Tonight, the series premiere of ABC’s reimagining of V aired, hooking viewers back into creator Ken Johnson’s world of mysterious alien visitors with ulterior motives.  The series was a hit in the ’80s, but whether it will take off with the same popularity in 2009 remains to be seen.

Written by Scott Peters, the pilot introduces a whole slew of major characters that, unfortunately, can feel rather stock, such as the rebellious teenage son, the single working mom who’s never there for her kid, and the priest with a crisis of faith.  I am not familiar with the original V miniseries, so I’m unsure which characters were adapted from Johnson’s work and which ones were created for this version.  But regardless, it’s hard to feel that V offers much that’s new and unique with its main cast.  As such, many of the scenes can become rather predictable.

On the other hand, the story really picks up in the last half of the pilot.  The plot turns in a few surprising ways and some characters are revealed to be much more than they originally seemed to be. The memorable ending provides just enough to hook you into watching future episodes.

Actress Morena Baccarin, pictured above, is deserving of the praise for her performance as the Visitor leader, Anna, and some of the directing choices of Yves Simoneau help reinforce the ambiguity of her character .  Also, the special effects, especially of the spaceships, are top notch and offer very impressive visuals for your television screen.

But it is the story and the characters that make up a great T.V. show.  V has the potential to explore more unique characters and more unpredictable plot turns.  But will it reach that potential?  We’ll see.