Veronica Mars

This article is about the Veronica Mars television series. For the character, see Veronica Mars (character).

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars' third season intertitle.
Created by	Rob Thomas
Starring	see below
Narrated by	Kristen Bell (eponymous)
Opening theme	"We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	62 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 42 minutes
Original release
Network	UPN (2004-2006) The CW (2006-present)
Release	September 22, 2004 – present

Veronica Mars is a critically acclaimed American teen drama/mystery-neo-noir series that premiered on UPN on September 22, 2004, airing its first two seasons on the network before moving to The CW Television Network on October 3, 2006. The show stars Kristen Bell as the title character: a student, progressing from high school to college during the series, who moonlights as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. Said to be "a little bit Buffy and a little bit Bogart", the show balances murder mystery, high school and college drama, and social commentary with sarcasm and offbeat humor.

The third season of Veronica Mars premiered in the United States and Canada on October 3, 2006, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW and Sun TV (ET only) respectively, a time slot that has remained unchanged throughout the season. The season has featured two mystery arcs — one presented from its October season debut until the end of November, the other shown from late January 2007 until the end of February.

On March 6, 2007, Veronica Mars was put on hiatus for eight weeks in favor of the new reality show Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll, which continued to air in that timeslot for its entire eight episode run. Veronica Mars returned with the first of the final five episodes of the season on May 1, 2007.

Amid speculation regarding the future of the series, reports by Variety and other media outlets have noted that creator Rob Thomas has approached the series' current network with alternate fourth-season debut episodes. The unique strategy and the series' past critical acclaim are thought by some media analysts to make renewal for a fourth season increasingly likely.

Summary

See also: List of Veronica Mars episodes

Background events

The series revolves around Veronica Mars, a high school student and amateur investigator in the fictional west-coast town of Neptune, California. The first season's main storyline revolves around the death of Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane, and Veronica's search for Lilly's real killer.

The show begins with flashbacks of Veronica's life before the murder. As the daughter of well-respected county sheriff Keith Mars, she lives a fairly easy life, hanging out with the "09ers," wealthy students from the 90909 zip code, and for a time dating Lilly's brother, Duncan Kane. After Lilly's murder, however, things fall apart for Veronica. Keith Mars' public accusation that Lilly's father, billionaire Jake Kane, killed Lilly leads to a recall election. Keith loses the election and, along with it, his job as Sheriff. Afterwards, Veronica's mother Lianne develops a drinking problem and leaves town. Her father's accusation of Jake Kane also causes problems in Veronica's social life, and she loses her 09er friends.

Shortly after this, Veronica decides to crash an 09er party. The next morning, she awakens in a guest bedroom without her underwear and without memory of the previous night's events. She goes to the police to report being drugged and raped, but Sheriff Don Lamb, her father's former deputy and now rival, dismisses her claim. After losing the recall election, Keith Mars opens "Mars Investigations," a detective agency, where Veronica works part-time. During the series, Veronica uses what she learns at this job to help solve crimes and conduct her own investigations.

Season one

In the course of other investigations, Veronica comes across two pieces of evidence about the Lilly Kane murder case that shatter the status quo. The first breaks the watertight alibi of almost everyone involved with Lilly, including the entire Kane family; the second suggests that Lilly's confessed killer, Abel Koontz, almost certainly did not commit the crime. Veronica resolves to find the true killer.

As Veronica furthers the murder investigation, she also works on unrelated cases each week, which are introduced and resolved in each episode. Other important investigations that span the season include Veronica's search for her wayward mother and for the person who raped her at the 09er party. Veronica is joined in her "non-09er" life by new allies: new Neptune High student Wallace Fennel; Eli “Weevil” Navarro, head of the Latino biker gang the PCHers; and Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Neptune High's resident computer genius. Veronica uses their resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, as her reputation for sleuthing grows and more schoolmates ask her for help.

These new friends also help Veronica deal with Logan, whom she terms the "obligatory psychotic jackass" of Neptune High. Logan blames Veronica for Lilly’s death and takes pleasure in making her life difficult. When he needs help with traumatic events in his own family, though, he ends up turning to Veronica, and near the end of the season they unexpectedly fall into a relationship — much to the shock of the other 09ers, especially Duncan.

Season two

The second season begins with the introduction of two ongoing mysteries. First, Logan, in a bout of drunkenness spurred by Veronica's readiness to believe the worst of him, picks a fight with Weevil and the PCHers and ends up accused of killing PCHer Felix Toombs, a charge he vehemently denies. The charges put Logan on the wrong side not only of the law, but also of Weevil and his gang. Together with the losses he suffered earlier that year, the charges also provoke him to revert to his former sophomoric ways, causing Veronica to break up with him. Partway through the season, Weevil is finally convinced of Logan's innocence, and the two team up to find the real killer, with occasional help from Veronica. The second mystery is introduced in the final minutes of the first episode, when a school bus full of Neptune High students careens off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board. Veronica, who was supposed to be on the bus, makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed.

