“ I was so pissed off, I actually wrote a terribly cheesy voice-over in the new script out of spite. ”
So when we left off, I had just asked Rob if he would hear about the renewal decision in May. Here's what he had to say:
Rob Thomas: Yeah, we'll definitely know by May. But a lot of writers and directors have been asking me to consider them for the second season. That doesn't exactly prove anything, but it doesn't really happen with dead shows either, you know?
Couch Baron: Sure. Now I'd like to talk a little more about the pilot. I saw the unaired version of the pilot over the summer, and it looked pretty much the same as the one that aired in terms of casting. Even afterward, the only actor I saw changed was that Jake Kane wasn't originally played by Kyle Secor.
RT: Well, that was just because Jake had no lines in the pilot, so it didn't make sense to pay Kyle Secor $50,000 for that episode. But yeah, other than that, the cast was the same. However, one other thing that really annoyed me about the script they went with was that they changed the very beginning. The original version of the pilot started at the motel with a voice-over that said "I'm never getting married, and I don't believe in love." You didn't know who was speaking, and then you saw it was this high-school girl. Then Weevil and the bikers pull up and ask about car trouble, and that's the end of the teaser. And then when the action starts at the high school, the caption reads "20 hours earlier."
CB: I remember that. That opening voice-over would have been an interesting counterpoint to the one she does at the end of the episode about getting her family back together.
RT: Yeah. I loved that beginning, but the network handed me a note that basically said that since the show is about high school, it should start in the high school. I was so mad. But they were sure that getting young people to watch would be too tough with the original pilot.
CB: I bet if you took people who watch the show now and tested the two, they'd like your version better.
RT: I think so too. And I was so pissed off, I actually wrote a terribly cheesy voice-over in the new script out of spite.
The Rob Thomas Interview, Part II
“ I loved the original Backup -- he was such a beautiful dog. But his trainer had a month and a half to get him ready for the scene in the pilot, and he didn't do it. He needed to fly out of the car, and he just couldn't -- he sort of slid down the window. ”
CB: Heh. You sure you want this printed?
RT: Well, barely. But the really funny thing is that that act of spite came back to haunt me. I took that line back out for the script we used, but a reviewer for the L.A. Times wrote a review of the show before I changed it, and he loved the show, but he singled that line out for criticism!
CB: [laughs] Oh, no!
RT: Yeah.
CB: I have to point out that you did recast Backup! What happened there?
RT: I couldn't deal with his trainer. I loved the original Backup -- he was such a beautiful dog. But his trainer had a month and a half to get him ready for the scene in the pilot, and he didn't do it. He needed to fly out of the car, and he just couldn't -- he sort of slid down the window. So a stuntman had to pull him out on his arm. Then, to make it look good, he was supposed to attack the biker, who was wearing protective padding, but he wouldn't do that either. We had to cut together all this footage and loop in growling. It was just a mess, and the trainer blamed us! So rather than strangle the guy, I recast Backup.
CB: Now I have to say I really didn't like Keith that much in the pilot. He came off to me as overly hammy, and against the backdrop of how dark the episode is, I kind of found it wildly incongruous. But since then, I've totally liked him, so I was wondering if he's been written a little bit differently, maybe with a little less caffeine?
RT: Well, I liked Keith in the pilot. But I love Rico. You know, when I was casting Veronica, I saw a lot of terrible actresses. That wasn't the case with Keith -- when you're casting a character actor like that, everyone you see can do a fine job. In Rico's case, we could only see him audition when he came in for the network. But I loved him in Galaxy Quest, and I really liked him for the part. I think what you mention is a case of everyone just getting familiar with the show, including me. I have heard that criticism before, and maybe I could have dialed back his energy ten percent or so, but people would still have wanted another twenty. But I definitely wanted some good energy between him and Veronica. And Rico has been such a positive force in the show and on the set.
The Rob Thomas Interview, Part II
“ [The WB] takes a lot of control of their shows, and they have a formula and they like it and they think it works, and I swear to God, no one on that network has a thought that they don't express. It's what I call "emotional exposition," and I hate it. ”
CB: Heh. I watched that on DVR, so I blew right by it.
RT: As I said, I about hit the roof, and I think they gave away our huge twist for week's episode ["Ruskie Business"]. I am so angry with them today. It's been a constant battle, like, tease the red herring -- don't tease the actual ending. And it's embarrassing I'm going to admit this, but the way I learned about that promo was not originally from watching the episode, but from checking in on the Television Without Pity boards after the East Coast airing to see what people were saying. They were like, "Why did they give away the ending in the middle of the show?"
CB: Man, promo departments. Okay, moving on, you also do a great job, it seems to me, of being subtle, whether it's in clues, dialogue, or characterization. We often use the word "anvilicious" to describe the clunkiness and ham-fistedness of many of the shows we recap. I haven't really had to use it with Veronica Mars, but it certainly was thrown around enough in the Dawson's days.
RT: [laughs] Honestly, and this will probably come back to haunt me, but I think everything on the WB network is like that. That network takes a lot of control of their shows, and they have a formula and they like it and they think it works, and I swear to God, no one on that network has a thought that they don't express. It's what I call "emotional exposition," and I hate it. I hate it. I'm a pretty wordy writer, and we love writing our dialogue -- it's not like we shy away from dialogue. But generally speaking, I like people to be backed into corners before they share their feelings, or you kill that part of the story. It's the whole "show, don't tell" -- let the emotions be the subtext, and let the dialogue be in the way of what the characters are trying to hide.
CB: Not to ruin my TWoP cred with too much praise, but the continuity editing is strikingly good as well. You must really not want us to nitpick you.
RT: Well, we take it so seriously, and at the same time, I know we screw up from time to time. I know it's hard for me to keep track of, and I'm so immersed in it. And we know that the two weeks of Duncan breaking up with Veronica, Lilly dropping Logan, Lilly murdered -- we know that we've jam-packed -- we've got, like, eighty-six events happening in that little stretch of time. But any flashbacks before then would take the kids ["except Lilly" -- CB] back to their freshman year, and we've got our twenty-three- and twenty-four-year-old actors. At the beginning of the year, I gave every writer a chart, and I put every event that I knew had happened in the past on that chart, but I knew -- twenty episodes later, it's a cluttered, complicated situation. I'm hoping there aren't too many errors, and if there are, that they're small.