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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
V
EMAILPRINTSERIES: ABC, Tuesday 8:00p (60 minutes)
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 95 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Created By:
Scott Peters
Kenneth Johnson
First Air Date: November 3, 2009
Summary
Starring Morena Baccarin, Elizabeth Mitchell, Scott Wolf, Joel Gretsch, Morris Chestnut, and Logan Huffman
The 1980s series about aliens who appear human and peaceful is remade as a split miniseries, with the second part airing sometime early next year.
Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA TodayRobert Bianco
ABC can add to that list of achievements the season's most entertaining new hour, straightforward division: V.
Read Full Review >Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
The pilot for this drama is good. I have a few quibbles with it--some of the character drama is a bit clunky--but overall, I found the first hour of the show to be solidly entertaining and suitably suspenseful.
Read Full Review >Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
As an adventure series bristling with ideas, it's V+. Or as we grade 'em on Earth: B+
Read Full Review >Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
It could be complicated, but Peters' tightly written teleplay makes it easy to follow. In addition, the pilot raises provocative issues without getting didactic. That, combined with mythology less dense than, say, ABC's Lost, should make this an attractive viewing option.
Read Full Review >Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Welcome to ABC's V, the final, the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season.
Read Full Review >Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
No gold mine of symbolism is worth a damn when the show itself doesn’t have good old storytelling mojo behind it. And, based on the premiere, V has enough narrative drive and character definition to pull viewers into the creepy suspense of its dystopian world.
Read Full Review >Orlando Sentinel
The surprisingly timely V plays off concerns about universal health care, terrorism, sleeper cells and journalists' access to leaders. But the series is, above all, a first-rate thriller filled with twists, shocks and heroic figures.
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
the new V begins with an entertaining, well-made pilot that tweaks aspects of the original story but generally retains many of the show's familiar elements.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
The best science fiction always has something to say about the present, and the show does that without skimping on the soapy or dramatic elements.
Read Full Review >TV GuideMatt Roush
As enjoyable and exciting as the pilot is, it’s undeniably more simplistic than either Lost or FlashForward in its us-vs.-them setup. But I was instantly seduced and hooked by its lavish production values, the immediately gripping storyline and a strong cast.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
As the plot of V progresses, no doubt we will see the subtle strangulation of democracy by fascism--already the press has been corrupted--and that is a story that cannot be told often enough. Especially when it comes, like the V's, in such a fine, fun and attractive package.
Read Full Review >San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
V doesn't have an original premise - the humans versus aliens thing is as old as moving pictures. But the special effects are better, and if ABC can get you to buy into the storytelling then it might have another genre hit on its hands.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Judging by the first episode, V seems like a solid adaptation.
Read Full Review >New York PostLinda Stasi
Terrific special effects (except for the giant supermodel in the sky), good action, good acting, and, if they let them, the Visitors could probably put on a helluva good runway show, too!
Read Full Review >Slant MagazineKris King
Despite the concept of Visitors infiltrating the ranks of humans feeling uncomfortably similar to that other successful sci-fi reboot, Battlestar Galactica, the terrorism angle boasts some of the update's most enticing intrigue.
Read Full Review >SalonHeather Havrilesky
Suddenly this might as well be "Fringe" or "Warehouse 13" or "The X-Files" or "Eureka" or any one of hundreds of shows that involve FBI agents and international espionage and terrorist thugs and secret plots to take over the universe. Come on, now. Isn't there a new way to handle the alien invasion story?
Read Full Review >Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
V has to rise and fall on its story and its characters. Based on the pilot, both of those areas are spotty.
Read Full Review >NewsdayVerne Gay
V has its fun moments, but mostly this is pure bunkum, or 1980s-era TV with a thin 2009 veneer.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
For sci-fi fans, the new V, like a Visitor, clothes itself familiarly, with actors from "Lost," "The 4400," "Firefly" and "Smallville," but until we see something we haven't seen before, we should probably go easy on the devotion.
Read Full Review >SlateTroy Patterson
Indeed, if the show is to have the symbolic import that we expect from a science-fiction story, this is the only possible way to read V as a coherent text. The only problem with this analysis lies in its generous presupposition that the text is, in fact, coherent.
Read Full Review >The New York TimesMike Hale
The ideas in V, about alien encounters and mass delusion and media manipulation, are enticing. It’s too bad that they’re floating around in a show that at this early stage, is so slapdash and formulaic in its storytelling.
Read Full Review >Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Given the rather sophisticated allegorical treatments that TV audiences have been treated to in recent years courtesy of “Battlestar Galactica,” “The 4400” and the like, I find V’s first episode falling short, other than a fairly obvious allusion to Hitler Youth in the aliens’ outreach to teens.
Read Full Review >New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
The show does a good job in tonight's premiere of sorting out the good guys and filling viewers in on the disturbing backstory. In fact, it may do too good a job because there doesn't seem to be a lot of mysteries left.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 95 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
James C gave it a5:
As remakes go, this is mediocre at best. Look at Battlestar Glactica, now that had some teeth and much much better writing. This is an example of what a network with a history of bad choices comes up with when the wrong people sit in charge of the decision making process. How on earth ABC could have cancelled Defying Gravity which at least had a sophisticated edge to it while investing in this, is yet another example of how some exec's should have never risen to their positions. Ridiculous, I know teenagers who could come up with better shows and better ways to market them. Don't worry, when the ratings don't make the heavens part, you'll be left with one season and a handful of whining fans. Next,
Elias c gave it a3:
I was never a fan of the original series and I have only watched the pilot episode of this one. As in the original series, I could not suspend my disbelief that a reptilian species would use a human-like outer shell to deceive human beings. Stating that, I must write that the original series was a bit more believable in this deception than in this re-incarnation. As I watched the 'relationship' between Ryan Nichols (the secret reptile) and Valerie Stevens (the human) unfold, I couldn't help asking myself: Just how do they 'do it'? You know, 'do it'! My suspension of disbelief was insurmountable. Now maybe if they had Anna do a mouse swallowing scene.
Tony gave it a2:
I just could not get into this show. First, the premiere seemed so forced and rushed...like they had to squeeze in the entire plot all in this episode. And the main alien lady's constant "perfection" demeanor just gets very annoying after a while. Overall, it seems all of the acting is bad. After the second episode...I just couldn't take anymore, I wanted to because this seems like a cool show...but it just isn't.
C G gave it a3:
Lazy writing: - Too much exposition. - Characters are unbelievably stupid. - Dialog is not believable Don't like the direction they are taking: - Not enough mystery, doesn't really make you think or wonder.... it is what it is - paper thin.
Rob H gave it an8:
After a pilot which was a bit rushed this has settled down into an entertaining story with a strong arc and characters that are growing with each week. Much stronger than most sci-fi on at the moment, hoping this is my replacement for Battlestar with some good reflections on modern life.
Scott Chapman gave it a5:
It suffers from awful acting and directing. For example, a character proclaims "They didn't just get here! They've been here for years!", putting emphasis on "get" when he should have put it on "just". And who decided that Morena Baccarin's hair had to be so short? Fans of Serenity will remember how much more gorgeous she was with that long hair. Still, this show has enough to keep you interested. It's hard to resist anything about an alien invasion, and it's fun to spot the allegories of the past two presidential administrations.
Philipp R gave it a3:
predictable and booring