Veronica Mars

steveland?

Anyone seen this show yet? I've seen the first 8 episodes...

I was initially sceptical due to the name and the premise (she's a personal investigator in high school)

It's very good though. Imo it's up there with Lost as one of the best shows coming out of America this year.

Veronica Mars is a high school student who was popular until her best friend was murdered and her father (the sherrif at the time) pointed the blame at the father and had to retire in disgrace. He set up a private investigator company and his daughter works with him. She's also become a social misfit because she sided with her dad when it all came out.

Great show I suggest you check it out if you get the opportunity...

John R

You will be hapy to know that it has just been renewed for a second season in the US.

steveland?

I heard that alright. There was a huge period when the shows fate was unsure

ScruffySlayer

I heard something about Paris Hilton being in this? Is that true? What network is it on in the states and does anyone know if any uk/irish stations have picked it up?

steveland?

Yeh she was in the second episode

It's a UPN show as far as I know. No news on it being picked up this side of the Atlantic yet though

SteM

Yeah, I've been getting it since it started airing in the States. At first I thought it's be a bit of a one tree hill/oc type show but I've really enjoyed it so far.

Good news about it getting a second season, not many non-startrek UPN shows get picked up

backup10

For those of you who have never heard of Veronica Mars, here's some info.

It's the only show from the UPN/CBS conglomerate to land on Entertainment Weekly's list of top ten shows of 2004.

Veronica Mars won the recent E! Online Kristin Save One Show poll with an astounding 56% of the votes. Arrested Development came in second with 9% of the vote.

When given a choice between voting for Veronica Mars or Marti Noxon's Point Pleasant in the above mentioned poll, members of whedonesque.com overwhelmingly voted for Veronica Mars. (Marti Noxon was a writer and producer for Buffy.)

It is the highest scoring (based on recapper and user grades) show this season at Television without Pity.

The March 13-19 edition of TV Guide called it the best show you're not watching.

The April 4, 2005 edition of Time magazine named Veronica Mars one of the 6 best dramas on TV now.

To find out what other TV critics are saying about Veronica Mars, visit the review page at MarsInvestigations.net.

If you need help catching up with show, check out Mars Investigations: A Beginner's Guide to Veronica Mars. It's a site specifically designed to help introduce new viewers to the show. They have character sketches, episode summaries, and clues about each mysteries.

Basq

OK.. well based on everyone's opinion here, i decided to "get my cousin to send me over some tapes". :rolleyes:

I'm a bit skeptical about it though, to be honest! But steveland? has some good taste in TV... i know this as he's a fellow Lost fan!

But Veronica Mars is gonna have to be REALLY good to win me over as:

- i've seen a couple of new US shows this year and none of them even rival the genius that is 'Lost' in the slightest.
- it beat 'Arrested Development' in that 'Save Our Show' poll :mad:... even though there was no limit to the amount of times you voted, so it seems likely all the Veronica Mars fans voted in their drones. Whereas AD fans just couldn't be bothered!
- not a big fan of that whole area of teen shows area like Buffy / Angel / OC / One Tree Hill / Smallville / Point Pleasant etc. (that list can just go on and on! )

backup10... that's quite a list of facts. You been hired to pimp VM or something?

Anyways.. will give the first couple of episodes a watch and let ye know what i think.

SteM

basquille wrote:

- i've seen a couple of new US shows this year and none of them even rival the genius that is 'Lost' in the slightest.

:eek: Not much will, I hope you're not going to compare everything to Lost otherwise you'll never watch a new program again

basquille wrote:

- not a big fan of that whole area of teen shows area like Buffy / Angel / OC / One Tree Hill / Smallville / Point Pleasant etc. (that list can just go on and on! )

I'm not that gone on any of that stuff either but there's something different about VM I think. It's the sort of show you'll need to watch 5 or 6 episodes though.

doh.ie

SteM wrote:

Good news about it getting a second season, not many non-startrek UPN shows get picked up

Not even Star Trek itself this year, either! UPN are moving to reposition themselves as a female bias channel, so Veronica and America's Next Top Model stay and anything remotely sci-fi or not comedy gets the boots (hence the end for Enterprise and WWE on UPN.)

steveland? wrote:

No news on it being picked up this side of the Atlantic yet though

Sky One supposedly have the rights - no airdate that I know of yet.

