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TV's Best of the Decade: No. 31 -- 'Veronica Mars'

Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell's teenage gumshoe series kicks off our Best of the Aughts list

By Daniel Fienberg Tuesday, Dec 1, 2009 12:32 PM

<p> Kristen Bell of 'Veronica Mars'</p>

 Kristen Bell of 'Veronica Mars'

Credit: UPN

 I intentionally and calculatedly decided to start my countdown of the Top 31 TV Shows of the Aughts with an entry that shows the vagaries of preparing a list of this sort. 

 
Had UPN cancelled "Veronica Mars" after its first season, as bloodless ratings-driven network logic would have deemed reasonable, Rob Thomas' teenage gumshoe drama would have had a far higher place in the decade's pantheon, certainly in the Top 20 and maybe in the Top 15. I would have lamented the show's all-too-swift passing, but I would have celebrated the one exquisitely crafted season that viewers were lucky enough to get.
 
But "Veronica Mars" wasn't cancelled after one season. 
 
UPN (and then The CW) tried everything to thank the show's fans and to get the series a bigger audience, experimenting with different time slots and different programming strategies, attempting to finesse Thomas and company into different storytelling structures and themes. 
 
Somehow, "Veronica Mars" survived for two additional seasons and, in the process of those additional 42 episodes, much of what was so great about the first season got lost and diluted, many of the characters viewers fell in love with were compromised or marginalized. And my enjoyment declined. And declined.
 
But it's a tribute to the greatness of "Veronica Mars" Season One that the show comes in at No. 31 on my Best of the Decade list. 
 
[More after the break...]
 
The best thing about "Veronica Mars," in the early going, was how unlikely it all was. A perky female high school gumshoe? Sam Spade as a teenage girl? V.I. Warshawski with an over-protective father and a curfew? With "Nancy Drew" or "Harriet the Spy" as a template, there was every indication that "Veronica Mars" could be successful, but not that it could be good, that it could be smarter and funnier and spunkier than any female-driven drama the Big Four were programming at the time.
 
Most of the show's success can probably be credited to Thomas, who approached his distaff heroine with an amazing amount of respect and treated his core audience with even more. Perhaps because of Thomas' background in writing books for young adults, he didn't condescend to younger viewers, didn't given them a version of teen life told through the filter of what their parents would want them to see. 
 
"Veronica Mars" was dark. "Veronica Mars" was pitch black. It dealt with murder and rape and drugs. It also dealt with the fickleness of teenage popularity, the general instability of having to be a kid one moment and a grownup the next and it featured one of the most believable father-daughter relationships ever depicted on the small or big screen.
 
Of course, nothing Thomas was doing would have worked if he hadn't landed the perfect leading lady in Kristen Bell, a pint-sized relative unknown capable of being brassy and hard-nosed one moment and vulnerable the next. No matter how totally "Veronica Mars" unravelled in the second and third seasons, the show never found Bell's limitations. Hollywood is currently in the process of attempting to turn Bell into a generic movie star, which is both a bad idea and an idea doomed to failure.  Between her work on "Veronica Mars," her guest spot on "Party Down" and even in moments during her wretchedly written "Heroes" arc, it's been clear that Bell is a Grade A television star just waiting for her next script from a Thomas or an Amy Sherman-Palladino. Why feel the responsibility to waste Bell on romantic comedies with Josh Duhamel? Sigh.
 
Working with Bell made everybody around her better. She created chemistry with every member of the cast, pushing Enrico Colantoni to the best work of his career and creating a tiny, but devoted fanbase around Jason Dohring. 
 
Over three seasons, other actors doing excellent recurring and guest work on "Veronica Mars" included Harry Hamlin, Kyle Secor, Ken Marino, Max Greenfield, Michael Muhney, Ryan Hansen, Kyle Gallner, Charisma Carpenter, Francis Capra, Tina Majorino and Amanda Seyfried. The show became a full universe.
 
There was a downside to Bell's centrality in that certain actors -- Percy Daggs III and Teddy Dunn, for example -- who worked well *with* Bell, just weren't able to sustain any scenes without her, causing problems in later seasons when the writers needed to introduce new characters and Duncan and Wallace became sadly superfluous.
 
But in that first season, again using his literary background as a foundation, Thomas unspooled a complicated and involving 22-episode mystery around Lilly Kane's murder, while also working in regular Encyclopedia Blonde-style weekly puzzles. The conclusion of the Lilly Kane arc may not have been flawless, but it was as good as it gets when it comes to that sort of thing.
 
