The aliens are coming! New 'V' debuts

"We have humans who are traitors," Bell said. "And we have visitors who have a nefarious agenda. And we have visitors who are heroes. … We've tried to tell stories of regular people — moms and FBI agents and teenagers — keeping them in their lives, having to figure out what they're supposed to do."

The regulars include single mother/FBI counterterrorism agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell, "Lost"), who quickly has reasons to be suspicious of the Visitors. Her teenage son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), on the other hand, is a big fan of the aliens.

Catholic priest Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) has some major doubts about the aliens. Their arrival causes a huge problem for Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) and his fiancee, Valerie (Lourdes Benedicto).

Then there's ethically challenged TV news anchorman Chad Decker (Scott Wolf, "Party of Five"), who sees the Visitors as a chance to advance his career. And the leader of the Visitors, Anna (Morena Baccarin), sees a chance to use Chad for her own purposes.

Above all, however, "V" is an entertaining show about what happens when aliens arrive on Earth.

"We are talking about the metaphors and allegories here," Bell said. "And at a certain level, I just want to remind people it's a show about spaceships."

Unfortunately, there is some cause for concern. Production on "V" was shut down for a while for some creative revamping, and after airing four episodes this month, the show won't return to ABC's schedule until March.

There's some logic to that — ABC wants to avoid competing with NBC's Olympics coverage, among other things — but it's still worrisome.

But Tuesday's premiere is extremely promising.

The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com