Wednesday, April 12, 2006

'Veronica' the Dream Weaver! Plus the Scrubies, 'Medium' in 'Pink' and Nielsen Wednesday

I'm feeling a little overwhelm -ed by last night's encrypted episode of Veronica Mars. There was so much information in each of her bus crash dreams, and it's hard to know what's important and what's not. I feel like the answer is right there, but we aren't able to reach it yet, and I'm loving it! I liked seeing the victims and getting to know them a little better through Veronica's dream flashbacks. It reminded me of season one with the Lilly Kane flashbacks. One of those victims' (Rhonda) surviving family members recently got a $2-million dollar settlement from Woody Goodman after claiming they found a finger in their rib sandwich at one of Woody's fast food chain restaurants. Cervando, a PCHer, had recently acquired a $200 dollar pair of jeans from Neptune's first crime family - the Fitzpatricks - and had them ruined by Dick. Betina was reeling after a friends-with-benefits relationship with Dick Casablancas didn't end how she planned. Oh yeah, and Mr. Casablancas had recently taken out huge insurance policies on both Dick and Cassidy. As Keith put it, his sons were worth more to him dead than alive. Keith believes that the crash was intended to harm those with money, but the unexpected limo ride home messed up the plan. And then there's Meg (sniffle, sniffle), who was carrying Duncan's baby and who survived the crash, but died months later at the hospital. It seems Meg's parents were bent on setting her up with Neptune High's janitor (Lucky), whom they knew from church. That revelation brought Veronica to Logan, since Meg revealed in Veronica's dream that Logan knew Lucky because he would buy them beer. It seems that Veronica met him once when she and Logan were making out in Logan's car. What, if anything, Lucky or his connections to Meg and Logan has to do with the crash is still unclear. I was just glad to see Meg again. She said she had information, but she was interrupted and we never got that "important information." I miss Meg, especially after recently watching "Like a Virgin" again. She was such a likable character and a great ally for Veronica before the whole Duncan mess. Anyway, the question is, is Keith correct and the bus crash was meant to kill one or many of the 09ers? Or was it intended for one of the students on the bus?



One sticking point from Veronica's dream that she couldn't get past was artwork of the Grim Reaper and 9 graves along with the words "I Am God." There were 8 victims in the bus crash (Veronica would have made 9). The same image was drawn on the back of one of the seats of the bus. Veronica searched through Principal Clemmons' office to find out if any of the students had ever gotten in trouble for drawing on school property. That searched proved fruitless, but she did find out that Pete, a member of Neptune's online gay community who was preparing for the "mother of all outings" before the crash, had hit on a teacher, Mr. Wu, at a gay club downtown. Turns out Mr. Wu isn't gay (or so he claims), and thus no outing was in his future, and the incident was much ado about nothing. But, Pete tells Veronica in her dream not to believe Mr. Wu and he asks her to think about why he would want to go on a trip to a baseball stadium. Was Mr. Wu the intended outing target or was it someone else? Some people believe that it was Woody Goodman and it has something to do with that mysterious DVD he got in the mail last week. It does seem like all roads lead to Woody, but nothing concrete yet. Cervando pointed to fellow PCHer Weevil and used the writing "I Am God" to make his case. After Veronica woke up, she discovered that "I Am God" and the Grim Reaper drawing are nothing more than art work for an album by the same name that Marcos drew on the bus. So, were they just images in Veronica's confusing dreams based on the drawings she found on the bus? Or is there something more to it that she hasn't discovered? One of the most interesting moments happened at the end of the episode when Veronica's dream had her back on the bus with a backpack of dynamite next to her. Rhonda was making the exact cell phone call that she made right as the explosion happened and the bus went off the cliff, but Marcos' cell phone started ringing and he handed it to Veronica. She looked at it shocked. Did she see who was calling? Did this call trigger the explosion that caused the crash? And if it did, who made the call and who had the dynamite? Things are getting more and more interesting, and I can't wait to find out what all the revelations in Veronica's dreams mean.