This season shows Veronica’s life returning to much the way it had been before Lilly’s death. Having broken up with Logan during the summer and reunited with Duncan Kane, she is again accepted, albeit begrudgingly, by the 09ers. However, her private-eye sideline and tough persona keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd, as is made evident in the ironically titled season opener Normal Is the Watchword.

09ers Dick and Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas become regulars, and the season shows them dealing with a gold-digging stepmother, Kendall Casablancas, with whom they are left with when their father flees the country on the lam from the SEC. Wallace also discovers that his biological father is alive, and moves to Chicago to live with him briefly before returning halfway through the season.

In a slight departure from the format of the first season, these main mysteries are solved at different times: the Felix Toombs murder is solved five episodes before the end of the season (in "Plan B"), and the bus-crash mystery is solved in the final episode ("Not Pictured"). Much emotional tension is resolved as well, with Veronica reuniting with Logan in the final minutes of "Not Pictured".

Season three

The third season begins with Veronica and Logan starting their freshman year at Neptune's Hearst College, along with second-season regulars Wallace, Mac, and Dick. Two new regulars are introduced: Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace’s roommate, and Parker Lee, Mac’s roommate. Sheriff Don Lamb also becomes a regular.

The season was initially designed to have three separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved discretely instead of concurrently. The first mystery took place over the first nine episodes. Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season. This was changed when The CW, the show's new carrier, ordered only a 20-episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes. The second mystery arc was shortened to six episodes, and the third mystery was first changed from a six-episode arc to a five-episode arc and then, after an eight-week hiatus for the show was announced, to stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers.

The first mystery, introduced in the season two episode "The Rapes of Graff", follows Veronica’s attempts to identify the Hearst College rapist. This mystery is solved in the ninth episode, “Spit & Eggs”. The next mystery, a murder, is introduced in the same episode.

So far, the season has chronicled Veronica and Logan’s failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica’s ingrained mistrust of him and of all relationships. Logan compounds the problem first when, out of fear for Veronica's safety, he hires a bodyguard, and then again when he has a sexual tryst with Veronica's high-school nemesis Madison Sinclair during a period when his on-again/off-again relationship with Veronica is off. At the end of the second mystery arc, Logan has begun dating Mac's roommate, Parker.

Early on in the season, Keith adds to Veronica's cynicism by beginning an affair with a married client, Harmony Chase. Meanwhile, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, and his roommate, Piz, develops a crush on Veronica. Dick has a breakdown and appeals to Logan for help; he lived with Logan until joining a fraternity house on campus. Mac, meanwhile, still has emotional scars from the previous year's incident with Beaver, but she meets a new love interest in "Show Me the Monkey".

Near the end of the second mystery arc, Sheriff Don Lamb is killed, and Keith Mars is appointed interim sheriff.

Characters

Main characters

Current

File:Veronica3.jpg

Cast of Season three

• Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) — College student and skilled private detective. Currently dating Piz.

• Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) — "Bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor and Veronica's on/off boyfriend. Currently dating Parker.

• Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III) — Veronica's best friend, frequent partner in mystery solving, and basketball team star.

• Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) (Season 2–) (recurring previously) — 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned obnoxious frat boy.

• Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) (Season 3–) — Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College. Was a victim of the Hearst rapist. She is now currently dating Logan.

• Stosh "Piz" Piznarski (Chris Lowell) (Season 3–) — Wallace's roommate at Hearst College; a music lover with his own campus radio show. Currently dating Veronica.

• Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (Tina Majorino) (Season 3–) (recurring previously) — Computer expert befriended by Veronica; noted for her sarcasm.

• Eli “Weevil” Navarro (Francis Capra) — Former leader of the PCH Biker gang and current maintenance worker at Hearst College. Friend of Veronica, but often suspected by her of various crimes.

• Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) — Veronica's father, a private investigator and currently Acting Balboa County Sheriff (formerly the County Sheriff prior to Don Lamb).

Former

• Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) (episodes 2, 5-7 of Season 1) — Former journalism teacher at Neptune High.

• Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) (Seasons 1-2) — Lilly's brother and Veronica's ex-boyfriend.

• Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (Kyle Gallner) (Season 2) (recurring previously) — Dick's younger brother, who was responsible for the bus crash. He was molested as a child, and blew up the bus so that his secret could be kept. After being confronted with Veronica and Logan in the last episode, he committed suicide after blowing up Woody Goodman's plane.

• Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson) (Season 2) — Romantic interest of Wallace, daughter of a famous baseball player, and also a young mother.

• Don Lamb (Michael Muhney) (Season 3) (recurring previously) — Balboa County Sheriff, who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Is generally condescending and abrasive towards Veronica and Keith Mars. Murdered by Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband halfway through Season 3, after which Keith is appointed Acting Sheriff by the County Commissioner pending a special election.

