Citizens of Earth, as the resistance against the Visitors grows, mankind just may have a fighting chance against the alien beings. Unfortunately, I don’t believe our favorite alphabet network (ABC) is so gung-ho about this particular extraterrestrial opposition, as resistance means that ratings for their new science-fiction series V have dropped significantly from last week’s debut.

The premiere episode of ABC’s re-imagining of the 1983 sci-fi mini-series raked in 14.30 million viewers, while this week’s episode saw its audience drop 27% to 10.7 million viewers. While all new shows expect to see a slight drop in ratings after their premiere episode, the drop that V saw was the largest since this season started in September.

Still, 10.7 million viewers is nothing to complain about. If V continues to received ratings in that range, fans of the series need not worry about its fate (sorry Dollhouse). Also, looking at Tuesday’s ratings shows you just much of a powerhouse CBS’s NCIS is, as this week’s episode brought in an astonishing 21 million viewers. (Now we all know how NCIS continues to be the number one rated show: it’s awesome!)

The question remains; why so much of the drop off? Have viewers become numb with revisiting past memories with a new paint job? Is the new V just not holding up to what everyone had hoped it would be?

I, myself, never saw the original mini-series, but have become quite interested in this new version. While I’ve fallen back around four episodes in FlashForward, I continue to look forward to the next episode of V. Although, I do have a problem that they’ve turned a mini-series into a regular episodic television series as this means they’re going to have to artificially lengthen a story that has been previously told. I continue to fight the urge to return to the original just so that I know the entire story.

…I can’t be the only one.

Catch V Tuesday nights at 8PM on ABC

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Is ABC’s ‘V’ In Trouble?
• Ratings: ‘Smallville’ Flying High, ‘FlashForward’ Losing Viewers
• New ‘V’ Promo Video
• New Clip and Interview with ‘V’ star Morena Baccarin
• ABC’s V Officially A Remake (Duh) & Shooting Paused

The original V series that aired back in the 80s was basically about the threat of Communism and Soviet Russia, so I anticipated that ABC’s remake would have some sort of political undertone as well. What suprised me in the pilot was the apparent target of the show’s political undertone: President Barack Obama.

The episode opens with the standard TV pilot mechanism of briefly showing us a a minute or so of each of the characters we’ll come to know over the course of the series. We have the handsome newscaster who is not taken seriously and wants to get ahead, the single mom FBI agent, a priest and a man with an obviously shadowy background trying to make a fresh start in life.

Soon enough huge spaceships appear over major cities in a scene reminiscent of Independence Day (the writers are quite aware of this, actually pointing it out on the show itself). The ships turn into mega big screen TVs in order to deliver a soothing message by series star Morena Baccarin, who plays alien visitor Anna. She says they are overjoyed to find life on another world – and that they never expected they would find any (then why build a massive video/PA system in to the exterior of your starship?).

They come promoting goodness, peace and light – they’re here to help us with their technology, including setting up healing centers where they can easily cure over 60 incurable diseases. The world is “hurting” according to one of the characters, so it seems the vast majority of the population accepts them on their word without much questioning at all. There are small protests breaking out everywhere, but those folks are looked at as rabble rousers who need to get with the program.

The aliens are all good looking and about hope and change (their words, not mine) and interestingly when reporters begin to ask hard questions upon Anna’s arrival, the newscaster mentioned above accuses them of being rude(!). Later Anna decides that she wants him to be their PR conduit and he is taken aback when prior to their first interview (which could skyrocket his career and fame) she instructs him that he is not to ask any questions that could show the Visitors in a bad light. He balks, but acquieses – and she rubs his nose in it by saying (when the cameras are rolling) that he should feel free to ask anything he likes, they are an open book.

During the interview the phrase “universal health care” is actually used in describing what they are offering and why they should be accepted.

There’s an underground group that knows what the Visitors are up to, but they are looked upon as nutjobs and terrorists even though they are in the right and know what the Visitors are really up to.

