V- Building an Army

Erica Evans- "She has my son. If I have to cross a line to blow that bitch out of the sky, I will."

ABC would really like one of its two new sci-fi action series to fill the void left by LOST next season. I don't think that Flash Forward will be back for a second season, let alone be able to fill that niche hole they thought it could. What gives V a much better chance at doing it? The same thing gravitated people towards LOST in the early going. There wasn't all of this massive plot twists and mythology when LOST began. It was about a bunch of characters stuck on an island that the audience grew to care about.

While watching tonight's return of V I realized that they were able to get me to care much more about Erica, Ryan, etc. in only four episodes than Flash Forward could get me to give a flying cuss about that main guy, his wife or that other dude. Sure some of the character development of V has been of the negative variety (wussy Tyler Evans and Father Jack) but at least they're making me have feelings for them. I could care less what happens to pregnant lesbian or beardy on Flash.

Maybe it's because of my affinity for Juliet from LOST, but I really want to see Erica do well. And if that means saving her terrible son from the clutches of the V spaceship than so be it. Her "She has my son. If I have to cross a line to blow that bitch out of the sky, I will" was a fantastic moment and I love seeing her get after it.

Now all this isn't without plenty of plot and action by these great characters. Erica is after all an FBI agent with a gang of resisters out to dismantle these pseudo friendly aliens inhabiting the Earth. Between the underground Fifth Column movement that has been set in stone years beforehand and the V's R6 DNA tagging system now put into place, there are plenty of story lines put into place to make you wonder what will happen next.

An added bonus? You get completely awesome scenes like Ryan rolling his eye back into his head, revealing that he has an evil snake like eye ball and admitting, "Yeah I'm one of them...but I'm not with them." Oh and when Anna decides she needs an army to combat the rebellion building on Earth, she simply finds the best physical specimen she can, consummates with him for about 20 seconds and then releases her teeth to devour the dude whole. Ridiculous.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- 20 Through 11

As the winter hiatus is upon us, four months of the television season has passed us by. A lot has happened since The Perspective's November Power Rankings, so let's see where everyone stacks up at the beginning of 2010. These Bi-Monthly Power Rankings take into account both current and past performance. For example, although I have enjoyed Modern Family much more than 30 Rock this season, the NBC comedy stays on top of the ABC laugher because of its historical performance. Without further ado here are the Quiet Pool Perspective's January TV Power Rankings.

20 Through 11

Ranking. Show- (last time)...red=moving down, green=moving up

20. Greek- (15) Mondays on ABC Family
This series has to be ending soon right? They can't continue it without the likes of Cappie, Casey and Evan. And they have to be graduating come this spring season. Greek will return this month and if they keep highlighting Cappie and Dale it should stay in the top 20.

19. The Mentalist- (16) Thursdays on CBS
The only procedural to make my top 20, The Mentalist succeeds on the performances of its cast. Sure Patrick Jane is one of my favorite leading characters, but between Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt you always get plenty of laughs in what is a crime drama. As the show loses Charles Logan, who will return to 24 this spring, I'm curious to see how the new boss at the CBI fits into things.

18. Wizards of Waverly Place- (12) Fridays on Disney Channel
The Russo clan took a bit of a drop here, but was mostly because I gave Wizards too much love last rankings. The recent rise of Jonas also made me dial back how much I liked Wizards. The start to the third season has been good, but the Frankengirl episode ruined a lot of things for me.

17. Flash Forward- (HM) Thursdays on ABC
Here's the thing. Everyone I trust who watches television (Poolie voters) loves Flash Forward. Everything I read, on the interweb and the blogosphere, says it isn't any good. My two cents are this. It could be really good, but misses out by a smidge and therefore critics are trashing it. It's still a quality mystery show with a good amount of action.

16. V- (-) Tuesdays on ABC
Anna and her friends have only been invading Earth for four episodes, but they have made an immediate impact. As opposed to Flash Forward, V has done a better job (in less time) at giving their characters some substance. I can relate to Juliet, the Father and T-time (or whatever their names are) more than I have with anyone on Flash.

15. Survivor- (HM) Thursdays on CBS
Although he failed to win this season of Survivor, he single handedly moved it up my power rankings. Without him what would this season of the show have been? Terrible is what I'd say. His skills in the game, his cocky attitude, and his ability to tell the camera exactly what the audience wanted to hear made him one of the greatest reality contestants in a while.

14. 90210- (11) Tuesdays on The CW
While other shows have moved ahead of it, there is no discredit to the the West Bev soap. 90210 is gaining steam in its second season, no doubt due to the creator/writing change. The storylines have been better and the acting has been better (if you don't take into account Tristan Wilds). Naomi Clarke is the best female in Beverly Hills since Valerie Malone left.

13. Community- (HM) Thursdays on NBC
The Greendale Human Beings made one of the biggest jumps in the rankings. I couldn't allow for it to be too far behind the other top sitcoms. It has been that good. Although it doesn't have a big gun, a la Michael Scott or Tracy Jordan, the ensemble as a whole has been as good or better than The Office or 30 Rock this season. Even though Abed and Pierce are my personal favorites, everyone brings something to the table week in and week out.

12. American Idol- (13) Tuesdays on FOX
As we embark on the next installment of Idol, beginning this month, everyone should be worried. Sure everyone made fun of Paula and her drunken comments, but wasn't that half the fun? Sometimes I surprise myself when I state that I think Ellen is funny, but I do. Do I think she'll be able to take the place of Paula? That I am not sure of. And after a season with the crazy but fantastic Adam Lambert, Idol could be in for a let down in 2010.

