I’d like to welcome back our newest guest author S. Divnich, who will be covering “V” here on The Disney Blog. – Ed.

It seems like we’ve been waiting forever, but the Visitors finally showed up last night with the premiere of V, ABC’s newest sci-fi offering.

The episode opened with an attempt to make it personal – captions reading “Where were you when JFK was assassinated? Where were you on 9/11?” led into “Where were you this morning?” So right off the bat, anyone who has not seen any advance info about this show is going to know – something big’s about to happen.

Tuesday, 6:30 a.m. Having asked “Where were you?” the first block shows us where (and who) our main players are. FBI Agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) awakens to her house shaking. She finds her son Tyler (Logan Huffman) is not in his bed and gets him on the cell, to find he’s in the ER, and barely feeling bad about it. This theme is going to play strong on this show – Erica wants to protect her son, but he’s not going to make it easy for her.

Newsman Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) is showering and heading into work. Ryan Nicholls (Morris Chestnut) is buying an engagement ring. Father Jack is opening the church doors. Val, Ryan’s girlfriend, is at home. It’s difficult to show simultaneous action on a TV show, and the pace felt a little off. We get a shaking water glass next to Erica right off the bat, but it’s several minutes before we see Val’s shaking coffee cup, FJ’s shaking light fixture, Ryan’s ring jumping around on the counter. Regardless, things start to shake, rattle and roll, and you can tell they’re not earthquake-savvy Californians – rather than run to the nearest doorway, Val seems to try to stop her bookshelves from falling over first.

In the street, Ryan does what so many of us have done since 9/11, what must be second-nature to New Yorkers by now – he looks to the sky to see what’s falling. The writers don’t disappoint – the fighter jet falling out of the sky gave me a lurch of déjà vu that was most unpleasant. Eight years later, and not even American, and I can recall the footage from 9/11 in a heartbeat. It brings a tear to my eye every time.

The giant Mother Ships darken the sky and all hell breaks loose. They could have saved some money by inserting footage from movies past – as one onscreen citizen put it, “This IS Independence Day.” And Deep Impact, and The Day After Tomorrow, and so many other running-from-the-end-of-the-world scenes. Conveniently placed TVs show newscasters reporting similar Mother Ships hovering over 29 major cities around the world.

The introduction of Visitors is very cool compared to the 1983 version (more on the comparison later). The bottom of the Mother Ships morphs into a giant movie-screen type thing. On the ground, we see Erica’s maternal “get behind my arm kid, I’ll protect you” gesture with Tyler. Erica’s a mother bear, through and through. And then, like a benevolent supreme being from on high, Anna’s smiling face gazes down on the planet.

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First, if you missed “V” last night, you can now download it as a free video on iTunes. Second, if you did see it, you weren’t alone. Almost 14 million people watched with you. That’s a good sign for ABC which has three successful Sci-Fi shows right now (LOST, FlashForward, and “V”).

The question is can ABC sustain, or even grow, those numbers. There are just three more episodes before the series goes on hiatus until March (to avoid the Winter Olympics and American Idol). During that time, the show will get retooled. This week they added new show runner charged with speeding up the pace of the show.

USA Today talked with Elizabeth Mitchell about the show before last night’s premier.

Mitchell, who plays hero FBI agent Erica Evans, says the resulting changes merely speed the pace of storytelling to pack a bigger wallop, including big cliffhangers in the Nov. 24 episode. Filming on that episode is set to wrap today, giving actors another unexpected 10-week break as the show is retooled. (Mitchell will trek to Hawaii to shoot new Lost episodes.)

“They didn’t do anything different. They heightened it, they took it up,” she says. The changes are meant to recapture the big-event appeal that started V in a different era. “The idea is to make it a movie, something where we are on the edge of our seats, wondering what’s going to happen.”

From what I saw last night, “V” will make sci-fi geeks very happy even as LOST draws to a close.

Last night, the stars danced. Then they danced some more. Then Aaron had skeevy facial hair. Tonight, two couples will go home. It’s time for the Dancing with the Stars results show!

