Veronica Mars/Season Three

Season Three
Veronica Mars
Season Premiere	October 3, 2006
Season Finale	May 22, 2007
Episode Count	20
Notable Episodes	3x09 - Spit & Eggs 3x15 - Papa's Cabin 3x20 - The Bitch Is Back
Previous Season Two	Next Season Four

Season Three of Veronica Mars premiered on October 3, 2006. It is the first and only season of the show shown on The CW, a new network formed from the merger of UPN and The WB during the off-season. The season follows Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), accompanied by her best friends Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Mac (Tina Majorino), during their freshman year at Hearst College.

Due to low ratings of the second season, the third season's renewal was contingent on altering the previous seasons' serialized season-long mysteries into three smaller, self-contained mysteries in an effort to bolster viewership. The first half of the season is therefore separated into two arcs with Veronica investigating a campus serial rapist and later a campus murder. Both mystery arcs aired without interruption by repeats but were separated by a brief hiatus. The final five episodes of the show do not contain an overarching mystery.

Plot Overview

Having turned down Stanford, Veronica joins Wallace, Mac, Logan, and Dick as freshmen at Hearst College. On campus, Mac's new roommate, Parker, becomes the latest victim of Hearst's serial rapist, first introduced in the second season's "The Rapes of Graff." Her past experience prompts Veronica to help Parker catch the rapist. The following mystery involves the murder of a prominent figure on campus.

Cast

The third season featured ten billed actors, including two recurring characters that were upgraded to series regulars and two new characters. Three previously billed series regulars did not return for the third season: Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), who left the country midway through the second season, Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson), who returned to New York following her year at Neptune, and Cassidy Casablancas (Kyle Gallner), who committed suicide in the season two finale after Veronica confronted him about the murders.

Main Cast

• Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars, titular protagonist and freshman at Hearst College. (20 episodes)
• Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls, former love interest of Veronica. (20 episodes)
• Ryan Hansen as Dick Casablancas, Logan's friend. (14 episodes)
• Percy Daggs III as Wallace Fennel, one of Veronica's best friends. (15 episodes)
• Francis Capra as Eli "Weevil" Navarro, former leader of the local PCH biker gang and ally of Veronica. (10 episodes)
• Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars, Veronica's father. (20 episodes)
• Tina Majorino as Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, one of Veronica's best friends. (11 episodes)
• Michael Muhney as Sheriff Don Lamb. (8 episodes)
• Julie Gonzalo as Parker Lee, Mac's roommate. (11 episodes)
• Chris Lowell as Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace's roommate. (11 episodes)

Supporting and Recurring Cast

• David Tom as Chip Diller, president of Pi Sigma Sigma.
• James Jordan as Tim Foyle, a teacher's assistant for Professor Landry.
• Ryan Devlin as Mercer Hayes, Logan's friend.
• Patrick Fabian as Hank Landry, Veronica's Criminology professor.
• Ed Begley, Jr. as Dean Cyrus O'Dell.
• Brandon Hillock as Deputy Jerry Sacks.
• Jamie Ray Newman as Mindy O'Dell.
• Daran Norris as Cliff McCormack.
• Amanda Noret as Madison Sinclair.
• Ken Marino as Vinnie Van Lowe.
• Max Greenfield as Deputy Leo D'Amato.

Production

Background

The third season's renewal was not announced until late in the renewal process and was contingent on making the episodes more viewer-friendly by reducing the serialized elements of the previous two seasons. The CW originally decided to order 13 episodes of the show, with the option to order more depending on how the show fared in the Nielsen ratings. On November 16, 2006, The CW renewed the series for a non-traditional 20 episode season.

Crew

Series creator and executive producer Rob Thomas directed and wrote the first mystery arc finale and wrote two further episodes: the season premiere and series finale. Additional writers for the third season were Diane Ruggiero, Phil Klemmer, John Enbom, Jason Elen, Jonathan Moskin, David Mulei, Robert Hull, and Joe Voci. Additional directors for the third season were John Kretchmer, Harry Winer, Jason Bloom, Nick Marck, Michael Fields, Steve Gomer, Tricia Brock, Michael Fields, Dan Etheridge, and Jason Bloom.

