Zathras no more

As first noticed on dr_nebula's LJ, Tim Choate, the actor who played Zathras on Babylon 5, died in a car accident last weekend. :-(

Norman Mailer on Gilmore Girls!

Squee!

Good Veronica Mars news!

According to laurel, MTV will "repurpose" episodes of Veronica Mars. That is, episodes that air on UPN will air again on MTV the following week. Gives you another chance to catch this promising new series from Rob Thomas (creator of the late great Cupid).

MTV, for the first time in years, has a purpose.

Veronica Mars is one of of the few new shows I was looking forward to, and the premiere last week was better than expected. But its new timeslot is against Scrubs, which means that I was going to have to wait months for reruns. No longer.

This is a damned fine show, folks. It stars Kristen Bell, who had that amazing two-episode run on Deadwood as the not-so-innocent Flora. She plays the daughter of a private detective (and disgraced former sheriff) who helps her dad with his caseload. Imagine if Encyclopedia Brown was older, female, and influenced by Chandler. Yeah, it's on UPN, and set in a high school, but there's some surprisingly mature themes here, and (more impressively) some mature storytelling.

Of course, MTV (and VH1) loves to throw stuff all around the schedule, start shows early, start 'em late, and pre-empt them for Very Special Interviews with Ashton Kutcher's Bunghole, so no telling if I'll manage to Tivo it, but I've got a better chance now, at least.