Right out of the gate, we get to see an encore of the dance from Team Tango. The band’s version of “You Give Love a Bad Name” is just as terrible as it was last night. Likewise, the team dance is just as fabulous as it was last night. From there, we go into the in-depth recap of last night’s dancing. Michael got good (for him) scores. Donny had the flu. Mark had three partners in one week. Mya still didn’t win over Len. Aaron was a Fury on warp drive. Kelly made Louis wear embarassing trousers, and also made Bruno do a desk dance. Joanna got comments from Bruno that made my husband, passing by the TV, cringe and say “ick”. Then the teams danced.

The results begin right after the jump!   [Read more →]

Last week: two couples went home! This week: two more couples will go home! Will Michael & Anna ever leave? Lacey is out with the flu! There’s more group dancing! Live, from Hollywood, it’s Dancing with the Stars!

The show opens with a group dance by the pros, showing us some real Paso vs. Tango teamwork. Of course, they’re all fabulous. ABC totally needs to use the overhead camera much more often. That thing is awesome! Then the stars come down the stairs, and it’s trumpet time. But this time there are TWO Trumpet Guys, doing some sort of dueling trumpets thing. I think my head just exploded a little. This week, the stars designed the costumes, so we’re warned in advance that they’ll be hideous. Noted, Bergeron.

Dancing, dancing, and more dancing after the jump! [Read more →]

ABC’s next hit TV show ‘V’ premiers on Tuesday night at the early time of 8pm, so set your DVRs appropriate and check your local listings. For some reason they’ve decided to smash Dancing With the Stars in between ‘V’ and The Forgotten (which I am now watching regularly). Actually, I’m a bit confused why they aren’t pairing ‘V’ with FlashForward and just totally owning Thursday nights.

Early reviews for ‘V’ have been mostly good. Here are a few samples:

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.

Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel

Judging by the first episode, “V” seems like a solid adaptation. But it doesn’t have the mysterious spark it needs to make it compulsory viewing, the way “Lost” lured us in. The problem with a remake is that we already know what lurks beneath the aliens’ faux flesh.

Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun Times

In exchange for their malevolence, they promise to provide a world of fast-paced, eye-catching action and provocative drama. Bold and still surprising, ABC’s new “V” is clever enough for a cult following and accessible enough to reach a broad demo.

Barry Garron, Hollywood Reporter

Like sands through the hourglass..

So are the Days of Our FlashForwards….

And so begins the weakest episode of the series thus far, one that strays too often into straight soap opera territory and using all its cliches in the process.

We pick up our action just after the attack on the FBI Gang in DC and Janis’ shooting in LA.  Janis is wheeled into (Soap Opera Convention #1) the closest hospital, which is also Our Heroes hospital… who should be on staff to pick up the GSW but (Soap Opera Convention #2) our lead actress who happens to be available and ready to take her in.  Pretty soon Janis is prepped for surgery and (Soap Opera Convention #3) our lead actress also happens to be the one to operate on her.  Janis is saved and wheeled into recovery, but later (Soap Opera Convention #4) develops a sudden, life-threatening complication that only our heroic doctor (Soap Opera Convention #5) can fix – but with tough decisions.

Now apparently Janis can’t have children because of the injury, which seemingly negates her Flash Forward.  Notice she tells Wedeck that there’s basically a “99% chance” she won’t be able to have a baby, which leaves the door open just a crack for it still to happen.  What will the reaction of the others be to this seemingly fracturing of the validity of the FF’s?  I find it hard to think even now, only 3 weeks post-blackout that this hasn’t happened to others around the planet…  something happening that would render their flashforward highly unlikely if not impossible.

I had a random thought – let’s say 580,000 people from around the world entered data into the Mosaic project.  That’s about .1% of the population of the Earth at this moment.   Assuming all things being equal, would the ratio of recognizable flash forwards versus the dark, no-visions (like Demetri’s) be roughly the equivalent to the ratio of people who would typically die out of 580,000 over a typical 6-month period?   i.e. if 578,500 people recorded flashes and 1,500 recorded no flashes, might that equal the typical death rate of 578,000-1,500 over 6 months?  I don’t know what the precise ratio is but it’s interesting to wonder.