Agree with the posts, though - it's the kind of show which does very much grow on you, not to mention the lovely Kristen Bell. Certainly gets better as it goes on.

It's true, not much will compare to Lost for giving the audience that edge in terms of thrilling storytelling, but expect a large batch of mystery/thriller series similar to Lost come September. US TV regularly tries to rehash the success of the previous TV season. (So you can expect to see some Desperate Housewives clones in development as well...)

Basq

SteM wrote:

:eek: Not much will, I hope you're not going to compare everything to Lost otherwise you'll never watch a new program again

That's exactly what i'm gonna do!

Ah no... watched the first 2 episodes of Veronica Mars last night and thought it was pretty good.. nothing too special though i'm willing to give it a chance!

The asshole character in it... his name's escaped me, not the biker but the guy in the clique... seems like a pretty interesting character!

SteM wrote:

I'm not that gone on any of that stuff either but there's something different about VM I think. It's the sort of show you'll need to watch 5 or 6 episodes though.

Yeah.. will watch a couple of more episodes tonight.

doh.ie wrote:

Sky One supposedly have the rights - no airdate that I know of yet.

Apparently later this year.... possibly September.

steveland?

basquille wrote:

The asshole character in it... his name's escaped me, not the biker but the guy in the clique... seems like a pretty interesting character!

Logan is it?

The show takes a little while to get going but once things start to come out about the murder it gets "intriguing" (plus Kirsten Bell is some nice eye candy)

Basq

steveland? wrote:

Logan is it?

The show takes a little while to get going but once things start to come out about the murder it gets "intriguing" (plus Kirsten Bell is some nice eye candy)

Yeah... Logan, that's it! He seems like a pretty interesting character... he's good at playing the "bad guy".

I gotta say the one thing that struck me from the first two episodes is the writing is top-notch. Excellent little quips between characters and stuff.

Also some great songs in it so far: Death In Vegas 'Girls' when

Veronica was wandering around at the party after being drugged

, as well as 'Don't Fear The Reaper' when Veronica and her father are cooking steaks on the barbeque. And 'We Used To Be A Friends' makes a great theme tune.

Will watch a couple of more tonight and let you know what i think.

Basq

Well.. watched the first 12 episodes and enjoyed them immensely! Excellent recommendation, steveland!

The one lowpoint of the series was definantly the episode with

the kid finding out his father was a woman who regularly visited his place of work (think it was episode 3)

Some excellent quotes run through the series.. particularly in the episode with

Logan / Weevil in detention.

Girlfriend's enjoying it as much as i am... which is a change!

monomaniac

2 more episodes of the season left! And we're going to finally get the big answers! The last few episodes have been top notch.

Basq

Dear God... what a finale!!

Would like to sincerally thank steveland? for giving me the oul heads up on this. Definantly this and 'Lost' qualify as the 2 best US shows this season!

The last 2 episodes seem to give us all the answers. Such as

who "raped" Veronica?

and

who killed Lilly?

The last episode was particularly excellent and the

Aaron Echolls in the backseat of Veronica's car and the action that followed being particularly exciting!

Then, we got the inevitably cliffhanger with

who was outside Veronica's window? Logan, Duncan? Then for some reason in my mind, i was thinking if the creator's / writer's really wanted to mess us around a bit, they'd let it be Wallace outside. As he didn't feature at all (to the best of my knowledge) in the finale!

Anyways, an excellent finale and an absolutely excellent series!!

Someone over this side of the water should start showing this show ASAP!!

ScruffySlayer

The hype around this sounds very Buffy-esque. Though I was talking to someone who saw some of it and he said it wasn't great. Still curious to see what it's like though. I'm surprised Sky have got their hands on this. I'd bet that them Living or E4 (maybe Bravo) will pick this up for digital. And TG4 will start showing it 3 weeks before them

Basq

ScruffySlayer wrote:

The hype around this sounds very Buffy-esque. Though I was talking to someone who saw some of it and he said it wasn't great. Still curious to see what it's like though. I'm surprised Sky have got their hands on this.

The show didn't really appeal to me at first but actually became one of my favourite new shows this year (.. still slightly behind 'Lost' though ..)!

