“V”: Laura Vandervoort Audio Interview, Part 1

Although “V” is off the air until March, SciFi TV Zone will be providing continuing coverage of the show, beginning with this exclusive audio interview with actress Laura Vandervoort (Lisa). Conducted just before the show began its production hiatus and before the audience — and presumably Laura herself — knew that Lisa was actually Anna’s daughter, she discusses the character and her overall feelings about the role and the show itself. Interview conducted by Edward Gross.

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Executive Producer Scott Rosenbaum on the March Return of “V”

Tonight’s episode of “V” is scheduled to be the last one to air on ABC until the show returns in March, following the airing of the Winter Olympics. The question amongst fans of the show, however, is whether or not this is a programming mistake. As has become extremely evident over the past couple of seasons, there is very little viewer loyalty with audiences quickly growing used to not seeing a show when it’s off the air. Will this take away something from the momentum “V” has been building?
Scott Rosenbaum, the show’s new executive producer, whose real influence will be felt beginning with the its return in March, doesn’t think so. “This scheduling was done on purpose to make the show even better,” he offers. “I think the reason they [ABC] did this – and it makes a lot of sense – is that they view this as a big event, and it’s also an expensive show to do. By breaking it up into these different sections, I think it allows more time for writing and more time for production. The idea is to make the show even bigger and essentially better. Think of a television season as a movie. Look at the first season of ‘V’ as 12 episodes [after the pilot]. The first four are the beginning, Act 1; the second four will be Act 2 and the final four will be Act 3. Approaching it that way, I think, will make the show even better. Is it going to be frustrating for people because they want to see new episodes? Possibly. But I think the plan is, by doing it this way, is that more people will be excited by the next group, and they’ll know that when they get to that next group of episodes, they’re going to get something that’s better than anything they’re going to get anywhere else, because we were able to put more time and effort into every aspect of production.”

The fear, of course, is that the network will look at the fact that the ratings have dipped from week to week and decide not to proceed with additional episodes. Rosenbaum doesn’t see this as a possibility. “I think they’ll stick to the plan, because everyone here agrees it’s a good one,” he says. “It’s like event programming. Truthfully, I’m thrilled that this is the way they’re doing it. It might be a little annoying, but this will work. I also think that season two or three will be more like a regular show with 22 episodes. In this first season, this is a property that people know from before. It was a huge event back in the days when it first appeared, and I think the spirit here was, ‘Let’s reintroduce it in a way that’s different from what everyone else is doing.’

“I think ‘V’ has great potential,” closes Rosenbaum. “I think it can be not just an entertaining show, but I think it can be an important show, if done right. It can be a show that has a sort of lasting effect, and can be bigger than just a TV show. It allows you to dive into things that most TV shows don’t allow you to do. Just in terms of the state of the world, the state of humanity, who we are as people, what is good and bad about us, how we can fix things in our nature – everything about humans beings’ place in the world and in the universe. It can be an intellectual exercise as well, and not just a fun action show. It gives you all the tools to play with, which is really nice.”

“V” Promo: “It’s Only the Beginning”

Tuesday night is the final episode of “V” until the show returns in March. What follows is an extended trailer for the last episode of the first arc, “It’s Only the Beginning.”

“V”: Elizabeth Mitchell on The Bonnie Hunt Show

“V” may be winding down its first story arc (concluding Tuesday night, scheduled to return in March), but publicity for the show continues. On November 19th, Elizabeth Mitchell (who plays FBI agent Erica Evans) appeared on The Bonnie Hunt Show.

Will Lost Protect the Visitors?

Despite the fact it will be going head-to-head with the Winter Olympics, it seems that ABC has decided that the hype surrounding the final season of Lost will be enough to guarantee an audience. The enigmatic show returns to the network on February 2nd, and according to Variety, when the Olympics ends in March, “V” will return to the schedule — at 10PM, immediately following Lost. Given the expected audience for the show’s final season, it would seem to almost guarantee a much larger audience for “V” than it was able to hold on to over its four-episode run in November (which concludes next Tuesday). No doubt that “V” fans will be grateful as the show will move away from 8PM powerhouse NCIS, which has, on average, been pulling in over 20 million viewers per episode.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: New “V” Showrunner Scott Rosenbaum

“V” has certainly had its share of behind the scenes turmoil since production of the pilot, including a pair of production shut downs and several shifts in showrunners. The latest, and the one likely to stick for the long haul, is the addition of former Chuck executive producer Scott Rosenbaum, whose influence on the series will be felt beginning with episode five, which airs in March when the show returns to ABC.

