TV review - "Party Down Season 3 ep 1" (2023) ****

 A relief. Lizzy Kaplan is missed but great to see the old gang back and I loved that people moved on except Ken Marino and Martin Starr. Felt really strong that Adam Scott became  a teacher. Love the use of COVID. eps consistently fine. Weakest ep was the last one but it was redeemed by the eleventh hour cameo.

Movie review - "Veronica Mars" (2014) ***1/2

This film got a bad wrap from some fans but I ended up liking it a lot. It was never going to be as good as the TV series because (a) it's a movie and can't have the dense plotting of the original series and (b) it's not as high school and thus simply not as much fun. But it was made by people who cared and is a decent enough mystery - although I would have liked it more had I remembered the girl who died.

The cast is impressive - Kristen Bell is fun in the role of her life time and it's great to see old familiar faces again like Jason Dohring (though I think he's meant to be better looking in naval whites than he appears),  Krysten Ritter (outstanding), Francis Capra (a role that you think is going to be bigger than it turns out to be), Percy Daggs III, Ryan Hansen (great fun), Enrico Colantani, Ken Marino, Chris Lowell. Martin Starr is great too. I love the way Veronica is always the hero but the guys in her life still have balls i.e. fighting over her and such.

There are some brilliant cameos too like from James Franco, Justin Long and Dax Shepherd. I could have done without Harvey Levin.

Production values are high and there are some great moments - like Veronica dancing with her friends but checking out suspects and the finale where a killer is after her to the song "You'll Never Find a Love Like Mine".

TV review – “Veronica Mars” – Season 2 (2007) ****

I was afraid this would suffer the sophomore slump because so much of Season 1 touched on events which took place before the pilot episode, and surely they wouldn’t kill off another best friend of Veronica? (I was worried for Wallace). But the writers get around it brilliantly by killing off a whole bunch of random students on a bus, ensuring this series has the gravitas of season 1. Funny, witty - plenty of great lines for Logan but also people like Charisma Carpenter. Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) steps up. Plenty of emotional depth too. Wonderful show.

TV review – “Cupid” (1998) ** (first four episodes only)

I wanted to see this because it was an early TV work from Rob Thomas, who created the terrific Veronica Mars, and it had a reputation for being a great show that was unfairly cancelled. But while there were many good things about it, this wasn’t that sensational. It has lots of bright lines and an intriguing set up – a man is convinced he’s Cupid and has to united a hundred couples before he’s allowed home. But I think it was a mistake to have every episode focus on only one romance; there wasn’t enough story for an hour of drama.

Also the conflict between Cupid (Jeremy Piven) and the shrink he befriends who runs a singles group (Paula Marshall), based on their different approaches to romance – he being more passionate, she logical - got repetitive very quickly. Piven is very good (he’s one of the producers – I didn’t realise that Piven was that big in TV land in the late 90s) but Marshall, who I’ve liked ever since that lovely three-ep arc on Sports Night where she played a porn star, doesn’t quite pull of her role; she’s a character actor and it needed a star.

TV review – “Veronica Mars – Season 1” (2004) ****1/2

Kevin Smith is a big fan of this show, as he was of Battlestar Galactica and Law and Order, other shows that I've come to love – so I’m a big believer in Smith’s taste. This is everything a teen drama should be: funny, clever, extremely well put together. It also has genuine dramatic gravitas: there are big emotional stakes, Veronica is a genuine outcast in her community, her father has been hounded out of his job, bullies and villains pervade every aspect of society, she was raped, her best friend was killed, there’s a killer running free, etc. All these things stop the show from drifting into Famous Five territory (although what it reminds me of are the Encyclopedia Brown books).

 

Kristen Bell has the role of a life time as Veronica; she does get on the nerves occasionally but she’s so smart and has such large obstacles to overcome, that doesn’t really matter. Best support comes from Jason Dohring as her rich kid nemesis – he has so many brilliant lines, and has a great arrogant cockhead face.

TV review – “Party Down – Seasons 1 and 2” (2008-9) *****

Brilliant comedy, which I only happened to see because I had some time to kill and it was available on a plane, which has turned me into a big fan of John Enbom and Rob Thomas, the big creative players.

The series was originally meant to star Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell, who were in the pilot, but Adam Scott and Ken Marino are excellent replacements. 

 

The supporting cast is outstanding: Martin Starr’s character got better with every episode – bitter, tormented, with far too many principles (constantly on about hard sci-fi and selling out); it took me a while to get on Ryan Hansen’s wavelength (it’s a more familiar character, the himbo actor) but once I did, he was great; Lizzy Caplan is very sexy and funny as the love interest; Jane Lynch is a genius. Replacing Lynch with Jennifer Coolidge towards the end of Season 1 didn’t quite work because Coolidge played too similar a character (i.e. old acting veteran), but Megan Mullaly was great because she was different (a cheerful stage mother).

 

Some great guest roles: JD Simmons as a foul-mouthed producer, Kirsten Bell brilliant as a tightly-wound rival caterer (I would have loved to have seen more of her), that really tall hot Russian model from Entourage who plays another really tall hot Russian but is very funny; Steve Guttenberg (looking very weird in the face) as himself.