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After last season’s horribly uninteresting Heroes finale, I was fully prepared to cut my losses and walk away from the show altogether. Unfortunately, Kristin Bell’s loveliness has thwarted my plans once again with its beautiful blonde locks and snappy come-backs by joining the cast (for a few episodes anyway) in its second season (so says TV Guide.com). Not nearly as exciting as the almost-news a few weeks back that she would be spending time on the Lost island, it is nonetheless good to know that we won’t have to wait until her movie with Jason Segel to catch a glimpse of Ms. Veronica Mars acting all sassy.

Her character on Heroes is described as a “sexy, myserious young lady” which sounds like a role she could play while in a coma. I for one can’t wait until next week when we find out this news was bogus and that she’ll actually be joining the cast of Jericho.

Thanks Andrea for the tip!

Here’s a piece of awesome news: it’s being reported that Kristin Bell (Veronica Mars) is going to have a role in the coming season of Lost. According to the story, she’ll play Charlotte, who is “attractive in a natural and athletic way, precocious, loquacious and funny. Charlotte is also said to repress her emotions and have a hard shell to crack.” What? Repressed emotions on Lost? Now they’re really breaking new ground. Next thing we’ll find out is that she has a dark secret.

The news isn’t that much of a surprise when you consider Bell just finished filming the new movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with Jason Segel, which was shot in part in Hawaii. If we’ve learned anything from three years of Lost production, its that the series producers, like the Native Americans, use every part of the islands. The presence of the lovely Kristin Bell is a no-brainer. Maybe Lost can do a cross-over with How I Met Your Mother so that Jason Segel can also make an appearance (he can play someone with a dark secret… and who is tall).

It all comes back to the Canes.

Now that felt like vintage Veronica Mars. For perfectly logical reasons, the show has always been at its best when the character had something on the line. In last night’s finale, Veronica was trying to save her reputation and sometime in the process completely destroyed her fathers career. It’s a dark note for the show to go out on, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right note. More thoughts on the episode and the end of the series after the jump…

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I’m Vinnie Van Lowe and I want your vote.

Some quick thoughts on a so-so V-Mars. Again, the mystery of the week wasn’t particularly interesting in terms of actual mystery and trying to figure out who did what. The story seemed to have much more purpose in that all of our characters are going to be disbursed throughout the world come summer.

Quick nitpicky item: Piz gets an internship with Pitchforkmedia and says he’ll have to move to New York. Aren’t they based out of Chicago? Sorry, I don’t want to be “that guy” — the guy who doesn’t understand television physics. More troubling was that he was actually considering taking an internship at a local radio station instead so he could remain close to Veronica (a total LC move if you ask me).

Things I loved: the Vinnie Van Lowe political ad, the way Veronica shook her head when her dad was talking about her “gentleman callers,” Dick showing some emotion, Keith positioning his P.I. test neatly at the top of the drawer, and the fact that again, Piz got an internship at Pitchfork despite having a Jet poster in his room.

As the network upfronts are set to get underway, information has started to leak, and minds can be put at ease. Take for example this bit of news: Friday Night Lights is going to get a second season. In an unofficial announcement by NBC, the network has given the go-ahead to the brilliant series as well as early word on four other dramas that will be making the fall schedule (The Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman and Life).

Last month NBC went ahead and ordered six new scripts for Nights, a sign things looked promising. Looks like the writers are now slightly ahead of the game.

Now we’re just holding out hope for Veronica Mars and How I Met Your Mother. Is it possible we score a hat trick?

“Variety” reports more on the NBC pickup.

A V-Mars Ruddtacular!

That was another fun one. Maybe not the episode perfection I was hoping for, but good nonetheless. Can’t go wrong with some Vinnie Van Lowe intrigue.

The problem, I hate to say, was the weakness of the mystery. I love the teen-soap elements they’ve been pumping up the past two weeks, but it’s certainly been to the detriment of the mystery writing, which was always so damn sharp in previous episodes. Honestly, the name was on the bag!

