Monday, March 19, 2007

Veronica Mars, FBI Agent?

So if you care about Veronica Mars, you've likely heard the very strange reports that there's a possibility that the show will come back next season in completely new form, skipping 4 years ahead to Veronica as a full-fledged FBI agent. (The other possibility is that the show will be cancelled.)

I don't get this at all.

I mean, true, Veronica Mars has crappy ratings. It hasn't ever done well and it's not likely that that it'll ever do well in its current format because new viewers just aren't being attracted. And since its audience is so small to begin with, they might as well basically start all over with a new concept. But this? Really?

Basically this would be a spinoff. Except it would be a spinoff with the main character. It's assumed that none of the current cast besides Veronica will remain, even Keith, which I suppose makes sense because she'd be an adult, and you don't expect her dad and her high school friends to be around all the time. So it'd be Veronica, a whole new cast, and...what? Some kind of hip, young, crime procedural? I mean, yeah, we've seen Veronica solve some real murder cases and such, but mostly she's been doing quirky favors for her classmates. And her style has been kind of anti-establishment: she's very much PI, going behind the Sheriff's back at least. I'm not sure I can see her having to do everything according to proper protocol...

I guess that's what's confusing me about this new concept. I know that Rob Thomas and co. have said that they really just want to keep making the show, no matter what form it's in, but it seems to me that this would really be an entirely new show. Really, they might as well give the show an entirely different name. But I mean...will it be the same Veronica? 4 years is plenty of time to change, I suppose, but the old viewers are still going to have 18-year-old Veronica fresh in their minds and that's going to be a weird adjustment. Yes, other shows have done the jump-ahead-in-time thing, but I don't know that any of them have been all that successful...

I don't know, I'm conflicted. Despite my disappointment this season, I'm still pretty invested in the show, and it's probably going to be hard for me to not watch it next season, if it gets renewed. Of course I can't rule out the possibility of it actually being good, but without Keith, without Logan? I'm not sure cancellation would be such a bad thing.

Edited to add: I found this blog post that talks about the implausibility of Veronica becoming an FBI agent. She makes a lot of really good points. VM has always required a good dose of "suspend your disbelief" but this just might be too much to swallow.

In related news, it's looking more and more likely that Gilmore Girls will not be returning next season. I really hope that's true, because this is really the perfect time to end the show. Luke and Lorelai are on the road to a reunion and there won't be any time to mess it up again, and Rory's graduating from college and probably moving onto some fabulous, unrealistically perfect job. Seriously, just leave it be.

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