Veronica Mars

[Johny Cee]

I had head good things about this show, so jumped on the $18/season DVDs from Amazon.  Just finished burning through the the last season!


Really enjoyed this show.  Part teen or family drama/part noir-ish detective show.  Kristen Bell as Veronica is a great, great character.  She's a snarky bad-ass despite weighing about 90 lbs and never throwing a punch (a couple people might get tasered <cough>), wonderful relationship with her father.

The show definitely isn't afraid to make people HUGE assholes, but it also isn't afraid to give assholes great sympathetic/redemptive moments.

(Still $18/season on Amazon now)
 

[01101010]

I had head good things about this show, so jumped on the $18/season DVDs from Amazon.  Just finished burning through the the last season!


Really enjoyed this show.  Part teen or family drama/part noir-ish detective show.  Kristen Bell as Veronica is a great, great character.  She's a snarky bad-ass despite weighing about 90 lbs and never throwing a punch (a couple people might get tasered <cough>), wonderful relationship with her father.

The show definitely isn't afraid to make people HUGE assholes, but it also isn't afraid to give assholes great sympathetic/redemptive moments.

(Still $18/season on Amazon now)
 

This show put Kristen Bell on my hollywood crush list - at the top. 

[Ironwood]

This was a surprise hit for me as I'm sure I said in the other Veronica Mars thread.

Am I misguided ?

[Hutch]

This was a surprise hit for me as I'm sure I said in the other Veronica Mars thread.

Am I misguided ?

Were you maybe on a different site when you said that? I ask because I can't find that other thread. At least, not in the TV forum.

Re: the show. I loved the first two seasons. The cast, the stories, the dialogue, all excellent. And I too fell in crush-love with little pixie-sized Kristen Bell.

In the 3rd season, they go to college, and (imo) the show went right off a cliff. It was deservedly cancelled.

[Kitsune]

Fun drinking game for that show, take a swig every time Veronica commits a felony.  You'll be trashed in pretty short order.

[Ironwood]

You're right.  I can't find it either.  At All.  According to the search, I've never talked about Veronica Mars here ever.

But I know that isn't Right.

[Johny Cee]

This was a surprise hit for me as I'm sure I said in the other Veronica Mars thread.

Am I misguided ?

Were you maybe on a different site when you said that? I ask because I can't find that other thread. At least, not in the TV forum.

Re: the show. I loved the first two seasons. The cast, the stories, the dialogue, all excellent. And I too fell in crush-love with little pixie-sized Kristen Bell.

In the 3rd season, they go to college, and (imo) the show went right off a cliff. It was deservedly cancelled.

Really?  I thought the third season was fine. 

The second season was weaker, in my book.  The wrap-up to the Big Mystery left me with a big "huh?" and some of the high school elements which were neat in the first (stressing on colleges) kind of disappeared or were done half-heartedly....  like she got into Stanford, but we don't really know how she ended up at Hearst or what went on with the scholarship?  The Meg arc was just meh, and Duncan was terrible in season two.  He worked as a fucked up guy, but not as Veronica's main squeeze.


I really liked that they weren't afraid to have characters just be callow dicks without making them EVIL, especially since kids that age DO act that way.  Dick and Madison, Chip/frat guys from season three.

I liked that the Crazy Irish Fitz-whatevers were used.  They were still scary whenever they showed up, and especially when they were threatening Veronica since she couldn't fast talk, bluff or taser her way out of it.  Veronica never came out ahead when confronted by the Fitzpatricks.

I liked the little redemption moments that nearly everyone got.  Lamb letting Duncan and Veronica go (and occasionally leaping right on something Keith brings him), Vinnie saving Veronica in the bar, even Aaron and Trina's boyfriend.

I liked that Veronica was a bit of an outcast because of her actions.  Usually, a TV show will still make the lead Captain Popular despite blackmailing, interrogating, and intimidating all of the minor characters.

