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"Veronica Mars" (2004)

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260 comments in total

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644 out of 1080 people found the following comment useful :-
Are you kidding me?, 27 septiembre 2006

Author: kmylml de United States

After reading quite a few comments from people who thought this show is "horrible," I was really surprised with their reasons. First of all, there are very few TV shows out there that are in every way true to life. Of course the situations aren't completely plausible! That's why we watch TV shows in the first place - we're entertained by things that we would not normally do or see. If I wanted to watch something "realistic" I'd just tape myself and watch it at the end of the day.

What's real in this show is that every character is complicated and has layers in their personality. The bad guy isn't all bad, and the good guy isn't so great either. There's just this gray area - just the way people are.

Then there's the complaint that Veronica Mars is "too smart." And that's a bad thing because...? I'm sick of mindless shows that give away the ending in the first minute and/or have the same tired plots. If witty is not your thing, that is sad and someone needs a good dose of "sense of humor." Maybe everything we watch on TV should be bland and predictable from now on? By the way, detective work is supposed to be logical - not flashy. When you want to look for someone, you'd automatically put a trace on things they own. What did you expect would happen? Some kind of laser tracking thingy?

The writing on this show is amazing, as are the actors and everything else. The artistic value is also incredible. If TV watchers can't appreciate that, then I really am worried about the population.

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460 out of 792 people found the following comment useful :-
Unsubtle and Over The Top, 12 abril 2006

Author: Brian Phillips de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I'm amazed how many comments on this show are about how "real" it is. Maybe I'm not part of the same universe because if Veronica Mars is anything, it's over the top in a big way.

The acting is chewing the scenery with enthusiasm and the plots have holes you could drive a truck through. That's not what I call real.

It is so earnest in its desire to be "relevant" that it only shows how cut-off from reality Rob Thomas and his staff are.

Overall, I found it to be at best a snooze-fest and at worst more than a little annoying. Kristen Bell looks like she could be a good actress, but it's hard to tell with the over-the-top style of the whole show.

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423 out of 737 people found the following comment useful :-
Dead Last in the Ratings... Deservedly, 10 septiembre 2006

Author: DesultoryTori de Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Last week, I took a look at the weekly Nielsen ratings, and there was Veronica Mars, supposedly "the best show you're not watching".

Well, they're right that you're not watching it. It aired twice and was ranked 147 and 145 out of 147.

Translation: this is the lowest-rated show on any nationally broadcast network... and deservedly so. I tried to watch it a couple of times because of all the press coverage hyping it as a "great" show, a "realistic look" at life and all such nonsense. The reality was otherwise. Veronica Mars is a bore. It's as unrealistic as it gets, and it richly deserves to be canceled.

The only Mystery is why CW felt compelled to put on its inaugural schedule the lowest-rated show in memory, after two years of continued commercial and artistic failure.

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429 out of 752 people found the following comment useful :-
146 out of 146 in the ratings... Why is this still on the air?, 19 julio 2006

Author: Salma_Cox de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The biggest mystery of Veronica Mars is not one that she had to tackle on screen.

Rather, the mystery is why this perennial ratings disappointment is still on the air. This week marked a nadir for Veronica Mars: it ranked 146 out of 146 shows in the big 6 (soon to be Big 5). Yes, you read right. Veronica Mars was beaten by every show of the now-defunct WB and every show on UPN. It was beat by all the shows on Fox and of course by all the shows on ABC, CBS and NBC.

Now, the hip hypesters are going to say: but this was a re-run. But everything on TV that week was pretty much a re-run! It boggles the mind why CW would choose this proved ratings disappointment as one of the few shows it saved from UPN.

Clearly something is going on behind the scenes. Favors are being exchanged and influence peddled.

Sorry to be so cynical, but what other explanation is there? The "Veronica Mars has potential" line is clearly dead now that it's had two years to establish itself and failed to do so.

Maybe it's Joel Silver's influence and clout, but frankly, I am at a loss why anyone would choose to spend their clout on a bad show that no audience is watching.

A great mystery and a very inauspicious debut for CW.

