![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
V for...
I'm a little curious about the Visitor metaphor being used in V. I watched the first episode last night and here's what I got: Attractive, charismatic (not to mention telegenic and young) aliens come to earth, promising hope, change (which is hard), universal health care and appeals to the world's youth. Obvious parallels and metaphors abound in the previous sentence. All they needed was a cool-looking sign with a big "O" and/or giant, colorful letters spelling out "Hope" (or is that hOpe?) for it to be truly, unequivocally on the nose. Then, of course, it turns out, these attractive aliens are actually wanting to debilitate/destroy/devour the world.
Don't worry, I checked the writing credits: it wasn't written by Glenn Beck.
But it still makes me wonder about the politics behind it. Just because I don't believe the politics behind the Becks of the world doesn't mean that I'll automatically poo-poo something like this. In truth, I found V to be a pretty good beginning to a show that could, potentially, be killed before it even gets a chance. ABC only commissioned four episodes so far, which they are airing right now. Then there's the Winter Olympics and, if the show is doing well, they'll commission more episodes to be aired in March. Not exactly comforting. Because of this fear, I think the creators went a bit overboard with their opening episode. It has a breathless urgency that carriers the hour programming from set piece to set piece, doesn't let up or allow you to take a breather and then before you know it, it's over. Good pacing, overall. But the problem is that the show felt really rushed, both from a story perspective but also from a realistic one. Right after the aliens arrive, the military is in the streets, NYC is cordoned off and everyone is being told to remain calm. It almost felt as if the military was prescient of the aliens coming and so set up barricades in advance. It moved too quickly. Hell, by the end of the episode, the resistance group had been started, we know that the aliens are really lizards underneath and all of the setup seems to be in place. In about 40 minutes.
Lost, this ain't.
On one hand, this kind of kinetic pacing is a good thing, but it also feels like the producers also have the prescience to know they are going to be canceled and are going for broke, to tell this entire story in four episodes. It doesn't feel like the beginning of new series. It feels like a TV miniseries (which the original one was, prior to being picked up for one season), one that is moving too fast, even for a
miniseries. It was a slick, fun ride, though. One that I am definitely going to tune into while it's on the air. Maybe it will fill the void left by FlashForward, a show I was looking forward to but left distaste in my mouth. Honestly, though, I just want Lost to be back on the air. I need closure.
Don't worry, I checked the writing credits: it wasn't written by Glenn Beck.
But it still makes me wonder about the politics behind it. Just because I don't believe the politics behind the Becks of the world doesn't mean that I'll automatically poo-poo something like this. In truth, I found V to be a pretty good beginning to a show that could, potentially, be killed before it even gets a chance. ABC only commissioned four episodes so far, which they are airing right now. Then there's the Winter Olympics and, if the show is doing well, they'll commission more episodes to be aired in March. Not exactly comforting. Because of this fear, I think the creators went a bit overboard with their opening episode. It has a breathless urgency that carriers the hour programming from set piece to set piece, doesn't let up or allow you to take a breather and then before you know it, it's over. Good pacing, overall. But the problem is that the show felt really rushed, both from a story perspective but also from a realistic one. Right after the aliens arrive, the military is in the streets, NYC is cordoned off and everyone is being told to remain calm. It almost felt as if the military was prescient of the aliens coming and so set up barricades in advance. It moved too quickly. Hell, by the end of the episode, the resistance group had been started, we know that the aliens are really lizards underneath and all of the setup seems to be in place. In about 40 minutes.
Lost, this ain't.
On one hand, this kind of kinetic pacing is a good thing, but it also feels like the producers also have the prescience to know they are going to be canceled and are going for broke, to tell this entire story in four episodes. It doesn't feel like the beginning of new series. It feels like a TV miniseries (which the original one was, prior to being picked up for one season), one that is moving too fast, even for a
miniseries. It was a slick, fun ride, though. One that I am definitely going to tune into while it's on the air. Maybe it will fill the void left by FlashForward, a show I was looking forward to but left distaste in my mouth. Honestly, though, I just want Lost to be back on the air. I need closure.