V

V isn't an advance on the alien-invasion format (the original V was a 1983 NBC miniseries), but the nagging fears that rattle around in so much sci-fi make the show entertainingly provocative, even in a new millennium. You feel it must mean something-about government, religion, terrorism. Anna, an extraterrestrial with the moonbeam smile of Angelina Jolie, shows up in a huge spacecraft and promises the world the benefits of advanced technology and (literally) universal health care. But a cell of earthlings realizes she and the other visitors-hence the title-are reptilian killers. Elizabeth Mitchell, as an FBI agent who stumbles on the truth, doesn't have time to give much of a performance. She might as well be playing Chicken Little. The fun comes from coolly gorgeous Morena Baccarin as Anna. She'd make a wonderful Bachelorette.