'V' aims at Obamamania -- chicagotribune.com

[MinM]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-tc-tvco...

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: "Why don't you show some respect?!" The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: "Embracing change is never easy."

So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait -- did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who's come here to eat us?

Welcome to ABC's "V," the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors...

The new V remake: More ABC/Disney right wing douchebag propaganda?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Windy]

1. Its the same as the old V. I wouldn't read too much into it.

Now the shit is getting way too deep. I for one, as a fan of the old show, am looking forward to it and I certainly won't take it seriously!

[SnakeEyes]

16. Exactly

This is basically what I was coming to post. I wonder if the writer has seen the original series because this is exactly what happened in the original.

[Butch350]

36. Give me a break..

[Uncle Joe]

23. Did they use the term "universal health care" in the original while the nation was going through a

heated debate on the subject?

[Deja Q]

27. Back then, nobody needed to latch onto current, hot topic issues to try to tell a story...

They used topics of the past... kinda requires more creativity, to take something old and revive it without having to be topical or mired down in vapid soap opera...

[Uncle Joe]

32. I don't believe they were trying to tell a story in this case so much as demonize by association the

concept of "universal health care" by tying it to the villains of this series.

I recall a specific Star Trek episode in which there was continuous enmity between two races of people which had allowed their hatred of one another to destroy their planet. One race was solid white on the right side and black on the left, while the other race was black on the right side and white on the left. Kirk and crew could never bring them together and the message from that episode was obvious coming after the Civil Rights laws of the 60s were passed and MLK's assassination.

I believe this V episode was sending a subliminal message of it's own, don't trust those who would promote health care for every American from the cradle to the grave, they're aliens; this also plays in to the birth-er and illegal alien paranoia/concerns.

I also believe, I caught a slam against the Internet as well from the mother of the trusting teenage boy but I would need to hear it again to be certain.

I have no illusions regarding the corporate media's contempt for universal health care, aka; Medicare for everyone because they wouldn't make near as much money selling commercials.

Sometimes propaganda or hidden, subliminal messages can have a positive or reinforcing impact as in the Star Trek episode but the one I caught from the V episode was not of that variety. Rather I saw it as piece aired to support ABC's reliance on blood money advertising from the annual expense of forty plus thousand American Lives. Of course ABC just gets a piece of that action, the other networks and cable stations share in the booty as well.

[truedelphi]

42. Are you trying to say that those of us who are supporting

Health Care Reform aren't Lizard People?

When you get the ultimate proof, pls advise. My RW neighbor really things I secretly morph back into reptilian form after I shut the door at night.

[X_Digger]

33. Yes, they had the cure to cancer, etc etc etc..

There were miraculous healings, etc.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Not cures for cancer, etc etc. etc. or miraculous healings, but specifically "universal health care"

and if they did I don't remember that term being used.

[RockaFowler]

2. This is crap

What was the first Mini-series about?? This is based on the original 1980's Mini-Series. Was it about Reagan then?? Oh yeah and the "leader" in this show is a woman. Now Obama is a woman, too.

[Myrina]

15. Scy-fy has been running the original ...

... and IMO, it sounds like a slam against the religious right ... trying to convince people to follow a charismatic leader and start to think of science as 'bad' ...

[TheWraith]

34. It was originally a story about the rise of a fascist movement in the US.

But then the network decided they wanted a sci-fi program to try and ride the coat tails of the "Star Wars" movies.

[ellenfl]

3. the original series must have been prescient. this one does

not look to differ in tone from the original as far as i can tell. i guess i better watch it before i make any snap judgments (unlike that paper). didn't the original come out during reagan's reign? coulda been about him!

ellen fl

[MinM]

6. nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions...

Sounds pretty specific to Obama.

[DJ13]

4. A story so old it was written when Obama was graduating HS

I know these right wingers think ahead, but that seems kind of far fetched dont you think?

[bertman]

24. I remember reading a book by Poul Anderson at least 35 years ago that featured

suicide bombers and suicide murderers killing innocents all over the globe for political and personal reasons. I remember thinking how WACKY that concept was.