Then, in the next season, Thomas decided (was told) to tone down the serialization, to make the series more accessible to new viewers. The dumbing down of the show did nothing to improve ratings and many things to mute what was so unique about the show. The mysteries became duller, the relationships became more strainer and forced. The second season had the genius of Steve Guttenberg, which salvaged it at least somewhat, but the third season had almost nothing to recommend it, unless you happened to be a big fan of Chris Lowell's Piz.
 
Perhaps Rob Thomas loved the show and its cast and its crew too much? Perhaps he was too willing to do anything at all to keep the gang together? Perhaps he was too grateful for the opportunities the network was giving him to pick fights?
 
With the show on the bubble, once again, Thomas wrote a somewhat bitter and nihilistic Season Three finale that resolved little and left our main character in as emotionally precarious a position as she'd ever faced. Because I'm not a big devotee of closure (more on that when we reach my ranking for "The Sopranos" later in the month), I loved the "Veronica Mars" finale, but I know I'm in the minority. I know I'm also in the minority in being somewhat relieved that The CW didn't bite on Thomas' "Veronica Mars, FBI" gambit, which would inevitably only have diluted the formula even more. 
 
I only own one season of "Veronica Mars" on DVD. As you might guess, it's the first. Maybe whenever this list is finished, it would be a good time to go rewatch.
 
So that's No. 31 down. Only 30 more to go!
 
Up tomorrow? An '80s nerd becomes a heartthrob, mentoring a former alien and a former musketeer, among others. Seriously.
 
Dan-feinberg-sm
Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
Related Searches: Best of the Decade, Best TV Shows of the Decade, Best of the '00s, Best of the Aughts, Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell, Rob Thomas

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  • Default-avatar

    qbert

    Lilly Kane. That's okay ;)

    December 1, 2009 at 2:12PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Thanks! Fixed! I'm not sure why "Cane" is my default mental spelling. Surely "Citizen Kane" ought to have settled in my brain... -Daniel

      December 1, 2009 at 4:00PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    nick_r

    Nicely written, Dan. VM is one of my favorite shows of all time, and it is indeed a tragedy that Kristen Bell hasn't found another role with even an ounce of the depth that she brought to Veronica. Amanda Seyfried has fared better with her amazing work on Big Love and gradual ascent into film stardom (Mamma Mia, Jennifer's Body, etc.).

    December 1, 2009 at 2:30PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    soap_oprah

    The sopranos is in your top? Spoiler Alert! (hah! irony!)

    December 1, 2009 at 2:41PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    briguyx

    Au contraire! I am a huge fan of VM's Season 2. The season-long mystery had one of the most surprising reveals ever as to the perpertrator, and there was lots of dropping of clues weeks before they became important. Great stuff!

    December 1, 2009 at 5:32PM EST Reply to Comment
  • The_boondocks_a_pimp_name_slickback_talkback_profile

    tigger500

    I think you are dead wrong about Season Two. I think it was a more richly compelling story and delved more deeply into the way class operates in Neptune.

    Also - you really should have mentioned Tessa Thompson as Jackie. She as terrific, if not the most likable of characters (which, for me, is what I like). And Percy shined in his scenes with her. In fact, her first scene where Wallace shows Jackie to the principal's office is on par with Bell's masterful drugstore monologue. Flawlessly performed.

    December 1, 2009 at 6:15PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Andrew Implying S1 is darker than S2 is way out of line. First off, the conclusion to the S2 mystery made you almost sympathize and understand the guilty party, and it brought up some serious and horrifying questions about child molestation. The guilty party in S1 was simply "EEEEEVIL!" Also, there was no actual clues to resolve that mystery until the finale, whereas S2 had actual clues sprinkled out throughout the season.

      December 7, 2009 at 10:02PM EST
  • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

    dan

    Pleased to see all of the support for "V-Mars" S-2. I disagree, but I'm pleased to see it. I look forward to the disagreement when I say something REALLY stupid over the next four weeks... - Daniel

    December 1, 2009 at 6:34PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      nick_r I certainly don't think the second season was on par with the first, but it still had some fantastic episodes and a really engaging season-long mystery (even if said mystery didn't build to as satisfying a conclusion). As for Season 3... well, the less said about the "mini-mystery" structure, the better.

      December 1, 2009 at 8:16PM EST
    • The_boondocks_a_pimp_name_slickback_talkback_profile

      tigger500 I'm fascinated by your dislike of Season 2. I think you have it wrong. I think the characters are deepened. I think the world is expanded beautifully. And I think it's the season that really shows the class dynamics in a richer way than in the first.

      December 2, 2009 at 1:19AM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Will

    I think you're selling S2 short a bit. Is it as good as season 1? No, but it's still some of the best TV i've seen in a long time. As far as season 3, yeah you're right on that one

    August 6, 2012 at 2:12AM EST Reply to Comment

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