Straight From Rob's Mouth

If you've already written to Rob Thomas and told him how cool you think VM is, then you can overlook this post. However, for those that have only given the show a cursory glance and would like to read your first ever VM scoop, here it is. I was tickled pink when I opened this email. Just goes to show that some people, in this case creative producer and director cares.


Hey gang,

As promised, I'm writing to give some early scoop on Veronica Mars. I'm afraid that I'm unable to respond to each letter I've received personally, but I have read all of them. Thanks for the very kind words and the criticism. The writing staff went back to work last week. We've broken the first two episodes of Season 2. I'll write the first one and Diane Ruggiero will write the second.

First, let me clear up a few of the rumors floating around out there.

We are adding some new cast members. Dick and Beaver Casablancas will become series regulars. We will feature their step mother, a former Laker girl, current trophy-wife to Big Dick Casablancas. Her name is Kendall Lacy Casablancas. We have not cast this role, yet, but in an early meeting, I described the character as Bunny Lebowski "ten years later." (Those of you who haven't seen The Big Lebowski, go rent it now!) Consequently, Tara Reid's name came up. She is/was one name on a very long list. We have not offered the role to anyone. The network wants us to cast a name actor, but most name actors won't do a six to ten episode arc on UPN, so my best guess is that eventually we'll be allowed to cast it normally.

We're also casting the role of Jackie Chase, the daughter of a future hall of fame baseball player, Terrance Chase. Her father will be the baseball equivalent of Magic Johnson. Jackie has spent the previous 17 years of her life living with her mother in Manhattan, but her mother has given up on wild child Jackie and is sending her to live with her father in Neptune.

Another scoop. You heard it here first. Keith will be asked to, once again, run for sheriff by the shoo-in candidate for mayor, Woody Goodman.

We are not killing off a character six episodes in. The network asked us to add a few characters. Unfortunately, no one gave us any more money in our budget, so we did have to trim the number of episodes of some of our regular characters to make financial space in the show. I hated to do this. I love our cast.

Alyson Hannigan's show got picked up, so it'll be tough to get her back next year, but we love her and if there's a chance, and we can afford her, we will.

Max Greenfield's (Deputy Leo) show also got picked up. Same story for him.

Kyle Secor's show got picked up. He plays Geena Davis' first husband on that new NBC series.

In personal news...

I'm married. Katie and I made it legal May 7th. Greta turned 11 weeks, yesterday. Here's a current shot. (Donut Shop Note: email me if you want to see the photos.) Tomorrow will be my first father's day that I've been on the receiving end. Very exciting indeed.

I spent what should've been my honeymoon/hiatus down in an L.A. County Courthouse. I was selected as a juror ALTERNATE for a two-week rape trial. It was no fun at all. You might expect Veronica to get selected as a juror this year on the show, as I had plenty of time to brainstorm on this particular idea.

Also, as I mentioned on the TWoP music thread, I'm going to have a contest this year.

Here's how it works. You e-mail me MP3s of unsigned bands. I'll make sure that at least once every four episodes, we'll use one of these bands in the show. We'll pay the band $1000 for the use. Send these MP3s along with band contact information to music@slaverats.com. I'd love to use bands that are actually fans of the show, but it's no requirement. As most of you know, I've used quite a few songs by Austin, TX bands. That's my home. Those are the bands I know, but y'all have the chance to enlighten me about your particular region now.

DVD news...

As I mentioned here on the site, Warner Home Video gave us a choice between releasing the season 1 DVD before season 2 began without bells and whistles or putting out the DVD in January with commentary, etc. We opted to get the DVD out as early as possible. Now, unfortunately, the DVD won't be out until October without all the extra goodies. It's been explained to us that they don't want to compete with the O.C. and Desperate Housewives DVDs that are coming out in September. I'm very bummed out about this, as I wanted people who didn't watch the show last year to be able to get the DVDs and catch up before season 2 began. Oh well...

Soundtrack news...

We still haven't found a label that wants to do the soundtrack. We think we will, but we haven't, yet.

Here's my idea for more music use in Season 2. I'm being "encouraged" by both the studio and network to have a bigger music component in the series. I can't imagine that every week goes to see the Killers play the coffee shop. I don't want to break reality in that way. BUT, I think what might be cool would be to have musicians come on and sing karaoke. So, imagine if we get Beck to come on and play just some random karaoke singer doing a version of... oh... I don't know... "Three Times a Lady" or Tegan and Sarah doing "Barracuda." We'd actually use the new song they want to promote elsewhere in the episode, but we'd get something unique for the show.

I'm not sure if the labels or artists will be into the idea, but I'm going to push for it. It could make for a cool Season 2 soundtrack.

Other news...

The show has gotten some great Emmy buzz. TV Guide listed Veronica Mars and Kristen Bell among their choices for Emmy nominations. Entertainment Weekly mentioned Kristen. The Television Critics of America nominated Veronica Mars for "Best New Show" and Kristen for "Best Performer in a Drama." She was the only woman nominated. Television Weekly picked Veronica Mars as a "Best Drama" nominee, Kristen as a "Best Actress" nominee and the Veronica Mars "Pilot" as a nominee in the "Best Writing in a Drama" category.

One more thing...

Due to some idiocy on my part, I lost the e-mail addresses of the first 75 people who wrote to me. If you know one of these people, please pass along my regrets and ask them to write in again. I'll
try not to screw this up again.

All my best,

Rob