'Veronica' Follows the Luck of the Irish! Plus the Scrubies, 'Alias' Goes to iTunes and ACM Presenters Announced

How can one show be this good? Veronica Mars is the best show on television, without a doubt. And if you need any further proof, just look at last night's stellar hour. There were so many heart-stopping, flat-out shocking moments that it's hard to know where to start! Weevil was carrying around a how-to guide on bomb making? Kendall isn't really Kendall?? Gia saw the green Barracuda that killed Harry's dog right before the bus crashed? Can it get more thrilling than this? Oh, it can and it will because we all know from last season that things are only beginning to heat up. It all began when Harry asked Veronica to look into who purposely ran over and killed his beloved dog. He knew the person was driving a green Barracuda, so Veronica tried to track the car, but she didn't find any registered in Neptune. She took out an ad in the school paper for anyone who had seen the car, and Gia gave her the shocking revelation that she saw the car the day of the bus crash, right before the bus went off the cliff. Apparently, one of the car's occupants mooned Gia and the rest of the 09ers in the limo that was following the bus, and Gia remembers seeing a college logo of sorts in the window. Suddenly, Veronica's dog killer case became intertwined with her bus crash mystery. Meanwhile, things weren't looking so good for Weevil. Not only does he not mind sacrificing a rat, but he also had instructions on how to make a bomb confiscated at the beginning of the school year during the random locker searches. Oh yeah, and there's that little point about him "finding" Veronica alone at the gas station and giving her a ride. Weevil explained that he was following the bus because he was looking out for Cervando. It seems Cervando's bragging about taking a pair of jeans from the Fitzpatricks was not going over well with Liam Fitzpatrick, and Weevil was afraid that Liam would do something to Cervando. Veronica is pretty certain that whoever crashed the bus did so by making a cell phone call to trigger the bomb that caused the bus to go off the cliff and kill all those onboard. As we learned last week, that person would have to have eyes near the bus in order to know the exact point in which to trigger the bomb so that the bus went off the cliff. Weevil was certainly in the area, but his story seemed to make some sense.


Meanwhile, Keith decided to investigate Kendall Casablancas because she was the sole benefactor of the life insurance policy that Dick Sr. took out on his sons. He came across her high school year book, and apparently, Kendall is really Priscilla. The real Kendall died in a car accident back in high school. Guess who was behind the wheel? Yup, fake Kendall. And there's more. Fake Kendall has a criminal record for some fraud activity she was involved in back in the day. Keith decided to dig deeper and find out if Kendall has a secret house somewhere in Neptune. Veronica got a lead on that green Barracuda, but its owner turned out to be an older, blind lady, so she snuck into the garage and found the car sans the college logo. She could see where the outline was still there, though, so she rubbed some powder over it and found a fighting Irishman. Looks like things are pointing back to the Fitzpatricks again. She put a GPS tracking device on the car. Later that night, she followed it to a house, where we see a woman, under the veil of darkness, get in the car. She heard them talking about someone with a flashlight in the house, and the driver reached for his gun and entered the house. Veronica called her dad to tell him, but it turned out he already knew because he was in the house. He and the car's occupant, Liam Fitzpatrick, wrestled after Liam's gun fired blanks (thanks to Veronica's handy work earlier in the day). Keith got away, but we find out that Kendall is the mystery woman at the house, so she and Liam are hooked up somehow. Keith did some more investi - gating and found that Kendall and one of the Fitzpatricks used to work together as a couple of grifters. Fitzpatrick had two strikes against him, so Kendall took the wrap on the third one, meaning the Fitzpatricks owe Kendall big time. Also, that older, blind woman is Liam Fitzpatrick's maternal grandmother, which is how he has access to the car. We already know from Gia that the car was present at the cliff right before the bus crashed, so Liam might have been Kendall's eyes. He could have told her when the bus was near the cliff and she could have hit the trigger that caused the crash. Hmm... the suspect pool widens!


Veronica, doing a favor for Mac, snuck into Principal Clemmons office and while she was there, she found the paddle that Thumper made. Turns out, Weevil needed the paddle as leverage over the Fitzpatricks because he believes that it holds all the contact information for the gang's wealthy drug clients. Weevil wanted the leverage so he could get the Fitzpatricks off the PCHers' backs. Lucky for him, Veronica made a copy of the paddle's contents and she gave it to Weevil. The plan worked, and now the Fitzpatricks are going to leave the PCHers alone. The end of the episode left us all hanging as usual because we found out that investigators found the murder weapon in the Lilly Kane case from last season. Keith had always thought it was the ashtray that they found in the pool, but the new report says that it was one of Aaron Echolls' statuettes. Apparently, it was buried in the Kane backyard, and they found Duncan's hair on it. Now we know what Kendall was doing in Duncan's shower picking up one of Duncan's hairs with a pair of tweezers. Needless to say, Veronica was shocked. We know that all is not what it seems, but it looks like Duncan is going to have a hard time explaining how his hair got there. I love the way this show can seamlessly intertwine all of its storylines, even those that are from last season. It never ceases to amaze me!

Random Mars Musings

1) Didn't Jackie look different with her hair straight? I barely recognized her! She looked great.

2) Speaking of Jackie, I was shocked to learn that she's going to Paris at the end of the school year. Does this spell the end of her character?

3) I loved Wallace's persistence with Jackie at the Hut. He really was determined to get her to go to prom with him. I'm glad it paid off.

4) I loved the scene between Weevil and Veronica in the parking lot. She knew that he was responsible for Thumper's disappearance and she called him on it.

5) Also loved the scene between Logan and Veronica outside of school. It had to be uncomfortable for Veronica to hear about Logan and Kendall, and then Logan started listing off his other conquests.

