...is 'Veronica Mars.' No really.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have spent your Tuesday 9PM nights this past television season watching 'House' or 'Scrubs' instead of the stylish mystery noir 'Veronica Mars,' then you were utterly foolish. If you spent that time slot watching 'One Tree Hill' instead of 'Mars' then I'm afraid you've embarrassed both of us.

After watching the season finale last night, it's obvious that 'Veronica Mars,' the best show you're NOT watching, was one of few reasons to stay tuned to network television between last September and last night. In midst of all the crap (and yes, 'Boston Legal' has now been redefined to mean 'crap.')

Anywho, for any of you who have been getting wind of this buzz and are considering acquiring episodes (online or in DVD form, as they're slated to come out in the fall), here's a bit of background.

Veronica Mars is 17. She goes to Neptune High School, which is in the fictitious town of Neptune, CA. She and Lily Kane were best friends until one day, Lily Kane was murdered. Then, Veronica was driven to help her dad solve this mystery and last night. On the side, Veronica also took on commissioned cases — from her peers or whomever — serious plots of revenge or investigations that they wanted her to look at. But last night, they found the perpetrator and it was a smashing finale for an entire season rife with plot twists and turns. In respect for any fans who might be reading this, but haven't seen the finale yet, I won't name the murderer.

I'm shocked at how captivating Kristen Bell's been in the lead — never lagging in even an episode. This show could easily have tipped into the melodramatic, soapy pitfalls of 'Dawson's Creek' or other WB teenybopper soap operas, but director/creator Rob Thomas has steered clear of that.

So, please people, if you want something good to tie you over until the next season of '24' or 'Desperate Housewives' — as those will be ending soon — check out 'Veronica Mars,' coming to DVD (unless you have a fabulous TiVo or something...)

Oh and by the way, if Kristen Bell doesn't get an Emmy nod — which I bet is likely — I will be one among many who will be furious.