[Televisionary]

I was really looking forward to getting home last night after a very, very long day of work (not filled, sadly, with any Halloween mirth) and watch a new episode of my favorite teen sleuth drama Veronica Mars and catch up with the gang in Neptune. While last night's episode ("President Evil") was nowhere near as stellar as could be, it was nice to see to see some friendly (or in Sheriff Lamb's case, not so friendly) faces popping up on the Hearst College campus or its general environs. I'd nearly forgotten that Wallace was even still on the show as he seems now to pop up so infrequently... and when he does, he still rarely shares any screen time with Mademoiselle Mars. So it was nice to see him last night, even if his subplot -- about struggling with his mechanical engineering class and succumbing to the temptations of cheesy horror movies, loose girls, and purchased "study guides -- felt oddly disjointed and seemed extremely tacked on. (Hell, it could have...

Last night's episode of Veronica Mars ("Meet Charlie Stone") seemed much more back on target again, bringing us that tasty mix of humor, angst, and mystery that the series excels at. I absolutely adored the opening scene depicting an extremely awkward dinner between Veronica, Papa Keith, and Logan as each of them awkwardly tries to talk to one another without touching on any, well, touchy subjects. Which is hard to do when your daughter's boyfriend is the son of a notorious movie star-turned-murderer... and then turns down an offer from Larry King to appear with OJ's kids. What is a dad to think? Logan, however, is in a bit of hot water with his inheritance quickly running out. At the rate he's going, he's got maybe 14 months worth of dosh left. Hmmm, think it could be because he sleeps in the penthouse suite at the Neptune Grand every night and is basically throwing his money away quicker than he can sign the checks? While I'd hate for this pretty ri...

Should we be planning an intervention for our favorite Neptune couple? After two episodes that showed Veronica and Logan slowly drifting apart, it was fantastic (though awfully sad) to see the repercussions that being in college would have on their relationship. And this week it very nearly seemed as though Veronica and Logan (or for you 'shippers out there, LoVe) were going to just call the whole thing off. Do these two lovebirds belong together? Does Veronica have a thing for reforming bad boys? Speaking of Veronica's thing for bad boys, it was great to see Eli "Weevil" Navarro again as he's been so far conspicuously absent from the show's third season and it was fantastic to see him, anger management issues still intact, in last night's episode of Veronica Mars ("Witchita Linebacker"). I absolutely loved the fact that Veronica emotionally blackmailed Keith into hiring Weevil at Mars Investigations and even more so that the two seemed to click ...

Is it just me or are you also excited when the most random of guest stars pop up on your favorite series? Especially when they're delivering low-key performances rather than Will & Grace style stunt casting hamminess. For this reason (and a whole lot more), last night's episode of Veronica Mars ("My Big Fat Greek Rush Week") was an absolute treasure, featuring the sort of random casting that this show always succeeds so well at pulling off. So who was playing who? Samuel Horshack, that poor tortured prisoner who wet his pants during a more than stringent psych experiment, was played by Samm Levine... who will always be Neal from Freaks and Geeks to me. But he's also appeared on Undeclared , Life As We Know It , My Name is Earl , How I Met Your Mother , Still Standing , and Entourage . Busy guy, that Samm Levine. I say, if Rob Thomas can't get Arrested Development 's Michael Cera back for the season, let's keep Samm around for a bit. And, oh, he ...

Can I just say how very much I heart Veronica Mars ? It needs to be said, especially coming on the heels of a dismally dull Gilmore Girls outing written by now co-exec producer Rebecca Rand Kirshner. (Why is it you can instantly tell it's one of her episodes from the way all the air is let out of each and every scene?) But enough of that sidenote, back to the issue at hand. Namely, the fact that while some shows lose their footing in moving the cast from high school to college, Veronica Mars has made the leap from Neptune High to Hearst College with full sparkage intact. No mean feat, in this age of network jerry-rigging and focus grouping and, well, netlet mergers. Last night's third season premiere episode ("Welcome Wagon") picked up a few months after the end of last season, solving a few mysteries that were lingering. Did Keith (Enrico Colantoni) stand up Veronica (Kristen Bell) at the airport, as she waited to board a plane for their post-graduation trip to New...

