Moderate Rejoicing
And lo, there was moderate rejoicing throughout the land, as news that the Veronica Mars Season Three episode order has been extended again, pushing the fears of cancellation yet further back:
Just heard from Rob Thomas, and the CW has given “Veronica Mars” a back seven instead of the traditional back nine. This is obviously brand-new information for them, so it’ll take a while to figure out how this will affect the later two arcs.
For those of you following along, that means 20 episodes have been ordered so far for this season, with this not being the first extension. A full season order of 22 episodes would have been made if the CW had ordered the full “back nine”.
Ordering 20 is weird, and apparently not common, but the CW is hardly in the normal position, so who knows what it means from a “how is the show doing” perspective. I’m actually worried that the lead-in to VM is hurting the show now. (Note, in the words of my TV sensei Dan: “Gilmore is now retro-cancelled back to the Friday night’s Alright for Fighting Episode. Nothing happened after that and I am sad that they cancelled the show there.” Word.)
On the creative front, it means that the third mini-arc will probably be shortened by two episodes, hence the “moderate” rejoicing, since that will probably feel kind of rushed. Or maybe not–Thomas hasn’t disappointed yet.
(For the record VM is still my pick for “thing I look most forward to watching”, and is my number two pick for “best show currently airing” after The Wire.)
Ben
November 17th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Well, I found last season a little disappointing, despite being overall terrific. Unlike a lot of fans who were pretty vocal about it, I thought the move to three shorter, somewhat self-contained arcs was a really good move, creatively. The show, while in some ways about the mysteries, really isn’t best when it’s about the mysteries, and I thought last year’s season-long arc stretched itself a little too thin, or too far. At the start of the season, the bus crash felt like a natural extension of the first season’s story; by the end, I found its resolution a little unbelievable and rushed. So far, I’ve really been enjoying this season, and it’s at way at the top of my list, too.
I don’t have HBO, so I’ve been slowly catching up on season three of “The Wire” on DVD. It’s almost frightening when a show is this consistently good.
And I’ve heard nothing but bad things about this season of “Gilmore Girls,” although I haven’t watched any of it myself. (I only just finished watching the previous season on DVD.) It’s really so bad you have to pretend this whole season hasn’t happened, huh? That makes me sad.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
What do you mean this season? It was cancelled a long time ago.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
I stand corrected.