Random Mars Musings

1) How wonderful was Veronica's reaction when she found out that she got accepted to Stanford??!! Kristen Bell was fabulous with her excitement, and she played the scene so genuinely.

2) I loved Logan and Weevil's science project. They worked really well together. I loved how they were only going to do the minimum to get by, but soon learned that they could team up to beat Angie and help Veronica at the same time.

3) Bummer about Angie taking the lead in the Kane scholarship, but a huge Yay! to Keith for getting to the bottom of the anxiety disorder. Looks like Angie will be taking all of those exams that she didn't study for (and possibly falling behind Veronica in the class rankings)!

4) Loved Keith's comment that Veronica shouldn't watch House of Wax because "that Hilton girl gives you nightmares." First of all, so true, and second of all, such an awesome inside joke since "that Hilton girl" guest starred on this show in its first season.

5) Veronica's "I know who you did last summer" message to Dick was priceless!

6) As you all probably know by now, this was the episode that they were filming when I was out on the set for the Bloggers Press Day in February. We saw the scene with Veronica and Beaver outside eating lunch. Check it out:




And the picture I took of Kristen while she was talking to us during some down time:


Some interesting information about the scene that I observed while I was there:

- If you look in the background of the first screen capture of this scene from last night's episode, you'll see Dick Casablancas goofing off on his bike. The director, Martha Mitchell, needed another extra and actor Ryan Hansen was hanging around to speak with us, so she tapped him to fill the void.

-While Veronica walked over to the table to sit with Beaver, her narration played over the scene. While they were filming the scene, there's (obviously) no narration. In order for the director and Kristen to know where the scene should be, Kristen's stand-in read the narration out loud.

-That short scene, took several takes from many different angles to get it to look just right. It's an impressive feat, and it shows how much hard work goes into the many series that we watch and love every week.


With Veronica now on Tuesdays with Scrubs, it's like a virtual critic love-fest at 9 p.m. You have two of television's best shows going head- to- head, which seems unfair, but it does make for a high quality night of television. Last night's Scrubs episode provided its usual dose of laughs. JD's brother was back and up to his normal antics, Turk and Carla got obsessive over possible baby names (Remember: you can win a chance to select the baby's name. Click HERE for all the details), JD talked directly to the audience, except not, we learned the meaning of "pink belly," there was the gay baby test, the hilarious, but true plight of the voice command dial cell phones, and Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso bonded over Dr. Kelso's gay son. What more can you ask for? How about a recap of the night's best, funniest and all around awesome lines?

The Scrubies
"What's up my Negro amigo?" JD to Turk

"And that is the father of my fake baby." Elliot regarding Keith after he seemed OK with Dan joining them

"Look on the bright side, he's like the daughter you never had, only gay and unsuccessful." Dr. Cox to Dr. Kelso regarding Dr. Kelso's gay son

"Oh Perry, you're so edgy and cantankerous, you're like House without the limp." Dr. Kelso to Dr. Cox in a reference to the Fox medical show that shares Scrubs' timeslot

"Dad can't die again." JD to Elliot after explaining that the only thing that brought him and his brother back together last time they fought was their dad dying

"If you killed Ted, I don't want to know about it. Just make sure it's not traceable to the hospital." Dr. Kelso to Dr. Cox after he sent Dr. Cox to help Ted decipher the medical terms in the lawsuits facing the hospital

That's all for this week's edition of the Scrubies. If you have a quote that you would like to nominate, drop me a comment and I'll publish it in a future edition. As always, feel free to leave me a comment with your thoughts on last night's episodes of both Scrubs and Veronica Mars.

It's Wednesday and the WB aired another new episode of Gilmore Girls last night! As usual, I catch up on this show on the weekends, but if you would like to read some commentary on last night's episode, click on over to TV Guide's Watercooler blog.