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501 out of 916 people found the following comment useful :-
Overrated, 7 agosto 2005
Author: laurie_lincoln74

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I was all geared up to love Veronica Mars and, surprise, I wound up disliking it. The bad:

*The whole show rests on Veronica's "brilliant" abilities as a teenage private eye. However, most of the cases she investigates are pretty lame. For instance, Veronica searches for a missing person. To do this, she puts a trace on the missing person's credit cards. Oh, how clever! Why didn't the police or all of the other PI's searching for the missing person think of this? (Veronica's "genius" credit card trace seems all the more idiotic when you consider this missing person has been gone for FOUR months and no one has thought to cancel the credit cards or trace them before. Additionally, the person who is missing is VERY wealthy and famous.)

*Veronica's "outcast" status is a joke. A huge theme of the show is the way Veronica used to be Miss Popularity but now she's been branded an outsider. This is hammered home again and again, even in the show's theme song "We Used to Be Friends." However, Veronica still hangs with all the popular kids, goes to all the best parties, and has plenty of friends she can rely on in a pinch. Plus, Kristen Bell is too pretty and confident to pull off the loner/outcast role.

*The relationship between Veronica and the police officer is trite and convenient. The only reason it's there is to give the writers an easy plot device for whenever Veronica needs something (like a wire tap or a phone trace) that she couldn't get on her own.

*Kristen Bell is a likable actress, but her constant smart-mouthing gets old. Her quips are annoying, not cute. Most episodes, she comes across as a poor man's Lauren Graham. For a better example of witty dialogue, watch Gilmore Girls.

*A minor point, but I disliked the cutesy-poo planet names. Oh, look! Veronica MARS lives in NEPTUNE, California. How creative! Not.

*This show is supposed to be unique and fresh, yet it features so many stupid, overused story lines. The school mascot is kidnapped right before an important game! Veronica's friend has a secret admirer! Not original at all.

*The resolutions on most of the cases are stupid and convenient. Not to give anything away, but Veronica gets entangled with major crime bosses and some "really scary lowlifes" yet she always saves the day with a quick, oversimplified move. There is never a real sense that anyone is in danger. One storyline finds Veronica getting entangled with the Russian mafia. Yet this storyline is resolved effortlessly.

*Veronica is not convincingly upset about the Lilly Kane situation. The entire first season revolves around Veronica searching for her best friend's killer. It might have been nice to see her feel a TINY bit of grief about her best friend's death.

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514 out of 983 people found the following comment useful :-
I can't believe I'm saying this..., 4 abril 2006
Author: ljs00b de United States

I hate being sucked in. More than anything. I avoid anything that's popular just because I can't stand the herd mentality. It took me three years before I touched a Harry Potter book. I would not have watched this show willingly. My one uplifting, redeeming quality is that I'm a good friend. Always. Even at the sacrifice of my Wednesday evenings. I originally started watching VM because I was taping it for a friend who didn't get UPN in her new town. I was just going to tape it, but I thought it would be nice if I cut the commercials for her. Now, half a season later...I can't stop watching it. It's horrible. I actually rented the entire first season and watched it in one twenty-four hour sitting. If you start watching this show, be warned you WILL get hooked, no matter how hard you try to resist. It is a great mystery. Each episode has its own mystery that is self inclusive, but the overall season mystery is what keeps you speeding through traffic to get home in time on Wednesday nights. Kudos to the creators, they did a great job!

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460 out of 893 people found the following comment useful :-
Huge Disappointment, 20 abril 2006

Author: Mandy Roberts de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I was so disappointed by this show. After hearing and reading all the hoopla about it, how it was a "ground breaking show" and all sorts of wild promises if quality, I tried to watch it.

What a letdown!! The acting was way forced and exaggerated. The story made very little sense. As for any hint of the vaunted "look into teenagers' lives", I could only see a paltry attempt that had as much reality to it as a reality show.

Some are wondering why there are so many negative comments about this show. The reason is that it's really not all that good and beating the drums over quality on this show only serves to attract attention to how poorly made it is.

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451 out of 876 people found the following comment useful :-
Kristen Bell has Potential but Veronica Mars doesn't, 14 mayo 2006

Author: rodneyjackson de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Kristen Bell looks like she may be a good up and comer.

It's hard to tell because the show she is starring in, Veronica Mars, is far from stellar. It requires over-exaggerated acting at times which make it difficult for Miss Bell to really shine.

However, one can see that there is true potential there, if only she could get a vehicle that lent itself to good acting.

