V-Day

The highly anticipated series “V” - which is a remake of the 1983 mini-series starring the Beastmaster - debuted last night on ABC, and the first episode was worse than I had expected.  I didn’t think it was going to be that good to begin with mind you, but it looked to have some potential from the promos leading up to last night’s opener.  Before I get into the criticism, however, it’s only fair to point out a couple positive aspects that I took away from the premiere.  First, the cast of the show was pretty decent, and included recognizable names like Morris Chestnut (also known as “Riiiiiicky!!”) and Steve the Pirate.  The special effects were also impressive for a TV series, and no doubt costly; but if I wanted to see all effects and no substance, I would just watch one of the new Star Wars prequels.

Now let’s get to some of the issues I had with this modern retelling of a story that probably didn’t need to be told.  When the aliens first revealed themselves at the beginning of the show, they called themselves V’s (for Visitors).  First, this seems like a pretty basic and unimaginative name for a highly sophisticated race of beings who can manipulate gravity and travel thousands of light years on a whim - even though it does explain how the series got its name.  Then as soon as their hot leader finishes her little “We come in peace” spiel (which actually ended with the show’s tagline: ”We are of peace. Always”…real original), everyone who had a speaking part referred to them as ”The V’s” over and over again. This is pure speculation, but you’d figure at least one person would let an “alien” slip, or refuse to call them by their proper names.  After their formal introduction to the world, the V’s were basically viewed kind of like an intergalactic version of the The Grateful Dead – there were some people who didn’t like or trust them from the beginning, and others who were hardcore V fans from the get-go.

One of the parts of the show that I found to be particularly (and unintentionally) funny was the terrible acting put forth by everyone but the alien beings.  As is the case with most movie extraterrestrials, the V had a very controlled and Spock-like way of speaking; but surprisingly, it was the people who were cast as citizens of Earth that seemed to be the most unnatural of the two.  The worst offender in the cast by far was a teenage V Head named Tyler, who is the son of an FBI agent that’s suspicious of the aliens’ plans – judging from his performance, I figure he is probably related to one of the show’s creators as well.  Tyler is a typical teenager who is at odds with his single mother because his dad left them, and now he blames her – you know, that old chestnut.  As an actual teenager, you’d think that conveying anger would be right in his wheelhouse; but after witnessing the fight with his mom concerning this new obsession with the V’s (and his quest for alien punani), I could find more believable acting in most of the reality shows on TV.

Even though I did find the season opener to be too cheesy and clichéd (even for an 80′s remake), I’m going to give it another shot next Tuesday to see if it gets any better.  If you didn’t catch the first episode, here’s the first 9 minutes of the premiere - which also happens to be the best 9 minutes from the first show, coincidence?? 

The full episode will be available on ABC.com beginning November 7th, so you can judge for yourself…