Recurring characters

Family

• Kendall Casablancas (Charisma Carpenter) — Beaver and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Ostensibly an airhead, but revealed in Season Two to be a con woman. Has done time in jail for her lover Cormac Fitzpatrick, but was believed to have been murdered by him in the Season Three premiere.

• Terrence Cook (Jeffrey Sams) — Ex major-league baseball player and Jackie's formerly estranged father.

• Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin) — Oscar-winning A-list actor, Logan and Trina's father. Perpetrator of Lilly's murder. Assassinated by Kane Software's head of security, Clarence Wiedman, on the orders of Duncan Kane.

• Lynn Echolls (Lisa Rinna) — Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. An actress. Assumed to have committed suicide in mid-Season One by jumping off the Coronado Bridge after finding out her husband was chronically unfaithful and would leave her destitute if she sought a divorce. No body was found.

• Trina Echolls (Alyson Hannigan) — Logan's stepsister, Aaron's adopted daughter and Lynn's stepdaughter. An attention-seeking actress with little success.

• Alicia Fennel (Erica Gimpel) — Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of Season One and the beginning of Season Two.

• Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill) — Lilly and Duncan's mother. Loathed Veronica, at least partly out of the fear that Jake Kane was Veronica's biological father.

• Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) — Lilly and Duncan's father, and a software billionaire. Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and beyond; was having an affair with her at the start of Season One.

• Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) — Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Had a secret sexual relationship with Eli Navarro and Aaron Echolls. The story of her murder is shown in flashback in the pilot episode.

• Lianne Mars (Corinne Bohrer) — Veronica's estranged, alcoholic mother.

• Nathan Woods (Cress Williams) — Wallace's biological father with a shady past as an undercover cop.

Residents of Neptune

• Steve Batando (Richard Grieco) — Mindy O'Dell's struggling actor and drug addict ex-husband. Killed Lamb with a bat then was shot and killed by Sacks.

• Lloyd Blankenship (Steve Rankin) — Newspaper reporter and ally of Keith.

• Danny Boyd (Tayler Sheridan) — Liam Fitzpatrick's dim-witted cousin and accomplice.

• Harmony Chase (Laura San Giacomo) — Married woman whose attraction to Keith leads him to commit adultery.

• Leo D'Amato (Max Greenfield) — Former Sheriff's Deputy and Veronica's ex-boyfriend. Re-hired by Keith in Season 3.

• Liam Fitzpatrick (Rodney Rowland) — Formidable Irish Catholic gangster and drug dealer.

• Woody Goodman (Steve Guttenberg) — Owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune," although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of Season Two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League teams. Woody was killed when his private plane was blown up by explosives planted by Beaver Casablancas.

• Tom Griffith (Rick Peters) — Plastic surgeon and coke-addict who was asked by the Fitzpatricks to testify that Logan killed Felix. Logan retaliated by dating his daughter Hannah until he dropped his charges.

• Abel Koontz (Christian Clemenson) — Lilly Kane's falsely confessed murderer.

• Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris) — Public Defender and Mars family friend.

• Mindy O'Dell (Jaime Ray Newman) — Dean O'Dell's wife (later his widow); is having an affair with Hearst professor Hank Landry in Season Three. Mindy is eventually killed by Landry, though he claims it was an accident.

• Deputy Sacks (Brandon Hillock) — Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man.

• Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino) — Keith's rival private investigator. Announced his intentions to run for Sheriff against Keith in the special election.

• Clarence Wiedman (Christopher B. Duncan) — Head of security at Kane Software. Kills Aaron Echolls at the end of Season Two on Duncan's orders.

Neptune High

• Van Clemmons (Duane Daniels) — Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. Enlists Veronica's help on various matters.

• Vincent "Butters" Clemmons (Adam Hendershott) — A student at Neptune High; Van Clemmons' son.

• Corny (Jonathan Chesner) — Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's.

• Hector Cortez (Patrick Wolff) — A P.C.H. biker.

• Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic (James Jordan) — A janitor at Neptune High. Was wounded in Iraq. Previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Deceased.

• Molly Fitzpatrick (Annie Campbell) — Member of Fitzpatrick family and Felix's girlfriend until his death.

• Sean Friedrich (Kevin Sheridan) — 09er with a penchant for thievery and drug dealing.

• Jessica Fuller (Lisa Long) — President of the School Board.

• Gia Goodman (Krysten Ritter) — Woody Goodman's daughter, a student at Neptune High.

• Hannah Griffith (Jessy Schram) — An 09er student at Neptune High and daughter of the false witness to Logan killing Felix Toombs; Logan's girlfriend for several episodes.

• Deborah Hauser (Kari Coleman) — Divorced sex education teacher with a bitter approach to her students.