Interestingly there is a priest on the show who is skeptical of the Vistors’ intentions despite the Vatican quickly coming to the assessment that the Visitors are good – and he worries about happiness about the Visitors’ arrival turning into devotion and worship.

I’m sure that those who don’t like what the current administration is doing will see a clear connection and those who agree with what Obama is trying to accomplish will either laugh off any such connection as ridiculous or will read more nuanced meaning into the show to demonstrate it actually supports this administration.

What do YOU think?

• ABC’s ‘V’ Gets A Premiere Date
• Watch The First 9 Minutes Of ABC’s V
• New Clip and Interview with ‘V’ star Morena Baccarin
• ABC’s V: The Series Trailer
• New ‘V’ Promo Video
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week

Um, remember when ABC announced an ambitious plan for airplanes to be decorating the skies above major landmarks with giant red “V”s to market the upcoming mini-series V?

In case you haven’t figured it out, and way after the fact, it’s being reported that it just isn’t happening.

“Why not?”, I hear you asking.

It seems this promotional effort would pollute the air and since Disney, who owns ABC, declared that they would cut fuel emissions by 2012, this marketing plan didn’t gel with that environmental ideology.

This clever idea was dissed publicly by Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post, who estimated that the campaign to scribble red letters in the air with airplanes would use 400 gallons of fuel that contains 800 grams of lead and produce approximately 3 tons of CO2 and other pollutants.

All in all, this campaign was found to be hypocritical of Disney’s carbon neutral stance.

So if you’re wondering why you aren’t seeing big red “V“s in the sky, that’s why.

Sorry gang.

Sources:  THR, Washington Post

• ABC To Market ‘V’ In The Sky [Updated]
• Is ABC’s ‘V’ In Trouble?
• ABC’s V Officially A Remake (Duh) & Shooting Paused
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week
• New ‘V’ Promo Video
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009

ABC has made available the first 9 1/2 minutes of V and we have it for you here at Screen Rant.

In the video they try to tie into the emotions one might have felt when JFK was shot or on September 11th.  They ask you where were you when these events happened – and where were you this morning.  Meaning, the morning that the visitors arrive.

If you live in California, you might have an issue or two as the ground shakes with the arrival of the ship.  The first of 29 ships that arrive on Earth.

Check it out after the break and let us know what you think!

ABC released this quip alongside the video:

An image of Anna, the leader of the V’s, is projected worldwide as she talks about people joining together.

V premieres on Tuesday, November 7th.

Source: ABC

• New ‘V’ Promo Video
• Is ABC’s ‘V’ About Obama?
• ABC’s ‘V’ Gets A Premiere Date
• New Clip and Interview with ‘V’ star Morena Baccarin
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week
• ABC To Market ‘V’ In The Sky [Updated]

In a couple of weeks ABC Television will air its remake of the 80s sci-fi hit V. Audiences are all crossing their fingers and hoping that this remake is much better than the past couple of attempts by television studios (Knight Rider, Bionic Woman). Right now, all hopes of success are resting on the shoulders of one vaguely known actress: Morena Baccarin. If you look at all of the marketing leading up to the November 3^rd premiere one face sticks out looking down on the city on the bottom of a huge inter-galactic spaceship and it’s Anna (Baccarin).

For an actress that only has a handful of TV shows under her belt (Firefly, Stargate:SG-1) and two movies (Serenity, Stolen Lives), she sure does have a lot to live up to. She seems to be up to the challenge though and is handling all the press in stride. Recently, Christopher John Farley at Speakeasy, a new blog extension of the Wall Street Journal, had the opportunity to sit down with Morena Baccarin and talk to her about her upcoming role as Anna in V.

