Honestly, it makes me sad. It makes me sad because I so appreciate the people who are doing it and I also know the Mars Bars campaign needed to happen a month earlier if it was going to have any impact at this point. [Sighs.] There's a part of me that feels this whole June 15 deadline that "we're going to give Kristen (Bell) and Rob to continue on" is a way to deflect from the fact that they cancelled us.
I don't want to say it's disingenuous because I think Dawn would love to do something with Kristin and myself on that network, but at the same time, it will make me look like the bad guy. Because they're not offering us much of a deal to do something new, but suddenly they can say to the press that they offered Rob the chance to continue on and he turned it down. Which isn't exactly the truth. The truth is they wanted me to write an FBI pilot with no guarantee behind it of episodes. Meanwhile I'm being offered real money to run a show that is on the air backed up by a development deal, a deal that Warner Brothers (the W of The CW) is not offering.
And people within the business said that Les Moonves was not enthusiastic about putting a new Veronica Mars on the air. So it was asking me to turn down a lot for a very, very outside shot of getting Veronica Mars back on the air.
In a way, a clean "they're cancelled" would have been less painful. I mean, less painful for me and less painful for the fans, I think.
You were a youth novelist before you got started as a TV writer, right? How did you get into TV?
That is the craziest, most unbelievable story in the world, so when I do talk to writers about how to break into the business, my story is so crazy and unbelievable that I say "don't do this." This is certainly not a model for how you do it.
I had been a high school teacher, and I moved out to LA to take a job for Channel One, which is sort of like CNN for kids in the United States, beamed directly into their classrooms. While working this very boring job, I wrote my first novel. One of my duties was to run Student Produced Week, to fly in kids from all over the country to take over the news show for the week. In the 2,000 video applications I received, there was one note in there directed specifically to me: "Dear Mr. Thomas, I would like to recommend my niece for your program, blah blah blah," and it was from the president of CBS, Jeff Sagansky.
Article comments
1 - Elizabeth
Rob Thomas is God to me for creating VM. Seriously, Rob, please don't shoot for Lost. That show is all ratings and the substance was gone long ago. 1,000 years from now, when this civilization is long-gone, people will dig up old VM dvds and think, "What the hell was wrong with CBS for canceling this awesome show?!?!"
2 - jenny
i wish veronica mars was still on. i would have loved for it to continue..it was aunique show and it deserves to keep on playin!
3 - Abby
I've have been waiting forever to see if veronica mars would have a 4th season. I had finally got the 2nd and 3rd season, to complete my collection, for christmas this year, and I had hopes that there was for sure going to be a 4th season. I wish that the plot wasn't her being in the FBI yet, but no matter what i was happy there was going to be a 4th season. Today I was curious as to of when that season was going to start, and now there's not going to be one. That truely disappoints me. There was more to that show than any other show I had ever watched. I was into ever single aspect of that show. It was funny, the people seemed so real, the plots were so out there, I just felt like everything about that show as perfect and made a person want to keep watching it. It was kind of like a good book you don't want to put down, except more. I had never heard of the t.v. network UPN until one day there was nothing to watch and i was flipping through every channel and i was thankful to come across a great show that hooked me from the first episode. There are so many curcumstances of as of why VM didn't get as many viewers as it should've. At the time there were other shows people had already become into when VM was aired, nobody really watched upn, and when it started airing on the cw well it was the 3rd season already (but i'm sure those who had started watching it then wanted to see the first and second seasons also). I think if Rob Thomas fought to have it air from the beginning to the end, on a more popular channel, and gave it advertisement, it could become the big hit it should be. There are still so many things a fourth season could go on, of vm being in college still. It could go on whatever happened to Kendall Casablancas, who won sheriff, what will become of the Fitzpatricks, will Duncan ever return, will the Castle ever be publicized, and what will become of the best love hate relationship i've ever seen between Logan and Veronica. I would hope my words are read thoroughly and passed on the the big guys. I'd email them to if i knew how to communicate with them.
4 - Abby
I'd also have to say i'm not one to actually email someone for how much i love a show, but veronica mars is the best show i had ever seen and i dont want it to end. 3 seasons is too short, i speak for many about this show when i say it must go on.
5 - Diane Kristine
Sorry Abby, this article is half a year old - the series is as dead as dead can be and everyone involved has moved on. You might see it in a comic book, though, when the strike's over.
6 - Megan
I definetly agree i have never bought complete seasons of any show but i had to of veronica mars. i finished the entire 3rd season in a matter of 4 days. the show is addicting and i cat believe they are cutting it off. im very disappointed. No one cares about these dumb reality tv shows like the pussycat dolls. i for one would rather watch veronica mars any day of the week. i just wish there was a chance that they would reconsider a season 4.
7 - greatz
DUDE PLIZ GET VERONICA MARS BACK = ITS LIEK THE BEST TV SHOW EVR!!!
8 - Kate
I LOVE VERONICA MARS IT IS THE BEST SHOW EVER ive got season 1 and 2 and waiting to get season 3, PLZ MAKE SEASON 4 AND AIR IT ON AUSTRALIAN TV BECAUSE I THINK IT WILL BE A HUDGE HIT, I THINK THAT IT WILL BE THE BEST THINK THAT CAME ON TV PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEPLEASE PLEASE PLEASE