The show itself is a complete mess creatively. Even after two years it still doesn't gel into anything resembling a coherent whole. There is a good idea at its base (young detective) which may be why UPN kept re-launching it. But public relations and press clap-trap do not make a good show, unfortunately.

It is also very low rated. I looked at the ratings this week and it gets the same ratings as Pepper Dennis, which was dumped by WB after it had canceled most of it marketing campaign.

Hopefully, Miss Bell will be freed from this bad show and will use the press she got to find a more deserving vehicle for her talents.

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27 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Hype Over-promises, but Writers and Directors Under-deliver, 27 mayo 2008

Author: charliemenzies de United States

The problem with hype is that if you don't follow-up on it, you look rather silly and you make your potential audience flee to higher quality climes.

That's what happened with Veronica Mars. The hypesters of UPN promised a super-realistic show with high quality writing.

The reality is an over-the-top dramedy that has very little realistic about its characters or situations and writing that is mostly remarkable by the huge plot holes it leaves in its wake.

That Veronica Mars tries to be "relevant" is quite obvious, but the situations, characters and acting are so devoid of any reality, it falls flat on its face again and again.

The people at UPN and then CW have gone to great lengths to save this show, going so far as to put it on CBS to get in exposure and credibility, but audiences are still staying away.

That's what happens when more thought is put into the marketing campaign than in the project itself.

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471 out of 926 people found the following comment useful :-
Huh?, 13 agosto 2006

Author: R.C. Killian (FangsFirst) de Durham, North Carolina, USA

While usually I find out the shows I avoid watching due to unjustifiable prejudice (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, etc, as far as new shows, which I watch an admittedly small percentage of) are actually not what I was expecting and in fact are quite good, I don't "get" this show. I understand it. I know what's going on. I just don't seem to care. The dialogue is occasionally cringe-inducing, in the way that hearing a parent attempt to use their children's slang to them is. Note: quoting Keanu Reeves is not "cool." Mind you, some people may feel it is, and that's just fine. But it's not terribly original, nor terribly witty. Which would be fine, except everyone seems convinced the show is both.

If you keep hearing this "noir" nonsense, be aware there's, uh, very little truth to it. For all the murder (actually, there isn't much) and other violent crime (not much in general, actually), the world's really pretty cheery. Everyone's pretty snarky, but even the people dealing with deaths are pretty upbeat. The world is bright and shiny and very, well, upscale California (I know, that's where it's set). The world isn't remotely corrupt, amoral or nihilistic. Veronica is not really all that jaded and trusts almost everyone implicitly on sight, unless it helps the plot along for her not to. She isn't terribly amoral herself either, and pretty much follows the usual methodology of teen drama protagonists in being a good person with some flaws. She occasionally does the odd thing that isn't "OK," like eavesdropping, but she is a private eye for crying out loud, and she usually feels pretty guilty about these things. So, between the bright cinematography, bright world and bright characters, this "noir" categorization has no real basis in reality. I see vague glimmers of appreciation of the style/genre show up every now and then (narration, flashbacks) but this is not a noir world. Not by a long shot. Comparing it to Chinatown or someone like Phillip Marlowe is either stretching a metaphor to transparency or complete ignorance. None of the full-fledged components are really present.

Does that make it bad? No. But considering I've been hearing "noir" since I first heard about the show, I was just a little bit let down.

The writing on the whole is a bit above average, but not much. Things are brought up but never resolved or addressed--sometimes they're even ignored! On one occasion it even occurred in the space between two episodes! Relationships appear and disappear in a single episode. It's a little too episodic, despite claims that it is "arc-based."

The gang is pretty stereotypical--or at the least, typical of film and TV, if not so much reality. So are most of the characters. There are glimmers of promise every now and then, but wading through the dross of the rest of it is incredibly difficult. Most of the complaints found in the negative reviews here are pretty legitimate, but I expect I'll get a slew of "unhelpful" votes simply for not calling this the best show ever.

I'm sorry, but it isn't. It may be the best show on right now, but that really doesn't say an awful lot, if you ask me. I have no judgments to make aloud or even to myself about those that like the show. More power to you, and I hope you get to keep it if you want to watch it.

Just not remotely my cup of tea, and this tea is also very much not noir.

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