Sunday, April 22, 2007

Mars Redacts

Veronica Mars Tuesday 5.1 (The CW) Return: Oh, relax. This is one of the last times you’ll have to read about Veronica Mars here—ever. Inside TV-biz buzz says that our dear Veronica has already been canceled by The CW, and this Season 3 runoff will culminate in a two-hour series finale on May 22. Well, unless there’s a pressing Search for the Next Pussycat Doll reunion/chlamydia-screening special, then forget about closure. On the upside, this will free star Kristen Bell up for deservedly bigger and better things; she was too good for UPN, and definitely above a leftovers network that would cast her aside for far-less-talented hoochies and skanks (Top Models, Pussycat Dolls, One Tree Hillers, take your pick). And, since you’re not watching Veronica Mars on TV, be sure and check out the DVD sets and send me all kinds of “Hey, why did they cancel this great show?” queries later this year, OK?

30 Rock Thursday 4.26 (NBC) Season Finale: Oh, relax. This is the last time you’ll have to read about 30 Rock here—until next season! That’s right: Tina Fey’s unlikely little hit will be back in the fall, which is more than you can say for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the other “Saturday Night Live show.” True to TV, the 30 Rock gang are heading into summer hiatus in the season finale, and wackiness ensues as Liz comes off her boyfriend high, Tracy’s still missing and Jack’s marriage to the brittle-boned British bird looms—can Dr. Spaceman help? Oh yeah.

October Road Thursday 4.26 (ABC) Series Finale: ABC had the perfect Thursday night with Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy and Men in Trees—until they pissed it all away on October Road, a maudlin 9 p.m. dramarama that might as well have “Just flip over to ER or Shark—hurry!” in the opening credits. Take heart: Men in Trees returns May 10, and October Road will fade into the television ether with …


Six Degrees Friday 4.27 (ABC.com) Online Burn-Off: Or, “Cross-Media Platform Repurpose,” as they probably say in the Wide World of Web. Like NBC’s The Black Donnellys (in case you didn’t notice), Six Degrees is playing out its final episodes online instead of in primetime—which makes perfect sense, to have a star-heavy multimillion-dollar series streaming on the Internet alongside no-budget YouTube videos of geeks in bathrobes smacking each other in the nuts with plastic light sabers. Also, as with the Donnellys, ABC is making the mistake of rolling the episodes out weekly (like it’s TV) instead of making them all available at once (like it’s, oh, the Internet).

Lake Placid 2 Saturday 4.28 (Sci-Fi) I’ll admit it: I actually paid money to see the original Lake Placid in ’99—it was a different century then, and Bridget Fonda was still hot. Not that she isn’t currently hot, I assume; just haven’t seen her since Monkeybone (yeah, paid for that one, too). In this long-unawaited sequel, the babies of the giant killer crocodiles of Lake Placid (which still isn’t the actual Lake Placid, just a placid lake prone to giant killer crocodiles) are grown and out for blood, and they can only be stopped by … John Schneider and Cloris Leachman? What, they couldn’t get Bridg?

The Bad Girls Club Tuesday 5.1 (Oxygen) Season Finale: God, I love this show. Sure, it perpetuates a certain stereotype of “crazy women” who fly into jealous psycho rages and/or crying jags after a few drinks, but come on … we all know one. Some of us even have a scar or bar ejection or two. Ahem. Anyway, imagine a Reality House filled with eight of ‘em while you’re safe on the other side of the screen. Beats the hell out of ESPN 2.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been a VM fan since season 2 and caught up on how amazing its first season was through DVDs. My love for the show will keep me in fool's denial until May 17th when we will probably hear of its demise.

On the upside, I am comforted to know that VM will be back in a couple weeks and the Pussycat Dolls will have ended. Move aside ladies, the varsity team is coming in to show you what true female empowerment looks like.

Unknown said...

Veronica Mars deserves to be canceled. It ran its course after S1. S2 limped along with its stupid coma baby/Veronica/Duncan/twu luv storyline. The best part of S2, and the only thing worth watching, was the Felix murder mystery. It had resonance. It meant something to the viewers and to Logan and Weevil. Veronica couldn't be bothered with the bus crash until the end of the year. The whole retcon of her rape by Cassidy and Duncan made me ill and totally killed any respect I had for Rob Thomas. I didn't think he could do much worse, but I was wrong. Season 3 has brought us feminazis, male rape and accompanying jokes, Madison, sexual jealousy issues (Mr. Thomas' via Veronica) and Piz.

So please hear my pleas, CW, cancel this dreck and let Jason Dohring, Tina Majorino, Enrico Conlantoni, and Francis Capri go on to bigger and better things. They deserve it after having to put up with their character assassinations this season.

Anonymous said...

Maybe people might be sick of hearing you promote Veronica Mars because you do things like insult fans of PCD, ANTM, and OTH at the same time. What happened to the days of just telling people show is great and asking them to tune in if you have the time. No wonder there is so much animosity towards the VM-fandom right now. Too many VM fans think you catch LESS flies with honey.

And, I am a FORMER VM fan talking here.

This show has degraded into a parody of itself in Season 3. During the 06-07 television season I have found shows like PCD, ANTM, and OTH to be far more respectful of women and women's sexuality than VM ever was. The writers of VM have made it very clear this season that any female who has sex will get punished for it while all the males on the show get high-fives (unless they are raped, then they are made fun of). So, I guess it's an insult to sexuality in general then.

People may feel aspects of PCD and ANTM exploit the models/dancers for shock value, but at least these two shows appreciate the artistic aspects of singing, dancing, and modeling while celebrating ambitious women.

Anonymous said...

I also definitely agree with mia about letting the stellar supporting actors Jason Dohring, Tina Majorino, Enrico Conlantoni, and Francis Capra out of their contracts so they can go on to bigger and better things. It was a travesty to see how their characterizations took a back seat to the titular character this season - especially when I find Veronica Mars to be the least sympathetic and most self-entitlement obsessed "heroine" on television. I wish this show had ended after Season 1 and spared itself the slow and painful self destruction of a great concept surrounded by great actors. The message of this show has been lost and the mythology has been butchered.

Anonymous said...

What they should do is mesh Bad Girls Club and Scarred into one reality show. I was just disappointed I didn't get to see more fighting with less of people getting kicked out for fighting, therefore perpetuating more fighting.

Dom!