I couldn't help but sneak a break at work today to take a little peek at the third season premiere of perennial Televisionary fave, Veronica Mars , courtesy of MSN and Veronica 's new home on the CW. While I'll wait to discuss the actual episode until after its broadcast on Tuesday night, you can preview the episode ("Welcome Wagon") in its entirety here . (But don't forget that we want to keep Veronica Mars ' broadcast numbers up, especially in the first week, so if you do watch it online, be sure to tune in to the actual broadcast as well.) But as we're not talking about the episode itself, can I just share with you how completely fixated on the series' new opening credit sequence I am? How very out with the old and in with the new. It's only fitting that our girl, now off to university, should get a makeover as dynamic and funky as she is. Because, let's be honest, the old sequence's notebook paper motif wouldn't work as well out...

Call it a case of Stockholm, er, Neptune Syndrome. Heiress and former kidnapping victim Patty Hearst (granddaughter of magnate William Randolph Hearst) is set to guest star in a November sweeps episode of Veronica Mars , portraying, coincidentally, the granddaughter of the founder of the show's fictional university, the conveniently named Hearst College, who vanishes the night before an important Board of Trustees vote regarding the school's future. No word on whether the Symbionese Liberation Army is involved in the heiress' disappearance this time... Veronica Mars returns to the airwaves this fall on the CW with the premiere of Season Three scheduled for October 3rd. The episode featuring Patty Hearst is slated to air November 21st. (Ten points to the first person who first correctly identifies the musical reference in this posts title. Starting... now.)

Is it just me or are you totally creeped out by the Old Navy " Fash " commercials that are currently airing in cineplexes around the country? Starring Veronica Mars ' Kristen Bell (with a cameo from former Veronica Mars co-star Tessa Thompson ), the commercials revolve around the adventures of Fash, a diminutive marionette who happens to be a serious ladies' man. The two spots currently airing, entitled "Football" and "Date," involve Fash's rebellious nature. The first involves Kristen Bell and Tessa Thompson swooning over Fash on the well-manicured campus of an unnamed university. (Hearst College, perhaps?) The second spot features Fash picking Kristen Bell up for a date and ruffling the feathers of her overprotective "parents" before kissing Kristen and speeding off in a vintage car. Both "Fash" spots completely weird me out. And not in a David Lynchian "Calvin Klein Obsession" commercial kind of way. I'm no...

Just a few Veronica Mars -related tidbits to tide you over in the long weeks before Season Three launches on the new CW network. First up, Rob Thomas and the Veronica producers continue their love of all things Arrested Development . First, Mr. Thomas gave us Arrested 's George-Michael Bluth and Maebe Funke in guest starring roles (look for them to pop up again next season) and now he's giving us the poor alopecia-prone Stan Sitwell, sometimes arch-nemesis of the Bluth family. Ed Begley Jr. ( Best in Show ) has been cast as the dean of Hearst College, the new base of operations for Veronica and the Gang, where I imagine she'll be running into some disciplinary problems before long. The news about Begley's hiring comes after TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reported that Begley's Best in Show co-star Michael McKean (love him too) had been offered the role by the show's producers, only to turn it down. (He would have been fantastic too.) Either way, I can't ...

One of the highlights of my trip to Comic Con had to be the Veronica Mars panel on Saturday afternoon. It's no secret that Veronica Mars is easily one of my favorite series on television and that the day the execs decided to grant the noir drama a reprieve was one of the happiest of my life. (Now if we could only get them to commit to 22 episodes.) In attendance: Kristen Bell, creator Rob Thomas, a tardy Francis Capra (he was stuck in traffic), Jason Dohring, Michael Muhney, Enrico Colantoni, and Ryan Hansen. The crowd went wild as a clip package -- the same one presented to the CW programming execs -- was played that brilliantly summed up the show as a cross between a stylish noir drama and a snarky well-written drama. But the surprises were yet to come... Who knew that Rob Thomas always had Cassidy Casablancas in mind as the killer , way back when he brought him onto the show for the last three episodes of the first season? Or that he felt he "sold out a little bit" b...

