What You Should Have Been Watching: Veronica Mars

As he previously mentioned, The Common Man spent a great deal of time this week, snuggled up with The Uncommon Wife in their bedroom, watching DVDs. It has been a delightful respite from feeling like crap, not just because The Common Man loves him some wife and values their time together, but because they are entirely wrapped up in the second season of the subject of the second edition of What You Should Have Been Watching: Veronica Mars.

Veronica Mars picked up the torch of the teenage heroine when it was discarded by Buffy Summers in 2004. Gushed over by fanboys and by critics, it should have been a hit, pairing a hot and versatile young star (Kristin Bell) with a terrific concept (90210 meets Nancy Drew). With an impressive stable of supporting talent (Enrico Colantoni and Jason Dohring in particular) and a
supportive network that gave the show three years to find an audience, you'd assume that VM was perfectly placed to find success. Sadly, that network was UPN, a third-rate joke whose best performing product was Friday Night Smackdown (The Common Man hesitates to italicize that title. Does that even count as a show or is it some vaudeville freakery gone even more freaky?), which did not exactly appeal to Veronica's demo. The network bumped it around into various timeslots and local affiliates preempted it for local sports, meaning that building a consistent audience was incredibly difficult, particularly for a serialized show.

That said, maybe it's best that Veronica Mars never made it onto one of the four main networks. Largely left to himself, series creator Rob Thomas was able to create an impressive universe for his characters and could touch on social commentary as well as revel in his star's sexybombshellness. And he was able to develop long, season-length story archs, patiently giving away clues, and teasing audiences along to a final payoff.

The series revolves around Bell's Veronica, the daughter of the local sheriff in Neptune, CA (a smallish city in So-Cal with huge disparities between rich and poor). When her best friend is murdered, Veronica's life collapses around her. Her father accuses Veronica's boyfriend's father of the crime, her boyfriend dumps her, she becomes a social pariah, her father is ousted in a recall election, her mother (already an alcoholic) leaves home, and the remaining Mars' are forced to move to a two-bedroom apartment. Veronica's father becomes a local private investigator and she his assistant. In her spare time, she investigates her friend's murder and helps classmates who fall into some kind of trouble or other, using her Batman-esque detectiving skills.

The series rode high on the strength Bell's performance. Her role as the class private eye forced her to invent several different versions of the character who could cajole, intimidate, and hustle other characters for information. And her status as an outsider inspired her every word to drip with sarcasm. She was, to be fair, given terrific, updated-Raymond Chandler-like dialogue to work with, but her delivery was consistently on point. Also, her hair was hot and bounced on her head like it was spring-loaded.

So, why is this show here? Sure, you're thinking, it sounds awesome and you probably should have been watching it. But what, besides the eye-candy is there to interest men. To instruct men. To be a boon to mankind. Ladies and gentlemen, Keith Mars, Veronica's father, as played by Enrico Colantoni, is the embodiment of responsible fatherhood. Abandoned by his wife and his community for pursuing his convictions and a suspect, Keith has every reason to start his life over in another town, or to be bitter and take out his frustrations on his daughter. But he doesn't. Instead, he stays in Neptune, and endures the scorn and ridicule of his neighbors. He embodies responsible fatherhood, sacrificing so that his daughter can be as well-adjusted as possible in their home. Love, money, pride. None of it matters as much as the safety and happiness of his little girl. Add to that his moral strength and physical toughness, and you have one hell of a man. Again and again, Keith Mars is held up as the pinnacle of manhood, and he is never found wanting. He is an example for fathers everywhere to follow, understanding that something as simple as a smile or a hug from one's child is a far greater reward than anything tangible.

Also, The Uncommon Wife has noted on several occasions that she would do incredible things to him, and once purred. So, um, ladies...he's apparently got that sexy dad thing going for him.

Anyway, if you liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and don't say you didn't, you'll just make The Common Man shed manly, manly tears), you'll love Veronica Mars. Though it plays down the action, adventure, and danger, it heightens the mystery, suspense, and wittiness of Joss Whedon's masterpiece. And when the show does get dangerous, it's incredibly intense. So go, enjoy all three seasons that Veronica Mars has to offer. And, now that the fall TV season is upon you, start watching good television, for God's sake, so they won't keep airing Who Wants To Break Up Their Family For a Million Dollars?

Watching You Watching

The Nielsen ratings are in on the Democratic National Convention, and the news is good for CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC. According to TVbytheNumbers, "the ratings for the first night of the 2008 Democratic Convention were substantially higher than the first night in 2004, with prime-time viewership up as much as 88% and adults 25-54 viewership up as much as 127%." The increase in viewership carried over into the second, third, and fourth nights as well. It's an impressive testament to the drawing power of the 2008 election, and how excited Americans, particularly younger Americans, seem at the prospect of an Obama presidency. Or at least how excited Obama supporters are.

The Common Man suspects that next week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul will see a significant drop in ratings, as the star power associated with John McCain simply cannot compare to Barak Obama and the Clintons. And that's a shame. Frankly, The Common Man is bothered that, at the most, just 27.7 million Americans tuned in to the convention last night, especially when 40 million tuned in to watch Michael Phelps. And is disappointed that fewer still will see McCain's closing speech next Thursday. Even this sudden spike in interest only underlines the American public's commitment to style over substance, to the ten-second soundbite and 30-second analysis to actually listening to the candidates. This has become the very essence of the American Dewmocracy. That Americans don't have the attention span to commit to hearing the whole, they want someone to tell them what is important so they can go back to snowboarding or skateboarding or wakeboarding or whatever kind of boarding is extreme this week, instead of being forced to parse through and process a candidate's message for themselves.