Episodes

#	#	Title	Written By	Directed By	Airdate	Viewers	18-49 Rating	Prod.
45	1	Welcome Wagon	Rob Thomas	John Kretchmer	October 3, 2006	3.36M	1.4%	3T5801
46	2	My Big Fat Greek Rush Week	Diane Ruggiero	John Kretchmer	October 10, 2006	2.96M	1.3%	3T5802
47	3	Witchita Linebacker	Phil Klemmer & John Enbom	Harry Winer	October 17, 2006	3.12M	1.4%	3T5803
48	4	Charlie Don't Surf	Diane Ruggiero & Jason Elen	Jason Bloom	October 24, 2006	3.33M	1.4%	3T5804
49	5	President Evil	Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei	Nick Marck	October 31, 2006	2.70M	1.2%	3T5805
50	6	Hi, Infidelity	John Enbom	Michael Fields	November 7, 2006	2.75M	1.3%	3T5806
51	7	Of Vice and Men	Phil Klemmer	Harry Winer	November 14, 2006	2.69M	1.2%	3T5807
52	8	Lord of the Pi's	Diane Ruggiero	Steve Gomer	November 21, 2006	2.57M	1.2%	3T5808
53	9	Spit & Eggs	Rob Thomas	Rob Thomas	November 28, 2006	3.44M	1.6%	3T5809
54	10	Show Me the Monkey	John Enbom (Story) John Enbom & Robert Hull (Teleplay)	Nick Marck	January 23, 2007	3.23M	1.5%	3T5810
55	11	Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves	Diane Ruggiero	John Kretchmer	January 30, 2007	2.69M	1.2%	3T5811
56	12	There's Got to Be a Morning After Pill	Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei (Story) Jonathan Moskin & Phil Klemmer & John Enbom (Teleplay)	Tricia Brock	February 6, 2007	2.40M	1%	3T5812
57	13	Postgame Mortem	Joe Voci	John Kretchmer	February 13, 2007	2.37M	1%	3T5813
58	14	Mars, Bars	Phil Klemmer & John Enbom & Joe Voci (Story) Phil Klemmer & John Enbom (Teleplay)	Harry Winer	February 20, 2007	2.27M	0.9%	3T5814
59	15	Papa's Cabin	John Enbom	Michael Fields	February 27, 2007	2.66M	1.1%	3T5815
60	16	Un-American Graffiti	Robert Hull	John Kretchmer	May 1, 2007	2.35M	1%	3T5816
61	17	Debasement Tapes	John Enbom	Dan Etheridge	May 8, 2007	1.85M	0.9%	3T5817
62	18	I Know What You'll Do Next Summer	Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei	Nick Marck	May 15, 2007	2.10M	0.9%	3T5818
63	19	Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down	Phil Klemmer	Jason Bloom	May 22, 2007	1.78M	0.7%	3T5819
64	20	The Bitch Is Back	Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero	Michael Fields	May 22, 2007	2.15M	0.9%	3T5820

Release

Distribution

In the United States, the third season aired on Tuesdays at 9pm following Gilmore Girls for the entire duration, a show that focus groups found best fit the thematic elements of Veronica Mars. The season was simulcast by Fox 44 in Canada after CTV and Sun TV opted out of airing rights of the third season. Living in the United Kingdom and Network Ten in Australia aired the season on a delay. New Zealand's TV2 aired the third season.

Media Releases

The third season was released in Region 1 on October 23, 2007. A Region 2 release followed on December 12, 2008 and Region 4 on February 11, 2009. It contained unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas, a gag reel, and several featurettes, including a pitch reel for season 4 which was set several years after the events of season 3 and features Veronica as an FBI agent.

Online, the third season was available on Netflix's Watch Instantly service until July 2011, when it was removed due to the expiration of Netflix's distribution contract with Warner Brothers.

Reception

Ratings

After the third season premiere ("Welcome Wagon") increased over the ratings of the second season finale ("Not Pictured"), ratings remained stable for the first ten episodes, with "Spit & Eggs" becoming the second-highest rated episode of the entire series. However, viewers gradually decreased after the hiatus. The third season averaged 2.5 million viewers and a 1.2 18-49 demo, ranking it 138th out of 142 shows on basic television that year.

The first arc, centered on the Hearst College rapist, averaged 2.99 million viewers and a 1.3 demo. The second arc involving the campus murder averaged 2.60 million viewers and a 1.1 demo.