In the following exclusive interview with SciFi TV Zone editor Edward Gross, Rosenbaum discusses his approach to the series and his creative intentions.

SCIFI TV ZONE: With you taking over as show runner on “V”, what do you see as the primary differences between you and Scott Peters?

SCOTT ROSENBAUM: I have a slightly different story-telling sensibility. I think Scott and I share the same vision for the show, but our execution will be a little different. I’m going to probably do the show a little more visceral, it will be a little more fast-paced, it will be learning more of the mythology and the history of the Vs. In my mind, viewers are very advanced at this point, and I want them to come to “V” and see, A, stuff they can’t see anywhere else, and, B, also feel like they’re getting storytelling that doesn’t feel retread or old, that’s, frankly, exciting. That being said, is Scott Peters’ vision of the show, his overall conceit, those things he feels strongly about, are they going to go away? No, I just think you will see it executed in a different manner.

SCIFI TV ZONE: So there will be more revelations?
SCOTT ROSENBAUM: Listen, my goal is that in every single episode there will be an “Oh my God, I can’t believe that happened” moment, or a “Wow” moment – at least one – in every single episode. And I think that would not only be a mythology plot reveal, but also a character reveal. I want the characters to be able to make mistakes, to make the wrong choices sometimes, and that’s where you get the most amount of drama. I would prefer that the stories come from them making mistakes, and the snowball effect of those mistakes, or, rather than mistakes, choices made for the right reason, but then there are consequences of that. I don’t want people to watch this show and ever be able to guess what’s going to happen next, because that’s the problem with some of the TV I watch. Maybe this is because I watch so much TV, but you have this vast number of stories you’ve seen because you’ve been watching TV since you were a kid. So I think I have to be ahead of that curve, and have it be completely organic, and to have it make sense, but to just surprise people, in a good way, and challenge them as well.

SCIFI TV ZONE: But not mire us down like Lost…

SCOTT ROSENBAUM: That’s a good point – the one thing “V” will definitely not have is it will not be steeped in mythology so that you can’t just watch an episode or you’ll be confused. The complexity will be in the thematics of the storytelling. And when I say complex storytelling, I mean the main characters don’t always make the right choices, it’s not always a happy ending. A lot of times in TV, all the leads have to be heroes and make the right choice and every episode has to have a happy ending, and I don’t want to go down that road. But one thing that I do think I can add to the show is to make it more fun. I don’t want it to be a dark, fugitive, purely resistance story. I want there to be the dark elements, and I want there to be incredibly high stakes, but I also want the show to be fun. At it’s core conceit, it’s probably one of the most fascinating ideas ever presented. It’s the first time that aliens have come to Earth and when I was a kid, I could identity with where Tyler is coming from, I would want to be the first one to sign up; to say, “Hey, let me on that ship!” And I want more of the show to be seen through the eyes of the characters, the wonder and the joy of how incredible it is, so it doesn’t just feel like it’s our people against the world, against the Vs and constantly running.

That’s a strong element of the show, too, but I think this sort of fun and wonder and excitement of these visitors being here for the first time is something I want to cover as well. I think the human elements are super exciting, and we’ll have characters who people will love and care about, but I think at this point what is incredibly new and unique in the show is these aliens. So it will never be the aliens’ show, but I think we have to spend more time with them, with the Visitors, and understand why they’re here, what they’re planning to do, who they are. If in fact they are lizards, what does that really mean? Normal questions you would ask, like what do they eat? What do they need for survival? What about their brains? Are they capable or incapable of love? Are they capable of sympathy or empathy? All of those things I think are interesting, and the more we know about that, the more it’ll inform our human struggle, and what the humans in the show are up against, and what the consequences will be if they fail.

