the veronica mars continues its streak of terror across the land! yglesias also recently promised me a VM post over at tpmcafe, thereby ensuring the show's fall ratings will jump by literally dozens!

on another note: beer and pool continues to be an excellent way to spend the day, but buckhead continues to be TERRIFYING. off for more drinks in a more familiar and less fratty environment: east atlanta village, which i've come to kind of love in my time here. it's adorable.

and another one bites the dust.

buy your dvds today!

michael ausiello liveblogged the veronica mars presentation at the press tour. unfortunately, the man does not know how to permalink, so i'll just cut and paste the info behind the cut. if you're one of those absolutely-no-spoilers-ever people, i wouldn't read, but it's mostly some pretty basic info about the next season.

UPDATE: msnbc has some more info here.

set your tivos: veronica mars will premiere october 3. kristen bell and her bus o' fun will thank you for watching:

check out the CW's promo for season three of veronica mars here.

i'm curious. of course this promo makes me all squee becauase i can't wait for the show to come back in september, but for those of you who haven't watched the show: does this actually make you want to watch it? what emotions does it evoke? does it make you puke? does it make you want to have sex with kristen bell? does it repulse you? does it make you want to go out and buy the previous seasons on dvd?

just curious.

just fyi: it looks like UPN will be rerunning most if not all of season 2, so this would be a good time for those of you who've seen season 1 to catch up. the first episode was already tonight, but you could torrent that if you wanted to. so, yeah. tuesdays, 9pm!

sweet. via tvguide:

Straight from the horse's mouth, Rob Thomas just e-mailed me to confirm that Veronica Mars has been renewed for a third season. The show got a 22-episode order that, depending on ratings, can be reduced to 13. Very reliable sources, meanwhile, are also telling me that One Tree Hill will be back and that Everwood is, in fact, dead. Talk about injustice.

now if only we could guarantee the first three episodes 7 million viewers apiece, i'd be a happy lady.

first tv thought: the good - veronica mars was picked up for next season! the bad - it was only for 13 episodes. this is a classic sign that if the first few episodes don't perform well, the rest of the season won't be ordered. in fact, if the first few episodes don't do well, we might not even see all 13. i am relatively calm now as i type this, but i am telling you: if YOU DON'T WATCH VERONICA MARS THIS COMING SEASON I WILL GO APESHIT ON YOU AND YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY. IF THE SHOW DOES NOT DO WELL ENOUGH IN THE RATINGS I WILL PERSONALLY COUNT ALL OF YOU, ALL OF THE ZUNTA READERS, RESPONSIBLE, AND I WILL FLIP MY SHIT, AND THE BLOG WILL BECOME RAMBLING GIBBERISH. I WILL ALSO TIE TOMMY UP IN THE CRAWLSPACE SO NO LOGICAL THOUGHTS CAN BE POSTED TO THE BLOG WHATSOEVER. TAKE THIS AS THE FIRST OF MANY WARNINGS, MOTHERFUCKERS.

ahem. emily and i chatted this afternoon about a possible plan to take the first episode of season one coast to coast - launch an online campaign, if you will. our philosophy is that if you see that episode, you will be hooked. beyond hooked. this happened to my brother; today, michelle told me it happened to her. if i could think of a good enough contest, i would offer as first prize the season 1 dvd. i would go out and buy it and give it to the winner. so any thoughts on that, and i promise to make it happen.

tv thought 2: the grey's anatomy season finale #1 really kind of bit. i'm in the middle of #2 right now, and it is better, but the izzie/denny storyline drives me absolutely bonkers. it might be the stupidest piece of shit i've ever seen on television. alan says:

I'm not sure I have ever laughed at hard as an intentionally dramatic moment on a TV show as I did during Izzie's crying jag to convince Denny to let her mess up his heart. That entire subplot underlined everything I've grown to hate about this show and most of its characters. It's annoying enough when, say, Meredith and Cristina are gossiping about their boyfriends in the middle of a bomb scare, but for Izzy to risk two lives (Denny's and the legitimate recipient) because she's getting frustrated at how long it's taking for Denny to get a heart? George should have brained her with a bedpan as soon as he realized what she was up to. Add to that George scolding Callie for daring to speak the truth to poor, fragile Meredith, plus the shooting of Burke, one of the few characters I still like unreservedly, and my patience is really being tried here.

for this, she risks her career? SHE'S NEVER EVEN HAD SEX WITH HIM. the sex could be terrible! and if it's terrible THERE IS NO POINT.

tv thought 3: i am excited for studio 60 on sunset strip. watch a commercial here. i have to admit, i kind of have a grosscrush on timothy busfield. gross because he's really kind of ugly and fat. crush because of danny concannon.

UPDATE: as far as grey's anatomy, on the other hand, the song they played as denny wheeled into the operating room, hopefully to a painful death, was pretty. i found out is called "look at her face" by a band called the coral sea. some mp3s are here. if you wanted to d/l "look at her face" you can pay for it (pshaw) here.

