V on ABC: I Guess This is Happening

By: Nina Jones

My original title for this article was going to be “V on ABC: Did That Just Happen?” But after seeing the second episode, I have no more questions.

For those of you who missed the premiere of the new sci-fi remake of the 1983 miniseries, let me set the scene for you:

Interviewer: Thank you for choosing me to do this. I’m really excited.

Anna (The Alien Leader): So are we.

Interviewer: Do you have any questions before we go to air?

Anna (The Alien Leader): No. Just be sure not to ask anything that would paint us in a negative light.

Interviewer: Excuse me?

Excuse me is right, Scott Wolf. This exchange from the new ABC sci-fi series, V, probably conjures up images that are little bit closer to home. Need more convincing? Here’s another part of the interview where Anna, the Visitors’ leader (played by Morena Baccarin), explains to news reporter, Chad Dekker (the aforementioned Scott Wolf), the Visitors’ plans to share their medical advances:

Anna: Tonight we’re announcing the expansion of our healing centers. The goal is to open one in every major city across the world…The intent goes beyond just healing. We want to provide complete medical services to all.

Interviewer: You’re talking about Universal HealthCare?

Anna: I believe that’s what you call it, yes.

There is no doubt in my mind that quite a few of the show’s millions of viewers did a double take when hearing that, if not a spit take. The obvious comparisons to the Obama administration and the current political climate in general started when these and similar scenes showed up in the show’s trailers, but I was sure that this political undertone of the show would be downplayed behind the main plot of aliens arriving on Earth with talks of peace hiding secret ulterior motives. Instead, we got a species of aliens who, quite literally, are here to bring us hope and change. And almost everybody loves them.

 It would be pointless to rehash every shocking quote or exchange from the show for people who have seen it and anticlimactic for a potential audience. The most shocking thing about the show is the fact that it exists at all. When it comes to current television programming that blatantly, or symbolically, tackles political, social, and ethical issues, it is fair to say that to do so is no longer a brave thing as much as it is safe and expected. We hear the same ideas, the same questions, the same supposed voices of dissent and are told to believe these are new schools of thought. Instead, we have one accepted, supposedly progressive way of thinking repeatedly repackaged and sold to us as something challenging and thought provoking.

The show’s premiere ranked as the highest rated that night for the adult demographic and according to The Live Feed, is “the biggest scripted series premiere rating for a freshman show this fall.” Unfortunately, the second episode’s ratings fell dramatically, but the numbers are still high enough to keep the show going. With the rocky ratings also comes critical response that varies just as much.

The political slant brought out some loaded opinions from both the left and right. Not surprisingly, many left-wing critics still saw the show as a well-crafted piece of fiction and decided to poke fun at conservatives for reading too much into the anti-Obama sentiment. An article written back in May by Dave Sirota of the Huffington Post has the title that says it all: “V – The Right’s New Favorite TV Show, or Inadvertent Proof of the Ubiquity of the Right’s Fables?” First of all, really catchy. Second of all, he goes on to ponder, “Is it life imitating art imitating life? Or has the silly right-wing narrative become so ingrained in our culture that it is everywhere, whether deliberately or inadvertently?” Yes, Dave, the right-wing narrative is everywhere. We can’t escape it. It’s not like 30 Rock, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The View, most late night talk shows, most major news networks, and any politically minded motion pictures act as legitimate sources of entertainment or information from which to escape the encroaching wrath of the neo-cons.

On the right, there were talks of behind the scenes controversy, especially after ABC replaced the showrunner Scott Peters. Jeffrey Jena, a comedian and contributor to Big Hollywood, however, explained that Peters is actually a liberal who supported Obama during the 2008 election and wrote the script for V during the Bush administration. For many people that nugget of information might take away all the significance of the show airing during these troubled times, troubled not only for people concerned with Obama’s plans for the United States, but also for most of us who are concerned with terrorist threats, foreign relations, and the universal fear of humanity’s downward slide. In reality, it should make the experience that much more intriguing.

Now I’m not implying that V is this gift from heaven sent for conservatives and anyone with doubt to be wary of the changes ahead because that would mean I’m not listening to a single word I’m saying. After all, it is just a television show. A show where giant lizard people are the bad guys. And because that is all it is, anyone in the audience can see what they see and believe what they want to believe. The second episode featured a storyline where the United States agreed to establishing diplomatic relations with the Visitors, which would give many of them temporary visas to go in and out of the country as they please. Is this an allegory for Obama’s intended policies regarding illegal immigration or just another in a long line of exciting plot twists to have viewers squirming in their seats? Does it matter? Why or when Peters wrote the script doesn’t change the fact that it is still compelling and certainly a different take on things than we are used to. The main thing to remember, besides the fact that science fiction is good old fashioned fun that should be enjoyed, is that V is getting people talking, whether it’s about lizard people or about a new perspective on an old story, it’s getting people talking and listening.

So what do you think? Are the Visitors an obvious representation of Obama? Does it matter if Peters wrote it during the Bush administration? Is this really happening? I recommend the show for a whole host of reasons, including its overall entertainment value, but there are other opinions out there. Shocking, I know.

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