Though the television networks don’t seem to notice, remakes of old series rarely meet with much success. While shows like Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, and Melrose Place bring name recognition, they rarely live up to expectations. Still, ABC moved ahead with their plans to revive V. Though it was initially successful, will it ultimately meet the same fate?
Like the original, the new V revolves around the arrival of aliens to the planet Earth. While the visitors profess that they’ve come in peace, their ulterior motives slowly become clear. The cast includes Elizabeth Mitchell, Morena Baccarin, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Lourdes Benedicto, Laura Vandervoort, and Scott Wolf.
The new V started out strong with a 5.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 14.3 million total viewers. That was the highest rated debut of the 2009-10 season.
Unfortunately, a large percentage of those viewers didn’t return for the second week. Episode two brought in a 3.8 rating and 10.7 million.
Week three dropped yet again, to a 3.1 in the demo and 9.26 million viewers. Last week, the numbers evened off and episode four attracted a third place 3.1 rating for 18-49 viewers and a total viewership of 9.2 million. While those numbers are pretty good on their own, they do represent a 40% drop in the demo when compared to the premiere.
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If the ratings held steady, the series would likely be headed for a second season. Unfortunately, in part due to backstage problems, ABC has made the risky decision to split up the season into two parts. The first group of V episodes has finished airing and now, the series isn’t expected to return until after the Winter Olympics in March 2010.
If recent viewership trends have taught us anything, they’ve shown that long breaks can be disastrous for a serial drama’s ratings. People naturally become interested in other shows and any momentum is lost. What’s more, because storylines are ongoing and complicated, few new people feel inclined to start watching midseason.
Shows like Lost and Heroes saw significant drops in viewership when they took long midseason breaks. They both had very strong ratings and a lot of buzz going into their respective hiatuses. Fortunately, enough viewers returned to keep them on the air.
The new V doesn’t have nearly as much viewer buzz and can’t afford to lose many more viewers. If a high percentage of people don’t return to watch the second half of the season, V won’t survive and will be cancelled.
What do you think? Are you anxiously awaiting the show’s return? Will the hiatus kill the new V and cause its cancellation?
Image courtesy ABC.
please save V i think what happen was when they took that long break that what killed the rate if they can stop with the long breaks maybe the rates will go up im a V fan i watched ever since 1980
i love the V the only thing i hate about they have long breaks then it come back on within two weeks i lost interest by then i wish abc let them play every tuesday like they usely do and stop with the long breaks because i miss some of the series because i dont when they was back on tv so please figure something out and keep V im a V fan i seen V ever seens the 80s
To have a show that mimics world politics at the time of the premire hit too close to home. There’s a reason why I don’t watch the news. It was so obvious from the beginning that I had no desire to watch the show ever again.
i love V it has great actor’s an much better plot’s an effect’s i wish they could have more fight scent’s an alot more action’s part’s but they half to set the stage just right in order to do so .we need alot more show’s like this.i miss alot of scifi show’s on tv an i think their should be more we are drowing in a mass of other show’s that their are so much police’reality’an the list just goes on WE NEED TO HAVE A CHANCE TO ESCAPE from the every day b.s just step out your door an… Read more »
V should return. The plot has some odd things happen but it at least should return for a series and have a proper finish. It is quite strange how the final show of series 2 was not even announced as the final here in Australia. It does make you wonder if other shows were supposed to follow in the series and it was just cut. Series 2 did have less shows than Series 1 as well. I’m not sure how keen I would be to watch the next series they put out if they dont end this one. While saying… Read more »
The new V is one of the best shows I’ve seen in many years. Reality TV is getting to be too much! We need to use our imaginations more if we are to grow…
Bring V Back
I liked the original and I like the new one…but that’s probably because I like sci-fi. I also like all the actors. I’ve enjoyed Morris Chestnut, Elizabeth Mitchell, Joel Gretsch, Morena Baccarin in their other roles in other programs. But I have a feeling that if the directing doesn’t get stepped up a little bit, this show will be canceled soon. I’m amazed at how disconnected the actors seem in many of the scenes. The storyline as been pretty good and the special effects are ok but it just feels like the actors are all wasted on many of the… Read more »
I will be so upset if this show is cancelled! I have never been big on sci-fi but LOVE V! I agree that not giving viewers the ability to stream the show isn’t helping. If you miss an episode it is easy to get lost.
Keep V alive! Love the show, love the characters and love the story. Anna’s mischievous look and sly smile are enough to keep us watching!!!!
Keep V. Best current scifi show… Love the Firefly cast members…
V is awesome! All the good shows get canceled..
this show is really good, they need to give it chance, i hate reality tv and grey’s anatomy is horrible
I love V! Please continue it! It is a great show!!!!
having missed “red rain” i’ll tivo until i see it on youtube or abc.com.
if the series gets cancelled i’ll erase w/o watching subsequent episodes.
the suits at abc have much to learn about their audience or running a network.
perhaps the suits are kids still wet behind their ears.
ABC decided not to stream any episodes of V on it’s website. Hulu will not feature any episodes either. The show is doomed.
Give V a chance! Reality TV is terrible! Go big and everyone will see what a wonderful show it is!