UPDATE II: did georg really just say "i figured one night with you was better than never" ?!?!?!?!? THE FUCK. this show has come a long way since the awesome bomb episodes.

UPDATE III: on one hand, while izzie's storyline with denny made me want to puke and roll around in it, i still think katherine heigl is gorgeous and an amazing comedic actress. just please don't make her fall in love with any more heart patients.

UPDATE IV: i'm sorry. sorry. i know that frequent updates reload the post in your rss reader, and it's annoying. but i must. SERIOUSLY?!? A PROM STORYLINE? and who gives a fuck that the dog has cancer? sheesh. on the other hand, i would like to add that whoever plays the nazi and alex karev are severely underutilized. i would watch a show with those two characters all day long.

UPDATE V: i'll admit it. the ending made me cry. i'm such a pussy.

the episode is only halfway over, and i am already prepared to say it is HIGHLY FUCKING AMAZING.

thoughts to come.

UPDATE: amanda and i summing up our reactions so far:

pablohoney: AAAAAAAAAAAH
mads t r e t c h: WHAT/
mads t r e t c h: oh jesus
pablohoney: AHHHHHHHHHHH
pablohoney: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
mads t r e t c h: lkasjdf;lkasjdf;lkkasdjf
mads t r e t c h: ;alskdjf;laskdjf
...
pablohoney: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
pablohoney: i AM DYING
mads t r e t c h: can't... breath....
pablohoney: WAIT
...
pablohoney: OH NO OH NO OH NO
mads t r e t c h: oh my god
mads t r e t c h: a'ldksfjal;sdkfj;alskdfjas;ldfkj
pablohoney: what
pablohoney: the
pablohoney: fuck
mads t r e t c h: ok, now can't breath and am crying
...
pablohoney: EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
pablohoney: EWWWWWWWWWWWW
pablohoney: AHHHHHHHH
pablohoney: EWW
mads t r e t c h: EWE
...
pablohoney: ahhhhhhhhh
pablohoney: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
mads t r e t c h: OOOOO WAAAAA/ ]]

UPDATE II: if this show does not get renewed, i will kill every single one of you fuckers who has not been watching it.

SPOILERS BELOW!

all theories are just the product of my feeble brain, and they are totally spoiler-free. i am uninformed and naive.

UPDATE: michael ausiello says:

Words cannot express the awesomeness of this episode. There are so many twists and turns that your head will be spinning off its axis. (Note: Have some Kleenex handy. You'll need it.) And the excitement won't end with the closing credits. In tomorrow's thrilling Ask Ausiello (which goes live at midnight), I'll have an exclusive interview with Rob Thomas featuring answers to many of the big questions raised in the finale. Mr. Veronica Mars will also offer up scoop/prattle/poop on (fingers, toes crossed) next season!

UPDATE II: and here's a bit from today's chicago tribune:

The "Veronica Mars" (8 p.m., UPN-Ch. 50) season finale is a real twister. And there are twists within the twists, as the show finally resolves the season-long mystery that has occupied the young sleuth of the title and her father.

The episode came with a list as long as your arm of things that reviewers should not mention. So, here's one thing that can be said: Kristin Bell and Jason Dohring, the star-crossed friends and sometime lovers at the heart of the show, are the two finest young actors working in television.

Dohring in particular has masterfully navigated a tricky part all year; his character, Logan Echolls, could easily be a bitter, one-note quipmeister. But in this episode, and especially in the recent episode "Look Who's Stalking," he showed an enormous range of emotions, from romantic yearning to confused regret, often without saying much of anything at all.

It's acutely painful to sound like a network suit, but it might be nice if next year's ongoing mystery did not require a PhD in Veronica-ology. Even the most faithful watcher of the show had to have been confused at least a few times in the course of this season's bus-crash mystery.

Harry Hamlin, by the way, gets another juicy turn in the season finale; his parody of an over-the-hill hambone actor is dead-on and quite enjoyable. As Mac, Tina Majorino supplies steady support, as always. Even Steve Guttenberg is surprisingly good as the increasingly sleazy mayor of Neptune.

And it would be impossible to imagine "Mars" being anywhere near as great as it is without the wonderfully understated Enrico Colantoni as the young detective's grounded, fiercely protective dad.

meh.

i just realized there are only two episodes left in the entire season. it is certainly not a sure thing the CW will pick up VM for next year. and if they don't, we will NEVER GET TO SEE LOGAN AND VERONICA HAVE SEX. so people. you need to watch tomorrow. some random ass predictions behind the cut. vaguely spoilery!

shall we?