About Last Night...Fox won the first hour of the night with American Idol, followed by CBS' NCIS (r) and ABC's special It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown and Hope & Faith. At 9, Fox stayed in front with House, followed by CBS' The Unit and the second part of ABC's Ten Commandments miniseries. UPN's Veronica Mars landed in a disappointing last place behind the WB's Pepper Dennis (lets hope it's just the newness of the timeslot switch and that things will pick up next week). The final hour of the night went to CBS' CSI (r), followed by the final hour of ABC's miniseries and NBC's special airing of Conviction. For more on last night's ratings, visit Zap2it.

~Primetime Pass~
@8 p.m. - The teams compete in a Da Vinci Code-esque challenge that takes them from Italy to Greece on CBS' The Amazing Race (remember this show now airs on this new night and time). Over on UPN, the girls compete to be America's Next Top Model. I've seen some advance clips from this episode and things aren't looking too well for Brooke, who finds it difficult to walk the runway with accessories. Plus, the girls dance it up for a photo shoot and they hold a fashion show in an interesting location. Fox's American Idol results show starts a half an hour earlier this week (8:30 p.m.) and runs an hour.

@9 p.m. - Rose is against Bernard's plan to send out an S.O.S signal and Kate and Jack rekindle old feelings on ABC's Lost (NOTE: this episode runs until 10:04 p.m. tonight). Over on CBS, Gideon, Hotchner and their team head to Mexico to aid in the investigation of a serial killer who preys on the elderly on Criminal Minds. If you missed last night's pivital episode of Veronica Mars (and from the ratings, it seemed that a lot of you did), be sure to catch the rebroadcast tonight on UPN (don't make me beg people).

@10 p.m. - Mac, Stella, Sheldon and Det. Flack investigate when a vigilante dressed in a cape and tights is killed after saving a man from being mugged at an ATM on CBS' CSI: NY. ABC airs the last episode of The Evidence before it takes its hiatus (NOTE: begins at 10:04 p.m.).



QUICK CUTS

*Molly Ringwald will guest star on NBC's Medium next month. The Pretty In Pink actress will play a woman that Allison believes to be in trouble. In the episode, Allison dreams about a man who breaks into Ringwald's character's home and steals nothing but a kiss. She continues to investigate the dream, and soon feels that the woman is in danger. Look for Ringwald's episode to air May 1st on NBC. In other guest star news, TVGuide.com is reporting that Robert Wagner will show up on ABC's Boston Legal next month. He'll play a senior partner at the law firm's L.A. office. Look for Wagner to appear in the show's 2-hour season finale May 16th.

*NBC is now confirming that Heist will vacate its schedule beginning April 26th. The drama will air new episodes for the next two weeks (including tonight), but its future is unclear after that point. The decision leaves at least one episode on the shelf.

*And finally, it's Nielsen Wednesday! Once again, CBS won the week in total viewers and Fox captured the 18-49 year old crown. CBS was led by CSI (#3), NCAA Championship (#6), Survivor (tie #7), NCIS (#9) and The Unit (#10). American Idol (#1, #2), House (#4), Deal or No Deal (#5) and Lost (tie #7) rounded out the top 10. To see a list of the top 20 shows, click on over to USA Today.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for thoughts on Lost and the Idol and Model moments. Plus, all the latest television news! And don't forget to tune in earlier tomorrow for The Amazing Race edition. That's two editions every Thursday for the price of one!


SAVE EVERWOOD NOW! Click HERE to learn how to help the show get another season

Don't forget to help Veronica Mars with the $4,000 Shower Campaign. Click HERE for details

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahahahaha!!!! You really got me laughing there, between the Scrubies and "I know WHO you did last summer". Good ones!

Hilton girl DOES give you nightmares. And if she doesn't, she should. :0

TVFan said...

Glad they made you laugh. Scrubs is just too funny for words. And VM keeps me cracking up when it's not shocking me or making me get all emotional. Darn that Kristen Bell! :-)

Yeah, that Hilton comment was priceless!