Live Blogging Part II Veronica Mars

Another live blog by Mike Ausiello. Props to the man!

VERONICA MARS PRESENTATION
4:35: Kristen Bell walks on stage alongside series creator Rob Thomas. Is there a more fabulous duo at press tour? I think not.

4:37: Kristen notices a cheesy graphic of herself in a white tank top on the huge CW monitor and groans, "Oh, honestly. I'm so over it. Can we get a new picture?" The crowd roars.

4:37: Rob concedes that Season 2 got way too convoluted. He says doing "two concurrent mysteries, lasting 22 episodes, with way too many red herrings" was a tad too ambitious. "We're going to rein that in this year. Our first mystery will be nine episodes, with no pre-emptions or repeats. Our second mystery will be seven episodes, with no pre-emptions or repeats. And our final mystery of the year will be six episodes, with no pre-emptions or repeats." Of course, he adds, "that's spoken with the confidence of a man who thinks he's going 22 episodes."

4:40: Scoop! Tina Majorino is officially on board as a series regular. Wallace, Logan and, yes, Dick will all be joining Veronica at Hearst college. And Rob confirms that two new characters will be coming on board — a roommate for Mac and a roommate for Wallace.

4:41: When Kristen heard that Dawn Ostroff was heading up CW she had no doubt Veronica would be back for a third season. "Don't tell this to all the other kids," she whispers, "but we're her favorite."

4:45: Scoop! Rob reveals that he approached self-proclaimed Mars fan Stephen King to play a "crazy sociology professor" in this season's third episode. Although the spookmesiter was booked, he asked Rob to "keep me in mind for other things." Hey, I'll play it! Please?

4:52: Kristen says that she has about "20 percent more girl" in her than Veronica.

4:54: Scoop! Charisma Carpenter will be on the show "at least once." Teddy Dunn, meanwhile, is, um, done. "We had two romantic possibilities for Veronica, and one sort of dominated the fans' interest," Rob says. "And it became clear that one suitor won out." OMG, you guys got Teddy Dunn fired!

5:02: Last season's briefcase mystery will get wrapped up in the first two episodes. Today's press tour diary, meanwhile, will get wrapped up right this second.