UPDATE: you can listen to mike doughty's gorgeous song "i hear the bells" over here (it's number 8). the song was featured in the episode. i've managed to never listen to any of doughty's stuff before, but that is all changing!

some thoughts!

for those interested, you can find out what songs are featured in various veronic mars episodes at this here blog. it helped me figure out the song playing at the end of the last episode, when the stadium was being demolished. i was obsessed with that song for days, but couldn't find it until i came across that site. the song was "gravity" by alejandro escovedo, who i've always heard about but never really listened to. any recommendations about any of his cds in particular?

anyways, don't forget: veronica mars switches to 9/8 central tonight. watch it!

ok. i've got me some veronica mars theories. and, just for the record, that was a FABULOUS EPISODE. season one worthy. this season's not been quite as great, but these past few episodes and the momentum going towards the end have perked me up very happily.

i know, i've preached the love for veronica mars one too many times on this here blog. but i just can't help it. even if you don't think you'll like it, you will. guaranteed. unless you have no eyes. i wanted to share this brief example with you of how VM can transform a non-VM lover into a slave for kristen bell. exhibit a: my brother. doesn't watch much tv (though is obsessed with nip/tuck, one of the few shows he does watch). never got into buffy the vampire slayer. not generally interested in chick-centered shows. but this is how we spent christmas afternoon.

sister and i: please, can we start watching the veronica mars dvd we got for xmas, pleeeeeease? PLEASE!
brother: christ. ok.
watch watch watch the first episode.
brother: gets up, stretches, says, well, i know what i'm doing for the next 18 hours.

(note to slow: he meant he was going to watch VM. AND HE DID. at this rate, he and my sister must be done with the first season by now.)

additionally, yesterday my sister let slip a disturbing spoiler she read on the internets for VM. i have no idea if it is true or not, but i think, based on other clues i've read elsewhere, that it may be. i'll post behind the cut; tell me what you think. and by you i mean kathryn, because she is the only other blogger i know who reaches my level of VM obsession.

yay for two of my favorite things being smushed together: britt daniel of spoon will be making an appearance on an upcoming episode of "veronica mars," singing elvis costello's "veronica." nice. rob thomas must be a fan, seeing as earlier this season he used my proclaimed Sexiest Song of 2005, spoon's "i turn my camera on," in a segment where veronica was following around charisma carpenter and taking photographs.

did anyone watch last week's episode? the baby - there's no way it's actually duncan's, right?

well, lost is on hiatus till january 11 (my birthday! hurrah). and all i can say is: lucky for you. now you can spend your evenings watching a far more deserving and far better and far more satisfying show: veronica mars. and in its honor i am giving it its own category.

i know i've been harsh on lost, and i will continue to be so, but i can't help it: it was such a great first season, and the second one has essentially been, in my opinion, a big ole pile of poo. every episode moves at a snail's pace, barely anything happens, and even less is resolved. we're about, what, halfway into the season, and what have we seen: shannon died; the tailies did their thing and found the front section's camp; locke decided everybody has to push a pointless button every few hours; and, ooh, the missing piece of film for the dharma initiative said to not use the computer for any communication purposes. the thing with walt typing through the computer at the end was pretty awesome and freaky, but the rest of the episode crapped. does anyone actually think jack and kate have chemistry? how terribly sucky and unimaginative was kate's flashback? so terribly sucky and unimaginative that EVERYBODY PREDICTED IT LAST SEASON.

in my opinion, lost is performing the kiss of death: it's making me NOT CARE ANYMORE. honestly, whatever the mysteries are aren't so exciting that i will wait around several seasons to receive any gratification whatosever. last season was great because there was a) one thrilling, overarching mystery and b) small mysteries that took place and were resolved within each episode that were interesting in their own right and often connected in unexpected ways to the island and the overarching themes/mystery.

this season, all we've got is still the Big Mystery, on which we will never get any answers/hints, because the producers have no idea what the Big Mystery actually is and are not dealing with it in any coherent manner...and that's it. every episode now moves slowly (is it just my imagination, or is there a lot more silence/characters speaking incredibly slowly this season?) and very few things actually happen/are resolved within each episode. and what happened to the stompy monster?!?!

on the other hand, you have the excellently-edited, fast-moving and always satisfying veronica mars (though i haven't seen last night's episode yet, so please don't spoil it for me!). trust me: this show is the best show on tv right now. i wouldn't have said so at the beginning of this tv season, but now i'm positive that it is superior to lost. it's got attractive characters, tons of conflict, romance, one Big Mystery that i am CERTAIN the producers know how to resolve, one smaller mystery that i don't doubt ties into the Big Mystery (with grace and her abusive father, and everything else that is going on with meg), episodes that give you clues towards the Big Mystery every week, secondary storylines for every episode that are normally resolved in a satisfying and believable manner, interesting and plausible tensions (race and class dynamics in the community) and great, witty, hysterical dialogue.

please, please, do yourselves and the creators of VM a favor: watch it for the next six weeks (i'm not certain every episode will be new, but there should be at least a few fresh ones in there, and if there are reruns you can catch yourself up). lost draws billions of viewers every week; VM only gets a couple of million, and i don't think it's in danger of being canceled, but every bit helps. it deserves your viewership, and you deserve a non-frustrating show that gives you what you expect out of a top-rate series. UPN, wednesday, 9/8 central. WATCH IT OR DIE!

UPDATE: greg proves that there are still plenty of people out there who are enjoying the show.

UPDATE II: for random hints/tidbits that probably mean nothing but are fun anyway, check out this photo (look at the tv in the background).