My link to The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation and the NBC sci-fi mini-series masterpiece, V --- Kenneth Johnson.
In 1983, Ken Johnson gained fame for writing and directing the original mini-series V, an allegorical tale of World War II with aliens substituting for Nazis.
The two-part mini-series aired on NBC and launched his science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to take over Earth. The original "V" series also featured many horror genre veterans such as Marc Singer, Robert Englund, Michael Ironside, Leonard Cimino, Jane Badler, and Faye Grant in early roles as both human and alien. His early TV work includes The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation based on the 1988 Alien Nation film of the same name and
in 1997, he wrote and directed the movie Steel, featuring basketball player Shaquille O'Neal
Kenny’s prime desire is to bring big-screen production values to a new V movie while protecting the quality, integrity and substance that made his original V such a critically acclaimed international landmark. "I am convinced that V should be a movie. As the creator, I own the motion picture rights to V. Virtually all the majors wanted to do it . . . and pay me a lot of money to write and produce a $200 million tentpole. "
But, hoping to do for V what the Sci Fi Channel did for Battle-star Galactica, ABC has given the go-ahead on a reboot of the hit 1980s V franchise without creator Kenny Johnson.
"I discovered that Warners controlled the TV rights, and Scott Peters, the brain behind The 4400, will write and produce the TV update for Warner Bros. The new version will completely revamp the original, including changing the allusions from the Holocaust to 9/11."
Twenty years earlier he waltzed into WPIX-TV, Ch 11, fresh out of Carnegie Institute of Technology, as Producer of the Clay Cole Show, his first television gig. [Link: Show Producer Ken Johnson]
Uber-producer Johnson also conducts a highly-popular UCLA Master Film Class
Original series creator Kenneth Johnson had been trying to get a sequel to the original series off the ground for several years without success. Earlier this year Johnson released his sequel in the form of the novel, "V: The Second Generation".
"Since I own the motion picture rights to V, we’re in the process to do a remake of the original mini-series first as a theatrical feature, which I’m so jazzed about because it will give me an opportunity to really realize it and execute it in a way that was impossible to do back then. Then that will lead to the obvious sequel, because it is a franchise, and then we’ll get into The Second Generation and I'm hoping we’ll be able to do two movies, because there’s certainly enough material in the novel to warrant two separate sequels. That’s my goal at this point and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I just literally came from a meeting, 15-20 minutes ago with a fellow in Beverly Hills who really says that we’re gonna do it."
