More love for Veronica
Yet another post about Veronica Mars, since it's been on the brain a lot lately.
I've been watching the summer repeats with some friends who are new viewers and talking about these last few episodes with them has been great fun. They are just as excited as enthusiastic about these last few episodes as I was the first time around, and they're tempted to borrow my DVDs because they don't want to wait for the next episode each week. I keep telling them the suspense only gets worse each week until the finale and they can't believe the show can get any better or the suspense could get any worse. But as all VM fans are probably used to saying by now: Just wait! :)
But after reading and hearing a lot of skepticism around the internet from VM non-fans (or non viewers) about how VM can't possibly be as good as the VM fans say, it seems obvious that a lot of people just didn't hear much about the show at all last season because all the media attention focused on Lost and Desperate Housewives and that's all people heard about. I think a lot of people aren't aware of how many TV critics agree that VM is one of the best shows on TV.
I've also heard some VM fans refer to VM as a "guilty pleasure" and that bugs me because there shouldn't be any guilt associated with enjoying this show. VM has been universally acclaimed as one of the best shows on TV by almost every major TV critic in the country, right up there with Lost, Deadwood, 24 and the other most acclaimed shows, both network and cable.
TV Guide - Best Dramas 2004-2005 season:(not ranked)
Deadwood
Lost
24
Veronica Mars
The Wire
Time Magazine - 6 Best Dramas on TV (April 2005):(not ranked)
Lost
Veronica Mars
House
The Shield
Deadwood
Battlestar Galactica
Entertainment Weekly - Top 10 Shows of 2004 - Drama:
1. The Wire
2. Lost
3. The Sopranos
4. Rescue Me
5. Veronica Mars
TV Week is an industry trade publication that surveys all the major TV critics from newspapers around the country. It takes a survey twice a year to cover the fall and spring seasons. There are a lot of newspaper critics with their own lists of course, but this poll reflects the general critical consensus across the board.
TV Week Critics Poll: Best Dramas - Dec 2004
1. Lost
2. The Wire
3. Rescue Me
4. Nip/Tuck
5. Veronica Mars
6. House
TV Week Critics Poll: Best Dramas - July 2005
1. Lost
2. Deadwood
3. The Shield
4. House
5. 24
6. Veronica Mars
In compiling these lists, I included only the shows considered "dramas," which basically means I left out Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, Scrubs, and The Daily Show, which were other shows that made a lot of lists. But by focusing on dramas, it's interesting that out of all these lists of the top 5 or 6 dramas, there are only two shows that made every list: Lost and Veronica Mars. And there are only four network dramas that made any list: Lost, Veronica Mars, House, and 24.
In fairness to the cable shows, these lists don't take into account the fact that cable shows don't follow the normal September - May season for network shows, so cable shows aren't always eligible because they weren't running new episodes at the time a particular list was published. Taking that into account, it appears that Deadwood and The Wire were also on every list for which they were eligible (but I can't be sure). There's no question that cable shows in general are more critically acclaimed than network shows, but on the other hand, cable shows also have a lot more creative freedom and don't need to worry about ratings nearly as much as the network shows do to stay on the air. (I for one would have loved to have seen what VM would have been like as a cable show, since the original script was written for cable and was darker and racier than what ended up on UPN.)
EW also publishes its Best of TV list at the end of each calendar year, without looking at each season individually, so that makes it difficult to compare shows also. But EW thought VM was one of the top 10 shows of 2004 and VM hadn't even aired "An Echolls Family Christmas" when that list came out. That's also why The Sopranos made EW's list but none of the others, because The Sopranos didn't air any new episodes during the regular 2004-2005 season.
In any event, there is no question that Veronica Mars is one of the best shows on TV, and it's not just crazy obsessed VM fans and squeeing teenage fangirls who think so. I read that the typical member of the Television Critics Association is a 45-year-old male, so considering that VM skews younger and female and the typical fan is more likely to be a 25 or 30-year-old female (just guessing here), that makes it especially significant that critics love VM as much as they do. So for any VM fan whose friends or family give you grief for liking that "teen" show, let them know you're not the only one: The folks at Time Magazine thinks it's one of the best shows on TV, too. Take that, CSI and The West Wing! Emmy voters may love Six Feet Under, but people who actually watch TV prefer Veronica Mars by quite a large margin.
None of this means that I need the critics to agree with me about what I like, but it certainly helps convince new viewers to try out the show when they know that VM is not just another Dawson's Creek retread but a seriously good show that critics rank alongside major hits like Lost and 24. Now if only VM could get half the ratings that those shows get . . .
