Visitors Among Us

UPDATED: "V": SHUTDOWN, PHASE 2; STORY "PODS" - A BIT OF EDITORIALIZING

As a "V" fan, it's becoming more and more frustrating hearing the reports that are coming out about the new ABC series. When the show shut down for two weeks for a "creative hiatus," pretty much everyone involved made note of the fact this was a planned "event," designed to give the writers the opportunity to catch up to production and to make sure that the quality of the episodic scripts matched the power of the pilot. But now there is a second production hiatus taking place, and the announcement of the plan to present the first season in "pods", with one assuming that that's another word for "story arc" or "volumes" (ala Heroes).
   So now the plan is for ABC to air four episodes beginning on November 3rd, and then for "V" to be off the air until after the Olympics, which means it won't be back until March. In this humble editor's opinion, this is a terrible plan. Audiences are fragmented enough these days and we've reached a point where there is very little viewer loyalty -- just look at the ratings of returning shows and the quantity of them that have lost over 40% of their audience from last year.
   Even if the new "V" should connect with people (which is going to be tough given the fact the show will have an 8PM Tuesday timeslot, up against the shockingly rejuvenated NCIS, which garnered 20 million viewers for its season premiere), that means its going to be four months between the end of the first "pod" and the launch of the second. Unless those initial four hours are absolutely incredible television, one has to wonder what audience will be there to greet "V" on its return. When the series was originally picked up by the network, it was earmarked as a mid-season show. One can only hope that ABC will go back to that plan to ensure the maximum possible audience for the show. If not and, repeating the concern above, and if it does not connect with people instantly, there's a very good chance the Visitors could be heading home sooner than expected. That would be unfortunate for everyone. -- Edward Gross

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has updated the story with the following: "The four-episode November run will end with a cliffhanger, setting up the stage for 'V's' midseason return. 'V,' whose production was shut down in late August for a 'creative hiatus, has been the subject of intense speculation in the past several days. What was described as incorrect information disseminated to the show's cast and crew led to a frenzy of emails around Hollywood declaring 'V' dead as a series, with the produced episodes rumored to air as a mini-series, just like the 1984 original. That is not true, sources at ABC and producer Warner Bros. TV stressed. 'V',' which has two episodes plus the pilot in the can, is now in pre-production and is scheduled to begin filming episode 4 in mid-October. After that episode is completed, the series will go on a holiday hiatus.  It has not been determined yet when 'V" starring Elizabeth Mitchell, will resume production, but that is not tied to the performance of the first four episodes in November, sources at the network and the studio said." 
   Aintitcool.com has also suggested that ABC is going to wait until they see the ratings for the first four episodes before going into production on episode five. There is something ironic in this little detail if true: back before ABC announced the pickup of the show, Nikki Finke reported that ABC had wanted to place a four to six episode order, which the studio, Warner Bros., balked at, insisting on a minimum of 13. In the end, ABC ordered 13, but now is achieving its original goal of fewer episodes to test the waters to gauge audience interest. Let's just hope that those four hours really do work as some sort of miniseries that intrigues the audience in a major way.
   These shutdowns, word that the studio was attempting to prevent Kenneth Johnson from receiving a "created by" credit (which was ultimately denied by the Writers Guild arbitration committee), Jeffrey Bell being bumped from showrunner to second position, and the new word that the show will be "tested" as more of a miniseries, is already creating a stigma that may affect people's perceptions of "V" before it even hits the air.

MORE ABC "V" PROMOS

NEW "V" VIDEO PROMO

ABC has released a new promo for November's "V", which, they note, is arriVing on November 3rd. The video was featured on spoilertv.blogspot.com.

"V": A MEETING OF THE GENERATIONS

The producers of the new "V" have made it pretty clear that they're interested in, when the opportunity presents itself, having members of the original version's cast appear in the new incarnation. This certainly seems to have taken a serious step forward with executive producer Jace Hall's five-hour lunch with Jane Badler (Diana). Looking at the accompanying photo (posted by member Edward Magdziak over at our "V" online fan community, located HERE), it seems that the two were having a great time together, which would seem to bode well for Jane's appearance on the show. As a character named Diana or someone else, that would remain to be seen.

THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF "V"

Handling the visual effects for “V” is Zoic Studio, which concurrently handles effects for Fringe and the midseason series Human Target. As visual effects supervisor Andrew Orloff explains it, in the case of “V” the company came on board early on in the process.

