TV and Sympathy

TV on DVD: Veronica Mars

I know what you may be thinking to yourself: "But Joobie, I own the Veronica Mars DVD's and I haven't seen hide nor hair of a DVD commentary anywhere on their person!" Rest easy, fair reader. You haven't missed some commentary Easter eggs. Due to an undesirable DVD production schedule, there are indeed scant extras available to us VM fanatics.

However, creator Rob Thomas with his godlike powers was kind enough to throw us fans a peace offering in the form of an mp3 commentary, available through his website, Slaverats.com.

So let's see what he has to say.

- Rob composed the piece of score that plays over the cold open. On his computer! Multitalented!

- Rob has watched commentaries for two things: Say Anything and The Office. (US or UK, I wonder? Must be UK.)

- He wanted to create a girl who had no friends, so that a burgeoning friendship would make viewers feel good about her.

- The students in the opening scene are actual students who came in on a Saturday.

- The "OMG we could go to prom together" was a scene that they auditioned potential Weevils and Veronicas with. The original line was "When I want you to open your mouth, you'll hear me unzipping." Dirty!

- Rob wanted the pool in Veronica's apartment to look like the Karate Kid apartment. The network did not, so they cleaned it up in post-production

- Originally they wanted to use the Coldplay song "Don't Panic" instead of "Just Another". (Wow. Who knew Rob Thomas = Denis Leary? Well not exactly. One uses far less profanity.)

- Daran Norris (Cliff) and Rob Thomas have been friends since they were three years old. (All together now...awww!)

- Even before casting Enrico Colantoni" (Keith), Rob Thomas was a huge Galaxy Quest fan. (Good. Now I can still respect him.)

- They didn't have Kyle Secor (Jake) for a the pilot; they cut his parts in later.

- Amanda Seyfriend was "about 100X better than everyone else" they saw for the role of Lilly.

- Originally Lilly was found in the ocean, but that was apparently too "dark and creepy" for the network, so they switched it out.

- "What's the matter with you people" scene was added after they cast Jason Dohring because he was so, so good.

- Francis Capra didn't want to say the "Weevil love you long time" line. (Also, I just noticed that he's younger than me. That's disturbing.)

- Shelly Pomroy is played by the real-life cousin of the real-life Shelly Pomroy, who is a friend of Rob's. (And you didn't want to name a nicer character after your friend, Rob? I guess there are only so many Wallaces to go around.)

- Kristen Bell came up with real tears for the morning after scene, four times in a row.

- Was Kristen what Rob Thomas imagined for Veronica? Yes - but he thought she'd be a brunette.

- Alona Tal was the second choice to play Veronica. She's a native Israeli and auditioned right off the plane. They later created the role of Meg for her.

- The bong Veronica plants in Logan's locker was original supposed to be penis shaped. Consequently, "I'm pretty sure you won't be getting your cock bong back" was Kristen Bell's favorite line from the original script.

- Important philosophical question: Do gang members wear helmets? Rob thought it was 'uncool' but the network really preferred that they put them in helmets. Happily, the helmets were able to disguise that many of the extras weren't high-school age.

- Rob loves that Jason checks his nose in the mirror as the car drives away. (I love it too. I also love Jason Dohring. And from his signature in Austin, he loves me too. )

- Wallace tested a bit "weak" with audiences.

- Originally we were supposed to find out that Veronica's paternity was in question in the pilot. (Whew! Too early. Good call to put it later.)

Liked these tidbits? Cue up your DVD and have a listen!

posted by Veltman @ 7:12 PM