Veronica Mars

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This article is about the Veronica Mars TV series. For the character, see Veronica Mars (character).
Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars third season intertitle.
Genre Teen drama, Noir, Mystery
Creator(s) Rob Thomas
Starring see below
Narrated by Veronica Mars
Opening theme "We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 59 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 42 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel UPN (2004-2006)
The CW (2006-)
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Audio format Stereo
Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run September 22, 2004 – present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Veronica Mars is a critically acclaimed American teen drama/mystery-neo-noir series that premiered on UPN on September 22, 2004, airing its first two seasons on the network before moving to The CW Television Network on October 3, 2006. The show stars Kristen Bell as the title character: a student, progressing from high school to college during the series, who moonlights as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. Said to be "a little bit Buffy and a little bit Bogart",[1] the show balances murder mystery, high school and college drama, and social commentary with sarcasm and offbeat humor.

The third season of the show premiered in the United States and Canada on October 3, 2006, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW and Sun TV (ET only) respectively, a time slot that remained unchanged throughout the season. The second mystery arc of the season began on January 23, 2007.

Beginning March 6, 2007, Veronica Mars was put on hiatus for eight weeks in favor of the new reality show Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll, which will continue to air in that timeslot for its entire run. Veronica Mars will return with the final five episodes of the season on May 1, 2007.

On March 16, 2007, E!'s Kristin Veitch posted an entry on her blog stating that Veronica Mars will not be returning for a fourth season on the CW network, but retracted its certainty hours later.[2][3] On the same day, Whitney Pastorek wrote in the online edition of Entertainment Weekly, "Veronica Mars has had a good run, but the Pussycat Dolls' well-rated reality series probably just ended it."[4] However, in an EW.com edition two days earlier, Veronica Mars headed the list of a feature called "Readers to Networks: Save These Shows!"[5]

It was later announced that the producers were producing a trailer (showing a shift of the main character's storyline and setting four years into the future) in an attempt to secure a fourth season.[6] Creator Rob Thomas quickly fired back that while nothing was set in stone, it was an idea to pitch to the network for a fourth season if possible.[7]

Contents

[edit] Summary

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Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
See also: List of Veronica Mars episodes

[edit] Background events

In the pilot, flashbacks and voiceovers show that teenager Veronica Mars was living the dream life in the Southern California seaside town of Neptune until her best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered. Keith Mars, Veronica's father and the county's sheriff, accused Lilly's father, software billionaire Jake Kane, of the murder, and was forced out of his job by a recall election. Veronica's mother Lianne, angered over what Keith's actions cost the family, first turned to alcohol for comfort and then left home under mysterious circumstances.

Keith's accusation of Jake Kane had negative effects on Veronica's social life as well. Until a short time before the murder, she had been dating Lilly's brother Duncan and hanging out with Lilly's rich boyfriend Logan Echolls and the other "09ers"--Neptune High's "in crowd" who live in the wealthy 90909 zip code. After Keith accused Jake Kane, however, Veronica's rich friends ostracized her.

Shortly after Lilly's murder and Keith's scandal, Veronica attended an 09er party. The next morning, she woke up in a guest bedroom without her underwear and with no memory of the previous night's events, presumably having been drugged and then raped. Sheriff Don Lamb, her father's replacement and rival, sarcastically dismissed Veronica when she attempted to report the crime.

As the show begins, Veronica has started helping her father in his new private detective agency. She is struggling to balance her life between school and detective work, as well as to make sense of all the unexplained events that have taken place over the past year.

[edit] Season one

In the course of other investigations, Veronica comes across two pieces of evidence about the Lilly Kane murder case that shatter the status quo. The first breaks the watertight alibi of almost everyone involved with Lilly, including the entire Kane family; the second suggests that Lilly's confessed killer, Abel Koontz, almost certainly did not commit the crime. Veronica resolves to find the true killer.

As Veronica furthers the murder investigation, she also works on unrelated cases each week, which are introduced and resolved in each episode. Other important investigations that span the season include Veronica's search for her wayward mother and for the person who raped her at the 09er party.

Veronica is joined in her "non-09er" life by new allies: new Neptune High student Wallace Fennel; Eli “Weevil” Navarro, head of the Latino biker gang the PCHers; and Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Neptune High's resident computer genius. Veronica uses their resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, as her reputation for sleuthing grows and more schoolmates ask her for help.

These new friends also help Veronica deal with Logan, whom she terms the "obligatory psychotic jackass" of Neptune High. Logan blames Veronica for Lilly’s death and takes pleasure in making her life difficult. When he needs help with traumatic events in his own family, though, he ends up turning to Veronica, and near the end of the season, they unexpectedly fall into a relationship--much to the shock of the other 09ers, especially Duncan.

[edit] Season two

Season two begins with the introduction of two ongoing mysteries. First, Logan, in a bout of drunkenness spurred by Veronica's readiness to believe the worst of him, picks a fight with Weevil and the PCHers and ends up accused of killing PCHer Felix Toombs, a charge he vehemently denies. The charges put Logan on the wrong side not only of the law, but also of Weevil and his gang. Together with the losses he suffered earlier that year, the charges also provoke him to revert to his former sophomoric ways, which leads Veronica to break up with him. Partway through the season, Weevil is finally convinced of Logan's innocence, and the two team up to find the real killer, with occasional help from Veronica.

The second mystery is introduced in the final minutes of the first episode, when a school bus full of Neptune High students careens off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board. Veronica, who was supposed to be on the bus, makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed.

This season shows Veronica’s life returning to much the way it had been before Lilly’s death. Having broken up with Logan during the summer and reunited with Duncan Kane, she is again accepted, albeit begrudgingly, by the 09ers. However, her private-eye sideline and tough persona keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd, as is made evident in the ironically titled season opener, "Normal Is the Watchword."

Rich kids Dick and Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas become regulars, and the season shows them dealing with a gold-digging stepmother, Kendall Casablancas, with whom they are left with their father leaves the country on the lam from the SEC. Wallace also discovers that his biological father is alive, and he moves to Chicago to live with him briefly before returning halfway through the season, much to Veronica's delight.

In a slight departure from the format of the first season, these main mysteries are solved at different times: the Felix Toombs murder is solved five episodes before the end of the season (in "Plan B"), and the bus-crash mystery is solved in the final episode ("Not Pictured"). Much emotional tension is resolved as well, with Veronica reuniting with Logan in the final minutes of "Not Pictured."

[edit] Season three

The third season begins with Veronica and Logan starting their freshman year at Neptune's Hearst College, along with second-season regulars Wallace, Mac, and Dick. Two new regulars are introduced: Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace’s roommate, and Parker Lee, Mac’s roommate. Sheriff Don Lamb also becomes a regular.

The season was initially designed to have three separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved discretely instead of concurrently. The first mystery took place over the first nine episodes. Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season. This was changed when The CW, the show's new carrier, ordered only a 20-episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes. The second mystery arc was shortened to six episodes,[8] and the third mystery was first changed from a six-episode arc to a five-episode arc and then, after an eight-week hiatus for the show was announced, to stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers.[9][10]

The first mystery, introduced in the season two episode "The Rapes of Graff", follows Veronica’s attempts to find out the Hearst College rapist. This mystery is solved in the ninth episode, “Spit & Eggs”. The next mystery, a murder, is introduced in the same episode.

So far, the season has chronicled Veronica and Logan’s failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica’s ingrained mistrust of him and of all relationships. Logan compounds the problem first when, out of fear for Veronica's safety, he hires a bodyguard,[11] and then again when he has a sexual tryst with Veronica's high-school nemesis Madison Sinclair during a period when his on-again/off-again relationship with Veronica is off. At the end of the second mystery arc, Logan has begun dating Mac's roommate, Parker.

Early on in the season, Keith adds to Veronica's cynicism by beginning an affair with a married client, Harmony Chase. Meanwhile, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, and his roommate, Piz, develops a crush on Veronica. Dick has a breakdown and appeals to Logan for help; he lived with Logan until joining a fraternity house on campus. Mac, meanwhile, still has emotional scars from the previous year's incident with Beaver, but she meets a new love interest in "Show Me the Monkey".

Near the end of the second mystery arc, Sheriff Don Lamb is killed, and Keith Mars is appointed interim sheriff.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

[edit] Current

Season three cast
Season three cast

[edit] Former

  • Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) (episodes 2, 5, 6, and 7 of Season 1) — Former journalism teacher at Neptune High.
  • Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) (Seasons 1-2) — Lilly's brother and Veronica's ex-boyfriend.
  • Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (Kyle Gallner) (Season 2) (recurring previously) — Dick's younger brother, who was responsible for the bus crash. He was molested as a child, and blew up the bus so that his secret could be kept. After being confronted with Veronica and Logan in the last episode, he committed suicide after blowing up Woody Goodman's plane.
  • Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson) (Season 2) — Romantic interest of Wallace and daughter of a famous baseball player. She's also a young mother.
  • Don Lamb (Michael Muhney) (Season 3) (recurring previously) — Balboa County Sheriff, who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Is generally condescending and abrasive towards Veronica and Keith Mars. Murdered by Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband halfway through Season 3, after which Keith is appointed Acting Sheriff by the County Commissioner pending a special election.

[edit] Recurring characters

[edit] Family
  • Kendall Casablancas (Charisma Carpenter) — Beaver and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Ostensibly an airhead, but revealed in Season Two to be a con woman. Has done time in jail for her lover Cormac Fitzpatrick, but was believed to have been murdered by him in the Season Three premiere.
  • Terrence Cook (Jeffrey Sams) — Ex major-league baseball player and Jackie's formerly estranged father.
  • Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin) — Oscar-winning A-list actor, Logan's father and Trina's stepfather. Perpetrator of Lilly's murder. Assassinated by Kane Software's head of security, Clarence Wiedman, on the orders of Duncan Kane.
  • Lynn Echolls (Lisa Rinna) — Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. An actress. Assumed to have committed suicide in mid-Season One by jumping off the Coronado Bridge after finding out her husband was chronically unfaithful and would leave her destitute if she sought a divorce. No body was found.
  • Trina Echolls (Alyson Hannigan) — Logan's stepsister, Aaron and Lynn's adopted daughter. An attention-seeking actress with little success.
  • Alicia Fennel (Erica Gimpel) — Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of Season One and the beginning of Season Two.
  • Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill) — Lilly and Duncan's mother. Loathed Veronica, at least partly out of the fear that Jake Kane was Veronica's biological father.
  • Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) — Lilly and Duncan's father, and a software billionaire. Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and beyond; was having an affair with her at the start of Season One.
  • Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) — Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Had a secret sexual relationship with Eli Navarro and Aaron Echolls. The story of her murder is shown in flashback in the pilot episode.
  • Lianne Mars (Corinne Bohrer) — Veronica's estranged, alcoholic mother.

[edit] Residents of Neptune
  • Leo D'Amato (Max Greenfield) — Former Sheriff's Deputy and Veronica's ex-boyfriend.
  • Woody Goodman (Steve Guttenberg) — Owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune," although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of Season Two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League teams. Deceased.
  • Abel Koontz (Christian Clemenson) — Lilly Kane's confessed murderer. Deceased.
  • Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris) — Public Defender and Mars family friend.
  • Mindy O'Dell (Jaime Ray Newman) — Dean O'Dell's wife (later his widow); is having an affair with Hearst professor Hank Landry in Season Three. Mindy is eventually murdered by Landry, though he claims it was an accident.
  • Deputy Sacks (Brandon Hillock) — Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man.
  • Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino) — Keith's rival private investigator.
  • Clarence Wiedman (Christopher B. Duncan) — Head of security at Kane Software. Kills Aaron Echolls at the end of Season Two on Duncan's orders.

[edit] Neptune High
  • Van Clemmons (Duane Daniels) — Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. Enlists Veronica's help on various matters.
  • Vincent "Butters" Clemmons (Adam Hendershott) — A student at Neptune High; Van Clemmons' son.
  • Corny (Jonathan Chesner) — Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's.
  • Hector Cortez (Patrick Wolff) — A P.C.H. biker.
  • Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic (James Jordan) — A janitor at Neptune High. Was wounded in Iraq. Previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Deceased.
  • Gia Goodman (Krysten Ritter) — Woody Goodman's daughter, a student at Neptune High.
  • Hannah Griffith (Jessy Schram) — An 09er student at Neptune High and daughter of the false witness to Logan killing Felix Toombs; Logan's girlfriend for several episodes.
  • Rebecca James (Paula Marshall) — School guidance counselor; briefly dated Keith Mars.
  • Meg Manning (Alona Tal) — 09er cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive radical Christian parents; befriends Veronica halfway through Season One. Dates Duncan late in Season One, but is abandoned by him between Seasons One and Two. Survives the bus crash in the Season Two premiere but is in a prolonged coma and later revealed to be pregnant with Duncan's child. Dies of a blood clot shortly after regaining consciousness. The child, a baby girl known at birth as Faith Manning and named Lilly Kane by Duncan after his sister, survives and Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents.
  • Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco (James Molina) — PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan.
  • Madison Sinclair (Amanda Noret) — Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Also has had an illicit affair with Sheriff Lamb. Claims in Season Three to have had a sexual liaison with Logan while he and Veronica were broken up.
  • Felix Toombs (Brad Bufanda) — Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer.
  • Troy Vandegraff (Aaron Ashmore) — Childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the middle stretch of Season One. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series.

[edit] Hearst College
  • Chip Diller (David Tom) — President of the Pi Sig frat house. Veronica wrongly accuses him of rape in Season Two.
  • Tim Foyle (James Jordan) — Teaching Assistant in Professor Landry's class; Veronica's self-described rival. Killed Dean O'Dell to frame Prof. Landry.
  • Mercer Hayes (Ryan Devlin) — Friend of Logan and Dick's, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room and has his own radio show. Uses GHB along with his associate Moe to rape Hearst girls.
  • Hank Landry (Patrick Fabian) — Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer of Veronica. Is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife. Accidentally killed Mindy O'Dell.
  • Nish (Chastity Dotson) — Former Editor of the Hearst Free Press.
  • Cyrus O'Dell (Ed Begley, Jr.) — Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally. Employs Keith to help him out on a few occasions. Discovers his wife's infidelity and confronts her. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the last episode of the first mystery arc. His body is discovered by Weevil the next day.
  • Moe Slater (Andrew McClain) — R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. Helps Mercer rape Hearst girls by giving him an alibi and drugging the girls for him.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Episodes and airings

Main article: List of Veronica Mars episodes

[edit] United States

The third season of the show currently airs in the United States and Canada at 9/8c on The CW. Because the show now airs as a lead-out following Gilmore Girls, a well-established series with a similar audience, instead of various re-runs of America's Next Top Model and UPN sitcoms as it did during its UPN tenure, it has begun to draw stronger ratings. Fox 44 will also air Veronica Mars on Tuesdays at 11 p.m. ET in the Burlington and Plattsburgh, areas, picking up from where they left last year with WB programming.

[edit] U.S. Television Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Veronica Mars on UPN and The CW.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season Timeslot Season Première Season Finale TV Season Network Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Tuesday 9:00PM September 22, 2004 May 10, 2005 2004-2005 UPN #148 2.5[12]
2 Wednesday 9:00PM
(from September 28, 2005
to April 5, 2006)

Tuesday 9:00PM
(as of April 11, 2006)		 September 28, 2005 May 9, 2006 2005-2006 UPN #145 2.3[13]
3 Tuesday 9:00PM October 3, 2006 May 22, 2007[citation needed] 2006-2007 The CW TBA 2.8
(Est. to Date)

During the first season, the show aired Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and garnered low ratings, coming in consistently last in its time slot behind The WB's One Tree Hill. However, the combination of its strong fan base, regular critical praise for its witty writing and strong female protagonist, and the fact that it fit UPN's desired young female viewer demographic was enough to convince the network to renew the show for a second season. Veronica Mars is the only UPN drama series of the 2004–2005 season to survive into the 2005–2006 season, surviving the cancellation of higher-rated UPN series Kevin Hill and Star Trek: Enterprise.

MTV presented an encore run of the series (only the first half of the first season); episodes aired about eight days later, on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. ET.

In July and August of 2005, UPN's corporate sibling CBS also aired repeats of the show on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, in an effort to increase exposure for the series. The show's pilot episode was originally tested at CBS and almost picked up by the television network. The ratings it scored during its summer 2005 run created more audience traction on its home network, which could be seen when the second season began on UPN the following September.

For the second season, the show was moved to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET. Toward the end of the fifth cycle of Top Model in December 2005, the show garnered relatively high ratings, including one of its highest rated episodes of the season, "One Angry Veronica." However, the show's ratings fell because of the failure of South Beach, which ended up losing viewers and giving Veronica Mars a weak lead-in. Lost on ABC and FOX's American Idol results show were the dominant shows in the timeslot beginning in the same month, and also contributed to ratings woes for the show. As well, several UPN stations regularly carried weekday college and NBA basketball games over the winter, causing Veronica Mars to be pre-empted and moved to a weekend timeslot that was inconvenient for its regular viewers.

By early February, the damage done by all of these factors (mostly South Beach, which continued in a ratings free-fall) prompted UPN to take drastic action in order to save Veronica Mars. On February 15, two days before the scheduled new episode "Versatile Toppings" was due to air, the episode was substituted with a rerun, and shortly afterward UPN announced that the show would go on hiatus until the beginning of Top Model's new cycle in mid-March. This development met with mixed reactions, with some afraid the show would lose momentum being pulled through February sweeps, and others thankful because the rest of the second season would air uninterrupted and with a much more solid lead-in. The show resumed new episodes on March 15, but still had some ratings struggles because of the American Idol results show.

UPN had tested reruns on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET for a few weeks before the show resumed new Wednesday episodes to see if ratings were stable in that slot. The former Mars timeslot had been a disaster for the network since fall, with both Sex, Love & Secrets and Get This Party Started undeniable failures; both shows ended up dead last in the Nielsen season ratings chart for the 2005-2006 season.[14] Knowing that the show might continue to have problems on Wednesday nights, UPN decided to return the show to its former Tuesday timeslot on April 11, 2006 to move away from the Lost/American Idol juggernaut. Ratings dropped in the first week, but stabilized by the end of the season.

Overall, in its second season, the show ranked 145th out of 156 in the season ratings chart;[15] however, its vocal fan base, desirable demographic, and critical acclaim outweighed the numbers and led to the show's renewal. Some viewers believe they were given a heads-up during the Season Two finale when one character, answering his phone, asks, "C.W.?" and is answered, "It's a done deal"--although this exchange also fits the plotline rationally in that the caller's name is Clarence Wiedman ("C.W.") and he has just completed an important job for the character he is calling.

Airing of the show was consistent on Tuesday nights at 9pm in the network's final summer, although several UPN affiliates dropped the network immediately after May sweeps (like Salt Lake City station KPNZ), pre-empted UPN programming often (as in the case of Green Bay's WACY, which pre-empted the network's second hour where possible), or moved it to a low-viewed slot in the late night hours (like WBQC in Cincinnati).

Individual ratings for original episode broadcasts for Season Two can be found on the individual episode pages.

On May 16, 2006, it was confirmed that Veronica Mars would be part of the new The CW's Fall 2006–2007 lineup once The WB and UPN ceased operations in fall 2006. The show was initially given a 13-episode order, with the option for more if it did well in the Nielsen ratings. On November 16, 2006, a full season order was confirmed for the third season, although the number of episodes was scaled back to 20 instead of the traditional 22. Although TV Guide suspects this is a sign that a fourth season is unlikely, the episode order of 20 more likely stemmed from the fact that The CW does not have enough money to produce 22.[citation needed]

In December 2006, Veronica Mars Season Three was added to the iTunes Store and immediately landed in the top 10 of Season Pass subscriptions, ahead of such notable series as Lost season 3 and Scrubs season 6.

On January 19, 2007, CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff announced that, while she was pleased with the gradual improvement of Veronica Mars' ratings, the show would be put on hiatus after February sweeps to air a new reality series, The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll, in order to launch that show, and prevent the out-of-sweeps rerun erosion common to serialized dramas. The hiatus began March 6 and will end May 1, at which time Veronica Mars will return for five episodes which will have non-serialized plotlines. Ostroff did not confirm either that the show will be renewed for a fourth season or that it will not.

[edit] International

Since Canada's CTV began airing the series in June 2005 and Britain's LivingTV in October 2005, the show has expanded internationally to almost thirty other countries who have joined them.

  • Australia: The show premiered on Channel Ten in 2005, at the start of the summer off-season (November 28), initially airing on Monday nights at 7:30pm, before being switched to 7:30pm on Friday nights. After 10 episodes had been aired, Ten advertised the 11th (as opposed to the 22nd) as the season finale, and the show was cancelled, due to consistently low ratings. However, after many pleas and critical praise, the show returned to Friday nights at 9.30pm on June 16, 2006. During the credits of the preceding week's episode, it was announced Veronica Mars would move back to the later timeslot of 10.30pm starting Friday August 4, 2006. This move heightened fears that the show would be cancelled again due to low ratings. Ten began airing the second season on September 1, after the Friday night movie. It does not air every week, as it is taken off if a long movie or a special is airing earlier in the night, and played at varying times, somewhere around 10.30. The season 2 finale took place on March 23. Season 3 began airing in the 10:30 timelsot on March 30.
  • Brazil: The third season airs on TNT and the first season airs on SBT.
  • Canada: Ratings on CTV were not good after the first season finished, and CTV elected not to continue showing the series. On June 12, 2006, it was announced that Toronto station Sun TV had picked up the rights from CTV to air the series in Canada. The second season premiered on July 18 and July 19, both at 8pm ET, and aired on these two days over the summer. The third season premiered in simulcast with the CW this fall. Fox 44 which used to air WB shows, will now air CW shows this fall, Fox 44 services the Montreal area. Canadian cable channels W Network and ASN started running the series, beginning with the first season, airing it Fridays at 9pm E/P and Sundays at 4:00pm ET (5:00pm AT), respectively.
  • France: 13eme Rue premiered the show on 8 March 2006. M6 has been airing the first season since February 19, 2007 every day of the week except on Saturdays and Sundays at 6.55 pm. The network has recorded satisfying ratings, almost reaching 2 millions viewers everyday. M6 will air the second season (on March 22, 2007) as soon as the first one ends, in the same timeslot. Both versions are dubbed in French.
  • Germany: The first season was aired on ZDF on Saturdays at 2:00 pm. The pilot premiered on April 1, 2006. The ZDF announced that the last five episodes of season 1 would air Wednesday nights around 12:00 am, starting October 4, 2006. Season 2 will start on April 20, 2007, Fridays at 12:20 pm.
  • Hungary: Viasat 3 will begin airing the first season for the first time in Hungary, beginning from April the 7th, according to Viasat 3's homepage.
  • Iceland: The second season is currently being shown on the national television station, RÚV.
  • Ireland: The pilot episode premiered on July 10, 2006 and the first season is being shown on RTÉ One on weekdays at 2:30 pm. Unusually, it is counterprogrammed against the usual more "youth oriented" afternoon schedule on RTÉ Two and before ER deliberately aiming the show at a much wider general audience as opposed to a teen audience. The second season was aired and cut short half way through the season. RTÉ One are putting it back on air on October 7, 2006 at 5pm.
  • Israel: The first season of the show aired on the cable channel Xtra HOT starting on January 1, 2005 and rerun on Israel's Channel 10 starting in January 2006. The second season started airing on Xtra HOT in March 2006.
  • Italy: The second season is currently airing on Italia1 on weekdays at 8:15 pm. The first episode premiered on April 12, 2006.
  • New Zealand: The first season of the show has been aired on TV2 at 7:30pm on Friday Nights. The first season finale screened on December 9, 2005. Television New Zealand has indicated it will play the second season, but no broadcast details have been announced. It was rumored to have been scheduled for a daytime slot on TV2 during the weekend but after complaints from fans, this idea was apparently scrapped.
  • Norway: Finished airing the second season on TVNorge. Season 3 scheduled to start spring 2007.
  • Russia: The second season is airing on NTV at 4:00 am four days a week: Monday-Thursday.
  • Singapore: The first season is airing on MediaCorp TV Channel 5, on Sundays at 06:00 PM. However, the channel frequently preempts regular programming schedules on occasions such as local television premieres of Hollywood blockbuster movies or other televised events.
  • Spain: The first season of the show is currently airing on Cosmopolitan at 21:45pm.
  • Ukraine: The first and second season is now showing on Novy TV.
  • United Kingdom: The second season is now showing on LivingTV on Thursday nights at 8pm followed by a repeat on Sunday billed as the Veronica Mars Catch-up. There is also a Living TV+1 channel.

[edit] DVD releases

[edit] Region 1 (USA/Canada)

Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season
Set Details Special Features
  • 22 Episodes
  • 6-Disc Set
  • 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
  • English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish and French
  • Extended Episode
    • "Pilot"
  • Unaired Opening Sequence
  • Over 20 Minutes of Unaired Scenes
Release Date
Flag of United States United States October 11, 2005
Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season
Set Details Special Features
  • 22 Episodes
  • 6-Disc Set
  • 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
  • English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
  • Subtitles: Spanish and French
  • 2 Featurettes
    • "A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars"
    • "Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective"
  • Gag Reel
  • Additional Scenes, including:
    • Alternate Ending to "My Mother, the Fiend"

Note: Episode recaps removed from all episodes.
Release Date
Flag of United States United States August 22, 2006

[edit] Region 4 (Australia)

Warner Bros. Australia have plans to release the show on DVD, but have encountered some legal problems caused by music licensing. Season 1 was originally slated for a 2006 release, but was postponed soon after. It is still unclear, at this stage, whether or not these legal issues will be resolved anytime soon.

[edit] Reception

"In this smart, engaging series about a former popular girl turned crime-solving high school outcast, the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick"[16]
"On Veronica Mars, wholesome is out; gritty reality is in. The show never soft-pedals the timeless, fundamental truth that high school is hell"[17]
"Veronica Mars is a character study masquerading as a high-school drama"[18]
"Veronica Mars is a sharp teen noir in the making. Tinged with class resentment and nostalgia for Veronica's lost innocence, this series pulses with promise"[19]
"Equal parts intrigue, drama, and humor, Veronica Mars is also a lesson book for the disenfranchised. Few tv series aim so high; even fewer succeed so well"[20]
"One of the 6 best dramas on TV"[21]
"Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those. (...) These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows."[22]
"[Veronica Mars] is, hands-down, the best show on television right now, and proof that TV can be far better than cinema."[23]
"Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe, and the result is pure nitro."[24]
"[W]hy is Veronica Mars so good? It bears little resemblance to life as I know it, but I can't take my eyes off the damn thing."[25]
"The best mystery show ever made in America."[26]

[edit] TV Critics Top Ten Lists

2005[27]

  • AFI's TV Programs Of The Year
  • Village Voice
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Entertainment Weekly #6
  • Newsday #5
  • People Weekly #7
  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #9
  • Pop Matters #5
  • San Jose Mercury-News #5
  • Time - Best Returning Shows #4
  • USA Today #6
  • Ain't It Cool News #2

2006[28]

  • Chicago Tribune #1
  • Ain't It Cool News #1
  • Metacritic.com #6

[edit] Awards

2005-2006 IV Awards

  • Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kristen Bell (Won)
  • Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Enrico Colantoni (Nominated)
  • Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jason Dohring (Nominated)
  • Best Individual Episode of a Drama Series: 2x22 - Not Pictured (Won)

