@BESW I saw a couple of episodes of that. It was like they took the character names, and Nancy's knack of investigating... and completely changed the rest. Oh, and threw in supernatural & mature/adult/"gritty" elements.
@Adeptus I watched the whole thing, because sometimes I'm in the mood for screaming at the TV.
I got really noisy around the midway point when the Native American police chief is leading them in a ritual to rescue the soul of one of the main characters so he can come out of a coma.
And I didn't quiet down much for the rest of the season.
It's got great acting, some really engaging character interactions and snappy scripting, and it's very smart. But sometimes it gets too smart for its own good, and I just feel really creepy about the whole "men writing women recovering from sexual violence" angle. If you're gonna watch it, I recommend stopping after the first season because things go off a cliff both literally and thematically after that.
But I am here for the relationship between Veronica and her dad, those actors sell the father-daughter chemistry even when the script is getting too clever for its own good.
Most of my TV viewing is decided by my wife. She's pickier than me in many ways. I have started watching Altered Carbon on my own, because it's way too violent for her liking. So I watch part of an episode while eating lunch, then play video games for the rest of my break. Benefits of working from home.
Also let's mention that Joss Whedon said Veronica is the "Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those" and that it's "the Harry Potter of shows."
Which, I think, will tell you exactly what kind of show it is.
It's a smart, self-aware genre show with sparkling technical acumen and iconic style, packed with characters snapping off witty dialogue nobody would ever actually say, made by men who are weirdly interested in depicting women recovering from intimate violence but who don't ask women for help to do that depiction.
Oh, and they're weird about their queer rep but think they should get kudos for putting it in at all.
And then in season 3 there's a mouseover for spoiler, CW sexual violence which is. WHY IS THIS SHOW SO OBSESSED WITH THIS PARTICULAR CRIME and WHY ARE YOU DOING IT LIKE THAT.
@Adeptus If you want a grim and gritty "high school is actually noir" high-concept piece, Brick does it in one film instead of a whole TV show and while it's still got the whole "men writing about women experiencing violence" it's almost a relief to have a woman get simply fridged to motivate the plot rather than the whole... thing... they're doing with Veronica Mars.
That said, I can't speak highly enough of the craft the actors bring to Veronica Mars, especially the main characters in the first season.
But with Brick you get to see Rian Johnson do a film for $500k and that's pretty slick.
