Top 10 Reasons Why I Love V
I actually have a LOT of reasons why I have become a big fan of V, but I'm taking a shot at a Top 10 List.
#10: Cast Eye Candy
If you aren't into lizard aliens or Good Guys vs. Bad Guys, take heart! There are seriously gorgeous people on V!
Morris Chestnut has been known to go shirtless. Elizabeth Mitchell wears leather. Charles Mesure's tight black t-shirts are legend. There is a reason why Joel Gretsch's Father Jack is, lovingly, referred to on the Interweb as "Father Hotness". Laura Vandervoort has moments in her skimpies. Scott Wolf flashes one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. Morena Baccarin can rock some cleavage and gets naked in order to control her people.
I should also add that the V cast has serious Sci-Fi cred, coming from LOST, Firefly, Stargate SG-1, SMALLVILLE, Battlestar Galactica, Xena: Warrior Princess, The X-Files, and The 4400.
If you don't like the plot or writing for whatever reason, enjoy the pretty people. Come on, it's not like you don't ever do that with TV...
#9: Showrunner, Scott Rosenbaum
Scott is the main guy behind-the-scenes. He is amazing and I have gained a ton of respect for him. He worked on Chuck for three seasons (which immediately, let me know I would like him and he'd be good for V) and is a great storyteller. He has a great, hard-working ethic and has a great vision for V.
Personally, I think Scott Rosenbaum and I are kindred spirits because most everything I think about or have said about the show, I find that he thinks or speaks similarly to me.
If you don't believe me about his awesomeness, listen to this interview where he talks about how he came into V, how hard he worked to get a Season 2 pitch to ABC together that was a large part of why it got renewed, and his experience in the TV writing industry.
I'd put Scott Rosenbaum up there with my love for showrunners like Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (LOST) and Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (30 Rock).
#8: Potential for Greatness
ABC's V started out well, then kinda got stuck in the first few episodes. But, even in those first four episodes, I saw something great in them, particularly, with the reveal that Lisa was Anna's daughter. That made me sit up and say "Okay, I like where this is going!".
When V came back with "Welcome to the War", you could see how it got better under Scott Rosenbaum. It had some dark moments after that, but it built up to AWESOMENESS by the end of Season 1 with "Red Sky".
I won't lie. Even as a huge LOST fan and the excitement of watching its final season, there were a few weeks last year in which I enjoyed V a LOT more than LOST because there were stagnant moments in LOST's Season 6 where I felt like characters weren't doing anything versus things that where HAPPENING on V. I loved how LOST ended and the storytelling involved (and it will probably always be my favorite TV show of all-time), so it made up for that feeling, but, I won't ever forget how V had weeks of beating LOST in the enjoyment factor for me.
My favorite episode of V Season 1 is "Fruition" because it hit on the Anna/Erica and Erica/Lisa dynamics, two of the real strong suits of the story. "Frutiion" and "Red Sky" are great examples of how great V can be and now that they've set up a lot of ways the story and characters can go, I expect the potential for greatness to increase exponentially as the series continues to evolve. It's an excellent sign when a TV show continues to grow and get BETTER. It's those shows that never learn from mistakes or even realize they have mistakes that you have to worry about. V is a show that knows it had problems and is working on them.
#7: OMG Moments
Scott Rosenbaum came in with a goal of leaving the audience with an "OMG!" feeling after each episode and I think he has been successful in that.
I'm in it for the story and characters, like most every other TV show I watch, but I will admit to loving a good twist and turn. The great thing about V (which is also something I loved about LOST) is that the OMG moments aren't always at the end of an episode. Sometimes, they come at the beginning like Erica Evans having a fight with a Visitor who breaks into her home and who she fights off with a frying pan and a kitchen knife. Or, sometimes, they come in scattered spots throughout an episode like Erica and Anna's confrontational moments in "Fruition", Lisa's "You're very brave, Joshua", or the reveal that Ryan killed John May. They don't necessarily have to be huge jaw-dropping moments, but are moments that reveal more about a character or situation.