Yesterday's Television Critics Association event in Pasadena featured the first press session with the newly minted netlet, The CW (a phoenix rising from the ashes of the WB and UPN). And, while the network and president Dawn Ostroff trotted out all of the network's returning and new series, most critics' attention was sharply drawn to two of the network's returning series, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars . Let's talk about Veronica Mars first as the news shared there excited me far more than anything teased at the Gilmore Girls panel. The most important announcement: Mac is back. Actress Tina Majorino, who plays Veronica's computer geek gal pal, has been locked as a series regular for next season. But don't expect the duo to be roomies. Among other characters making an appearance next season will be Stosh Piznarski, a roommate for Wallace (Percy Daggs III), and an as-yet-unnamed roomie for Mac. Creator Rob Thomas said of Mac's roommate, "She wil...

I've been suffering through some serious Veronica Mars withdrawal lately. Even though the series only ended about a month ago, I feel as though it's been eons since we've caught up with the gang in Neptune... or what's left of them after the finale 's high body count. Hell, I even miss Jackie . So imagine my surprise when I stumbled onto a bunch of homemade Veronica Mars music videos. The first one captures some of the memorable moments of the Veronica-Logan-Duncan love triangle, all set to the haunting strains of Mono's "Life in Mono." (Despite the video's end credits, it's most definitely a Mono song and not Portishead. I know my Portishead.) So crack open a cursed Lost numbers fortune cookie, sit back, and prepare to get a severe case of the sniffles. But if you're looking for a Veronica Mars fix that's a little less, well, overtly maudlin, here's one of my personal favorites, "The Veronica Mars Rewind Video," set ...

Wow. That's really my first, second, and third reaction upon seeing last night's simply fantastic season finale of Veronica Mars ("Not Pictured"). After a season of dizzying plot twists and surprises, Veronica pulled out all of the stops to deliver a mind-bending finale that shocked and amazed, especially coming as it did on the heels of the amusing yet underwhelming finale of Gilmore Girls . Just... wow. Where to begin? So it turns out that I will eat my hat after all (good thing I don't wear one): Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas ended up being not the sensitive, earnest youth we thought he was, but was in fact a cold-blooded killer. In this season alone, Cassidy has been responsible for the deaths of everyone aboard the school bus when it crashed, stunt man Curly Moran, Mayor Woody Goodman, and several police officers who had the bad luck of being aboard Woody's plane when Cass detonated it to smithereens above Neptune. Oh, and did I mention that it ...

Veronica Mars fans waiting to solve the mystery about the fate of their favorite show may have received a clue today when creator Rob Thomas answered some fan questions over at TVGuide.com . I've been (repeatedly) asking Rob Thomas to make Mac (Tina Majorino) a full-time cast member for a while now and it seems one of the TV showrunner gods was listening to my (constant) prayers. Among other tidbits, Thomas revealed to TV Guide that the show is in negotiations with Majorino to bring her back next season as part of the regular cast, but that the producers haven't decided whether Majorino's character Mac will be Veronica's roomie next season when they attend Neptune's (fictional) Hearst College. Read below for an excerpt from the Rob Thomas interview on TVGuide.com: Question: Is Mac going to be a regular for Season 3? Is she going to Hearst? Will she and Veronica be roommates there? - Lisa Thomas: We hope that Tina Majorino will be back with us next year. We're t...

Okay, so no one ended up dead as a result of Lucky's rampage through the outdoor dining area of Neptune High on last night's episode of Veronica Mars ("Happy Go Lucky"). Well, no one besides Lucky himself, who was taken out in a hail of bullets (okay, one bullet), despite the fact that his gun was loaded with blanks. A rather "lucky" fact for Wallace, who tried to save a cowering Jackie from becoming Victim Number One, only to get "shot" twice in the chest. Poor Lucky. Poor dead Lucky. When he's not allegedly leaving "presents" for evil Mayor Woody Goodman (i.e. homemade bombs) or stalking Woody's daughter Gia, he's wearing a baseball catcher's mask and washing his feet with bleach. Turns out that he did know something about the Mayor--something huge--that made him scared to talk: he was molested by the Mayor several years earlier when he was one of the local baseball team's batboys. And it turns out that he wasn'...