[Trippy]

You're right.  I can't find it either.  At All.  According to the search, I've never talked about Veronica Mars here ever.

But I know that isn't Right.

It's very difficult to search for your posts cause people quote you in their sigs.

[Ironwood]

Well, I didn't ask them to.

Come to think of it, I didn't even ask to be born.

You're So UNFAIR.  I HATE YOU.  I'M GOING TO MY ROOM.

[01101010]

Well, I didn't ask them to.

Come to think of it, I didn't even ask to be born.

You're So UNFAIR.  I HATE YOU.  I'M GOING TO MY ROOM.

Stop being prolific 

[Tannhauser]

Why attack his views on abortion?

[Merusk]

There wasn't another Veronica Mars thread, Hutch, there used to just be one big ass TV thread like the book thread.  I recall Ironwood mentioning his love of the show and either Morat or Rasix doing so as well.

[Hutch]

This was a surprise hit for me as I'm sure I said in the other Veronica Mars thread.

Am I misguided ?

Were you maybe on a different site when you said that? I ask because I can't find that other thread. At least, not in the TV forum.

Re: the show. I loved the first two seasons. The cast, the stories, the dialogue, all excellent. And I too fell in crush-love with little pixie-sized Kristen Bell.

In the 3rd season, they go to college, and (imo) the show went right off a cliff. It was deservedly cancelled.

Really?  I thought the third season was fine. 

The second season was weaker, in my book.  The wrap-up to the Big Mystery left me with a big "huh?" and some of the high school elements which were neat in the first (stressing on colleges) kind of disappeared or were done half-heartedly....  like she got into Stanford, but we don't really know how she ended up at Hearst or what went on with the scholarship?  The Meg arc was just meh, and Duncan was terrible in season two.  He worked as a fucked up guy, but not as Veronica's main squeeze.


I really liked that they weren't afraid to have characters just be callow dicks without making them EVIL, especially since kids that age DO act that way.  Dick and Madison, Chip/frat guys from season three.

I liked that the Crazy Irish Fitz-whatevers were used.  They were still scary whenever they showed up, and especially when they were threatening Veronica since she couldn't fast talk, bluff or taser her way out of it.  Veronica never came out ahead when confronted by the Fitzpatricks.

I liked the little redemption moments that nearly everyone got.  Lamb letting Duncan and Veronica go (and occasionally leaping right on something Keith brings him), Vinnie saving Veronica in the bar, even Aaron and Trina's boyfriend.

I liked that Veronica was a bit of an outcast because of her actions.  Usually, a TV show will still make the lead Captain Popular despite blackmailing, interrogating, and intimidating all of the minor characters.

Taken alone, the second season was good. It only suffers in comparison to the first season. They obviously couldn't go back to the "solve Lily's murder" well, and that was the spine that they hung all of Veronica's (and her father's) character development on in the first season. So they had to come up with something else to tie the second season together.

I agree that Duncan was a minus in season two. I think the actor was weak, to be honest. If he could only be believable as a drug-addled ptsd sufferer with various other mental problems, then I'd argue that it's hard to tell if your actor is nailing it in that role, or if he's just getting by because poor chemistry and missed cues fit the character.

I also had an issue with Veronica helping Duncan to kidnap his and Meg's baby, and then getting away with it. I mean, as mentioned above, she commits crimes on a regular basis as she's solving cases, but for whatever reason this one stunk up the place. It did have the balancing effect of being Duncan's exit from the show.

Even with these issues, though, I think season 2 was excellent television.

My issues with season 3 stemmed, I think, from the change of setting, the introduction and prominence of the dull and useless Piz character, and the shoehorning of Eli into the college setting. This was all very jarring, and at the same time the show's creator was playing with a new "format" for the overarching mystery arcs.

Overall I'd rate season 1 as superb, season 2 as excellent, and season 3 as ordinary. So when I say it was deservedly cancelled, that's an expression of my disappointment with the show's drop in quality after season 2. I'm sure that's not what TV execs base their decisions on, of course.