I've been watching the summer repeats with some friends who are new viewers and talking about these last few episodes with them has been great fun. They are just as excited as enthusiastic about these last few episodes as I was the first time around, and they're tempted to borrow my DVDs because they don't want to wait for the next episode each week. I keep telling them the suspense only gets worse each week until the finale and they can't believe the show can get any better or the suspense could get any worse. But as all VM fans are probably used to saying by now: Just wait! :)
But after reading and hearing a lot of skepticism around the internet from VM non-fans (or non viewers) about how VM can't possibly be as good as the VM fans say, it seems obvious that a lot of people just didn't hear much about the show at all last season because all the media attention focused on Lost and Desperate Housewives and that's all people heard about. I think a lot of people aren't aware of how many TV critics agree that VM is one of the best shows on TV.
I've also heard some VM fans refer to VM as a "guilty pleasure" and that bugs me because there shouldn't be any guilt associated with enjoying this show. VM has been universally acclaimed as one of the best shows on TV by almost every major TV critic in the country, right up there with Lost, Deadwood, 24 and the other most acclaimed shows, both network and cable.
TV Guide - Best Dramas 2004-2005 season:(not ranked)
Deadwood
Lost
24
Veronica Mars
The Wire
Time Magazine - 6 Best Dramas on TV (April 2005):(not ranked)
Lost
Veronica Mars
House
The Shield
Deadwood
Battlestar Galactica
Entertainment Weekly - Top 10 Shows of 2004 - Drama:
1. The Wire
2. Lost
3. The Sopranos
4. Rescue Me
5. Veronica Mars
TV Week is an industry trade publication that surveys all the major TV critics from newspapers around the country. It takes a survey twice a year to cover the fall and spring seasons. There are a lot of newspaper critics with their own lists of course, but this poll reflects the general critical consensus across the board.
TV Week Critics Poll: Best Dramas - Dec 2004
1. Lost
2. The Wire
3. Rescue Me
4. Nip/Tuck
5. Veronica Mars
6. House
TV Week Critics Poll: Best Dramas - July 2005
1. Lost
2. Deadwood
3. The Shield
4. House
5. 24
6. Veronica Mars
In compiling these lists, I included only the shows considered "dramas," which basically means I left out Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, Scrubs, and The Daily Show, which were other shows that made a lot of lists. But by focusing on dramas, it's interesting that out of all these lists of the top 5 or 6 dramas, there are only two shows that made every list: Lost and Veronica Mars. And there are only four network dramas that made any list: Lost, Veronica Mars, House, and 24.
In fairness to the cable shows, these lists don't take into account the fact that cable shows don't follow the normal September - May season for network shows, so cable shows aren't always eligible because they weren't running new episodes at the time a particular list was published. Taking that into account, it appears that Deadwood and The Wire were also on every list for which they were eligible (but I can't be sure). There's no question that cable shows in general are more critically acclaimed than network shows, but on the other hand, cable shows also have a lot more creative freedom and don't need to worry about ratings nearly as much as the network shows do to stay on the air. (I for one would have loved to have seen what VM would have been like as a cable show, since the original script was written for cable and was darker and racier than what ended up on UPN.)
EW also publishes its Best of TV list at the end of each calendar year, without looking at each season individually, so that makes it difficult to compare shows also. But EW thought VM was one of the top 10 shows of 2004 and VM hadn't even aired "An Echolls Family Christmas" when that list came out. That's also why The Sopranos made EW's list but none of the others, because The Sopranos didn't air any new episodes during the regular 2004-2005 season.
In any event, there is no question that Veronica Mars is one of the best shows on TV, and it's not just crazy obsessed VM fans and squeeing teenage fangirls who think so. I read that the typical member of the Television Critics Association is a 45-year-old male, so considering that VM skews younger and female and the typical fan is more likely to be a 25 or 30-year-old female (just guessing here), that makes it especially significant that critics love VM as much as they do. So for any VM fan whose friends or family give you grief for liking that "teen" show, let them know you're not the only one: The folks at Time Magazine thinks it's one of the best shows on TV, too. Take that, CSI and The West Wing! Emmy voters may love Six Feet Under, but people who actually watch TV prefer Veronica Mars by quite a large margin.
None of this means that I need the critics to agree with me about what I like, but it certainly helps convince new viewers to try out the show when they know that VM is not just another Dawson's Creek retread but a seriously good show that critics rank alongside major hits like Lost and 24. Now if only VM could get half the ratings that those shows get . . .
posted by Magnolia at
11:42 PM
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