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September 29, 2004

The New Martian Chronicle (sort of)

Over on Smallville, everyone thinks Chloe Sullivan is dead. Well, we know better. She’s been moonlighting on another network. She’s gone under deep cover using the alias Veronica Mars.

Seriously, we tuned in for the second episode of the new UPN series to see what the media buzz is all about. Kristen Bell is cute and attractive, with a Chloe haircut and similar build. She’s a teen doing investigative work for her ex-sheriff father, which immediately starts stretching the imagination.

Cleverly, the series creators used the incident from the pilot, the death of Veronica’s best friend, the daughter of the town’s Luthor-esque family, as the spine for the entire season. Each week they will work on a case or two but collect clues and threads that clearly won’t pay off until Sweeps Week or the season finale (I doubt they’ll let this linger beyond the first season).

Deb and I were mildly engaged but not hooked enough to come back regularly. I’m a bit mystified as to buzz around the show except that this, along with Kevin Hill, are the first interesting dramas to come from UPN (and yes, I’m including their SF offerings in the analysis).

Robbie joined us for the final quarter, quickly came up to speed and then noted that his high school experience and Veronica’s bear no resemblance to each other. While there are social cliques, there aren’t the rich kids’ gang or the biker gang, or anyone’s gang. And since this is yet another high school series set in California, he’s increasingly envious of the outdoor courtyards for hanging out and dining.

So, Veronica Mars seems to be an entertaining fantasy, closer in spirit to Smallville than it probably ever intended.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at September 29, 2004 10:27 AM

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Comments

I watched the first episode and rather liked it...though forgot to record it last night since it's opposite Father of The Pride.

Luckily, it should be done downloading when I get home from work.

Posted by: Scavenger at September 29, 2004 11:54 AM

Nomi and I watched it because I was intrigued by PAD's recommendation. We've given it a low priority season pass on our TiVo. One nice thing about it is that MTV seems to be running the new episodes the very next week, giving people a chance to catch what they missed.

Of course, in our home, Tuesday night is Gilmore Girls night.

Posted by: Michael A. Burstein [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 29, 2004 12:54 PM

And, by the way, if I remember correctly: the first episode of Veronica Mars featured "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult.

Posted by: Michael A. Burstein [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 29, 2004 01:07 PM