#6: Female Protagonist vs. Female Antagonist
I, honestly, can't think of another TV show in history that has featured a female protagonist and a female antagonist.
Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin talk about this in interviews pretty frequently and I think it's because it's, truly, a rare thing in TV. Television has had a lot of great, strong female characters throughout its history, but to have two of them going up against each other? It's pretty unheard of and that's what makes V a very unique and awesome concept.
As a woman and TV lover, having two women, two mothers in an epic cat fight with the fate of Humanity at stake? On Television? THAT IS AMAZING.
#5: ABC's version is its own thing and that thing is saying something about the world.
I have vivid memories of watching the original V with my older brother when I was a kid. I remember the face peeling and being very freaked out by it. When I heard V was being remade, I went back and rewatched the original miniseries, The Final Battle, and the 19-episode series that followed them. So, I'm a fan of both the original and ABC's re-imagining. What is cool to me is that I loved the original's Nazi metaphors and I love that ABC's new version has found its own story to tell. It's not a straight-up REMAKE. It has new characters (loosely-based on original characters) and a new take on the concept of aliens known as "Visitors" who come to Earth and do something dastardly.
It's my philosophy that every great drama says something about the world. This new take on V not only hits on our post-9/11 society in which terrorism is something we now live with, but it discusses mother and child issues, faith in the midst of crisis, how devotion can be twisted into something dangerous, and what it means to be human.
If you're going to bring a story back, be respectful of the source material, but bring something new to the table. Not only has ABC's V done that, but they've done it in great ways that I've been pleasantly surprised by.
#4: Elizabeth Mitchell, the 40-something-year-old female action hero.
Elizabeth Mitchell turned 40-years-old last March and by the time Season 2 of V is over, she'll have aged another year. Yet, that doesn't stop her from carrying guns, hitting and tackling people, and just participating in (quite frankly, the only way to describe it) general ass-kicking.
If you don't believe me in regards to Elizabeth Mitchell's Ass-Kickery, maybe you'll believe her being on Entertainment Weekly's Women Who Kick Ass Comic-Con Panel. Two years in a row.
And, she does it in the most fiercely awesome ways.
How cool is it that on TV, there is an actress in her 40s (!) that is allowed and encouraged to be amazing like that?
#3: All the Best Cowboys and Cowgirls Have Mommy Issues
Mommy Issues is to V as to Daddy Issues is to LOST.
Personally, I love that lizard aliens have issues with their mothers just like I do, but to be more objective, one of the strongest aspects of V is its take on mothers and the dynamics between the mothers and the children.
There's Erica/Tyler. Anna/Lisa. The Kid Swap in which Lisa bonds with Erica, who is more of a mother to her than Anna and Anna, seducing Tyler for whatever evil intention she has with him. There's the storyline with Val and the hybrid baby. There's the awesome literal and metaphorical dynamic of Anna being the Mother of all Visitors and Erica being the Mother of all Humanity.
Adding Jane Badler in the mix as Anna's mother, Diana, is not only an awesome throwback to Jane's Diana from the original, but I'm very excited about what that means for Anna to have a mother and Lisa to have a grandmother. Is the way Anna raised Lisa the way Diana raised Anna? Looking forward to the Diana/Anna/Lisa dynamic of Season 2 IMMENSELY.
#2: Old-Fashioned Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys Story
I don't know how long I'll live, but I know that I'll never outgrow a story of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys.
At its basic level, V is a story of The Resistance/Fifth Column vs. Anna. There are heroes and villains and I eat that mess up. I'd be willing to bet that most people do, too. Who doesn't love being freaked out by the bad guy or see the hero(ine) do something awesome and have a "HECK YES!" reaction to it?
All you really need to know about V is that Anna is the Big Bad and The Resistance/Fifth Column is trying to stop her evil deeds and that makes it easy to understand. In the age of TV trying to have complicated "mystery" shows like FlashForward and The Event that fail because they try too hard to be a story that people have to figure out and they turn into a convoluted MESS, it's nice to have a straight-forward story like V that can be written well.
#1: It's FUN.
