Ack! Veronica Mars in trouble!

[jlh]

I got a comment from scrabble (thanks, Rach) alerting me that Kristin of E! was reporting that VM was cancelled, so of course I ran over to see, and since then there's been an update:

And according to CW insiders, the CW has not officially canceled Veronica Mars. However, here's the catch: They are currently considering a different format for the fourth season. From what I hear, that format would leap four years into the future and focus on Veronica Mars as an FBI agent. Aside from returning star Kristen Bell (duh), the rest of the cast is yet to be determined, but it isn't likely that many of her current co-stars would be on board.

So bottom line: Veronica Mars could be: 1) spinning off into a new format, 2) returning in her college years or 3) getting canceled.

Kristen is asking folks to comment on her blog entry with support for the show, or send a letter or postcard to Dawn Ostrow at the CW (the address is in the link).

I'm going to write in, but I'm of two minds about the proposed changes. On the one hand, I already wasn't looking forward to them returning in her college years though I was waiting to see those last four episodes to make up my mind. Seeing her as a young FBI agent would be interesting because she'd be at the low end of the totem pole and a frustrated Veronica is a motivated Veronica. Needless to say, we'd get out of the Veronica/Logan death spiral; while I'd greatly miss Logan as a character, if they're not going to do anything with him except have him make up and break up with Veronica then sheesh, let him live his own goddamned life. On the other hand, it could become just another police procedural, NUMB3RS with a younger protagonist, which would be a shame. Given our love of the rest of the cast (and with the possible and still unlikely exceptions of Mac and Keith, who could really remain?) it could be an horrific shark-jumping moment.

So what do you think? Here's a poll, and talk to me because I'm all sad now.
[Poll #947813]

Comments

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

Very, very tough call. I don't want cancellation, that's for sure. But season three has mostly sucked, so unless they pour a little more money in and give us Wallace, Mac and Weevil all the time, I'm not so sure about another season at Hearst. So I guess I'm going to have to vote for the FBI version, despite the danger of it becoming boring - I mean, even Keith would have to be secondary, unless Veronica would be part of the L.A. FBI office and Neptune is close enough to L.A. to still make regular contact possible.

If they *do* throw Veronica into the FBI, I just hope they are going to show that she's going to run against walls. I really think she'd have a hard time deferring to and playing with others, given that she has run her own game ever since she was sixteen.

[tobymalfoy.livejournal.com]

Moviehole.net says they have confirmation from Tina Majorino's reps that the show has been canceled: http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070316_bye_bye_veronica_mars_update.html

Still wouldn't take that at face value yet, though.

[tobymalfoy.livejournal.com]

And now they removed the confirmation. So... Not as canceled as an hour ago?

Waah! I don't want it to be canceled, but I don't want it to continue as half-arsed as it has been. But that FBI idea doesn't really appeal to me either. *sighs*

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

This actually really encourages me, because I haven't even been able to watch VM lately. I'm too harsh on my TV shows, I know, but the first season was so amazing, and then I gritted my teeth through most of the second season, hoping it would get better, and the third season... ick. Just pushed too many buttons for me, and lacked the brilliant this-could-really-happen sense of the first season. But the first season was so good! I want them to get back to that, with less of the dumb romance drama and plot-driven stupidity (seriously, on a campus with a serial rapist? that's how everyone acts? were these people stoned all through their own college years?) and "whee, look, we did something shocking just so we could shock you, ha ha, bet you didn't see that coming." I would really like for VM to stop sucking, but they've had two years to pull themselves out of that spiral and they've only gotten deeper IMO. Maybe a big change is what they need. And I'm just hoping, because on some level I suspect you're right and it will devolve into a formulaic crime drama (Veronica as Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs every week coming to a TV screen near you!) and cancellation will come as a mercy. /rant

[darth-kittius.livejournal.com]

It's a tough call -- I love Veronica and I don't want to see it end yet! I'm not ready!! But at the same time a format change like that usually signifies the end to a show anyway, they only make it a season or so. I can't say I'd totally *hate* the concept. I just hope they wouldn't get too 'alias' with it... I like the fact that it's different, she's young and able to make mistakes -- not to mention some of her methods are slightly less than allowed for the FBI.

[scrabble.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw the update.

I think the FBI idea could be really great. When I thought for sure it was cancelled, I thought it was kind of a shame that they couldn't bring it back at a later date because clearly the college thing is not working so well for whatever reason. As long as they kept at least a couple characters besides Veronica and Keith. You don't want to make them entirely new, but keeping all of them would be silly.

On the other hand, it's been feeling cancelled for a few weeks. Chris Lowell has a part in that Grey's Anatomy spin-off, which, sure, could work just fine if they did the FBI thing and Piz was not in it, or he was not in season four for whatever reason. Then there was some rumour that KB was doing a Broadway show, though that fell through. I tend to believe Kristen's first inclination here.