“V”: The Summit – An Original Online Comic

“V” as a concept is something that has challenged audience’s imaginations since its debut in 1983, and the latest example of that is an original fan-created online comic story set during the era of the original miniseries.

“V”: The Summit is an eight-page comic story hosted over at Visitors Among Us.com. Written by John T. Caliber and drawn by Pat Carbajal, it is the first in a series of proposed storylines set in the “V” universe.

What follows are the first three pages of “The Summit.” Hopefully you’ll come over to Visitors Among Us and give us your feedback on the story.

For the rest of this comic, please click the image below.

FlashForward: “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps”

By Tiffany Vogt
Nov-4-2009
This article may contain spoilers.
In “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps,” the show attempted to answer the question: “What caused the flashforwards?” Alas, the answer was perhaps more confounding than the question. For as Simon (Dominic Monaghan) attempted to explain quantum mechanics in simple terms to the blonde on the train, we were all left scratching our heads over how Schrodinger’s Cat Theory actually worked. In Simon’s example, you have to imagine that in your hand you are holding a tiny cat and a poisoned sardine, and if you fold your hand closed, the cat is given two choices: either the cat eats the poisoned sardine and dies, or it doesn’t and lives. You will not know until you open your hand which option the cat chose. Thus, it is up to the cat to decide if it wants to live or die. It is only after you (the observer) open your hand that you will discover the cat’s fate — and quantum physics says that until you open your hand both eventualities occur at the
same time. But, according to Schrodinger’s Cat Theory, the miracle of quantum mechanics is that the observer gets to decide.

This is a mind-bender. Are there two parallel realities? Is it up to each of us to decide which reality will exist? However, applying Schrodinger’s Cat Theory, as the woman noted, “The cat had already made up its mind.”

Also following this vein, the series seems to be focusing on whether each character will choose to eat the poisoned sardine or not. Does each move forward to make their visions a reality or move away and resist their visions to become a reality? Mark (Joseph Fiennes) and Olivia (Sonya Walger) are pushing against allowing their visions from coming true. Mark does not want to return to his dark days of alcoholism and a failed marriage, and Olivia does not want to abandon her marriage and find love with another man she does not know. Additionally, Demetri (John Cho) does not want his vision to come true either, for he does not want to be murdered.

However, in contrast, while Janis (Christine Woods) had initially struggled against her vision, after being shot she appears to have reconsidered her views on having a child. For she clearly did want to have a child as she wept over the possibility that the scar tissue from her gun shot wound and surgery may prevent her from ever getting pregnant.

Also, rather interesting is, as Olivia noted, the flashfowards are a distraction. Everyone is obsessed by what they saw. But Olivia, while haunted by what she saw, firmly rejected it and announced, “Today is all we have. I don’t want to miss it.” But can one truly choose their destiny, or is it predetermined?

What Worked

It was a nice Easter-egg moment, to have Mark, Aaron (Brian F. O’Byrne) and Charlie (Lennon Wynn) see the kangaroo while out trick-or-treating. In astonishment Aaron said, “Was that a kangaroo?” To which Mark’s daughter, Charlie, exclaimed, “That is the best costume I’ve ever seen!”

It was also a nice nod to “Firefly” using the “blue hand” clues to lead the FBI from the assassin who tried to kill Janis to the stickers found on the street signs to the house with the bodies, one of which had a blue hand. Not being deterred from doing his job, Demetri embraced the clue from Mark’s vision about the “blue hand” on the Mosaic board. However, though he was clearly disturbed by how prophetically true that clue turned out to be. Also, after finding the identification on one of the bodies, Agent Gough (Lee Thompson Young) realized that this was the Rutherford case, the one he had seen documents for in his flashforward. It was eerie as he said, “It begins tonight.”

As they were being rapidly propelled in the direction of the flashforward visions coming true, Mark finally admitted to Olivia about seeing himself drinking in his flashforward. His vehement denial, “Don’t condemn me for something I haven’t done yet!” was out of frustration as he rallied against a future he did not choose. But it was Olivia’s angry response to his outburst that was truly revealing, “Did you even hear what you just said? You’ve been punishing me this whole time for an imaginary relationship. But when it comes back to you, you want to be let off the hook.” She further explained how his vision was so much worse, “Your past with all the drinking is real. That still hurts. I’m not going through it again. It’s not about the drinking. It’s about trust and we don’t trust each other anymore.” And so begins the slow unraveling of their marriage as the seeds of distrust and doubt are sown.