• Rebecca James (Paula Marshall) — School guidance counselor; briefly dated Keith Mars.

• Meg Manning (Alona Tal) — 09er cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive radical Christian parents; befriends Veronica halfway through season one. Dates Duncan late in season one, but is abandoned by him between Seasons One and Two. Survives the bus crash in the Season Two premiere, but is in a prolonged coma and later revealed to be pregnant with Duncan's child. Dies of a blood clot shortly after regaining consciousness. The child, a baby girl known at birth as Faith Manning and named Lilly Kane by Duncan after his sister, survives and Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents.

• Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco (James Molina) — PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan.

• Samuel Nelson Pope (Michael Kostroff) — Teacher of Future Business Leaders of America and one of the few ethical people of Neptune.

• Madison Sinclair (Amanda Noret) — Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Also has had an illicit affair with Sheriff Lamb. Claims in season three to have had a sexual liaison with Logan while he and Veronica were broken up.

• Felix Toombs (Brad Bufanda) — Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer.

• Troy Vandegraff (Aaron Ashmore) — Childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the early stretch of season one. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series.

Hearst College

• Tom Barry (Matt McKenzie) — Wallace's basketball coach who was diagnosed with a terminal brain disease and allowed himself to be killed to save his family the suffering.

• Bonnie Capistrano (Carlee Avers) — Promiscuous student who once carried Tim's baby until she was slipped RU-486 and lost the child.

• Fern Delgado (Cher Ferreyra) — Feminist and part of the Take Back the Night program.

• Chip Diller (David Tom) — President of the Pi Sig frat house. Veronica wrongly accuses him of rape in Season Two.

• Tim Foyle (James Jordan) — Teaching Assistant in Professor Landry's class; Veronica's self-described rival. Killed Dean O'Dell to frame Prof. Landry.

• Mason (Robert Ri'Chard) — Wallace's less-than-moral basketball team-mate.

• Max (Adam Rose) — Geeky student who provides test answers for cash and once fell for a prostitute.

• Mercer Hayes (Ryan Devlin) — Friend of Logan and Dick's, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room and has his own radio show. Uses GHB along with his associate Moe to rape Hearst girls.

• Hank Landry (Patrick Fabian) — Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer of Veronica. Is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife. Accidentally killed Mindy O'Dell.

• Nish (Chastity Dotson) — Former Editor of the Hearst Free Press.

• Claire Nordhouse (Krista Kalmus) — Feminist who tried to fake her own rape to help shut down the Pi Sig frat house.

• Cyrus O'Dell (Ed Begley, Jr.) — Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally. Employs Keith to help him out on a few occasions. Discovers his wife's infidelity and confronts her. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the last episode of the first mystery arc. His body is discovered by Weevil the next day.

• Bronson Pope (Michael Mitchell) — Animal rights activist and Mac's first post-Cassidy boyfriend.

• Moe Slater (Andrew McClain) — R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. Helps Mercer rape Hearst girls by giving him an alibi and drugging the girls for him.

Episodes and airings

Main article: List of Veronica Mars episodes

United States

The third season of the show currently airs in the United States and Canada at 9/8c on The CW. Because the show now airs as a lead-out following Gilmore Girls, a well-established series with a similar audience, instead of various re-runs of America's Next Top Model and sitcoms as it did during its UPN tenure, it has begun to draw stronger ratings.

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Veronica Mars on both UPN and The CW.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Première	Season Finale	TV Season	Network	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Tuesday 9:00PM	September 22 2004	May 10 2005	2004-2005	UPN	#148	2.5
2	Wednesday 9:00PM (from September 28 2005 to April 5 2006) Tuesday 9:00PM (as of April 11 2006)	September 28 2005	May 9 2006	2005-2006	UPN	#145	2.3
3	Tuesday 9:00PM	October 3 2006	May 22 2007	2006-2007	The CW	TBA	2.5 (Est. to Date)

During the first season, the show aired Tuesdays at 9 pm ET and garnered low ratings, coming in consistently last in its time slot behind The WB's One Tree Hill. However, the combination of its vocal fan base, strong critical praise, and the fact that it fit UPN's desired young female viewer demographic was enough to convince the network to renew the show for a second season. Veronica Mars is the only UPN drama series of the 2004–2005 season to survive into the 2005–2006 season, surviving the cancellation of higher-rated UPN shows Kevin Hill and Star Trek: Enterprise.

MTV presented an encore run of the series (only the first half of the first season); episodes aired about eight days later, on Wednesdays at 7 pm ET.

In July and August of 2005, UPN's corporate sibling CBS also aired repeats of the show on Fridays at 8 pm ET, in an effort to increase exposure for the series. The show's pilot episode was originally tested at CBS and almost picked up by the television network. The ratings it scored during its summer 2005 run created more audience traction on its home network, which could be seen when the second season began on UPN the following September.

For the second season, the show was moved to Wednesdays at 9 pm ET. Toward the end of the fifth cycle of Top Model in December 2005, the show garnered relatively high ratings, including one of its highest rated episodes of the season, "One Angry Veronica." However, the show's ratings fell in part because of the failure of South Beach, which ended up losing viewers and giving Veronica Mars a weak lead-in. Lost on ABC and FOX's American Idol, both scheduled in the same timeslot, also contributed to ratings woes for the show. In addition, several UPN stations regularly carried weekday college and NBA basketball games over the winter, causing Veronica Mars to be pre-empted and moved to a weekend timeslot that was inconvenient for its regular viewers.

On February 15, two days before the scheduled new episode "Versatile Toppings" was due to air, the episode was substituted with a rerun, and shortly afterward, UPN announced that the show would go on hiatus until the beginning of Top Model's new cycle in mid-March. This development was met with mixed reactions, with some afraid the show would lose momentum being pulled through February sweeps, and others thankful because the rest of the second season would air uninterrupted and with a much more solid lead-in. The show resumed on March 15, but still struggled in the ratings.

UPN had tested reruns on Tuesday night at 9 pm ET for a few weeks before the show resumed new Wednesday episodes to see if ratings were stable in that slot. The former Mars timeslot had been a disaster for the network since fall, with both Sex, Love & Secrets and Get This Party Started finishing dead last in the Nielsen season ratings chart for the 2005-2006 season. UPN decided to return the show to its former Tuesday timeslot on April 11, 2006 to avoid the Lost/American Idol juggernaut. Ratings dropped in the first week, but stabilized by the end of the season.

Overall, in its second season, the show ranked 145th out of 156 in the season ratings chart. However, UPN renewed the show for another year. Some viewers believe they were given a heads-up during the season two finale when Duncan Kane, answering his phone, asks, "C.W.?" and is answered, "It's a done deal" — although this exchange also fits the plotline rationally in that the caller's name is Clarence Wiedman ("C.W.") and he has just completed an important job for Duncan.

Airing of the show was consistent on Tuesday nights at 9pm in the network's final summer, although several UPN affiliates dropped the network immediately after May sweeps (like Salt Lake City station KPNZ), pre-empted UPN programming often (as in the case of Green Bay's WACY, which pre-empted the network's second hour where possible), or moved it to a low-viewed slot in the late night hours (like WBQC in Cincinnati).

Individual ratings for original episode broadcasts for Season two can be found on the individual episode pages.

On May 16 2006, it was confirmed that Veronica Mars would be part of the new The CW's Fall 2006–2007 lineup once The WB and UPN ceased operations in fall 2006. The show was initially given a 13-episode order, with the option for more if it did well in the Nielsen ratings. On November 16 2006, a full season order was confirmed for the third season, although the number of episodes was scaled back to 20 instead of the traditional 22. Although TV Guide suspects this is a sign that a fourth season is unlikely, the episode order of 20 more likely stemmed from the fact that The CW does not have enough money to produce 22.

In December 2006, Veronica Mars season three was added to the iTunes Store and landed in the top 10 of Season Pass subscriptions, ahead of such notable series as Lost season 3 and Scrubs season 6.

On January 19 2007, CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff announced that, while she was pleased with the gradual improvement of Veronica Mars' ratings, the show would be put on hiatus after February sweeps to air a new reality series, The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll, in order to launch that show, and prevent the out-of-sweeps rerun erosion common to serialized dramas. The hiatus began March 6 and ended May 1, at which time Veronica Mars returned for the last five episodes of the season, of which will have non-serialized plotlines. Ostroff did not confirm nor deny that the show will be renewed for a fourth season.

International

Since Canada's CTV began airing the series in June 2005 and Britain's LivingTV in October 2005, the show has expanded internationally to almost thirty other countries who have joined them.

• Australia: The show premiered on Channel Ten on November 28 2005, and new episodes aired every Monday night at 7:30pm, before being moved to Friday nights at 7:30pm. After 10 episodes had aired, Ten had advertised the 11th episode (as opposed to the 22nd) as the season finale, and the show was cancelled due to consistently low ratings. However, on June 16 2006, Ten returned the show at 9:30pm. It was later moved to a later timeslot of 10:30pm beginning with Friday August 4 2006. Ten started airing the second season on September 1 after the Friday night movie. It doesn't air every week due to the fact that long films or specials may air, and is played at different times, mostly around 10:30pm or 11:00pm. The season two finale aired on March 23, and season three is currently airing at the same timeslot as of March 30. On April 17, Channel Ten announced that the upcoming episode "Charlie Don’t Surf" would be the last episode to air for the time being, due to the return of Big Brother Australia. Due to the fact that Ten let normally summer-played shows like Smallville and Veronica Mars continue into the ratings period, Veronica Mars (along with Smallville, which was also subsequently replaced) will most likely return in the summer months (either December 2007 or January 2008, as summer in the Southern Hemisphere lasts from December through to February).

