Along with an astounding number of tissues and several of those coughcold remedies, I've spent the past two sick days consuming season 1 of Veronica Mars on dvd. I'd purchased the set at a nice price after hearing hearing raves by various informed opinions.

It was actually better than I thought it would be. I haven't gotten too involved in watching many serial shows (excepting my current effort to make it through the West Wing experience) but I enjoyed the season long arc mixed in with distinct episodic stories. The YA experience via Rats Saw God author Rob Thomas was pretty well done and the setting/context is effective in the fake-real Gilmore Girls mode.

It's the kind of show that inspires extensive websites. (Here's the official site for the current show.)

Not surprisingly, Focus on the Family didn't care for the show. The review is useful for its cataloging and description of objectionable elements.

Metafilter shows "universal acclaim."

I have season 2 to watch, although I'll take a break first and try to watch it a bit less quickly. I'm not sure that this show can really improve from its first season focus. From what I've seen, the season long serial approach continues in the second season but has been abandoned/disjointed this year. I think I enjoyed seeing the show more on dvd than I would enjoy it on a weekly tv basis.

When I checked the show's Wikipedia page yesterday, I became aware of current controversy regarding the show's production status. Apparently, there 1) might not be a fourth season, 2)might be a fourth season, or 3) there may be a relaunch where the VM character continues in a future context. I wonder if a VM comic book would work better than a more procedural TV show future....sometimes TV shows need to die, I think.

(picture from creator Rob Thomas's site)