6) Interesting that Veronica didn't tell Harry the truth about his dog's death. I guess she saw it better to spare him the jail sentence than to enact her own revenge on Liam.

7) I know it has been said before, but it really can't be said enough, Kristen Bell continues to amaze me with her performances. She is a brilliant actress, and she and Kathryn Morris will more than likely continue to top my list of the most underrated and overlooked actors on television. Such a shame!


I seriously think that I am suffering from a hangover today from last night's quality TV overload! TV's best comedy and best show together on one night is making my head spin with joy! Of course, it's also spinning with joy because we got a video camera - wearing JD, narration from Janitor (or rather, Dr. Yan- i- tor), a slew of new inventions including a pen straw and a drill fork (and who can forget the Hover Hoover), Turk trying to prove to Dr. Cox that he's black, JD using the baby monitor and Turk dressing incognito while test driving a minivan and trying to act like a stud because he thinks having a baby is going to change his stud status. As usual, there was also a healthy helping of heart with Elliot realizing that Carla helped her through her earlier years as an intern and Janitor finding out that he truly does make a difference at Sacred Heart. Here's a look at last night's best, funniest and all around awesome lines.

The Scrubies
"I wish I had thought of athletic apparel when I went through my mid-life crisis. It would have been cheaper than a cigarette boat named 'Dr. Feelgood.' " Dr. Kelso to Dr. Cox after the latter showed up to work in a Red Wings jersey

"God knew my people would go through struggles, so he gave us a lifetime supply of cool to compensate." Turk to Dr. Cox on why he's inherently cool

"How you spend your private time isn't my responsibility." Elliot to Keith after he didn't finish his reports because she made him go to dinner with her

"And they call me 'The Pig' because I say disgusting and sexist things to women." The Todd after Turk shares his nickname

"Elliot is a blonde, 108-pound ski pole from a cul-de-sac in Connecticut." Carla to Keith after Keith says that he's scared of Elliot

"I even considered taking a year off and cleaning my way across Europe." Janitor on his opportunities after graduating from college

"Have you seen just how stupid you look when you do your angry-quick walk?" Dr. Cox to Elliot

That's this week's look at the Scrubies. If you have a quote that you would like to nominate for a Scrubie, leave me a comment and I'll post it in a future edition. Of course, you can also drop me a line with your thoughts on last night's Scrubs and/or Veronica Mars.

It's Wednesday, and that means another new episode of Gilmore Girls aired last night. If you would like to read some thoughts and reaction, click on over to TVGuide.com's Watercooler blogs.

About Last Night...Fox won the first hour of the night with American Idol, followed by CBS' NCIS and ABC comedies According to Jim and Hope & Faith. In a surprising twist, the WB's Gilmore Girls landed in fourth for the hour ahead of NBC's Celebrity Cooking Showdown. At 9, Fox stayed in front with House, followed by CBS' The Unit and ABC comedies According to Jim (which aired a second episode) and Less Than Perfect. NBC's Scrubs combined with Teachers for fourth, and UPN's Veronica Mars landed just behind fifth place Pepper Dennis on the WB. The final hour of the night went to CBS' Criminal Minds (r), followed by ABC's Boston Legal and NBC's Law & Order: SVU (r). For more on last night's ratings, visit Zap2it.

~Primetime Pass~
@8 p.m. - Alias returns on ABC, after a four-month hiatus, with two back-to-back episodes on its new night. To see exclusive clips from tonight's episodes, click on over to TV.com (scroll down to the last 6 clips). Over on CBS, the teams travel to Oman and face a difficult Detour that finds them face to face with some ornery camels. UPN's America's Next Top Model finds Joanie facing dental surgery. I saw some advanced clips from this episode and Nnenna's boyfriend shows up and she has some explaining to do, Joanie and Danielle get the gift of free dental work (as do the other girls, but they just get whitening treatments) and Janice teaches the girls about the ugly side of modeling.

@9 p.m. - Rod Stewart performs and another contestant is eliminated on Fox's American Idol. Over on CBS, Gideon, Hotchner and their team race to catch a serial killer on the run across the South on Criminal Minds.

@10 p.m. - ABC's Invasion returns from its hiatus. Tonight, Russell and Dave discover the island where Szura has been housing some special hybrids, but they also uncover what look like plans for a possible invasion. Over on CBS, An anonymous caller reveals to Mac that a young man is buried at a football stadium and, after uncovering the body, the evidence leads the CSIs once again to the Tanglewood gang on CSI: NY.


QUICK CUTS

*ABC's Alias is now available for download on Apple's popular iTunes service. Currently, the entire third and fourth season episodes are available for the standard $1.99 a piece. New episodes will be available the day after they air.

*Actress Kathryn Morris is set to present at next month's 41st annual Academy of Country Music Awards. She joins fellow announced presenters Dr. Phil McGraw and wife Robin McGraw. Announced performers include Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Sugarland. More presenters and performers will be announced as the broadcast grows closer. The awards air May 23rd on CBS.

*And finally, its Nielsen Wednesday! CBS once again won the week in total viewers, while Fox won the coveted 18-49 year olds crown. The Eye network was led by CSI (#2), Without a Trace (#6) , CSI: Miami (#7) and Survivor (#9). American Idol (#1, #3), House(#4), Desperate Housewives (#5), Lost (#8) and Deal or No Deal (#10) rounded out the top 10. To see a list of the top 20 shows from last week, click on over to USA Today.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for 2 for 1 Thursday with a special early edition of Pass the Remote featuring thoughts on The Amazing Race (now with 100% less Lake) and the regular edition with thoughts on Alias' big return and the Idol and Model moments. Plus, all the latest television news!


To read more of today's television headlines and listings, and to get a complete archive with the best of Pass the Remote and a photo gallery, click on over to PassTheRemote.net.

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