V

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 3, 2009
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
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Critic Reviews

  1. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    50
    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?
  2. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    50
    V has to rise and fall on its story and its characters. Based on the pilot, both of those areas are spotty.
  3. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    50
    V has its fun moments, but mostly this is pure bunkum, or 1980s-era TV with a thin 2009 veneer.
  5. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    50
    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.
  6. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    50
    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.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Mike Hale
    40
    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.
  8. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    40
    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.
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    40
    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.

Awards & Rankings

48
#48 Best TV Season of 2009
11
#11 Most Discussed TV Season of 2009
42
#42 Most Shared TV Season of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 169 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 169
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 169
  3. Negative: 34 out of 169
  1. pepsiadikt
    Jun 30, 2012
    0
    Just saw this show for the first time, but if I'd seen it when it premiered, I could have predicted it's cancellation. Two words - PrematureJust saw this show for the first time, but if I'd seen it when it premiered, I could have predicted it's cancellation. Two words - Premature Sitcomulation. Blew it's load on in the pilot. If the show would have had better writers, they could have stretched the pilot itself into the whole first season, or at least into more than one show. No mystery left after pilot, I was done and not even satisfied enough for a smoke.… Full Review »
  2. arnoo
    Aug 8, 2011
    2
    this show features a lot of claustrophobic cgi-caged greenroom-filmed scenes. doesn't even try to get a match to the 1984 mini series originalthis show features a lot of claustrophobic cgi-caged greenroom-filmed scenes. doesn't even try to get a match to the 1984 mini series original props. the artwork is quite decent, which may be necessary not to get in the viewer's face too much. actors faces are actually hd compatible. writing and plot line are unpleasantly bad. filming has a more conservative approach.… Full Review »
  3. Tony
    Dec 4, 2009
    2
    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 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.… Full Review »
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