11. Mad Men- (17) Sundays on AMC
Another big jumper this time around. At the last rankings it was 17 with only one episode left in the third season. That final ep wasn't the sole reason for this jump, but it was a good majority of it. As much as I have claimed that I'm not that into Mad Men, and I only watch it because everyone in the world says it's awesome, I really think that it has resonated with me. The longer I have been away from the ad men, the better the show gets.

Tuesday Tidings- V for Visitors

V
ABC continued their move to try and beat out NBC as my favorite station with the introduction of V this week. With 30 Rock, The Office and Chuck and Friday Night Lights against Lost, Modern Family, Flash Forward and now V...it could be a tough call down the road.

At the root of any overly intriguing show is an epic event to start things off. There was THE plane crash in Lost. More recently, the worldwide blackout in Flash. And on this week's V there was the earthquake-like moment when the Visitors first arrived in every major city on Earth in gigantic spaceships. Fantastic.

The one negative I have from the first ep, is how quickly they moved from the initial contact by the Visitors and Three Weeks Later. That is a lot to move past so quickly. Those early moments seem integral in understanding how people are dealing with the situation. I personally would have liked to seen what went on during those three weeks.

There was some great direction in this pilot. The back-and-forth action between Anna and Double Dragon (Scott Wolf)'s interview that portrayed the Visitors positively, and the other dude's inspiring, negative rant about everything these aliens were actually up to was really well done.

I love the idea that the Visitors have already been on Earth and they are all around. It feels very Terminator-esque, especially with T-time (Morris Chestnut) and his being a good Visitor. Can any of them actually be good? Will there always be that thought in the back of people's minds that they're not us? Like Sarah Connor always felt about Cameron in Terminator: TSCC?

Why would you only bring Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) in for the pilot? He had a great rapport with Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and I would've liked to seen where that went throughout the first season.

Just Around the Corner- V and The League

A couple of new shows that I will be tuning in for are about to start up. Tonight, Thursday, The League premiers on FX at 10:30 p.m. On Tuesday V will premier on ABC at 8:00 p.m.

The League
The League is a new sitcom about fantasy football. Yes an idea that T-time came up with a long time ago, a tv show about guys in a fantasy football league is actually going to happen. Jonathan Toomey of TV Squad had this to say after watching tonight's first episode...

The pilot focuses largely on the tight-knit group of friends who comprise the league and how their everyday lives create complications when trying to figure out who to start at quarterback this week.

Sounds fantastic to me. Add to it that Jeff Schaffer, formerly of Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the co-creators, and I am more excited than maybe I should be. If they don't come through with this, it will be a shame. There will be no room for a second fantasy football tv show in the future.

V
V is the new action/drama on ABC about aliens that come to Earth and hence are called The Visitors. From the previews it seems that they will look like humans, which makes it easier to watch/make. V stars Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell, Like Mike's Morris Chestnut and Double Dragon's Scott Wolf. Yeah that's right, I used Like Mike and Double Dragon!

Are they trying to take over the planet? Are they just trying to co-exist? It intrigues me...how bout you?

ABC Upfronts- Gut Reactions

What's Gone
Samantha Who, Cupid, Unusuals, In the Motherhood, According to Jim

--I don't watch any of these shows but I'm glad to see According to Jim go off the air. How does that show stay on tv so long?

What's Back
Lost, Castle, Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Dancing w/ Stars, Supernanny, Extreme Makeover: HE, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Bachelor, Wife Swap, True Beauty

--Wow ABC has kept a lot of shows. Lost heads into its final season come January. Housewives and Grey's need to end their runs as soon as possible and Ugly Betty moves to the dead zone (Friday). I've been hearing good things about Better Off Ted so I might give it another try.

What's New
Cougar Town, Hank, The Middle, Modern Family, Flash Forward, Eastwick, Shark Tank, Forgotten, V, Happy Town, Deep End

--I will pass on the attempts at comedy that are Courgar Town and The Middle, as well as Forgotten, Deep End and Shark Tank. Althought I will give Eastwick, Flash Forward and Hank a look, here are the three new ABC shows that get me buzzing.

--V is a reboot on the 80s miniseries in which earth has its first encounter with aliens that call themselves the Visitors. Although they seem friendly, it seems a divide occurs between humans that feel they are here for good and those that think they are here for evil. With a stellar trio of Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost, Santa Clause 2), Morris Chestnut (Like Mike, Boyz N the Hood) and Scott Wolf (Double Dragon, Party of Five) it seems like a good one.

--Modern Family is a sitcom about three different couples. One is a newly married Ed O'Neil (Married With Children, Little Giants) and Sofia Vergara (Knights of Prosperity). The second is Ty Burrell, who killed it on Back To You a year ago, and Julie Bowen (Lost, Happy Gilmore) who have a bunch of kids. And last but not least we have a gay couple, one of which is fat. It doesn't get much more comedic than that.

--Watching Harper's Island gets me kinda excited for Happy Town. It's a show about a run of the mill town, Haplin, where everything seems to be hunky dorry. That is, until a serial killer named the Magic Man gets started. With Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), the dude who plays video games with Vince Vaughn in The Break Up (Geoff Stults), Mr. Friendly from Lost (MC Gainey), and the Jurassic Park guy (Sam Neill), Happy Town is getting a watch from me.