• Austria: The first season was aired on ATVplus. The pilot premiered on March 2 2006.

• Belgium: The second season finished airing on Kanaal Twee on September 13 2006. The pilot premiered on July 14 2006.

• Brazil: The third season airs on TNT on Saturdays at 03:00 pm and the first season airs on SBT on Tuesdays at 01:30 am.

• Bulgaria: The first season airs on Fox Life.

• Canada: Ratings on CTV were not good after the first season finished, and CTV elected not to continue showing the series. On June 12 2006, it was announced that Toronto station Sun TV had picked up the rights from CTV to air the series in Canada. The second season premiered on July 18 and July 19, both at 8pm ET, and aired on these two days over the summer. The third season premiered in simulcast with the CW this fall. Fox 44 which used to air WB shows, will now air CW shows this fall, Fox 44 services the Montreal area. Canadian cable channel W Network airs the first season, Saturdays at 10:00am and repeated Sundays at 4:00am ET.

• Czech Republic: The second season airs on TV Nova.

• Denmark: Seasons 1 & 2 have been airing on TV3. Season 3 is scheduled to start airing summer 2007. TV3 frequently uses Veronica Mars clips in their advertisement.

• Finland: The third season airs on subtv.

• France: 13eme Rue premiered the show on March 8 2006. M6 has aired the first season starting on February 19, 2007 and the second season starting on March 22 2007 every day of the week except on Saturdays and Sundays at 6:55 pm. The network has recorded satisfying ratings, almost reaching 2 millions viewers everyday. M6 aired the first eight episodes of the third season (starting April 23, 2007) as soon as the second one ended, in the same timeslot. The network will not air the rest of the season until The CW does. As usual in France, all episodes are dubbed in French.

• Germany: The first season was aired on ZDF on Saturdays at 2:00 pm. The pilot premiered on April 1, 2006. The ZDF announced that the last five episodes of season 1 would air Wednesday nights around 12:00 am, starting October 4, 2006. Season 2 will start on April 21, 2007; Saturday at 12:20am.

• Greece: The first season is currently shown on Star Channel on Sundays.

• Hungary: Viasat 3 airs the first season for the first time in Hungary, from April 7, 2007.

• Iceland: The second season is currently being shown on the national television station, RÚV.

• Ireland: The pilot episode premiered on July 10, 2006 and the first season is being shown on RTÉ One on weekdays at 2:30 pm. Unusually, it is counterprogrammed against the usual more "youth oriented" afternoon schedule on RTÉ Two and before ER deliberately aiming the show at a much wider general audience as opposed to a teen audience. The second season was aired and cut short half way through the season. RTÉ One are putting it back on air on October 7, 2006 at 5pm.

• Israel: The first season of the show aired on the cable channel Xtra HOT starting on January 1, 2005 and rerun on Israel's Channel 10 starting in January 2006. The second season started airing on Xtra HOT in March 2006.

• Italy: The first and second season is currently airing on pay-tv FOX every Friday at 9.00 pm and every Sunday at 4.35 pm. From June, 18 2007 the repeat of the series on Italia 1 from Mondays to Fridays.

• Latin America: The third season is currently running on TNT Latin America on Saturdays at 3:00 pm.

• New Zealand: The first season of the show has been aired on TV2 at 7:30pm on Friday Nights. The first season finale screened on December 9 2005. Season 2 will start playing on April 29 2007 at 2:00 pm taking the place of One Tree Hill which is on hiatus. The first screening will show two episodes unlike the others.

• Norway: Finished airing the second season on TVNorge. Season 3 scheduled to start spring 2007.

• Poland: Finished airing the second season on TVN. Season 3 has not yet been scheduled.

• Philippines: The third season is currently airing on ETC Entertainment Central on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm.

• Portugal: Season one is airing on RTP1 starting April 14th on Saturdays at 3:45 pm.

• Russia: The second season is airing on NTV at 4:00 am four days a week: Monday-Thursday.

• Singapore: The first season is airing on MediaCorp TV Channel 5, on weekdays from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

• Slovakia: The second season is airing on TV Markíza on Monday to Friday at 13:20

• Slovenia: The rerun of first season on Kanal A on Sundays at 11:40 am.

• South Africa: The second season was aired on M-Net on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm. The Series channel is now showing it on Mondays.

• Spain: The first season of the show is currently airing on Cosmopolitan at 21:45pm.

• Sweden: The second season airs on SVT2.

• Switzerland: The first season has been aired from April 7 to May 10 2006, on SF zwei.

• Thailand: The second season is airing on True Series on Thursdays at 10:00pm.

• Turkey: The first season is airing on S'nek Tv, Digiturk.

• Ukraine: The first and second season is now showing on Novy TV.

