Day One Gets Cut Short, V Gets Split

It started off looking like a good season for scifi on TV, but already the major networks are starting to get cold feet. The most recent news involves the NBC series Day One.  The series, about survival after a global catastrophe, has been cut down to miniseries size, says Variety.

Originally, the series was expected to run 13 episodes beginning right after the winter Olympics. Now NBC has changed the order, asking for a four hour miniseries which means some major reworking needs to be done on the plot. With two hours already in the can, the producers and writers are now left scrambling to create a satisfying ending with only two more hours on the clock. Not wanting to give up hope of an additional pick-up, they plan to write an ending that leaves room to grow should the mini do well.

All of this comes just days after ABC announced that they’re going to air four hours of the series “V” in November with a cliffhanger that won’t resolve until after the Olympics in March. Huh? The only upside is that they haven’t canceled their order for additional episodes — yet.

I guess a split season could work. Cable shows have been doing it for awhile but usually with more than four episodes packed up front. No matter how they spin it, it seems like a lack of confidence in both projects which is a shame. From everything I’ve seen of “V“, it looks like a winner. Certainly a winner for Fox, unfortunetly it’s on ABC.

NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth