Veronica Mars

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Sascha
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Post by Sascha » Feb 17th 2005, 6:13 pm

Yeah, it was one of the best episodes so far. What a great show. But the ratings are still declining -- why oh why is noone watching this show? *sigh*.


I started now watching "Cupid" from the late '90s. Another great show (by Rob Thomas and MSCL alumni Scott Winant) cancelled way too early.

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Feb 17th 2005, 7:06 pm

I heart Jeremy Piven, but I completely missed Cupid when it aired. Hopefully it will be released on DVD one day. Paula Marshall (Claire on Cupid, Rebecca the guidance counselor on VM) has been nicknamed Back! Show Killer at the TWoP forums.

:lol:
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Post by Sascha » Feb 22nd 2005, 2:21 pm

Reminder: Alyson Hannigan will guest-star in tonights (Feb 22) episode of "Veronica Mars"! She will appear again in a second episode later this season, expected to air around April 19th.

Here are two articles:


New life on Mars
Buffy star goes from slaying vampires to being a bloodsucker in Hollywood
By KATE O'HARE
Zap2it.com

On Tuesday, Feb. 22, Alyson Hannigan, who spent the final two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's seven seasons on UPN, returns to the network in the first of two episodes of UPN's teen-mystery series Veronica Mars.

Although Hannigan began acting in commercials at age 4, she still had a bout of nerves when she arrived on the Mars sets in San Diego.

"I am a huge fan of the show," she says, "and when they asked me to do it, it was a little too hard to say no. But I got so nervous, I couldn't even speak. It was as if I'd never, ever done any work before. It was very strange to me. I had total stage fright.

"I messed up most of my first scene. I thought, 'I just bombed.' It was interesting, but odd."

Hannigan plays Trina Echolls, half-sister of Logan (Jason Dohring), a high-school nemesis of sleuth Veronica (Kristen Bell). Of late, Logan and Veronica have struck up a truce, as she helps him answer questions he has about the supposed suicide of his mother, Lynn Echolls (Lisa Rinna), wife of movie star Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin, Rinna's real-life spouse).

"She's a Hollywood brat," says Hannigan of Trina. "She's a poor little rich girl. She's got rich parents, so she's spoiled, but trying to be an actress in her own right, but that's not going well.

"She's a party girl, likes to spend money that isn't hers. It was fun, because it was a complete departure from the other parts I've been playing for the last seven years."

Some consider Veronica Mars, with its spunky female lead, to be a worthy successor to Buffy.

"(The show's creators) were talking about being compared to Buffy, which I'm sure is annoying for them, but it's actually a good thing," Hannigan says. "There's always going to be some sort of comparisons, and at least it's a show that was also critically acclaimed, instead of some sort of bad show. I would hope that Buffy fans would watch it."

Hannigan is in San Diego shooting her second episode, called Hot Dog, currently scheduled to air on April 19.

Hannigan has had a couple of comedy pilots, one for NBC and one for ABC, not survive to air, so right now, she's just happy to be on Mars.

"Hopefully they'll get picked up for a second season, and there'll be more of a big arc for my character. Call me optimistic, but if UPN wants to have good shows on the network, I would think they'd keep the ones they have.

"They need to keep Veronica Mars, because it's such a good show. I don't understand why people aren't watching it."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/tv/3048994



--------





TV Preview: A smart 'Veronica Mars' searches for viewers

Tuesday, February 22, 2005
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Patrick Ecclesine, Warner Bros. Television
Funny, self-effacing actress Kristen Bell stars as Veronica Mars.

"Veronica Mars"

When: 9 tonight on UPN


HOLLYWOOD -- Finally, something fans of "Nancy Drew" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" can agree on: "Veronica Mars," a TV show with a heroine who bridges the gulf between brainy sleuth and smart-mouthed, demon-destroying slayer.

Midway through its first season on UPN (Pittsburgh's WNPA, Channel 19), "Veronica Mars" (9 tonight) is the best character-driven mystery you're not watching -- if the ratings are to be believed.

Last week, "Veronica Mars" landed in sixth place in its time period in national overnight household ratings with just 2.6 million people watching. The WB's competing teen soap "One Tree Hill" had almost double the number of viewers. Season-to-date, "Veronica Mars" ranks No. 152 out of 202 prime-time broadcast network series.

Fans of quality TV are missing out. "Veronica Mars" offers a mystery of the week plus a strong female lead reminiscent of "Buffy." But unlike the vampire slayer, high school student Veronica Mars doesn't fight demons, at least not of the scaly-skinned, green-blooded variety.

Veronica lives in the fictional upscale community of Neptune, Calif., with her private investigator father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni). She helps him with his work, but pursues her own investigations, too. Veronica also has an ongoing project: Investigating the murder of her best friend, Lilly Kane, whose demise set in motion a variety of changes in Veronica's life.

As is pretty much always the case with the best shows on TV, "Veronica Mars" qualifies by virtue of its writing.

"I think that's what people are responding to, a female heroine they can relate to in a different sort of way," said "Mars" creator Rob Thomas at a UPN party in January.

Thomas has a history of working on critically-acclaimed, low-rated series, most notably ABC's 1998-1999 romantic drama, "Cupid," starring Jeremy Piven as a man who thinks he's actually the god of love.

Despite low ratings, UPN seems supportive of "Veronica Mars." Ratings are slowly growing and "Veronica" routinely improves upon the ratings of its lead-in, the incompatible sitcom "Eve."

"I'm confident UPN wants desperately to pick us up," Thomas said. "I think if they have any excuse to pick us up, if [our ratings] go up at all in these last 10 episodes, I think we'll be back next year."

In an effort to goose ratings further, Alyson Hannigan, a co-star on "Buffy," joins "Veronica Mars" tonight in a recurring role as the spoiled brat sister of Veronica's one-time nemesis, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring).

Growing interest in the show can't only be attributed to the smart plots or the ongoing mystery of Lilly Kane's murder. A lot of the show's success goes to its star, Kristen Bell, a smart, funny self-effacing actress with a theater background ("The Crucible" and "Tom Sawyer" on Broadway) who appeared in the first season of HBO's "Deadwood" as a young con artist who met an ugly fate.

"Halfway into shooting the pilot, we said, 'She's a star,' " Thomas recalled. "I knew I had the right girl for the part."

Bell plays Veronica as a young woman confident in her detective skills and her ability to adapt to the hand life's dealt her.

At a press conference last month, Bell said she had a good high school experience and never felt like an outcast, but she understands how Veronica appeals to teens who are made to feel unwelcome in their high school hallways.

"That's the cool thing about Veronica, she doesn't let it affect her, or she's made a decision in her life not to let it affect her," Bell said.

Despite her sad state in the premiere episode -- friendless, date raped, abandoned by mom, dumped by her boyfriend -- Veronica bounced back. Though generally lighter in tone since the pilot, viewers continue to see flashbacks to Veronica's old life that both advance the show's ongoing murder mystery and depict Veronica's growth from naive teen to savvy, sassy PI.

"The sad realization is there are a lot of kids that have that kind of hand dealt to them at a young age, and that's why you're sort of prematurely jaded and bitter," Bell said. "What I love about Veronica is that she makes the decision to turn her life in a different direction. She could be crying in her bedroom all day and she could be reclusive, but she's not."

Veronica's actually a clever character, who is quick with a quip. In tonight's episode, her father chides her about doing "some high school girl things now and then." Veronica replies, "Relax, I'm cutting pictures of Ashton [Kutcher] out of Teen People as we speak."

" 'Veronica Mars' is the most difficult show to break episodes for that I've ever worked on. Detective shows are difficult in the first place because you need the red herrings and all the information [on the mystery at hand]," Thomas said.

It's no wonder he began to recycle his own ideas. Thomas worked on David E. Kelley's short-lived 1999 female detectives show "Snoops," but left before the show aired over creative conflicts with Kelley. Thomas rewrote an unused "Snoops" script and it became last week's "Veronica Mars." The Feb. 8 "Mars" episode was based on an unsold pilot he developed for NBC.

Veronica and viewers will learn what really happened to Lilly Kane by May, Thomas promises, at which time he'll also lay the groundwork for a new mystery in the show's hoped-for second season. Bell said she thinks she knows whodunnit, but she's not telling. Thomas said he has a backup plan if the truth comes out on the Internet, but so far he hasn't been forced to make any changes.

Though not a broad hit, "Veronica Mars" has spawned the predictably loyal following online, especially among the snarky chroniclers of hip TV at http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com.

"It's like the guilty pleasure scene in 'Soapdish' where Sally Field goes to the ball and gets to be adored," Thomas said. "The day after a 'Veronica Mars' episode airs, if you swim around in the Television Without Pity Web site, it's what a producer on the show calls 'a tidal wave of love mixed with a thousand paper cuts.' "

Thomas said these articulate viewers sometimes even come up with theories about the show and its characters that never occurred to the show's creator.

"Somebody did a complete psychological breakdown of Logan and suggested that he resents Veronica for her loving relationship with her father, and because he has a cold relationship with his father, he can never appreciate Veronica," Thomas said. "That never occurred to me."

Who knows, maybe some smart viewer helped this smart writer solve one of the mysteries of the smart, entertaining "Veronica Mars."


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05053/460847.stm

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Feb 24th 2005, 2:40 am

And so it begins - despite how supportive UPN has been of the show thus far, the fans are mobilizing a pre-emptive strike at http://www.saveveronicamars.com

So far they have an online petition and addresses for Dawn Ostroff (UPN President) for the Mars bars campaign.

Dawn Ostroff
President, UPN
11800 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Dawn_Ostroff@upn.com

Some fans have come up with a $2 bill campaign (a la Clash of the Tritons): print out this bill or this bill, write "Veronica Mars is smarter than me," and mail them to Dawn Ostroff and Leslie Moonves (head of CBS and Dawn Ostroff's boss).
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Post by Sascha » Apr 9th 2005, 12:59 pm

Veronica Mars got renewed for a second season!!

Read the announcement from creator Rob Thomas at televisionwithoutpity.com: http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com ... &p=2763017

Also worth checking out: Rob Thomas' official website at http://www.slaverats.com with lots of "behind-the-scenes" stuff.

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Apr 9th 2005, 8:49 pm

Cute picture of KB at the premiere for Reefer Madness here.
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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Apr 14th 2005, 2:43 am

I heart this show! I was never a Veronica/Logan shipper (and even though I really hate pairing portmanteaux, in this case I find the options of LoVe and Vegan so funny!) but last night's episode made me squee like a 12 year old. I can't believe there are only four more episodes left to wrap up the two major mysteries. Thankfully Weevil will be back next week. Alyson Hannigan returns too!

It will be interesting to see the repurcussions of the kiss. Since Duncan is now missing, I'm sure that will only serve to make Veronica feel THAT much more guilty about kissing his best friend. Although the last few episodes seem to be pointing towards Duncan as Lilly's killer (his violent fits, his soccer uniform in the dryer) that seems too obvious. The writers are too smart and sneaky to do that, so I am looking at the less obvious suspects and Logan is right up there on the list due to his "airtight" alibi of being out of the country. Heh, maybe he was on a cruise with Friedman.

:mrgreen:
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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » May 9th 2005, 10:57 pm

Only 25 more hours before the finale. Yes, I am counting the minutes. I have reformed from my BtVS spoiler whore ways and am now almost completely spoiler free (I do watch the previews) so I can't wait to see what happens!
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Post by Sascha » Aug 12th 2005, 2:38 pm

Just in case anybody needs a reason to watch "Veronica Mars", read this statement:
My peeps and I just finished a crazed Veronica Marsathon, and I can no longer restrain myself. Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those. Crazy crisp dialogue. Incredibly tight plotting. Big emotion, I mean BIG, and charsimatic actors and I was just DYING from the mystery and the relationships and PAIN, this show knows from pain and no, I don't care, laugh all you want, I had to share this. These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows. There. I said it. People should do whatever they can to check out this first season so the second won't be a spoiler fest. I'm nutty.
Oh, the guy who wrote this is named Joss Whedon. Some of you might know him ;-)

http://whedonesque.com/index.php?comments=7502

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Aug 12th 2005, 5:28 pm

And I'm sure he isn't just saying that because Charisma Carpenter is going to be on the show next season!

Seriously, there have been a lot of comparisons between VM and BtVS (which, interestingly, a lot of fans from both camps dislike) so it's nice to see that Joss likes the show too. I honestly don't see a lot of similarities between the two shows, aside from a blonde titular character, a fantastic ensemble cast, brilliant writing, and the California setting. They are both awesome shows, and I love them but I never really saw VM as the new BtVS.

Sadly, the DVD release date for VM has been pushed back until AFTER the new season begins. So much for their original plans to use the DVDs to hook new fans. Thankfully I taped all the episodes and have been sending them to my friends with orders not to leave the house until they have watched the entire series!

You can view the new DVD cover art here (you can also view the controversial first cover here. The rear cover and bonus features are here. The DVDs are now scheduled to be released on October 11.
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Post by lance » Aug 12th 2005, 10:42 pm

Sascha (sab) wrote:Yeah, it was one of the best episodes so far. What a great show. But the ratings are still declining -- why oh why is noone watching this show? *sigh*.


I started now watching "Cupid" from the late '90s. Another great show (by Rob Thomas and MSCL alumni Scott Winant) cancelled way too early.
Thanks to a friend I just caught the pilot episode.

"Wow"

Smart, Funny and likeable characters. Kinda a mix of Buffy and MSCL, good stuff.

Gonna be tough though, does conflict with Stargate SG-1. Oh well, gonna need a couple of VCRS to take care of this problem.

Looking foward to watching more Vernoica Mars this weekend.

-LanceMan

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Post by Sascha » Aug 13th 2005, 4:34 am

BTW: The second season starts on Wednesday, September 28th (9:00-10:00 p.m., UPN). It had previously been announced to start a week earlier, but was pushed back.

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Post by lance » Aug 16th 2005, 11:26 pm

Sascha (sab) wrote:BTW: The second season starts on Wednesday, September 28th (9:00-10:00 p.m., UPN). It had previously been announced to start a week earlier, but was pushed back.
Thanks for the info...


Meanwhile back in Lanceland,

Dag nab it!

(Sigh)

I am hooked. Me and my roomate just blew through the first 12 episodes of Season One. It just keeps getting better.

-LanceMan

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Aug 17th 2005, 1:40 am

Damn there lance - you have been doing some serious viewing! Just wait - the show only gets better!

In the mean time, the track listing for the Veronica Mars soundtrack has just been announced! It's a mix of songs from S1 and songs that will be used in S2.

1. We Used to Be Friends - the Dandy Warhols (theme song)
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 (Weapons of Class Destruction)
12. The Way You Are - 46bliss (Silence of the Lamb)
13. Lost & Found - Adrienne Pierce
14. Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather (Leave It to Beaver)

The soundtrack is due to be released on Tuesday, September 27, the day before the S2 premiere.
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Post by lance » Aug 19th 2005, 9:36 pm

candygirl wrote:Damn there lance - you have been doing some serious viewing! Just wait - the show only gets better!

In the mean time, the track listing for the Veronica Mars soundtrack has just been announced! It's a mix of songs from S1 and songs that will be used in S2.

1. We Used to Be Friends - the Dandy Warhols (theme song)
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 (Weapons of Class Destruction)
12. The Way You Are - 46bliss (Silence of the Lamb)
13. Lost & Found - Adrienne Pierce
14. Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather (Leave It to Beaver)

The soundtrack is due to be released on Tuesday, September 27, the day before the S2 premiere.
Allright that does it I am official going to be broke for the month of October.

Let me just get that out right now, between Vernoica Mars DVDs, soundtrack and Stargate Season 8 DVDs.

That will pretty much do it.

If a tidal wave hits Santa Cruz in October you will probably find me merrily adrift with a generator and Vernoica Mars DVDs, just FYI.

:D

-LanceMan

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