• United Kingdom: Season 3 is currently airing on Trouble at 9:00pm on Tuesdays.

Future of the show

On March 16, 2007, E!'s Kristin Veitch posted an entry on her blog stating that Veronica Mars will not be returning for a fourth season on the CW network, but retracted its certainty hours later. On the same day, Whitney Pastorek wrote in the online edition of Entertainment Weekly, "Veronica Mars has had a good run, but the Pussycat Dolls' well-rated reality series probably just ended it." However, in an EW.com edition two days earlier, Veronica Mars headed the list of a feature called "Readers to Networks: Save These Shows!"

It was later announced that the producers were producing a trailer (showing a shift of the main character's storyline and setting four years into the future, in which Veronica is an FBI agent) in an attempt to secure a fourth season. Creator Rob Thomas quickly fired back that while nothing was set in stone, it was an idea to pitch to the network for a fourth season if possible.

On May 9, 2007, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reported in his blog that president of The CW, Dawn Ostroff had responded well to a trailer for the reworked show. According to this post, a title change for the show is also being considered. The show's chances are said to be looking better following the cancellation of the long-running CW show Gilmore Girls.

DVD releases

Region 1 (USA/Canada)

Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season
File:VM S1 DVD.jpg	Set Details			Special Features
	22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Subtitles: English, Spanish and French			Extended Episode "Pilot" Unaired Opening Sequence Over 20 Minutes of Unaired Scenes
	Release Date
	United States	October 11 2005

Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season
File:VM S2 DVD.jpg	Set Details			Special Features
	22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Subtitles: Spanish and French			2 Featurettes "A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars" "Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective" Gag Reel Additional Scenes, including: Alternate Ending to "My Mother, the Fiend" Note: Episode recaps removed from all episodes.
	Release Date
	United States	August 22 2006

Region 2 (Europe, Italy)

The first season will be released in November 2007 in Italy by Warner Bros.

Region 4 (Australia)

Warner Bros. Australia have plans to release the show on DVD, but have encountered some legal problems caused by music licensing. The first season was originally slated for a 2006 release, but was postponed soon after. It is still unclear, at this stage, whether or not these legal issues will be resolved anytime soon. TV Week have stated that the DVD will not be released, and it be best to purchase it on Amazon.com.

Reception

• LA Weekly

"In this smart, engaging series about a former popular girl turned crime-solving high school outcast, the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick"

• Chicago Sun Times

"On Veronica Mars, wholesome is out; gritty reality is in. The show never soft-pedals the timeless, fundamental truth that high school is hell"

• The Boston Phoenix

"Veronica Mars is a character study masquerading as a high-school drama"

• The Village Voice

"Veronica Mars is a sharp teen noir in the making. Tinged with class resentment and nostalgia for Veronica's lost innocence, this series pulses with promise"

• PopMatters

"Equal parts intrigue, drama, and humor, Veronica Mars is also a lesson book for the disenfranchised. Few tv series aim so high; even fewer succeed so well"

• Time magazine

"One of the 6 best dramas on TV"

• Joss Whedon

"Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those. (...) These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows."

• Kevin Smith

"[Veronica Mars] is, hands-down, the best show on television right now, and proof that TV can be far better than cinema."

• Stephen King

"Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe, and the result is pure nitro."

"[W]hy is Veronica Mars so good? It bears little resemblance to life as I know it, but I can't take my eyes off the damn thing."

• Ed Brubaker

"The best mystery show ever made in America."

TV critics' Top Ten lists

2005

• MSN TV

2005

• AFI's TV Programs Of The Year
• Village Voice
• Chicago Tribune
• Entertainment Weekly #6
• Newsday #5
• People Weekly #7
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #9
• Pop Matters #5
• San Jose Mercury-News #5
• Time - Best Returning Shows #4
• USA Today #6
• Ain't It Cool News #2

2006

• Chicago Tribune #1
• Ain't It Cool News #1
• Metacritic.com #6

Awards

2005-2006 IV Awards

• Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kristen Bell (Won)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Enrico Colantoni (Nominated)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jason Dohring (Nominated)
• Best Individual Episode of a Drama Series: 2x22 - Not Pictured (Won)

American Film Institute Awards

• Television Programs of the Year - 2005 (Won)

Family Television Awards

• Favorite Father/Daughter - 2006 - Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni (Won)

International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Awards

• The Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Television - 2006 (Nominated)

Satellite Awards

• Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
• Actress in a Series, Drama - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)

Saturn Awards

• Best Actress on Television - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
• Best Network Television Series - 2006 (Nominated)
• Best Actress on Television - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Won)
• Best Actress on Television - 2007 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)

Teen Choice Awards

• Choice TV Breakout Show - 2005 (Nominated)
• Choice TV Breakout Performance, Female - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
• Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure - 2006 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)
• Choice TV Sidekick - 2006 - Percy Daggs III(Nominated)
• Choice TV Parental Unit - 2006 - Enrico Colantoni (Nominated)

Television Critics Association Awards

• Outstanding New Program of the Year - 2005 (Nominated)
• Individual Achievement in Drama - 2005 - Kristen Bell (Nominated)

Writers Guild of America Awards

• On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television) - 2007 (Nominated)
• Episodic Drama - 2006
  • Episode: 2x01 - Normal Is the Watchword - Rob Thomas (Writer) (Nominated)

Fan campaigns

Veronica Mars has attracted a loyal and devoted fanbase that includes internet communities. Many of them have taken part in minor and major campaigns to bring more viewers and publicity to Veronica Mars in an effort to ensure the show's success.