While V can have its dark moments (like any good drama), for me, it's just a ton of fun. It's proven itself to be a show that I can sit down in front of for an hour and enjoy.
#10: Cast Eye Candy
If you aren't into lizard aliens or Good Guys vs. Bad Guys, take heart! There are seriously gorgeous people on V!
Morris Chestnut has been known to go shirtless. Elizabeth Mitchell wears leather. Charles Mesure's tight black t-shirts are legend. There is a reason why Joel Gretsch's Father Jack is, lovingly, referred to on the Interweb as "Father Hotness". Laura Vandervoort has moments in her skimpies. Scott Wolf flashes one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. Morena Baccarin can rock some cleavage and gets naked in order to control her people.
I should also add that the V cast has serious Sci-Fi cred, coming from LOST, Firefly, Stargate SG-1, SMALLVILLE, Battlestar Galactica, Xena: Warrior Princess, The X-Files, and The 4400.
If you don't like the plot or writing for whatever reason, enjoy the pretty people. Come on, it's not like you don't ever do that with TV...
#9: Showrunner, Scott Rosenbaum
Scott is the main guy behind-the-scenes. He is amazing and I have gained a ton of respect for him. He worked on Chuck for three seasons (which immediately, let me know I would like him and he'd be good for V) and is a great storyteller. He has a great, hard-working ethic and has a great vision for V.
Personally, I think Scott Rosenbaum and I are kindred spirits because most everything I think about or have said about the show, I find that he thinks or speaks similarly to me.
If you don't believe me about his awesomeness, listen to this interview where he talks about how he came into V, how hard he worked to get a Season 2 pitch to ABC together that was a large part of why it got renewed, and his experience in the TV writing industry.
I'd put Scott Rosenbaum up there with my love for showrunners like Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (LOST) and Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (30 Rock).
#8: Potential for Greatness
ABC's V started out well, then kinda got stuck in the first few episodes. But, even in those first four episodes, I saw something great in them, particularly, with the reveal that Lisa was Anna's daughter. That made me sit up and say "Okay, I like where this is going!".
When V came back with "Welcome to the War", you could see how it got better under Scott Rosenbaum. It had some dark moments after that, but it built up to AWESOMENESS by the end of Season 1 with "Red Sky".
I won't lie. Even as a huge LOST fan and the excitement of watching its final season, there were a few weeks last year in which I enjoyed V a LOT more than LOST because there were stagnant moments in LOST's Season 6 where I felt like characters weren't doing anything versus things that where HAPPENING on V. I loved how LOST ended and the storytelling involved (and it will probably always be my favorite TV show of all-time), so it made up for that feeling, but, I won't ever forget how V had weeks of beating LOST in the enjoyment factor for me.
My favorite episode of V Season 1 is "Fruition" because it hit on the Anna/Erica and Erica/Lisa dynamics, two of the real strong suits of the story. "Frutiion" and "Red Sky" are great examples of how great V can be and now that they've set up a lot of ways the story and characters can go, I expect the potential for greatness to increase exponentially as the series continues to evolve. It's an excellent sign when a TV show continues to grow and get BETTER. It's those shows that never learn from mistakes or even realize they have mistakes that you have to worry about. V is a show that knows it had problems and is working on them.
#7: OMG Moments
Scott Rosenbaum came in with a goal of leaving the audience with an "OMG!" feeling after each episode and I think he has been successful in that.
I'm in it for the story and characters, like most every other TV show I watch, but I will admit to loving a good twist and turn. The great thing about V (which is also something I loved about LOST) is that the OMG moments aren't always at the end of an episode. Sometimes, they come at the beginning like Erica Evans having a fight with a Visitor who breaks into her home and who she fights off with a frying pan and a kitchen knife. Or, sometimes, they come in scattered spots throughout an episode like Erica and Anna's confrontational moments in "Fruition", Lisa's "You're very brave, Joshua", or the reveal that Ryan killed John May. They don't necessarily have to be huge jaw-dropping moments, but are moments that reveal more about a character or situation.
#6: Female Protagonist vs. Female Antagonist
I, honestly, can't think of another TV show in history that has featured a female protagonist and a female antagonist.
Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin talk about this in interviews pretty frequently and I think it's because it's, truly, a rare thing in TV. Television has had a lot of great, strong female characters throughout its history, but to have two of them going up against each other? It's pretty unheard of and that's what makes V a very unique and awesome concept.
As a woman and TV lover, having two women, two mothers in an epic cat fight with the fate of Humanity at stake? On Television? THAT IS AMAZING.
#5: ABC's version is its own thing and that thing is saying something about the world.
I have vivid memories of watching the original V with my older brother when I was a kid. I remember the face peeling and being very freaked out by it. When I heard V was being remade, I went back and rewatched the original miniseries, The Final Battle, and the 19-episode series that followed them. So, I'm a fan of both the original and ABC's re-imagining. What is cool to me is that I loved the original's Nazi metaphors and I love that ABC's new version has found its own story to tell. It's not a straight-up REMAKE. It has new characters (loosely-based on original characters) and a new take on the concept of aliens known as "Visitors" who come to Earth and do something dastardly.
It's my philosophy that every great drama says something about the world. This new take on V not only hits on our post-9/11 society in which terrorism is something we now live with, but it discusses mother and child issues, faith in the midst of crisis, how devotion can be twisted into something dangerous, and what it means to be human.
If you're going to bring a story back, be respectful of the source material, but bring something new to the table. Not only has ABC's V done that, but they've done it in great ways that I've been pleasantly surprised by.
#4: Elizabeth Mitchell, the 40-something-year-old female action hero.
Elizabeth Mitchell turned 40-years-old last March and by the time Season 2 of V is over, she'll have aged another year. Yet, that doesn't stop her from carrying guns, hitting and tackling people, and just participating in (quite frankly, the only way to describe it) general ass-kicking.
If you don't believe me in regards to Elizabeth Mitchell's Ass-Kickery, maybe you'll believe her being on Entertainment Weekly's Women Who Kick Ass Comic-Con Panel. Two years in a row.
And, she does it in the most fiercely awesome ways.
How cool is it that on TV, there is an actress in her 40s (!) that is allowed and encouraged to be amazing like that?
#3: All the Best Cowboys and Cowgirls Have Mommy Issues
Mommy Issues is to V as to Daddy Issues is to LOST.
Personally, I love that lizard aliens have issues with their mothers just like I do, but to be more objective, one of the strongest aspects of V is its take on mothers and the dynamics between the mothers and the children.
There's Erica/Tyler. Anna/Lisa. The Kid Swap in which Lisa bonds with Erica, who is more of a mother to her than Anna and Anna, seducing Tyler for whatever evil intention she has with him. There's the storyline with Val and the hybrid baby. There's the awesome literal and metaphorical dynamic of Anna being the Mother of all Visitors and Erica being the Mother of all Humanity.
Adding Jane Badler in the mix as Anna's mother, Diana, is not only an awesome throwback to Jane's Diana from the original, but I'm very excited about what that means for Anna to have a mother and Lisa to have a grandmother. Is the way Anna raised Lisa the way Diana raised Anna? Looking forward to the Diana/Anna/Lisa dynamic of Season 2 IMMENSELY.
#2: Old-Fashioned Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys Story
I don't know how long I'll live, but I know that I'll never outgrow a story of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys.
At its basic level, V is a story of The Resistance/Fifth Column vs. Anna. There are heroes and villains and I eat that mess up. I'd be willing to bet that most people do, too. Who doesn't love being freaked out by the bad guy or see the hero(ine) do something awesome and have a "HECK YES!" reaction to it?
All you really need to know about V is that Anna is the Big Bad and The Resistance/Fifth Column is trying to stop her evil deeds and that makes it easy to understand. In the age of TV trying to have complicated "mystery" shows like FlashForward and The Event that fail because they try too hard to be a story that people have to figure out and they turn into a convoluted MESS, it's nice to have a straight-forward story like V that can be written well.
#1: It's FUN.
While V can have its dark moments (like any good drama), for me, it's just a ton of fun. It's proven itself to be a show that I can sit down in front of for an hour and enjoy.