American Film Institute Awards

  • Television Programs of the Year - 2005 (Won)

Family Television Awards

  • Favorite Father/Daughter - 2006 - Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni (Won)

International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Awards

  • The Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Television - 2006 (Nominated)

Satellite Awards

  • Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
  • Actress in a Series, Drama - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)

Saturn Awards

  • Best Actress on Television - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
  • Best Network Television Series - 2006 (Nominated)
  • Best Actress on Television - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Won)

Teen Choice Awards

  • Choice TV Breakout Show - 2005 (Nominated)
  • Choice TV Breakout Performance, Female - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
  • Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
  • Choice TV Sidekick - 2006 - Percy Daggs III (Nominated)
  • Choice TV Parental Unit - 2006 - Enrico Colantoni (Nominated)

Television Critics Association Awards

  • Outstanding New Program of the Year - 2005 (Nominated)
  • Individual Achievement in Drama - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)

Writers Guild of America Awards

  • On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television) - 2007 (Nominated)
  • Episodic Drama - 2006
    • Episode: 2x01 - Normal Is the Watchword - Rob Thomas (Writer) (Nominated)

[edit] Fan campaigns

Veronica Mars has attracted a loyal and devoted fanbase that includes internet communities of Veronica Mars fans. Many of them have taken part in minor and major campaigns to bring more viewers and publicity to Veronica Mars in an effort to ensure the show's success.

Among the fanbase are a considerable number of influential television and movie writers, drawn by the show's noir edge and quip-filled writing. These include, notably, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), who has called Veronica Mars "the best show ever" and who made a guest appearance on the Season Two episode "Rat Saw God"; and Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma), who guest-starred in the Season Two episode "Driver Ed". Both men have directed their own adherents toward the show, with Whedon sending out calls to Firefly and Buffy fans on their various websites to save Veronica Mars when it was put on hiatus.

A group of devoted fans on LiveJournal who call themselves Cloud Watchers have been dedicated to this effort since the spring of 2006 in light of the approaching merger of UPN and The WB into The CW. On May 9, 2006, the group hired a plane to fly between the UPN offices in Los Angeles and the future site of The CW headquarters in Burbank, pulling a banner that read "RENEW VERONICA MARS! CW 2006!" to get the attention of network executives, the press, and anyone else in the Los Angeles area. They had previously sent future CW executives, those in charge at the new network's parent companies, and influential people in the entertainment media care packages including binoculars, information regarding the plane's flight plan, and Veronica Mars-inspired gifts.[29]

Veronica Mars was officially renewed for a third season on May 18, 2006, to air on The CW Tuesdays at 9pm ET starting on October 3, 2006,[30] but the fans did not stop campaigning for the show. The Cloud Watchers started a new campaign, this one to bring a larger viewership to Veronica Mars by donating DVD sets of Season One to libraries across the United States, with a goal of reaching the top 100 Nielsen markets and each of the 50 states. They reached both these goals as of August 14, 2006, and reached their new goal of 500 donated sets on September 5, 2006.[31]

With the show's third season order cut from 22 episodes to 20 -- a move that was met with much alarm and dismay[citation needed] -- many of the show's diehard fans swung into action once more. Fans at the Television Without Pity website began organizing a flyer campaign to raise awareness of the show, and increase viewership in time for the show's return to The CW on May 1, 2007.

In early March 2007, Save Veronica Mars[32] -- a fan-run website that was instrumental in spreading the word when fans campaigned successfully for a second season -- returned with a new, two-pronged purpose: get the show renewed a fourth season, and make sure that the show stays in production long enough to have a sufficient number of episodes for syndication.

[edit] Music

The theme song for the show is The Dandy Warhols' hit single "We Used to Be Friends", from their 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House. Beginning with Season Three, the theme song was remixed in a softer piano style with dark and vibrant electronic beats to reflect the more noir-influenced opening credits. The composer for the show, Josh Kramon, writes the original music heard in the background of most of the show. The sound, which is constructed to convey the film noir themes and hence is different from typical television scores, is highly reminiscent of Air and Zero 7.[33] Air's music has been featured in certain episodes.

[edit] Soundtrack

Veronica Mars: Original Television Soundtrack, a song compilation from the series' first and second seasons, was released by Nettwerk Records on September 27, 2005, containing the following 14 songs:

  1. We Used to Be Friends (theme song) - The Dandy Warhols
  2. I Hear The Bells - Mike Doughty
  3. I Know I Know I Know - Tegan and Sara
  4. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
  5. No Sleep Tonight - The Faders
  6. Dakota - Stereophonics
  7. Sway - The Perishers
  8. Long Time Coming - Delays
  9. On Your Porch - The Format
  10. Ocean City Girl - Ivy
  11. Momentary Thing - Something Happens
  12. The Way You Are - 46bliss
  13. Lost & Found - Adrienne Pierce
  14. Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather

[edit] Filming location

Much of the show's scenes are filmed at Stu Segall Productions in San Diego. The setting of Neptune High for the first and second seasons was located in Oceanside, California.