When I read the book it was already several years old.

[alc]

5. Taitz is preparing her next law suit

She now has proof Obama is a totalitarian space lizard. So he couldn't have been born in Hawaii.

[azmouse]

7. The original 'V' had comparisons to the Nazis, and was shown when Raygun was pres.

Don't remember anyone getting their panties in a wad over that. Don't worry about it.

[Deja Q]

29. As was said, no hot-button issues were vocalized by the aliens in the original miniseries.

Hot-button issues are in the new one, word for word in a couple of cases. That brings up valid criticism.

Then again, it's just television.

Then again, this is why anything that has to use topical events as a crutch or a pander piece to rake in audiences is something I'm going to boycott outright. It should be beneath peoples' collective intellect... then again, I tend to overestimate often enough too...

[question everything]

8. No chance competing with CBS NCIS, NCIS-LA

and the Good Wife (which could be a commentary on Eliot Spitzer)

[get the red out]

9. So Hawaii is off planet now?

I knew the birthers were nuts, but for God's sake Kenya is on this planet. This is about "extra-terrestrial invasion". What part of "Aliens not from Earth" do people not get.

[makeanoise]

10. just remember this peeps....

who was President when this show originaly aired?
another President who was elected and promised change,
1980s, yes, that's Ronald 'Read his Lines Written for Him Perfectly' Reagan....

so, remember this when your conservative friends try and spin this

[MinM]

11. Absolutely!

Thank you, makeanoise.

Forewarned is forearmed. It doesn't mean that you can't just take it at face value and enjoy it on those terms.

[IndianaGreen]

12. V is what it is. Putting an Obama spin on it is idiotic.

I don't see the Obama family eating humans for dinner.

[RedCloud]

13. Remember, remember the fifth of November!

[StopTheNeoCons]

14. V is more like the colonial conquering of America,

benevolent visitors come and make nice, and gradually they steal everything

[Deja Q]

31. Nonsense! We all know the simple fact: It's more like one of those ribald PETA productions...

[MinM]

17. Nuance...

is obviously something most of the posters in this thread are not burdened with.

[NikolaC]

18. Oh Puhleeze!

This person has obviously not watched the original, on which this version is loosely (and poorly) based. I did take issue however with the "Where were you the morning of 9/11?" question. I thought it was a cheap, heavy handed and exploitative way to start the show.

[Mr. Sparkle]

19. I would have said it more resembles the Bush Administration. You couldnt say a bad word in the media

about Bush until just before his re-election in 2004. I remember it was quite scary at the time, the Dixie chicks treatment was a prime example. Could you imagine anything like that happening today?

[Alcibiades]

20. They rather explictly take aim at "Hope"

And the aliens are offering universal health care.

[DRoseDARs]

21. Episode just finished, took aim at conservatives.

Implied previous administration, people responsible for the economic meltdown, religious ideologues a bunch of lizard-people hellbent on destroying Humanity. Sure, they took shots at "Obamania" but come on. Hell, it's a remake geared towards current events, much like Battlestar Galactica was. It's a show, get over it.

[baldguy]

22. It's a parable that warns against the dangers of fascism.

Who has more irrational & fanatical supporters? Obama or Palin?

[robertpaulsen]

25. Not only was the Obama allegory there, it was clumsy.

I was a huge fan of the original mini-series and TV series. Though I was really looking forward to watching it last night, I had not read any reviews so I didn't know what changes to expect. It doesn't seem like there will be too much different as far as the basic story line. But the subtext is just as this article says. I didn't mind the subtle references to "hope", but the lines about "embracing change" and offering "universal health care" were just so obvious and clunky, my wife and I both looked away from the TV and rolled our eyes at each other.

It's got good special effects and some good actors (though I much prefer the original villain played by Jane Badler, she had so much stature compared with Morena Baccarin), but the problem is the writing. I have no problem with political allegories, but there is a subtlety to doing it well so that you're not slapping the viewer in the face with your ideological preferences. I do remember in the original the references to WWII, the concentration camp survivor character and the meaning of V (the Churchillian V for Victory), but if the intent was an allegory on Reaganism, it was really under the surface. (Frankly, I don't think that was the intent, the intent was to paint the aliens as Nazis, not to compare Nazis to Reagan.) The writing on the new show was so obvious, Baccarin might as well have broken the fourth wall during her interview with Scott Wolf, winked, and said to the audience, "Do you get it?"

