“V” Production Shut Down — Again: A Bit of Editorializing
As a longtime ”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
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