V - the new series

[Lzcutter]

The pilot last week really rocked. This week not so much. But I adore Elizabeth Mitchell on Lost and she is very good here as Erica Evans.

The priest with doubts about the Visitors is good, too. Was he on the 4400?

Erica's son, Tyler, is a badly written, emo-teen who really needs a better character.

Scott Wolf, as the TV anchor, still looks like Michael J. Fox's younger, twin brother.

And Anna, the head of the Vs, is beyond creepy with that haircut and the blinky eyes. Wonder if she'll eat a hamster before the show goes on hiatus at the end of the month?

Has potential, hope that potential pays off.

[Ollie]

I haven't watched sci-fi TV in a while and I'm uncertain why. I tried LOST for a bit but it was "too much promise, too little delivery", always throwing in so many additional characters without ever sending me a scorecard. Who's on First? It seemed like a constant lesson in How To Distract Viewers From Any Single Premise.

LOST lost me and I donated that first season to it, as if they could answer any single question. Nope.

I was thinking back to JOHN DOE and NOW & AGAIN (Eric Close has insurance exec John Goodman's brain put into his body, and he's a superman kind of experiment under blackmail threat of gov't agent Dennis Mr.AllState Haybert). Both had interesting points but both washed out to sea before any REAL finale or many opportunities were explored. They also suffered from the JEANNIE Syndrome - "You have all this power, yet you refuse to use it?!! JUST KILL HAYBERT. TORTURE HIM and his agent friends." Or for Darren, "Just let Samantha blink you use nice meals" or for Astronaut Tony, "Just let Jeannie blink you up an undamaged fender to your car."

NEW AMSTERDAM. JOURNEYMAN. A few others, probably. I think my interest-level gets 'scabbed over' by having Lucy yank the ball away before I get to see if the field-goal is good!

So, I'm halfway clicking past V to see what develops. I just hope Dakota Fanning doesn't appear and use her ear-piercing squeal as her Most Common Line Of Dialog.

V is one of the more interesting concepts, I've thought. It really doesn't require a lot of high-dollar special effects. I just hope it's storyline will move along faster, more efficiently than Roy Thinnes' THE INVADERS, or GILLIGAN'S, for that matter.

Along with V, what are you thinking about this new THE PRISONER? I grew up with Prisoner Parties, when those were the rage in the mid-to-late '70s. It was 10 years old at the time, and had spawned enough Trekkie-style fanatics.

[mrsl]

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Ollie:

What I don't understand is why they decided to awaken this one. It's the same story as the old one, but with some CGI added which wasn't available originally, yet it was one of those series that left you hanging just as the half human/half alien baby was born and the mom was trying to kill it. I'm taping it, but watching it in my spare time, so I'll let you know what I think after a couple more episodes.

Lynn: The priest is Joel Gretsch who I am always talking about. I have followed him since he was the only person who was part of the story of Taken through all 22 episodes. Yes he was the star of 4400, which I wonder where ever disappeared to, one week it was on, with a promise to return in 4 months, but never did. (boy, talk about killing the kings english, I sure did on that last sentence.)

[Lzcutter]

Anne,

I think they brought V back because

A) Aliens are always good for ratings and especially that prized 18-24 male demographic. Which is something I have never understood. Why do advertisers think they are the hot ticket? Middle=aged people have more disposable income (even in a down economy) than 20 somethings, especially now with credit card crunch catching up with all those party people who thought nothing of maxing out their credit cards for table service at an Ultra Lounge. What, that's $500 bucks a round? Bring another!
But I digress.

B) The hero this time around is a woman. And not just any female actress, but Elizabeth Mitchell who has a big following due to her work on Lost. And Alan Tudyck (her lizard partner) from Firefly has a big following as well.

I think after the hiatus, if they were smart, they will bring it back and pair it with the final season of Lost.

But, I'm not sure if the show can sustain being a series. It was very good as a mini-series and it was originally sold as a re-worked miniseries and then ABC decided to make it a series.

Ollie,
I certainly understand your bailing on Lost. I almost gave up after the 2nd season and if it hadn't been for my dad I would have. But he was always catching little six degrees of separation that even I missed and we had some great talks about the show. Had the Season 3 season finale not been one of the best season finales EVER I would have bailed.

It was my dad and my love for Des and Penny that kept me watching. And surprisingly, once the producers set a end date for the series at the end of Season 3, the series improved ten-fold.

Now, I'm glad I didn't give up on it. But man, I came close.

Anne,
Any word on Warehouse 33 getting renewed?
Damages should be back in February.

[Ollie]

Lynn, thanks for the comments on LOST on this. Maybe one day I'll remember to pay attention to its S-3 and S-4 shows. Teen boy demogs... your logic is always mine as well ("more disposable income"). The only combative argument to this would be some belief that a huge abundance of mid-age men have fantasies about returning to their mid-teens or something. "Show me something in Jr High and High School, and I'll love it!" The trouble is, when I've mentioned this to 30-somethings or older, I've never seen any GLIMMER of this argument striking a chord within them. "Now, if I could be 25 again... or 22..."

The ONLY reason I have the tiniest of leniancy towards 1997's TITANIC is that it raked in kaboodles, and I'll bet only the teeniest amount was from teen boys. This was a Teen Girls' Audience & Subject Matter. Maybe they got their dates/boyfriends to go once ("You'll see Kate topless!") and that's probably a good draw for ONE visit.

But TITANIC made fortunes on re-seeings, and 4th and 10th ticket sales, not on just an opening weekend, first-rush. And I'll bet there weren't 1 in 20 guys - there weren't when I saw it a second (to see if I REALLY hated it THAT much, or if my first-viewing's disdain was a 'mood' - no, it wasn't. I truly hate that film - it's story, it's concept, it's delivery on-screen).

I'm still VERY happy that it stands as one of the top moneymakers of all time, simply because it flies in the face of the "Teen Boy" argument.

[mrsl]

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Lynn:

Warehouse 13 is definitely renewed for another 13 weeks, but I don't know when the 13 weeks start. Probably around the same time as Eureka.
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