Baccarin was a fan of the original 1983 series when it was first on, even though she was a mere four years old, and Farley asks her about that and why the V story worth re-telling:

“I was in Brazil so we got it a few years after the U.S. got it. I remember being with my brother on the couch and watching it and being petrified. Like when one of the Vs peels off her skin. When I got the part [of Anna] I went back and YouTubed the show and watched some scenes and it was as creepy as I remembered. [Why is the story worth re-telling?] Because we’re all interested in life outside of Earth. We all have a fascination with what’s out there because we don’t really know. The storyline lends itself to explore a lot of things-like fear, and blind devotion and terrorism. ”

OK, so she was at least seven or so when the V first came out in Brazil; that makes more sense. My four year old runs out of the room when Oscar the Grouch comes on the screen; I can’t see him sitting through a woman ripping off her flesh to reveal the leathery green lizard skin beneath. She does bring up an interesting point about “blind devotion and terrorism.”

Watch this new clip from the show below and see if you recognize the blind devotion she refers to:

Right now, terrorism is a hot topic and relevant to current world political trends but how does V incorporate that into the show?

“In the pilot, there’s a sleeper cell of aliens. There’s this idea that friends and neighbors may not be who they say they are – that there are evil people living in the community.”

Sounds a lot like what is actually happening in America now; so at least the writers are trying to remain relevant. Time will tell if that is a plot device that actually works or if audiences are wanting to tune out from the world around them, not be reminded of it in a sci-fi show.

Farley continues on and asks the question most people are curious about: “Which animal are you going to eat?” He is of course referencing the scene where Diana (Jane Balder) swallows a whole live guinea pig.

“I haven’t had to eat anything like that in any episode we’ve shot so far. But I’ve been told to brace myself. I was asked by the producer if I have any issues with rodents.”

A rodent is a very vague reference; for all she knows the producers are planning to have her chow down on a capybara (the world’s largest rodent). I for one would tune in to watch that. Morena sort of suffers from the same curse fellow Firefly star Nathan Fillion does – all her shows end after a handful of episodes. We all know what happened to Firefly and she managed to get onto Stargate:SG-1 during its final season.

Morena Baccarin may have to wait for another chance for a long running show if ABC doesn’t get its act together with V. Back in August production shut down on the sci-fi show and last month the studio announced it would be splitting the show into two mini-seasons – four episodes now and the rest after the holiday break. Oh well, it’s a shame really, because she is a talented and beautiful actress and deserves to have a show run for a couple of seasons or longer.

To read the entire interview click here.

Do you plan on watching the V remake next month? And what rodent do you think Morena Baccarin should eat?

V debuts on ABC November 3rd, 2009 at 8pm EST/7pm CST.

Source: Speakeasy

• ABC’s V: The Series Trailer
• Is ABC’s ‘V’ About Obama?
• ABC’s ‘V’ Gets A Premiere Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• ABC’s V Officially A Remake (Duh) & Shooting Paused
• Watch The First 9 Minutes Of ABC’s V

[Update: View a list of where and when you can catch the V skywriting campaign]

ABC is headed for the skies to market their newest sci-fi offering, V, a remake of the popular 80s television series.

Starting this Friday, ABC will be having skywriters create the letter V over 26 undisclosed landmarks.

This will happen a few times a day over the landmarks until the series premiere on November 3rd.  I am presuming it won’t happen over each one a few times a day, but heck, I’ve been surprised before.

It seems like a lot of work going into this alien-based science fiction show.  Considering the conjecture of whether V, is in trouble or not ever since it was announced they were taking breaks from production and then seemingly testing the waters by breaking it down into a 4-episode mini-series premiere, I’m a bit confused.