Then, by the same token, out of those 578,500 that recorded flashes – how many of them themselves have died already?  Did all terminal cancer patients with <6 months to live have dark flashes?  If they didn’t, would that give them hope to live?  Or if the marginally sick cancer patient who has a decent prognosis have a dark flash, would it pull them into a self-fulfilling prophecy?  The psychological questions are endless, and I really wish the show would explore them a little more.  Maybe in subsequent episodes they will, starting with Janis.

Meanwhile the Soap Opera continues – Olivia’s flash forward begins to manifest itself, as little Dylan runs away from the hospital and finds his way to her house where presumably he and dad Lloyd will at least be visiting with his dad in six months.  He and Charlie greet each other like buddies who just saw each other at school, thought they’ve never really met. (ed: they did meet for 137 seconds in their flashforward.)

Lloyd comes to the house, recognizes it, and is understandably awkward around Mark.  When Olivia gets home we finally see (Soap Opera Convention #6) – the amazingly dead-headed, ignorant, jealous husband.  I can’t stand this character of Mark when he’s like this, and I’m liking him less and less each episode.   After kicking Lloyd and Dylan out, he has a knock-down drag-out with Olivia over her still future infidelity – even beginning to accuse her of starting a flirtation with Lloyd at the hospital on purpose.  Each of Olivia’s arguments are well-reasoned and appropriate – she hints that she knows Mark may be sliding back into alcoholism, which he’s done before, and Mark finally admits he is drinking in his flash forward.  Mark continues to be a pre-alcoholic paranoid jealous ass (and I say this as a man, ashamed for the behavior of a member of my gender – even if he is fictional).

I will admit I continue to appreciate that decision the writers have made not to let secrets linger – now everyone knows what everyone saw in the Lloyd-Olivia-Mark circle of flashes (save Lloyd’s true background, which we’ll get to in a moment).  So far I don’t have to give that plot contrivance a (Soap Opera Convention #) .

Simon (Dominic Monaghan) hurtles toward LA in a rail car, flirting with beautiful women and establishing his character.  We see he’s little like our favorite Drive Shaft guitarist from LOST – suave, sex-starved (well, I guess Charlie was a little like that), arrogant, and apparently brilliant.  He brags about knowing why the blackouts happened and demonstrates the Schrodinger’s Cat theory that when an outcome is in doubt, all outcomes are possible.  Which I suppose gives way to the multiple universe theory and that the flashes were glimpses into a possible, or alternate universe of possibility.  Something similar to this summer’s Star Trek flick, where the timeline we all know and love and grew up with is still there, but Nero and Spock Prime’s excursions into the past caused a secondary timeline to exist.  We’ll see how this explanation works out, and how much Sulu-er, Demetri will play a part…

Speaking of Demetri (how odd will it be when the next Trek sequel comes out to watch Cho, then an unknown playing Sulu, reprise his role with 1-2 seasons of Flash Forward in the target audience’s head?), he and The Other LA FBI Guy (they pop in and out so frequently I lose track) chase down a lead from Janis’ shooter.   A blue hand tattoo leads them (via remembering a point from Mark’s flash-forward enabled Fox Mulder Memorial Big Board ™) to a Blue Man Group Reunion turned ugly.   Apparently there’s a cult of guys running around shooting innocent FBI agents to stop them from busting in their concerts.  Or something like that, it’s never really made clear.  Mainly it cements some of the details revealed in our character’s flash-forwards (just as Janis’ are collapsing).

I have a specific complaint about the rather gratuitous sex scene between Simon and his paramour on the train – did they have to show her with her bare legs wrapped around his torso in the bed?  It’s a bit embarrassing to watch with my 13-yr-old, who loves the show because of the mysteries and action, without having to expose him to R-Rated stuff on at, oh, app. 8:15 pm on the East Coast…

Final Points:

1) Enough with the pop-ballad background music to the intense action/emotional scenes?  It’s just kinda got that cheesy 80’s vibe to it.

2) So now a firm count of 20,000,000 people dead in the blackout.  And all because it was…an experiment?  Could it be as simple as an accidental side-effect of some scientific project, not done out of malice or greed?

3) Loved Aaron’s Obi-Wan costume, and Nicole’s…what, Sally from “Nightmare Before Christmas”?  I’m not sure.   I also loved Aaron’s “Let’s go in the kitchen for some milk and cookies, kids (while the grown-ups fight)”

4) What happened to Sad Sack FBI Guy Who’s In the AFLAC Commercials that was in the car with the others guys being attacked in DC?  I guess he stayed behind.  Maybe he’s from the DC home office.  Maybe he’s got Fox Mulder’s old job :)

See you next week!