Similarly, we watched with dual fascination and horror as Dylan (Ryan Wynott) announced, “It’s my house too” and walked right into the Benford house like it was his own. That combined with the fact Dylan was greeted so casually by Charlie was chilling. Thus, when Lloyd (Jack Davenport) arrived to pick him up and recognized the living room from his vision, there were simultaneous looks of dawning realization on Mark, Olivia and Lloyd’s faces. With a look of horror mingled with wonder, Lloyd said, “You’re her.” To which Mark sharply replied, “Not yet!”

Despite the awkward confrontation at the Benford home, it was later quite touching when Dylan asked, “Is it going to be Halloween again tomorrow?” and Lloyd quietly replied, “No, just today.” Then Dylan’s response of, “Good. ‘Cause it was kind of scary” and Lloyd’s thoughtful, “Yeah. Yes, it was” spoke volumes about a man who may or may not be the big bad villain behind the black-out and flashfowards. That followed by the endearing moment where Dylan said, “Thanks for coming to get me, Daddy,” just melted our hearts. Surely Lloyd cannot be the villain in the story after all.

What Didn’t Work

Was it necessary to completely vilify Simon? The first time we saw him, we learned he was responsible for the black-out. Then after seeing him try to seduce the woman on the train, he uses the pick-up line, “I know what caused the flashforward.” His further elaboration was practically nauseating, “It was you. Whenever a heavenly body carries such an intense force of attraction, the universe just goes bananas. Your dark energy could bring about another catastrophe at any moment.” All this combined with his revelation of what he saw in his flashforward, he saw himself killing another man by strangling him with his bare hands, and his subsequent, “Aren’t you glad you asked?” did nothing to redeem him whatsoever. Even more disturbing was when Lloyd called Simon on his callousness and said, “Our experiment killed 20 million people, Simon. What more is there to say?” It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth. This is a character to
be despised, feared and hated with every fiber of our being.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Scary Monsters and Super Creeps’ was written by Seth Hoffman and Quinton Peeples, and directed by Bobby Roth. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Lee Thompson Young, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods, Zachary Knighton, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Wynott, Lennon Wynn. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

FlashForward: “Gimme Some Truth”

By Tiffany Vogt
Oct-28-2009
This article may contain spoilers.
Following the premise, “What if it happened before?” Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) enlisted fellow FBI Agent Al Gough (Lee Thompson Young) to contact a hacker to get CIA satellite imagery on Somalia from December 1990 – and they got just what they needed: photos showing several tall pylons in the middle of nowhere in Somalia. However, before they can run down this lead, the team is called to Washington, D.C. to answer to a Senate Intelligence Committee who is vetting each intelligence branch to determine which one should run point on the black-out investigation. It wants to consolidate money and data under one government branch. Thus, the FBI has to justify its Mosaic investigation or they could lose their funding.

With an admonishment from Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), “Just keep your mouth shut. If you tell anyone else about this, we are DOA,” Benford must hide what he saw in his flashforward vision about his drinking. For once anyone hears that he was impaired at the time, it casts doubt on the credibility of the FBI’s entire investigation. But, at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, everyone subjected is to lie detector testing because the “CIA believes this was a targeted event designed to bring about the collapse of our government.” Despite passing the lie detector test, Mark is asked to testify before the committee and, while subject to cross-examination before the committee, he revealed that he was investigating crow attrition (the mass death of crows) as a sign that the black-out was not an isolated incident and may have happened before. He was also forced to reveal that he saw masked gunmen coming to kill him in his vision,
which he felt validated the Mosaic investigation as it must have yielded fruit or why would anyone want to kill him. But when asked, “Why is everything in your recollection so hazy and disjointed?” Mark could not give an adequate answer as to why he could not remember more than 30 seconds or so, when everyone else could remember in startling clarity every moment of their 2 minute and 17 second visions. He only continued to state that the Mosaic investigation is a way to construct a picture of what the world will look like in 6 months and it has proven more reliable than theories that the black-out was due to the work of aliens, pharmaceutical companies, or China.

