\n<\/p>\n
Dunne\u2019s family declined to comment for this story, preferring not to relive the tragedy. Packer did not respond to requests for an interview. As the deplorable Daniel, the actor, who went on to appear in movies such as\u00a0RoboCop<\/em> and\u00a0Strange Days,<\/em> along with a long list of TV appearances, remains one of the most chilling aspects of the miniseries.<\/p>\n A 22-year-old actor<\/strong> named Blair Tefkin entered a production in mourning. She had just made her screen debut with a small role in\u00a0Fast Times at Ridgemont High<\/em> and was asked to fill the part left vacant by Dunne\u2019s death. \u201cSomeone had to do it. But definitely, it was hard,\u201d Tefkin says. \u201cNormally, you\u2019d be really excited and happy you got a part, but it was a different kind of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n An extra week of filming was added to the production to re-create work that Dunne had already completed. \u201cWe had the physical problem of having to go back and reshoot scenes with a brand-new actress, who had to step into the role that a beloved person had been playing,\u201d Johnson says. Tefkin sums up those reshoots with two words. \u201cAwkward,\u201d she says. \u201cSad.\u201d<\/p>\n Ironically, her Robin is one of the bright spots of\u00a0V,<\/em> an effervescent kid who just yearns for things to return to normal when her life is upended. She was the innocent caught up in the crisis. \u201cI didn\u2019t really think about what she symbolized,\u201d Tefkin says. \u201cI was thinking more about it from the vantage point of sort of a self-involved teenager. Her life and the world is crumbling. She\u2019s interested in boys and her crushes and is pretty tunnel-visioned.\u201d<\/p>\n After shooting was finished, the\u00a0V<\/em> cast and crew gathered one more time for a wrap party to screen the miniseries. The mood was celebratory until the end, when the credits concluded with: \u201cIn loving memory of Dominique Dunne\u2014Her friends miss her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when everybody in the room really started crying,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cThat moment.\u201d<\/p>\n V<\/em>\u2019s debut was<\/strong> a smash with audiences and critics, but\u00a0V<\/em>\u2019s victory turned out to be a pyrrhic one for Johnson. NBC wanted more but Warner Bros. was reluctant to make it. The initial $8 million budget had ballooned to $13 million, and the financials seemed risky. \u201cI think it was unclear to them just how valuable this was,\u201d says Sagansky, the former NBC exec. Johnson blames\u00a0V<\/em>\u2019s budget problems on the overtime incurred in the race to finish by May sweeps. The sci-fi element also came with sticker shock. \u201cThe use of special effects was really unique in television at that time, and because they were so new, it was unclear how much they cost,\u201d Sagansky says. Blame fell on Johnson himself, although Sagansky feels that was misguided: \u201cI never thought that Kenny got all his due for what he accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n NBC finally offered terms that convinced Warner Bros. to greenlight a second miniseries. The sequel would be called\u00a0V: The Final Battle.<\/em> Just before production was set to begin, Johnson says he got a call from a Warner Bros. TV executive, who said: \u201c\u2018Kenny, we don\u2019t want you to direct\u00a0any<\/em> of the sequel.\u2019 Honest to God, this is a quote. \u2018We are afraid you won\u2019t direct the sequel as quick and cheap and dirty as we want it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson was forced out for trying too hard.<\/p>\n His pleas to NBC for intervention went nowhere. \u201cI called Brandon, of course, and he said, \u2018I want to, but the network won\u2019t let me meddle with Warner\u2019s internal affairs,\u2019\u201d Johnson says.<\/p>\n The actors say they were unhappy to lose him but contractually obligated to continue. \u201cI think it fundamentally changed the nature of the show,\u201d Singer says. \u201cThe overarching politics were underemphasized in comparison to the more adventurous and action elements of the story. We felt that immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n V: The Final Battle<\/em> was still a hit when it aired during the May sweeps of 1984. It included Juliet leading an attack on the Visitors during a live television ceremony, during which she held their supreme commander before the cameras, tore at his face, and exposed the reptilian predator beneath. Packer\u2019s Daniel met an appropriately karmic end, consumed (literally) by the alien regime he so dutifully served. Tefkin\u2019s Robin gave birth to her Visitor-fathered twins\u2014one a human baby with a thin snakelike tongue, the other a scaly green abomination. \u201cI never saw any of this,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cAll of my friends who worked on it said, \u2018Kenny, you don\u2019t want to see what they did to your original series. You just don\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Final Battle<\/em> used parts of his scripts, but Johnson changed his story credit to Lillian Weezer, a combination of the name and nickname of his golden retriever. NBC ordered a weekly series, but Johnson was completely locked out. The result? \u201cUgh,\u201d says Sagansky, \u201cthe worst.\u201d<\/p>\n V,<\/em> the series, devolved into campy schlock. Badler noted the changing influences for her militaristic Diana. \u201cStalin and these sorts of very powerful, corrupt leaders were more where I was thinking when I did the role,\u201d she says. \u201c\u2018Joan Collins\u2019 came in later with the series, when it became a little bit ridiculous and started to become a soap opera in outer space.\u201d<\/p>\n Most actors would do anything to secure a lead role on a national network drama, but Grant was desperate to quit: \u201cIn fact, since I wanted out of it so badly, they kept throwing more and more money at me.\u201d She kept proposing ways for Juliet to sacrifice herself for the cause. \u201cI mean, I had literally 50 ways to kill me off, and they weren\u2019t having it,\u201d Grant says. \u201cAnd the direction that the series took, I mean\u2026they tried to write a mud fight between Diana and Juliet, and I wouldn\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n The audience didn\u2019t care for it either. The\u00a0V<\/em> series was canceled after only a partial season.<\/p>\n Johnson also wasn\u2019t involved in the 2009 ABC reboot of\u00a0V,<\/em> which had a slightly longer run than its \u201980s predecessor, with 22 episodes over two seasons. Badler and Singer returned playing different characters, but they were the only connection to the original. The effects were better, for sure, but the impact wasn\u2019t nearly the same.<\/p>\n