Veronica Mars and The Mystery of Season Four

I wake up this morning with a song in my heart and a spring in my step. The birds are chirping, the sky is a lovely blue, and Veronica Mars may live to solve more crimes this fall. I was all prepared to talk to you this morning about how I watched the show last night and thought that this single stand-alone plot thing that they have been trying out for the last few episodes of this season worked. I was going to say that while I missed the long-term mystery, the self-contained plots weren’t as dry and shallow as I had worried. I was all set to go forth and deliver a positive message of hope.

Well, you know what they say — the networks help those who help themselves. Reuters and Hollywood Reporter this morning are reporting that the good folks at The CW have seen creator and executive producer Rob Thomas’s trailer for a revamped, reinvigorated Veronica Mars for next season and they like it. They really like it. Add to the mix the fact that Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven aren’t coming back and that The CW has been unable to launch new scripted fare and all of the sudden it’s looking good for our favorite private eye.

Apparently the idea for season four is to fast-forward a few years and have Veronica at the FBI Academy (the rumor of this happening has been around for a while now). We all know that she is currently planning a summer internship there at the FBI, so to look ahead a few years and see her actually at the Academy and in-training to be the next Fox Mulder works logically. Kristen Bell will be 27 by the time season four goes into production, so she’s certainly old enough to play the part.

That only leaves us with two questions: will The CW bite and will audiences flock to her? If the “sources” are right and the network likes it, they could decide it's safer to stick with a low-rated show than spend time and energy launching something brand new that they don’t necessarily believe will be a success with an audience or creatively. But why the show will receive better ratings in season four than it did in seasons one, two, or three I can’t imagine. The show’s fans will stick with it, but why anyone else will search it out I don’t know. Perhaps they’ll try to rebrand the show, give it a new name in addition to its “fast-forward” premise and try and draw people in promoting it as a new concept (I doubt it though).

Whatever the idea for promoting it for next season, I’ll just be happy to see The CW give it a greenlight. The CW upfront is scheduled for May 17, so we don’t have all that much longer to wait.

Hopefully Veronica Mars will be able to solve the mystery of season four. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:

As of the morning of May 11, the rumor mill (reported at Cynopsis and elsewheres) states that Veronica's renewal is in doubt.  Only time will tell.