Veronica Mars and the Mystery of the Canceled Cult-Favorites

Many good and even several mediocre shows have rabid fan followings. Veronica Mars recently had an international candy-filled campaign to save it from cancellation. Aside from its rambunctuous fan base, it also had a place on several critics' top ten lists, numerous awards, award winning fantastically quirky cast and some of the wittiest and best-delivered one-liners in the history of television. So why has it been left out in the cold by the new CW network?

I could rant and share all my conspiracy theories about the disparities between marketing executives and the audience comprised of smart, young and hip tv viewers who are tired of dumbed-down content. I could get on my soapbox and talk about sweeps and ratings and commercial success. I could even tell you how painful it was to turn to the CW on Tuesday nights mid-season, and hear the Pussycat Dolls crooning "Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me....", while thinking "No, actually, I prefer smart, perky and sarcastic detectives - what did you do with my Veronica, you evil network executives?!? We used to be friends..."

To no avail. I can speculate, but I really don't know why it was canceled. I don't pretend to understand how that game is played. I just know that exciting, fresh, TV keeps coming around and lingering for a season or two. Maybe even a little bit more, if we are very lucky and then its wiped out. Aside from the economic issues of ratings and trends, I've noticed some patterns. It often appears to be the shows with actual issues and surprising social commentary. It feels like its the edgy shows that make us think. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I also feel like there are a lot of really wonderful, insightful and unconventional female main characters in some of these shows and I wonder about the reality factor of representations of women, role models and all that.

My So-Called Life got yanked after a little over half a season and at that time MTV even picked up the reruns to nurse our broken hearts. Buffy the Vampire Slayer got ditched by the WB and was forced to go to UPN after its fifth season. Joss Whedon's most recent show, Firefly, didn't get to finish one season. Here's hoping that Veronica creator Rob Thomas lives up to potential movie rumors and pulls a Serenity for all of us fans. Too many good casualties have just thrown to the wayside by measures of commercial success. Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks. (Which would take-off now that we all know his name, but it was just as good then.) Popular. Twin Peaks. Arrested Development. Party of Five was a rare case, (like the recent Jericho) in which the rabid and explosive fan base actually did manage to make enough noise and save it, it was renewed and continued on for a total of sixth seasons. If we could only BE so lucky with Veronica!

Until that happens, like Joss Whedon's Firefly, Veronica Mars will sit in the graveyard of canceled shows that I used to love. Apparently, that is where all the real girls go, when pushed aside by gyrating reality starlets, competing to become STARS. But wait a minute!! Stars? Actually weren't they competing to become just another member of a girl group that already has a seemingly endless assembly line of satin-clad mannequinsin stock? Seriously! Is is just me or do the Pussycat Dolls always seem to be comprised of about 25 completely interchangeable members? Answer me that, CW network! Mystery: Who are the actual Pussycat Dolls? What are their real names and where did Robin find them? Only their agents know for sure.

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for this kind of fun reality TV and for girl groups like the Dolls themselves, no one can question that they aren't selling records and tours with their star power. The funny thing is, in the absence of my Veronica habit, I ended up watching The Search for the Next Doll and rooting desperately for Chelsea to win! (She did not.) You see, its not that I'm challenging the value or quality of a show like The Search for the Next Doll. (Thats a conversation for another time).I don't inherently have a problem with it. However, shows very similar to this are cropping up all over the networks and replacing the kind of show that Veronica is - which is highly clever, flawlessly produced, challenging series. It appeared to have the potential of at least five more interesting seasons in it, before it would have (if ever) jumped the shark. As for The Search, it will return next season and they will be searching for yet another new Pussycat Doll. They can keep adding more and more dolls. This show is multiplying exponentially and can be replicated with every boy band or girl group out there.

At the same time, shows like Veronica Mars are disappearing. Well-executed reality television is very "of the moment" and in that moment, it was entertaining to watch. It may or may not be in seasons to come. Time will tell. The real question is, in five years, will anyone care about those people? Shouldn't television networks still want to also produce the kind of program that people will be watching reruns of in five, ten, even thirty years? No joke, I have a friend who owns all of the seasons of M.A.S.H. and still watches them often. Syndication of The Golden Girls has found a new generation of fans, too young to remember when it aired and possibly too young to even catch all of the jokes. The artistic value of really good television lives on.

I can promise, that in five years, I will still be watching my Veronica Mars seasons on dvd and in syndication and wishing it had gotten a chance to continue. I won't be able to remember that I wanted Chelsea to be the next Pussycat Doll. I've already forgotten Chelsea's last name (if I even ever knew it, I can't recall if it was ever said it on the show.) I can tell you that I will be watching Kristin Bell's next show and buying tickets to see her in movie roles, because that is the kind of memorable sticking power a strong character like Veronica creates. Unfortunately, I will also probably be complaining about yet another show, with another great female character who has been canceled amidst wild protest from its cult-following.

WWVQ? (What would Veronica quip?) Can't a network give her another chance? And if not, can't there be a network for all of these "failed" great shows to live? Imagine! They get canceled, but wait... that doesn't mean they are off the air, that just means they move immediately to the Cult-Favorites TV Network. Why not? There's a freakin' cable network for everything else. I'd buy it.