V. Not as bad as Knight Rider. But it’s no Lost either.

I was very excited at the beginning of the fall to learn that the series V was being revived, and luckily not by it’s original network NBC, but by ABC. ABC has, in my mind at least, done a good job of establishing good dramatic shows like Alias (now almost a decade ago, yikes) and of course one of my favorites, Lost. So on that front I was encouraged.

After watching the initial four episode run to open the series I’m torn if this will be a long term reboot series or not. The production is slick enough, the acting is good and the visitors arrival (as much of a rip-off of independence day as it was) did make for a dramatic open to the show. Unlike how I felt after watching the pilot for Lost and the mini-series introduction of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, though, V left me….well unimpressed.

I’ve read a lot about how many critics and blogger’s have been deconstructing V as nothing more than a thinly veiled criticism of the Obama Presidency. Many have gone as far as to say that the show’s debut, exactly one year to the day after he was elected President, show’s it’s blatant connection. Although I can’t deny that the visitor’s (annoyingly referred to as “V’s” in the show) storyline features a number of elements that reflect the current state of the world and the major issues Obama and his administration are facing (Health Care being the biggest), I’m still not sold on that there’s any intent by the creator’s to directly lob criticism at the White House. With a town like Hollywood, though, you never really know.

Character and cast wise, I think V has done a better job than some recent reboot efforts of not filling the show with pretty looking yet empty characters. The 2008 NBC reboot Knight Rider is to me a great example of putting completely “pretty” albeit useless characters into a show simply to fill space around the true star, the car Kitt. I also By day, Jeff Fox works as a senior technology leader with Mediatavern LLC. a full service digital agency, and has 15 years of professional experience in the world of Flash, Web Development and design. By night, he is a husband and father of two amazing children, published comic book author, amateur writer and trained musician. Jeff makes him home with his family in Southern Connecticut.