[Deja Q]

28. I never saw any intent to poke at Reagan either...

It's definitely an anti-fascism, anti-Nazi piece.

And the original miniseries actually DID something with the characters... yeah, once in a while it's hokey... at least it's not melodrama. (okay, The Final Battle was somewhat melodrama and the TV series that followed was a spiritual precursor to later Star Trek spinoffs as all continuity was thrown out the window for the sake of cheap plots, cheaper effects, and cheapest ratings.)

Hell, the original miniseries kept the mystery going BY giving the aliens a reverberation for their voices... they made it a cool mystery. And the "We're your friends" bit was better handled...

The new one reeks like a pointless X-Files/Battlestar Galactiva/Fringe amalgamation, with zero innovation. FBI agent? Check. Baddies that have infiltrated and blend in perfectly? Check. And so on.

I'm still up in the air with the possible-4th-wall-breaking bit. Topical gibber is bad enough, but the only genre that should be allowed to break the 4th wall is comedy, sub-genre "farce". Most television shows are watered down drivel to begin with; if the audience needs this nudge-nudge-wink-wink garbage, forget it. Just forget it.

Oh well. I suppose the bloody fight scenes will keep people entertained... (even the revelation of the lizards was done with more suspense and grace...)

[Mr. Sparkle]

26. I have just seen the episode and have changed my mind, they are taking a swipe at Obama.

The reference to change, i thought was subtle, but then universal healthcare was the clincher. This show is going to do well in the south.

[XanaDUer]

30. It seems the same as the one from twenty years ago

that was against Reagan, I guess.

[psychmommy]

37. i enjoyed it

morris chestnut being an alien totally took me by surprise. i have been watching the original on syfy and was loving it. i am going to watch the new one with an open mind. i think the writers are trying to be hip and current. obama is a very controversial figure and why wouldn't you attempt to capitalize in on his cache. universal health care again a controversial topic in this country.
by the way, law and order is the worse offender of all. last week anthony anderson's character was doing anti-abortion crap. it was so bad i had to turn it. i really enjoy the show but sometimes it pisses me off.

[truedelphi]

43. Law and Order opens up discussions that I approve of - and others that I don't.

They have tackled things like Gulf War Syndrom and other related items. PTSD episode too.

But then there was an episode in which the DA said "Measles!" We are seeing measles now! What's next - bubonic plague?"

Bubonic plague wiped out Europe. measles is usually a normal childhood disease, and only by fudging the numbers left and right have the Big Pharma people managed to make it into the scariest thing since a disease of the 1400's.

[FrenchieCat]

38. I don't watch dumb shit....just cause someone says it's popular.....

If someone told me a hole was popular, that wouldn't mean a damn thing
to me....

[Butch350]

39. Sometime a rose is just a rose...

and this UN imaginative thread is a thorn in the ass.

GALP!

[conturnedpro09]

40. The show is indeed anti-Obama, but so what?

If it is entertaining, which this show definitely is, then I will gladly watch it. Just like my conservative friends watch...just about everything else.

I understand being annoyed that'V' is right-wing, or even angry. But there's no reason to go into denial about it. That's just weird.

I'm looking forward to episode 3.

[Seldona]

41. I disagree.

I think it reiterates the way the right wing will co-opt just about anything the achieve their Machiavellian goals. My take was they have been here for years, and adopted the very successful terminology to attempt to use anything that gives them credibility.

The shots of the President re-enforce that imo. They are interested in him because he inspires exactly what they are looking for. Like when their 'leader' says something to her second in command concerning the use of the Kimono to wear when speaking to the Japanese people like, "You still don't understand humanity." I don't think anyone is accusing the show of attacking the Kimono. lol

I wouldn't read anything into it. They are simply using whatever cultural means they can to gain support imo.

[ShamelessHussy]

44. too funny