Unbeknownst to Mark, Senator Joyce Clemente (Barbara Williams) had a personal ax to grind. As she reminded Wedeck, if only she could prove what he did 6 years ago, she would be the President of the United States. But then she cryptically said, “If you sit by the river long enough, you’ll see the bodies of your enemies float by,” and shared that in her flashforward vision, she saw herself as President. It was chilling as she said, “As impossible as that may be, it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?” But it was also prophetic.

For Wedeck is friends with President Dave Segovia (Peter Coyote) and he knew that by playing the right card, he could secure their funding and make this Senate investigation go away. So when the President told Wedeck, “The Chinese view chaos as opportunity and the black-out gives me a chance to pay you back” and offered Wedeck the Director of Homeland Security position, we knew that this was when Wedeck was going to play his card. The President had a deep dark secret: a mistress who bore him a son. After Wedeck blackmailed him into making the Senate hearings disappear, the President said, “So no more Boy Scout. How did you find her?” Wedeck simply replied, “Well, I was the bagman who paid her a quarter of a million dollars.” To which the President coldly remarked, “You weren’t just comfortable in the mud – you enjoyed being there. You can only play this card once you know. Are you sure you want to play it now?” Wedeck
quietly replied, “Now is all I’ve got.” And just like that, Clemente’s vision came true. She got the Vice President nomination which opened up after the prior V.P. was killed during the black-out. And the Senate inquiry screeched to a halt as the FBI was selected as the branch to receive the investigative funding and to run the primary investigation of the black-out.

In a telling bit of foreshadowing, when asked about his flashforward, the President said the he was following the example of other world leaders and not revealing what he saw. He also reminded everyone that it is time to be “thinking about the present, not the future – we have too much to do.” However, we saw that the President had been woken up by a Secret Service agent who said, “Mr. President, sorry to disturb you, but something is happening.” What exactly did the President see? That is the real story yet to be revealed.

What Worked
The opening and closing scenes of the episode were riveting. Watching the simultaneous attacks on Mark, Demetri (John Cho), Wedeck, and Janis (Christine Wood) while on opposite sides of the country was a thrilling adrenaline rush. It was perfectly executed and perhaps a lethal strike. While Mark, Demetri and Wedeck were under attack and a rocket propelled grenade blew up their car in the parking garage, Janis faced her attacker and managed to efficiently defend herself until she was shot and left lying in a pool of blood on the street. It was gripping and nerve-wracking. The cliff-hanger ending was particularly well done.

Also surprisingly handled was the conversation between Janis and her lover, Maya (Navi Rawat), who asked her, “Do you date guys too? I Mosaic’d you. It’s way better than Google-stalking.” For Maya had seen what Janis had posted about seeing herself pregnant in 6 months. After Janis was shot, we are left to wonder whether her vision will come true after all.

What Didn’t Work
While it had to come out sooner or later, it felt clumsy the way Olivia (Sonya Walger) found out that Mark had been drinking in his flashforward. It was entirely too convenient to have Aaron (Brian F. O’Byrne) hanging around their house and she just happened to overhear him on the phone with Mark reminding him to go to an AA meeting while in D.C. Then later Olivia just happened to receive a text message from an unknown caller which read, “Mark was drinking in his flashforward.” Given how Olivia reacted, it felt a bit like she was looking for excuses to make her flashforward vision come true. Maybe the future is not yet set in stone and it needs a little push perhaps?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Gimme Some Truth’ teleplay was written by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin with story by Barbara Nance, and directed by Michael Rymer. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods, Zachary Knighton, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Wynott. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Ratings “V”ictory

The Hollywood Reporter.com is stating that ABC’s massive marketing of “V” paid off – big time. The premiere episode of the series, based on overnight ratings (which could change based on national numbers), was seen by 13.9 million people, and its rating among adults 18-49 was the highest of the night, even beating CBS powerhouse NCIS. “That’s the biggest scripted series premiere rating for a freshman show this fall,” offers the story. The real question ABC is asking is how many of those people will return next week? Let’s hope the audience stays with the show.

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