...and that's saying a lot considering the usual angst-y, inexpensive-to-make-therefore-let's-clone-it-family-drama shows the network seems to keep adding on or re-newing. "V" was exciting right from the start and the second episode was a good follow-up to the premiere, fleshing out the main characters a bit more and what drives them. Elizabeth Mitchell is well cast as straight-shooter, no-BS FBI agent Erica and it's great to see her back on the tube after "Lost". Another great bit of casting is Joel Gretsch as Father Jack, a priest torn between doing what he thinks he's supposed to be doing and what he knows in his heart is actually the right thing to do. Gretsch was great as the power-hungry military man in the sci-fi mini "Taken" so seeing him here playing the clerical good guy with heart shows the man's got talent. Morena Baccarin and Scott Wolf are also excellently cast as Anna the high commander of the Visitors and as Chad, the button-pushing journalist. Though I enjoyed the original series as a kid, this one is a worthy update for the twenty-first century. Some stuff has changed (names of characters; how long they've actually been here before the arrival of the ships, etc.) but the premise is similar enough: aliens arrive on Earth...are they good or bad? It took courage for ABC to air a unique series like this (i.e. "sci-fi") when pretty much all of the other mainstream, non-cable networks are sticking with the usual safe stuff (family dramas, medical dramas, cop dramas, 30 minute sitcoms) so I hope they truly give it a chance to grow and catch on. It's that good.