The show's third season setting of Hearst College is fictional, with scenes primarily filmed on the campus of San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California (link). As of 2006, some scenes were filmed at the University of California, San Diego, San Diego City College, and at the private Academy of Our Lady of Peace; not far from the other filming locations.[citation needed] Filming on the (UCSD) campus took place in the Tenaya residence hall located on the John Muir College within UCSD, in the Warren Mall in Earl Warren College, and near the Main Gym. Filming on the (USD) campus took place in the Camino/Founders residence halls in the College of Arts and Sciences.

[edit] References

  1. ^ USATODAY.com - 'Veronica Mars': Intelligent life
  2. ^ http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=6bcc5753-bc66-41f4-8283-131667132231 Eonline.com
  3. ^ http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=75a31622-f0e6-4166-be21-798de6671716 Eonline.com
  4. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20015161,00.html ew.com
  5. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20014986,00.html ew.com
  6. ^ Veronica Mars: Fighting Cancellation Yet Again, TV Series Finale, March 16, 2007
  7. ^ Huge Changes for Veronica Mars?, IGN.com, March 17, 2007
  8. ^ http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=e3f73023-7d2b-46ac-a7eb-fe8545da166b Eonline.com
  9. ^ http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=4992edd6-8f92-4afd-b1a4-d98abaf9af4f Eonline.com
  10. ^ http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a12755/index-16.html Televisionwithoutpity.com
  11. ^ http://www.tvfodder.com/veronica_mars/archives/2006/11/veronica_mars_lord_of_the_pis.shtml TVfodder.com
  12. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: Final audience and ratings figures for 2004-05", May 27, 2005.
  13. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2005-06 primetime wrap", May 26, 2006.
  14. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576393
  15. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2005-06 primetime wrap", May 26, 2006.
  16. ^ Eyes of Veronica Mars. LA Weekly.
  17. ^ Weiser, Paige (2005, March 29). Reasons to Love Mrs. Mars. Chicago Sun-Times.
  18. ^ Smooth operators. The Boston Phoenix.
  19. ^ Screen Gems *. The Village Voice.
  20. ^ Veronica Mars Television Review. PopMatters.
  21. ^ 6 Best Dramas On TV Now. Time Magazine.
  22. ^ Whedonesque. Joss Whedon.
  23. ^ My Boring Ass Life. Kevin Smith.
  24. ^ Confessions of a TV Slut. Stephen King.
  25. ^ Just Askin'. Stephen King.
  26. ^ Marvel Spotlight: Ed Brubaker/Billy Tan, Marvel Publishing, August 2006, p. 13.
  27. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/tv/bests/2005/ Metacritic.com
  28. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/tv/bests/2006/ Metacritic.com
  29. ^ http://www.watchveronicamars.net/cloud_watchers/ Watchveronicamars.net
  30. ^ http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1215229,00.html Timewarner.com
  31. ^ http://www.watchveronicamars.net/dvd_drive/ Watchveronicamars.net
  32. ^ http://www.saveveronicamars.tv/ Saveveronicamars.tv
  33. ^ http://www.marsinvestigations.net/interviews/joshkramon1.php Marsinvestigations.net

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:



Veronica Mars
Episode List | Cast | Official Website
Current Main Characters Veronica Mars | Logan Echolls | Wallace Fennel | Dick Casablancas
Parker Lee | Stosh "Piz" Piznarski | Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie
Eli “Weevil” Navarro | Keith Mars
Former Main Characters Mallory Dent | Duncan Kane | Cassidy Casablancas | Jackie Cook | Don Lamb
Family Kendall Casablancas | Terrence Cook | Aaron Echolls | Lynn Echolls | Trina Echolls
Alicia Fennel | Celeste Kane | Jake Kane | Lilly Kane | Lianne Mars | Charlie Stone
Neptune High Van Clemmons | Vincent Clemmons | Corny | Gia Goodman | Hannah Griffith
Rebecca James | Meg Manning | Madison Sinclair | Felix Toombs | Troy Vandegraff
Hearst College Tim Foyle | Mercer Hayes | Hank Landry | Cyrus O'Dell | Moe Slater
Residents of Neptune Leo D'Amato | Liam Fitzpatrick | Woody Goodman | Abel Koontz
Cliff McCormack | Mindy O'Dell | Vinnie Van Lowe | Clarence Wiedman
Places Neptune, California | Neptune Grand | Camelot Motel
Neptune High | Hearst College
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