V, interrupted

There's worrying news for V, ABC's remake of the '80s sci-fi drama, starring Elizabeth Mitchell. The network have announced that the series will premiere on 3 November as scheduled, but will now go on extended hiatus from 24 November. The remaining 9 episodes won't be shown until March 2010.

The reason for this turmoil is that V's production was recently shutdown for two weeks, following "creative" concerns for how the show is developing. I assume they're having problems breaking stories once the attention-grabbing premise has been explained, and the budgets for every episode are more conservative. It's enough to fuel rumours that V may be repackaged as a mini-series if it fails to overcome its behind-the-scenes problems, effectively cancelling one of the year's biggest shows.

To be positive, V could find direction and overcome whatever issues they have... but, with a massive 4 month break after only four episodes have aired, is that a blow it can't recover from? The initial run of episodes need to be pretty special to ensure people stick with it, as it's unlikely to have earned the level of viewer loyalty that ensures the likes of Lost can go off-air for 9 months and still retain a patient, core audience.