As “V” ramps up for production as a weekly series, executive producers Scott Peters (who wrote the pilot) and Jace Hall have found their showrunner in Jeffrey Bell, whose most recent credit is CBS’ Harpers Island, but who had previously produced Alias, Daybreak and Angel, where he served as executive producer in season five. Obviously the man knows a thing or two about serialized dramas.
“Like many people,” Bell told Variety, “I have fond memories of watching the original miniseries. And to see how they did it now, it’s epic. Scott Peters did a fantastic job relaunching it. It seems like there are so many ways that you could go with this story.”
In that same article, he pointed out that the new “V” will tackle subjects such as government, devotion, race and faith in much the same way that Ken Johnson’s original miniseries served as an allegory of the Holocaust.
“Especially when you look at our current times, with the economy, wars and social strife, it’s the perfect time for a force like this to come along,” said Bell. “In many ways, this is a very American show, about the individual vs. society. It’s about how America can appreciate and question things that seem to be too good to be true.
“I’ve been on a bunch of serialized shows now,” he added in reference to the fact that each season of “V” may vary between 13 and 22 episodes, telling a story over four seasons that will have a definite beginning, middle and end, “and it helps the audience to know that this is what you’re in for, and this is how and when it’s going to end. We’ve been talking about it in terms of installments, either by chapters or seasons. We’ll build this first season to a big conclusion that is hopefully awesome, with a cliffhanger that launches you into the second season.”
“V”, of course, will launch as a midseason series on ABC.