Still, you can’t go wrong with Paul Rudd. He’s the avocado of narrative entertainment. Sure, that turkey sandwich you’re eating is might tasty, but add a little avocado and it suddenly got a whole lot tastier. He’s a flavor enhancer — like Splenda or Brigitte Nielsen.

I have to admit, as far as the romances are concerned, I’m much more interested in the new Mac/Max trist than Veronica and Piz. Perhaps that’s because Mac never seems to get any action and also because I feel bad for Piz since Veronica will inevitably tear his heart out.

For the indie-rock fans out there, Stereogum breaks down who exactly wrote the music for “My Pretty Pony”.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Oh-so good to have old friends back, even if they’re stuck in an episode splattered with 9th grade patriotic rah-rah nonsense. Outside of the can’t-we-all-just-get-along mini-mystery, there were some delicious developments involving Veronica, Piz, Logan and all the rest. Sure, if you think too hard about it and read too many trade publications you might think that the future of the show will ultimately render these romantic entanglements moot, but why throw cold water on otherwise spicy teen drama?

And speaking of all those teens, props must be given to the V-Mars casting department for finally getting everyone together in one episode. Season three has been void of many things and most of the time those things involved secondary cast-members. Wallace and Mac would disappear for weeks on end, which is what made last night’s buffet of familiar faces so charming. Add that to the numerous references to storylines from previous seasons and you “got yourself a stew goin’ on.”

The rest of the episodes from here on out all fit into the one-and-done mystery format. This is a good decision, especially if what we saw this week is an indication of how the narratives will be linked. Sure, the overarching mysteries are far more sophisticated, but good teen melodrama has its place as well.

This week was by no means classic Mars, but for a show that could very well be marching itself to the sea, it was a comfort to watch. That being said, my super secret source tells me that next week’s episode with Paul Rudd is the tits.

We’ve been through this one before, but the Veronica Mars rumors have started again. This time word on the street is that the show is CANCELLED.

From a USA Today viewer mailbag segment with writer Robert Bianco:

San Francisco, CA: How come Veronica Mars wasn’t included on the USA Today “save or axe” survey? Has it’s fate already been decided?

Robert Bianco: Yes. According to our reporter Gary Levin, the show has been cancelled. And he’s almost always right about such things.
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So Mr. Levin things he’s hot stuff, eh? Let’s hope in this case his sources are incorrect.

Man oh man, that Raines is one unorthodox detective!

We’re only two weeks in and my enthusiasm is waning. Don’t get me wrong, I knew for what I was signing up. This is a police procedural. No matter how good the lead may be, or what crazy spin they put on it, it’s still a police procedural. I can live with that. Still, there was no reason the first ten minutes of Thursday’s episode had to be dedicated to explaining the premise of the show. There’s a lot of morons out there watching television, and I’m sure even they were saying, “We get it! He sees dead people, but doesn’t see dead people!”

The screen might as well have just flashed THIS IS WHAT THE SHOW IS ABOUT! in bright red letters while Goldblum mumbles to himself underneath.

The show is a curiosity. The writing is funny and kind of clever and yet the actual mysteries are horribly obvious. In a way the dialogue of the show sounds just like Veronica Mars (minus that show’s greatest asset: Veronica Mars). Though unlike Veronica Mars, playing detective with Mr. Raines isn’t nearly as interesting. Of course the murdered man was his son. I didn’t need an imaginary friend to tell me that! The mysteries in Veronica Mars are always complex and rarely solved by yours truly despite repeated attempts at doing so.

And really that’s the point. Mysteries are suppose to be fun, but the lazy plotting in Raines takes out a lot of the joy in watching a show of this kind.

Still, Raines lives and dies with Goldblum. To his credit he’s good enough to keep me watching. It also helps that he’s in just about every single frame of the series.

Raines moves to Fridays at 9pm beginning next week.

Lots of madness brewin’ this morning on the V-Mars front. Let’s start with the bad news:

According to Kristin Veitch over at E! Online Veronica Mars has been canceled by The CW, though no official statement has been made by the network. Her information comes from “several solid sources.” Personally, I won’t be hosting the wake until someone in a suit gives the official execution orders and the phone call from the governor never comes.