Barry

This week’s episode of Modern Family was, in my opinion, the funniest one yet! The proud-of-his-Colombian-heritage child, Manny, wants to wear an oversized poncho to school, and his mother wants to let him, yet his stepfather (Ed O’Neill) teases him to no end. New parents Mitchell and Cameron hit their child’s head on the door frame and panic. And Phil challenges Claire to a foot race.

I don’t want to put spoilers into this blog, yet it is difficult to convey the hilarity of this show without them! The cast dynamic is excellent as is the writing. If you’re not watching Modern Family, you can watch episodes on ABC.com anytime (in fact that is how I normally watch the show!). While you’re over there, make sure to check out The Middle, too!

Modern Family has not disappointed me yet and I don’t think it will anytime soon!

After a wild performance show that including the first-ever competition-style mambo,  it’s time to find out which two couples will be heading home. Is it finally time for Michael to go? Does America still think Aaron is intolerable? Can audiences forgive Louie’s jilted jitterbug? Will I ever stop asking questions in threes like Tom Bergeron? Only time will tell.

Things got mixed up early on when the show opened with the musical guest Taylor Swift performing her new single. I’m not sure who the couple was that danced during her performance, but apparently they didn’t get the memo that Len hates when female ballroom dancers don’t wear ballroom shoes.

After a quick recap of last night, the show got right down to business and Joanna and Derek were sent right to safety, followed by Mark and Lacey. Meanwhile, everyone is spazzing out about the double elimination and the possibility of being forced to perform in the dance-off.

Donny and Kym are also safe, as are – SHOCKER! – Aaron and Karina. Eesh. I sense we may have a surprise elimination on our hands tonight.

Tiempo Libre was also on deck to bring in some serious Latin flavor, accompanied by some sassy-spicy dancing that effectively washed away the memory of last night’s mambo mess. And it wouldn’t be a DWTS results show without …

… a montage! This week’s was about the stars getting to design the costumes for their partners for next week’s show. Memorable moment: Louie Vito asking,”What’s chiffon?” Oh Louie, you have so much left to learn.

And then, just like that, we’re back to eliminations. Mya and Dmitry are sent to safety, along with Kelly and Louis. Before we continue, it’s another Taylor Swift break, this time with “Love Story.” The costume designers took this one literally, dressing our professionals like kids in a high school drama club version of Romeo & Juliet. Out, damned spot, out I say! (wrong play, I know).

Because the concept of “10″ is confusing to some, Olympic gymnast and person with nothing better to do Nadia Comaneci visits to explain to the masses what it means to score a perfect 10. In short, it means you did a perfect job and scored 10 points. Are we clear now? No? Well, let’s bring in Greg Louganis and Bill Walton to explain some more.

Finally! Elimination time! And, AAA BOO HISS Melissa and Mark are going home. I blame the waltz. I thought they had a few more weeks in them, but the waltz takes no prisoners. In other news, Michael and Anna and Louie and Chelsie will be dancing later in the dance-off. The judges seem to like Michael for some strange reason (mostly because he’s this season’s token “you’re trying so hard but….” contestant), so I’m a little worried for Louie. Annnnd….

Cue dance off! Michael and Anna went first, dancing a samba. On the plus side, he didn’t attempt to do the worm. At times it was venturing into Woz territory, but the judges praised his energy and personality. Guess what? Its Dancing with the Stars, not Personality with the Stars. Louie and Chelsie chose the jive, which suits his personality and at least if they’re going to go out, they’ll do so with a bang. I think having to learn so many dances took its toll on Louie, who forgot half the routine. Chelsie was actually leading him around.The judges are pretty easy on them, all things considered.

Finally, the time had come. Michael and Anna were saved, thanks to Len and Carrie Ann’s votes, and Louie and Chelsie were sent back to the slopes. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night til it be next week, when two more couples will be eliminated.

When she’s not misquoting Shakespeare, The Disney Chick is blogging over at www.thedisneychick.com.