Look, The Common Man knows that no one likes to be scolded or told what they should do. He hates it himself. But if you can't be bothered to at least take an hour this week and next to listen to both Obama and McCain's speech and decide for yourself who you trust and who will serve America's interests best, then you don't deserve to call yourself a man. If you are going to allow Alan Colmes, or Sean Hannity, or Chris Matthews to filter information for you, so that you are being told what to think, rather than taking control of your own opinions and your own vote, and making up your own damn mind, you may as well just give your vote back.

Not everyone cares about politics, and that's fine. But you don't have to check out Fivethirtyeight.com twice a day, and read the Drudge Report, and skim Daily Kos every day to to understand that this election will probably have real consequences in how you get to live your life for the next four (and maybe eight) years. If you can't be bothered to care a little about that, then how is it possible that you care enough to get up each morning? If you have no interest in influencing the world around you, what's the point of doing anything? If you can't tell that deciding who to vote for will be more important to you than watching a man, half-way around the world, swim of all things, what does that say about your priorities?

So The Common Man encourages all of you, even those (like himself) who are inclined to support Barak Obama, to watch the Republican National Convention next week, or at least John McCain's acceptance speech on Thursday night. And if you missed Obama's speech last night, you can find it on his website and watch it at your convenience. Take some ownership over your decision-making, step up, and be a man.

What You Should Have Been Watching: Firefly

Men are busy creatures. There's the hunting and scavenging for food. The protection of the women and children. The bowling and softball leagues. And because of their limited time, men must be picky and choosy about what they will watch on the television (that is in no way sports related). Since it's still the boring summer months, when awesome television like Lost and The Office and 30 Rock and CSI: New York (just testing to see if you're paying attention) is on vacation, The Common Man has decided to let you in on the shows you probably missed because you were too busy. These shows are gone now. Gone like dinosaurs, Rubik's Cubes, and Ted Danson's hair. But through the magic of the Digital Video Disk, you have the opportunity to check these shows out in what little spare time you have. Here's the first installment of: What You Should Have Been Watching.

Any list of the best television programs of the last five years (just getting this in under the gun here) must include the very short-lived Joss Whedon series, Firefly. Whedon, of course, is best known for his awesome cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the slightly less awesome, but probably more philosophically interesting, Angel. His follow-up to those shows, Firefly marked a drastic departure from anything seen on television before. It fused the Western and Sci-Fi genres seemlessly, creating an outer space that felt like Dodge City.

The show takes place in the distant future, after humanity has left the earth and found a new solar system to inhabit, but the outer planets have yet to achieve real technological sophistication. As such, there's a certain lawlessness that pervades these brave new worlds. The central focus of the show, a nine-member crew of a cargo vessel (Serenity), operates within this lawlessness. Thieving, smuggling, and (very occasionally) doing good works while trying to stay off of the central government's radar. Picture the Jesse James Gang meets Treasure Island meets (the good) Star Wars, with a little bit of Das Boot thrown in.

The casting is excellent, though almost all the actors began the series as unknowns. Nathan Fillion shines as the morally complicated captain of the ship, but the series allows shipmates Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite, Summer Glau, and especially Adam Baldwin equal opportunities to be in the spotlight. It truly is an ensemble show, and each character plays a seemingly central role in each episode. There are no wasted moments, no throwaway lines, and no small parts.

And Firefly looks different from any show that came before it because of technological advances Whedon was smart enough to take advantage of before anyone else. Whedon's crew shoots with handicams throughout the episode. This gives the each scene greater energy and intimacy, as the viewer seems to be spying on the characters most private and harrowing moments. And Whedon was also able to benefit from incredible advances in CGI technology that would allow his exterior shots of the ship, space stations, planets, and space to appear more real. They go in and out of focus, and the "camera" capturing them shakes. Lens flares pop realistically. Since then, of course, Whedon's technique has been immitated by the creators of the wildly popular Battlestar Galactica and by George Lucas in the new Star Wars films, and by JJ Abrams in Cloverfield.

The story of the show's problems with Fox television have become part of its legend. The network wouldn't let Whedon show the pilot episode, instead demanding he write a new first episode in three days. And it kept pre-empting Firefly and changing its timeslot without warning. Sadly, after showing just 11 episodes (though 14 were shot), the series was canceled. Since then, it has gained second life on the DVD market, and you can pick it up for $20. The episodes have been rearranged into the proper sequence and augmented with excellent commentaries. And the film Serenity, released in 2005, continues (and perhaps completes) the story.

So why is The Common Man recommending this to you, other than the fact that it's an excellent show? Because Nathan Fillion, as Malcolm Reynolds, epitomizes manliness.


He is stalwart and true to his word. He protects his crew and disciplines them like a father. He guards his emotions closely, hiding his anger, pain, and sadness behind pithy jokes and stubborness. He may not always do what's legal, but he ultimately does what's right and accepts the consequences of his actions. He's complicated, but moral, in a time when morality is in short supply. Also, explosions. And shooting. And efficient use of space. And all nature of other awesome manly things.

Because it died so young, it shouldn't take you long to fly through the show, thereby getting you ready for The Common Man's next recommendation, which should come down to you shortly.