FBI Angle Not Dead for "Veronica Mars" Season Four

More twisty than one of the Dharma Initiative's orientation films. More needlessly confusing than the current season of 24.

Just what am I talking about? If you've been following the on-again, off-again future of the CW's Veronica Mars, you know exactly what I am talking about. It seems as though a day can't go by without someone from the cast or crew making a comment in the press about the show's fate.

Then there was the previously reported new story angle, with the action for a potential fourth season taking place several years in the future, with Veronica an FBI trainee. (An angle that Rob Thomas confirmed here on this very blog.) An interesting gambit, the pitch presented the opportunity for Thomas to present two very different avenues for a potential next season to the network.

Then on Friday, co-star Enrico Colantoni (a.k.a. Papa Keith) told the Toronto Star that the FBI angle had been vetoed by the network and was now as dead as poor Sheriff Lamb:

"Rob [Thomas] and a couple of the other executives said, 'Let's make a little showcase pilot of what Veronica could be like in four years.' They thought Dawn [Ostroff] might latch on to the idea of Veronica as an FBI agent in a kind of sexy workplace environment, á la Grey's Anatomy, that kind of thing.

"We shot 10 pages and they saw it and the reaction was, 'That's not our show.' Then they saw the last episode of this season, and it was so on the money ... it was like the first two years. And I think the network was very excited about that."

Which seems like a fairly definitive statement. That is, had it been true that Ostroff had even seen the ten-minute Season Four presentation in the first place.

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello spoke to Rob Thomas, who says that the network hasn't even seen the aforementioned presentation.

"I have no earthly idea what Enrico is talking about," Thomas told Ausiello. "The network doesn't see it or hear our pitches for VM College or VM FBI until May 2."

So there you have it. There's still a week or so to go until the CW even hears a Season Four pitch for Veronica Mars from Thomas and Co.

While the fate of the series is still very much in the air, I think that the network would be foolish not to order another season of Veronica Mars, especially given that I don't particularly think they've knocked it out of the park with any of their drama pilots this season. (I can only really see one, Gossip Girl, from The O.C.'s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, hitting the right note at the net.)

Will we get to see more of our favorite intrepid sleuth (either in college or in the FBI) next season? Something tells me this is going to be a decision that comes down to the wire, with the network only making an announcement at the upfronts on May 17th.

In the meantime, Veronica Mars returns from its way-too-long hiatus next week with a brand new episode ("Un-American Graffiti"), in which a Middle Eastern restaurateur hires Veronica to discover who has been vandalizing his restaurant, while Papa Keith, now acting sheriff, begins a program in which his deputies conduct ID checks in all of Neptune's bars.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Gilmore Girls (CW); George Lopez/George Lopez (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search of the Next Doll (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC); House (FOX)

10 pm: Cold Case (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Boston Legal (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: American Idol.

The six remaining contestants (ha, no Sanjaya!) perform songs about compassion and hope, kicking off a multi-night charity event overseen by Comic Relief/Red Nose Day's Richard Curtis.

8 pm: Gilmore Girls.

I've given up on this once-great drama, but for the few of you out there still watching (there's potentially 13 more lousy episodes next season!), here's what's going on. On tonight's episode ("It's Just Like Riding a Bike"), Lorelai and Luke are uncomfortable together (yawn), while Paris breaks up with Doyle after getting accepted to law and medical schools.