For those who like to stay on the positive side of things, the Hollywood Reporter says series creator Rob Thomas (not that Rob Thomas) has come up with an idea for the fourth season in which the series flashes forward several years and follows Veronica as she works her way through the FBI academy. The idea isn’t just cool, but makes practical sense as Kristin Bell is 26 years old.

Thanks AK for the tip (via Ain’t It Cool News)

“Is that a whale?”

I finally sat down and watched some television last night. It was a pleasurable experience. Enjoyed some Heroes, a little Friday Night Lights, some Lost, Knights of Prosperity, and even managed to formulate some thoughts on the shows, which I’d like to share with you right after the break…

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On Saturday I was talking to a friend about Veronica Mars. Her feelings about this season have been lukewarm at best. I found this moderately shocking as most people I’ve talked to have felt the past half-dozen or so episodes have been as good as any. Granted things started off slow. I blame the writers trying to figure out how to play the whole “college” angle, the misguided decision to have the preliminary arc deal with the pursuit of a serial rapist (haven’t we all ready done that?), and having a mostly neutered Logan moping around the first six episodes. Since the winter hiatus, however, the show has been nothing shy of tip-top. My friend didn’t really agree. In fact, she went as far as saying that she hopes the show ends this year so she doesn’t have to watch it anymore. Bold.

An interesting point was raised during our discussion. She said that perhaps one of the reasons Veronica Mars has been leaving her cold is because she’s watching it after she watches the increasingly disastrous Gilmore Girls. Can the bad taste of one show ruin one’s appreciation for another? I think it can. I’ll explain further after the break…

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It was yet another GREAT episode last night. Loved the little kid. Who knew it would take an 11-year-old to get a decent plot line for Logan.

One moment that seems particularly inspired (assuming it was intentional) was the song dedication for Veronica from Logan via his new, young friend. The song was “What’s Left of Me” by Nick Lachey. It’s an absolutely god awful song and sounded completely out of place on a show that typically has such great soundtrack choices UNTIL you remember that it was suppose to have been picked by a
tween. It’s a brilliant pick because it is 1) the type of song you’d expect a little kid to think of as romantic, and 2) precisely the type of song you’d expect an FM radio station to play as a dedication.

Well done Veronica Mars, well done.

It’s been almost a year to the day since we saw the last truly great episode of Veronica Mars, and while last night’s installment still couldn’t reach those great heights (few shows can), it definitely seems to have put Ms. Mars back on track. While initially dragging my heals at the notion of the series ditching the extended mystery arcs for individual episode stories, I’ve since come around. After all, the show is at its best when the characters aren’t under a deadline to get things done [see: the first nine of this season] — it also gives us, the viewers, an opportunity to try and figure things out for ourselves.

Likewise, as this post’s title stated, Logan seemed to be back to his more carefree self, even as Veronica was trying to ruin it all (she has trust issues, but really, shouldn’t any good gumshoe?). Maybe it was just a matter of Jason Dohring not whispering all of his lines. No one likes a mumbler, Logan, no one.

It’s a damn shame that once February ends we will be put on another two-month hiatus before the season wraps. Oh CW, how you toy with us.

So nice to have Veronica Mars back on the air, and it’s especially nice to have Veronica back to her old, cheery, sarcastic self. The fall arc was decent, and picked up steam toward the end, but the whole thing seemed awfully mopey (I’m blaming this, in part, on the re-cut title sequence which somehow managed to suck a lot of the excitement out of the entire show). This week’s episode, which kicked off the “Who shot Dean O’Dell” storyline, was tops just about all the way through.

Though I wish Veronica had heard the same background music we, the audience, had heard while talking to Piz. She would have then realized that he was the guy she should have ended up with, not Logan. I bet Piz was hearing the music. He’s a music guy. He’s knows that when mellow, indie-rock works its way onto the soundtrack of a teen-drama, the cast members on screen are suppose to realize their hidden love for one another. They AREN’T suppose to go back with their old boyfriends.

Alas.

Also, it should be noted that this is going to be the last multi-episode arc of the season, as the last five episodes will be stand-alones (boo). AND, The CW finally realized what year it is and started putting full episodes online. So have at it!