   “We were involved very early on with a very early draft of the script,” says Orloff. “Actually, it was more of a conceptual draft, not even in the script phase. They had an idea of what it would take to do this and we read a very early version of the script, which led to a bunch of discussions with one of the executive producers about what our visual effects approach would be. There was definitely a match there, from the work we’ve done on Battlestar Galactica and Firefly and Fringe. We’ve got this very naturalistic kind of philosophy to visual effects, and we’re also the kind of facility that does a lot of design work, so we’ve had a lot of experience designing ships and designing effects.
   “As the series goes on,” he continues, “you’ll see that the pilot’s effects are devoted largely to  spaceships, but you can also see with the pilot, as it stands now, that there’s going to be some issues about what do the Vs look like? You know that that’s coming. I pitched out some ideas about the ship design, and how it should be a real modern, contemporary ship design, but it has to speak to some of the original design tenets of the original ship. Making sure the way and the approach to visual effects met with this update of having it be so real and so character based, and some of the shots even seem like the ship is a throwaway, it's just kind of there, and it starts being something that's just part of the environment. There are plenty of shots where you focus on it, but there are places where the mothership becomes like another building in the skyline.

   “We talked a lot about how would we do it, and I think from the very beginning we were involved on that level, so when the project became real, we were kind of the first call. And as the team firmed up, we just had a really good relationship very early in the process, designing on paper, working on the mother ship, working on the shuttle, and it was also clear very early on that there was not going to be an opportunity to build the sets inside the mother ship to the scale and grandeur that they wanted by doing it practically. There are four main environments in the pilot and that's only a fraction of what the ship is going to be for the series, and even to do typical set extension would mean that you would have to build four pieces of set and find a stage big enough to hold those pieces with enough green screen behind them so you can shoot them. That practicality dictated that we were going to have to do all the sets of the ship interior in a whole green screen environment and do everything that you see in the pilot, for all the stuff you see on the ship, the walls, the ceiling, the floor -- everything is CG. Everything is CG, entirely shot on green screen. This is the farthest we've ever pushed this idea of a true virtual environment.”

   For more with Andrew Orloff, head over to the Visitors Among Us online community by clicking HERE.

MORENA BACCARIN ON THE "V" PRODUCTION SHUTDOWN

At the moment, ABC's "V" is in the middle of a production shutdown. While there are many people who are outraged by this, determining that it's symbolic of a production in trouble, people involved with the show actually think it's a great thing.
   "Everything is fine," says Morena Baccarin, who plays the Visitor Anna, without hesitation. "I think it's such a great idea and we've been reassured over and over again by everyone -- the producers, Warner Brothers -- that it was a call made by the studio to ensure that we keep the integrity of the show. Working years in TV, I've never seen that before and I think it's so incredible. Working on shows, it's a tight, excrutiating schedule, and I think it's commendable that they took the time out to say, 'You know what? Let's take a little break and give the writers a chance to create some new material and then we can come back in full swing.' I'm really excited about coming back and seeing some great scripts."
    To read Scott Woilf's comments on the subject, please head over to our Visitors Among Us fan community by clicking HERE. Additionally, look for exclusive interviews with Elizabeth Mitchell, Morena Baccarin, Joel Gretsch, Laura Vandervoort and Scott Wolf in the November issue of Geek Monthly magazine. 

"V" MAKES THE COVER OF SFX MAGAZINE

In what could very well be the first cover story on the new "V", SFX magazine, one of the premier genre publications in Britain, is featuring Elizabeth Mitchell, Morena Baccarin and Joel Gretsch on the front cover of their latest issue, #187. For more info, head over to their website by clicking HERE. 

"V" UPDATES: THE WGA DECISION, MORE ON THE PRODUCTION SHUTDOWN, PILOT RESHOOTS

Visitors Among Us has gotten a number of information updates on several issues surrounding the new "V". For starters: it's nice to see that every now and then the right thing is done. The Writers Guild of America's arbitration unit has ruled that the new "V" is indeed a remake of the original, so the attempts to take the "created by" credit away from Kenneth Johnson has failed. We've also learned that series executive producer Scott Peters had nothing to do with this arbitration; that the decision to challenge Johnson's credit (and therefore his royalty payments) came from way up on top. Under the same topic, Johnson himself sent a message of gratitude to the fans, which is posted over at Ilana's "V" site (click HERE).
   As to the two-week production shutdown, while many doomsayers are claiming that this is a sure indication that the series is in serious trouble, from what we've gathered is that due to the nature of the storytelling (intercutting rapidly betwtween different characters, thus eating up a lot of story very quickly -- the same problem Heroes had in its first season), the writing process had been falling behind schedule. As a result, physical production was quickly catching up with the writers, so, rather than have the staff continue to rush to get these scripts out to meet production deadlines, the two week break was given to allow the writers to catch their creative breath and make sure that things are as nuanced as they want them to be.
   Finally, people who have seen the pilot episode for the new "V" will find that the aired version will be somewhat different. One of those primary differences will be in a climactic sequence involving humans battling Vs. Apparently it was felt that there needed to be more of a physical demonstration of how, when pushed into a corner, the Visitors will reveal themselves to be stronger than humans.

   And don't forget to check out our new "V" online community, where members will get their own pages to post blogs, pictures, music and more. Just click HERE.