HC Reviews

Veronica Mars

Normally, I watch 3 episodes of a show before deciding if I'm going to stick with it or not. And had it not been for the Vice Presidental Candidate Debates, then I would have seen 3 episodes of Veronica Mars. But I'm breaking my "3 episode rule" to tell you to watch this show!

The show airs Tuesday nights at 9pm ET/PT on UPN. Yes, UPN! I know! (For those of you not in the US, UPN is a channel that is notorious for having really awful shows, with the exception of Buffy.) It follows the title character (that would be Veronica Mars, natch) through her life as a Junior at the fictional Neptune High School in the fictional town of Neptune, California (and believe me, I went to the US Postal Service website to search for both Neptune, CA and the zip code used to describe the "rich kids." Neither Neptune, CA or the 90909 area code exist). She's a high school student by day and helps her father run his Private Investigation business at night.

This is a great show! The lead character is both hard assed and sensitive. She's also smart and has common sense, something which tv doesn't show teenagers having. Kristen Bell does a good job of playing this complex character. Enrico Colantari plays her dad, Keith Mars. And even though he has some questionable dialogue (and for that I blame the writers not him), he does a good job of playing a man who is able to rise above the disgrace of losing his job.

The supporting characters bring a lot to the table as well. There's Wallace, Veronica's new friend, whom she saved from getting ass kicked by the leader of a biker gang named Eli "Weevil" Navarro. Then there are 2 members of the "09ers" (the rich kids): the requisite "guy you loathe", Logan Echolls and we can't forget Veronica's ex-boyfriend, Duncan Kane.

The plots are decent and the information delivered isn't full of rib shots, which is refreshing. It's like the writers and the director trust that you're smart enough to understand what they're putting out there.

I say, if you get a chance, watch this show! MTV is airing the pilot all over the place and maybe it'll air the second episode as well. And even if you missed the 1st 2 episodes, that's ok. Read the recaps at Television Without Pity and you'll be all caught up.

The reasons this show isn't getting 5 halos are because of the Paris Hilton stuntcasting in the second episode and the proclivity of all the characters on the show to call the lead character by her first and last name all the time. "Hi there Veronica Mars." "No one cares what you think Veronica Mars." Who does that? Unless that's a new thing the hip young kids are doing these days and I'm not with it (which is entirely possible).

Paris Hilton (ewww) and Full Name vocalizing aside, I'm sticking with this show until the end. Posted by xinh at October 8, 2004 02:12 AM