The season has one or two weak episodes, particularly 'Lord Of The Bling' and 'Meet John Smith'. But the season as a whole was fantastic! And the acting from all involved (especially the very impressive Kristen Bell in the main role) and also the writing was top notch!

Oh, and as far as i know, SkyOne have got the rights to it. But we're all still waiting on a airdate for it. For some reason.. i'm expecting to see it in the timeslot for 'Dead Like Me' (Tuesdays at 9PM). This current series of 'Dead Like Me' has 5 episodes left but SkyOne would probably have been milking advertisements for 'Veronica Mars' already if it was gonna start being shown after 'Dead Like Me' ends.

I'd expect it around September, to be honest!.. around the same time that series 2 will start in the US! :rolleyes:

steveland?

I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't start on Sky till January, unless they're planning on putting it on at the same time as Lost will be on E4 which I doubt...

I've still only seen the first 8 episodes of Veronica Mars... so much more left......

I've heard the finale was only fantastic...

cosgrove80

I only saw the first one which I thought was only average. At the time there was talk of it being cancelled so I didn't bother with it.

Given the positive feedback here from people with taste (Lost fans ) I must try it again

Basq

steveland? wrote:

I've still only seen the first 8 episodes of Veronica Mars... so much more left......

I've heard the finale was only fantastic...

cosgrove80 wrote:

Given the positive feedback here from people with taste (Lost fans ) I must try it again

Believe me... from a fellow 'Lost' fan, keep watching Veronica Mars!!

And steveland?.. the finale was phenomenal! So many twists and turns.. and a very exciting last 20 minutes with a excellent cliffhanger to round it all off (hope you didn't read my spoiler tags! )

If any of you have trouble getting the "tapes off your cousin", give me a shout! Will be happy to oblige! ;D

steveland?

I'm now up to episode 12 but my err.. "mailbox" may be getting a little full by now

I've had a lot of "postage" this month and I'm running out of "stamps"

It's getting pretty good now though, last thing I saw was *don't read if you haven't seen it*

Logan's mother's car beside the edge of the bridge saying she'd probably jumped

. Didn't really see that one coming but it looks like a whole new story could start from there (along with the murder that's been going all season)

Basq

steveland? wrote:

I'm now up to episode 12 but my err.. "mailbox" may be getting a little full by now

I've had a lot of "postage" this month and I'm running out of "stamps"

Got a couple of spare stamps hanging round..

steveland? wrote:

It's getting pretty good now though, last thing I saw was *don't read if you haven't seen it*

Logan's mother's car beside the edge of the bridge saying she'd probably jumped

. Didn't really see that one coming but it looks like a whole new story could start from there (along with the murder that's been going all season)

The next episode you'll see, Episode 13 ('Lord Of The Bling'), is probably the weakest of the series! Except for a brillant little in-joke in the intro leading into the theme tune 'We Used To Be Friends'... you'll notice it when you see it! Anyways, after that.. it's all excellent viewing!

The last couple of episodes (the last 2 especially) do reveal the answers to the most important questons so it's worth staying tuned just for those... all the twists and turns make it fantastic!

steveland?

Well just spent the past 7 or so hours watching it on and off and I'm finished...

What an ending! I didn't expect that twist at all...

I suppose

I should have seen it coming after seeing Erin beat the hell out of Dylan but he didn't even cross my mind as being the killer...

I knew that room with the cameras would have something to do with it but I wasn't expecting that ending at all..

Anyway yeh, big long wait now until the new series comes out but hopefully it'll be worth it...

Roll on series 2!

Basq

Glad you enjoyed it, Steve. Amazing finale, huh?

From the moment

Aaron appeared in the backseat of Veronica's car onwards was just brillant! Tense and thrilling!

Who'd ya think is at the door?

Too early to tell.. but i'd say they'll take the Wallace option, instead of the Duncan or Logan option.

Seems like Wallace would show up at the right time.. and after Veronica asked his mother to go visit her dad.

What will they do next season?

No season long murder investigation or rape? Why do i have a feeling Logan will end up jumping off that bridge or doing something to Weevil? It needs a setup for next season.. the episode's individual cases are excellent but this season was excellent because of the season long stories.. such as her Dad's paternity test, her mother's disappearance, her rape, her best friend's murder.

But like you said Steve, "Roll on series 2!". That and 'Lost' are the 2 shows i'm really gonna miss this Summer!