Here’s a listing of where and when you can spot the V skywriting:

Date/Time            Location

October 23 — 9:00 a.m.          Boston, MA
October 23 — 9:00 a.m.        Minneapolis, MN
October 24 — 9:00 a.m.        San Francisco, CA
October 24 — 9:00 a.m.        Seattle, WA
October 24 — 9:00 a.m.        Orlando, FL
October 25 — 9:00 a.m.        Chicago, IL
October 25 — 12:00 p.m.        Hollywood, CA
October 25 — 9:30 a.m.          New York, NY
October 25 — 2:15 p.m.        Philadelphia, PA
October 26 — 12:00 p.m.        Tempe, AZ
October 26 — 9:00 a.m.        Atlanta, GA
October 27 — 12:00 p.m.        Dallas, TX
October 28 — 4:15 p.m.        Austin, TX
October 28 — 9:00 a.m.        Las Vegas, NV
October 31 — 12:00 p.m.        Hollywood, CA
October 31 — 12:10 p.m.        Hollywood, CA
October 31 — 12:20 p.m.        Los Angeles, CA
October 31 — 12:00 p.m.        Santa Monica, CA
October 31 — 9:00 a.m.        New York, NY
October 31 — 9:15 a.m.        New York, NY
October 31 — 9:30 a.m.        New York, NY
October 31                           New York, NY (throughout the morning)
November 3 — 12:00p.m.    Hollywood, CA
November 3 — 12:10 p.m.    Hollywood, CA
November 3 — 12:20 p.m.    Los Angeles, CA
November 3 — 12:00 p.m.    Santa Monica, CA

If any Screen Rant readers out there encounter these Earthly V’s, let us know!

Source:  THR

• Is ABC’s ‘V’ In Trouble?
• New ‘V’ Promo Video
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week
• Watch The First 9 Minutes Of ABC’s V
• ABC’s V Sky Writing Marketing Squashed
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009

ABC’s ‘V‘ is slated for a November 3rd premiere and for curious fans of the original series, it can’t be soon enough to see what ABC has done to it in this latest incarnation.

Yet you may wish to temper your complete enthusiasm for the first season of ‘V‘ because ABC is (as they put it) splitting up the season.

Yes, you read that right.  ABC is splitting up the season.  They’re going to run the first 4 episodes in November, leaving the 4th episode as a sort of cliffhanger. This will then set the stage for a mid-season return.

Maybe.

It’s all rather confounding.  Apparently there’s been a flurry of speculation that the series is having problems of one fashion or another.

The production shut down of ‘V’ that took place in late August is helping fuel lots of rumors.  The rumors are ranging from the series is dead to what has been filmed will be aired as a mini-series.

Yet ABC and Warner Bros. TV says episode 4 is getting ready to be filmed (mid-October) and then they will go on a holiday hiatus.

Huh?  Did they just say, “No, it’s not in trouble, but we’re going to take a holiday break months ahead of schedule.”?

Any good corporate entity has to put on the smiley face.  And I find it odd that this comes on the tail end of a WGA mediation that ruled that ‘V‘ is a remake, and as such, has to credit the original series creator, Kenneth Johnson.

If I were a conspiracy fan, I’d think someone high up in the production of this new series has issues with Johnson getting any credit, judging from the timing.  But there is absolutely nothing indicating that.  I’m just saying.  It’s like earthquakes and super early morning quakes.  It’s all just coincidental.

So hang tight gang and be patient.  That’s all we can do until they resolve their issues with ‘V‘.

Your thoughts?

Source:  THR

• ABC’s V Officially A Remake (Duh) & Shooting Paused
• ABC To Market ‘V’ In The Sky [Updated]
• New Clip and Interview with ‘V’ star Morena Baccarin
• Watch The First 9 Minutes Of ABC’s V
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week
• New ‘V’ Promo Video

Those tuning in to see the series premiere of ABC’s Flashforward will be able to view, for the first time, an amazing new promo for V.

Or, you could watch it below. It’s your choice. (Watch it now!)

V is a remake of the cult mini-series from the 80’s in which aliens known as “The Visitors” (”V”) try to gain control of earth. It is produced by The 4400 creator Scott Peters and it stars Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Morris Chestnut (Ladder 49) and Joel Gretsch (The 4400)