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136 of 162 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The day the CW killed Veronica Mars (no spoilers), May 17, 2007
Today the CW officially cancelled the best show on television (understandably, some would say, due to abysmally low ratings). There lingers a chance that the series might be revitalized in a different form, but the hammer has officially fallen. Veronica Mars is unceremoniously over.
Season 3 was the first (and last) season of the show to air on the fledgling CW network. It took a different approach to storytelling than seasons 1 and 2, featuring two separate mystery arcs and a number of one-episode mysteries, rather the season-long affairs for which the show had become known and loved. Despite the change, season 3 works as excellent, intriguing television. The writing is witty and the acting in sharp, as before.
The creator of the show, Rob Thomas, once heard the series described as "Chinatown meets Heathers." That's a perfect description. I would say it also owes heavily to Twin Peaks. Chinatown happens to be my all-time favorite movie. I'm a noir junky, and V-Mars serves it up in lusty, lipsticked, smoke-tinted glory with every episode. Many people are turned off by the concept of a high school/college girl solving mysteries. And they should be. As a premise, this show would easily fail in the hands of most producers. But Thomas and co-writers have created something magical and perfect here. The heroine Veronica is sarcastic, at times mean, overly hard-boiled, and full of acerbic wit. There's nothing candy-coated about Veronica. First time viewers often disregard the show as "another teen drama," and for this reason more than any other it failed to attract a sustaining audience. I urge you to give it a chance. Especially if you have a sarcastic mind, if you've lost faith in the basically good nature of humanity, if noir interests you, or if you just like an intelligent mystery or exceptionally well-acted drama, this may be what you're looking for. It was for me.
Admittedly, I watch very little television, but to put things in perspective this is a short list of the TV shows I've watched and loved over the years: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Freaks and Geeks, Deadwood, and Wonderfalls. I would place Veronica Mars at the top of this delightful heap. (Actually, looking at that list, every show was cancelled before its time save BSG which is still on the air. Maybe that says something. Maybe not.) Recently, my wife and I started re-watching season 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars with a friend. His comment after one episode was this, "This show shouldn't be on television. It's too... challenging, too beautiful." I couldn't have said it any better. Unfortunately, our friend was right in the end. V-Mars was too challenging, too beautiful. And now it's gone.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Regardless of a mixed season, S3 DVD delivers on extras (finally!), October 30, 2007
Heads-up: This review is for the S3 DVD set as a DVD set, and not an editorial about the quality of Season 3. (For the record, I'd give most S3 episodes a solid 4-stars) This review is more for the VM fans who don't need to be "sold" on the series, but are deciding whether to shell-out $45 for the DVDs, given that the last 2 DVD sets were pretty skimpy on the extras.
The Season 3 DVD set, while it still doesn't have commentaries (not everyone is as chatty as Matt Groening and Co., I guess), it finally includes a few substantial behind-the-scenes extras, most notably, a 90-minute (or so) discussion with Rob Thomas, who walks us through clips and explains his choices. Very episode commentary-like, just more efficient-- you go through a lot of good clips from the whole season.
Chapters from the RT commentary I especially liked were on favorite guest characters, favorite pairings (Veronica and her dad; VM and Logan; VM and Duncan was not included here, mercifully).
It also includes RT's 14-minute mini-episode presentation for the CW heads that takes Veronica to the FBI in season 4. It's fun to watch, even if it DOES make you kind of sad because it never came to fruition, and instead you now have to sit through a whole convoluted thing of Heroes to see Kristen Bell on TV for 3 minutes. (Hypothetically, of course, as Heroes is, like, awesome!)
In conclusion, a good buy for established VM fans who wished for extras on the S1 and S2 DVDs.
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36 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Veronica Mars Season Three (There should be more) , June 29, 2007
The CW has got to be the most pathetic TV network (next to FOX, where it seems no shows last any longer than 2 years, but we get TWO NIGHTS of AMERICAN IDIOT, I mean, IDOL!!, yet great shows on FOX such as Tru Calling, Dark Angel and Firefly bit the dust far too soon).
The CW killed their best show, Veronica Mars, by halting it's third season by showing America a generic RockStar/American Dufus(oops!Idol) televised search for...THE NEXT PUSSYCAT DOLL????!!!
When this happened, I was like, This is TRULY the end of new quality TV being aired.
Veronica Mars was a breath of fresh air to the TV airwaves after losing BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL (yet another show that was patheticly cancelled by the CW's former, WB, way too soon). Veronica Mars had great, young actors, clever dialogue and involved great twists and turns with it's crime solving/mystery story-telling..But, then again, maybe that's why the show didn't last: IT TOLD STORIES and INVOLVED ACTING!!! Unlike the irrational forms of "entertainment" fodder that, sadly, too many americans swallow and think they are getting quality TV..
The only show that is worth watching on the CW now is SUPERNATURAL (Some of you may say what about SMALLVILLE? Sorry, that kid who plays Clark Kent just isn't believable as the boy of still, I mean steel, my opinion). Let's hope SUPERNATURAL won't get the Third Season axe like Veronica Mars with the CW pre-empting the show with the likes of Searching for the new Boy Band!
Glad there are the Discovery and Sci Fi Channels...
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