another cult sci-fi series from a few years ago called The 4400.

The re-imagined version of the show essentially follows the same story as the original, involving aliens (referred to as V’s for visitors) who come to Earth claiming to be well-intentioned and peaceful (offering things like universal health care, how humorously political of the writers). Some people are welcoming and curious, taking tours of the ship and agreeing to aid the V’s by becoming peace ambassadors within their neighborhoods, while others are skeptical of the V’s intentions. The pilot episode doesn’t hold back on getting right into the crux of the story, bringing the principal cast together, and revealing that the skeptics just might have something to be very skeptical about.

The cast consists of some familiar faces such as Elizabeth Mitchell, best known from ABC’s Lost as Juliet, as Erica Evans, an FBI agent; Scott Wolf as Chad Decker, a TV news anchor who is offered to interview the V’s leader, Anna (Morena Baccarin); and Morris Chestnut as Ryan Nichols, a man who seems to have a history with the V’s. As for the rest of the cast, Logan Huffman plays Erica’s son, who takes an interest in the V’s, particularly Lisa (Laura Vandervoort), Joel Gretsch as Father Jack, a priest who doesn’t quite trust the V’s, and lastly, Lourdes Benedicto as Valerie, Ryan’s fiance.

While the pilot episode had a somewhat slow start, the second half really picked up, and watching the characters piece together just what might be the V’s alterior motive was great. From this point on it looks like the pace of the show should just continue to pick up with a rebellion stirring, so altogether the show is off to a promising start. The only down side to getting on board the show now is that we’ll only be getting the first four episodes and then the rest of the season will return in March after the 2010 Winter Olympics. Kind of a bummer, but from the looks of it, this show is bound to be a hit and will most likely be worth the wait. At least there’s plenty of other shows to keep you busy in the meantime.