"V" For Nostalgia

So, "V" is back, sort of.ABC and Warner Bros. have brought us a 2009 updating of the seminal NBC mini-series (followed by another mini-series, followed by a series) "V," which, if you recall, stood for either "Visitors" or "Victory," depending on whose side you were on.

I've been anticipating this greatly ever since I heard Morena Baccarin was cast in it. At Comic-Con this year, there were tons of promos for it, and they even had a couple of screenings of the pilot. ABC has advertised it up the wazoo, so it was no surprise to me that millions of people watched it on Tuesday.

I think I've mentioned my love for "V" before, but maybe that was only to my imaginary girlfriends. When I was a lad, and the original mini-series aired, my DAD of all people was the one who told me about it, who encouraged me to watch it, since it had aliens, spaceships, and monsters, three things I loved (the first two due to E.T. and STAR WARS, the last one due to my having been infused with the DNA of the Wolf Man, who died the same day I was born).

Anyway, I encouraged people to watch it so we could talk about it, hoping it would be as riveting as the 1983/84 version was, or at least as much as "Fringe" is in 2009.

I watched it with Jeff, but you know, it wasn't nearly as magical as the old one was. As a boy, I adored the lizard-creature aspect and the scariness, but as an adult, I most responded to the Nazi parallels and the well-drawn characters. I guess there's a bit of the former in the 2009 pilot, but absolutely none of the latter.

I'm not sure how thrilled I am by their brilliant idea of turning the Visitors into Cylons, but one or two of their new twists worked alright. I could see where they were going with some of the characters, but some of the choices didn't work for me, and some of the changes seemed like they had been made just for "modernization" reasons. And don't get me started on the irritating mother-son relationship at the heart of the show. Being a Mama's Boy, that should have resonated with me, but it did quite the opposite.

I wonder if I have a biased opinion because of how much I loved the "V" miniseries as a kid, or if everybody had issues with it. Obviously a ton of people watched it, and I'll continue to do so to see where it goes . . . but you should have been there on the school playground twenty-six years ago, to hear the kids talk about what we had seen the night before, and where it might go the next night. I kind of doubt that was going on in elementary schools this time around.I've become somewhat friendly with Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the original "V" mini-series (who had three credits at the beginning of the 2009 one), so I emailed him to see what he's been hearing.

He thanked me for caring, and said many people had written him with sentiment similar to mine. He's still trying to get a big-screen remake of his script made, though I can't imagine how that can happen now (though there is still talk of a Bryan Singer "Battlestar Galactica" movie, so you never know).

As I said, I'm willing to give it a chance, and as long as the show doesn't bore me or piss me off, I'll watch at least the three more episodes they're airing this year (oh, and that's another thing not to like, that these guys thought they could get away with only programming a show that airs during Sweeps Months). I had planned on blogging it, since I stopped blogging "Dollhouse" and didn't have another replacement handy, but now I think I won't. If they really grab me later in the season, like "Heroes" did when it was new, I may regret that.

But mostly I just regret getting old. And leaving L.A..

I wonder if those two are related.

Rish Outfield