Among the fanbase are a considerable number of influential television and movie writers, drawn by the show's noir edge and quip-filled writing. These include, notably, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), who has called Veronica Mars "the best show ever" and who made a guest appearance on the Season Two episode "Rat Saw God"; and Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma), who guest-starred in the Season Two episode "Driver Ed". Both men have directed their own adherents toward the show, with Whedon sending out calls to Firefly and Buffy fans on their various websites to save Veronica Mars when it was put on hiatus.

A group of devoted fans on LiveJournal who call themselves Cloud Watchers have been dedicated to this effort since the spring of 2006 in light of the approaching merger of UPN and The WB into The CW. On May 9, 2006, the group hired a plane to fly between the UPN offices in Los Angeles and the future site of The CW headquarters in Burbank, pulling a banner that read "RENEW VERONICA MARS! CW 2006!" to get the attention of network executives, the press, and anyone else in the Los Angeles area. They had previously sent future CW executives, those in charge at the new network's parent companies, and influential people in the entertainment media care packages including binoculars, information regarding the plane's flight plan, and Veronica Mars-inspired gifts.

Veronica Mars was officially renewed for a third season on May 18, 2006, to air on The CW Tuesdays at 9pm ET starting on October 3, 2006, but fans did not stop campaigning for the show. The Cloud Watchers started a new campaign, this one to bring a larger viewership to Veronica Mars by donating DVD sets of Season One to libraries across the United States, with a goal of reaching the top 100 Nielsen markets and each of the 50 states. They reached both these goals as of August 14, 2006, and reached their new goal of 500 donated sets on September 5, 2006.

With the show's third season order cut from 22 episodes to 20, a move that was met with much alarm and dismay — many of the show's diehard fans swung into action once more. Fans at the Television Without Pity website began organizing a flyer campaign to raise awareness of the show, and increase viewership in time for the show's return to The CW on May 1, 2007.

In early March 2007, Save Veronica Mars — a fan-run website that was instrumental in spreading the word when fans campaigned successfully for a second season — returned with a new, two-pronged purpose, to ensure a fourth season renewal, and make sure that the show stays in production long enough to have a sufficient amount of episodes for syndication. It has been reported that over 30,000 flyers were printed.

Music

The theme song for the show is The Dandy Warhols' hit single "We Used to Be Friends", from their 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House. Beginning with season three, the theme song was remixed in a softer piano style with dark and vibrant electronic beats to reflect the more noir-influenced opening credits. The composer for the show, Josh Kramon, writes the original music heard in the background of most of the show. The sound, which is constructed to convey the film noir themes and hence is different from typical television scores, is highly reminiscent of Air and Zero 7. Air's music has been featured in certain episodes.

Soundtrack

Veronica Mars: Original Television Soundtrack, a song compilation from the series' first and second seasons, was released by Nettwerk Records on September 27, 2005, containing the following 14 songs:

1. We Used to Be Friends (theme song) - The Dandy Warhols
2. I Hear The Bells - Mike Doughty
3. I Know I Know I Know - Tegan and Sara
4. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
5. No Sleep Tonight - The Faders
6. Dakota - Stereophonics
7. Sway - The Perishers
8. Long Time Coming - Delays
9. On Your Porch - The Format
10. Ocean City Girl - Ivy
11. Momentary Thing - Something Happens
12. The Way You Are - 46bliss
13. Lost & Found - Adrienne Pierce
14. Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather

Merchandise

In addition to the DVD sets and soundtrack album released, a set of four collectible minibusts have been produced by CineQuest.

Filming location

Much of the show's scenes are filmed at Stu Segall Productions in San Diego. The setting of Neptune High for the first and second seasons was located in Oceanside, California.

The show's third season setting of Hearst College is fictional, with scenes primarily filmed on the campus of San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California . As of 2006, some scenes were filmed at the San Diego City College and at the private Academy of Our Lady of Peace; not far from the other filming locations. Filming on the UCSD campus took place in the Tenaya residence hall located on the John Muir College within UCSD, in the Warren Mall in Earl Warren College, and near the Main Gym. Filming on the USD campus took place in the Camino/Founders residence halls in the College of Arts and Sciences.