FOLLOWING their season finales on Tuesday, cult teen dramas “Veronica Mars” and “Gilmore Girls” will lose their networks. Come fall, UPN and the WB will cease to exist after merging to form what’s sure to become the ultimate teen programming powerhouse, the CW.
Despite being in the perilous position of not knowing whether they’ll be back for another season (the CW lineup won’t be announced until May 18), both shows are serving up traditional season-ending cliffhangers.
The WB’s quirky “Gilmore Girls” is ending its sixth season with daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) tearfully saying goodbye to her London-bound boyfriend Logan (Matt Czuchry).
But the real cliffhanger is what mom Lorelai (Lauren Graham) does after giving her wishywashy fiancé Luke (Scott Patterson) – he keeps postponing their wedding date – an ultimatum:
elope and get married now.
If relationship trauma isn’t yur idea of a cliffhanger, tune in to “Veronica Mars,” UPN’s Nancy Drew-meets-James Ellroy mystery series.
The second season of the noir show started with a bang, by driving a school bus full of high school kids off a cliff, to their watery graves.
Creator and executive producer Rob Thomas promises to provide an action-packed finale – and finger the person behind the crash.
“We’re not really an action show,” Thomas says. “But there’s are stunts, fireballs and all sorts of stuff you don’t normally see on ‘Veronica Mars.’ “There are also scenes in New York, Australia, in airports and in Reno. We saved up all year just so we could have this one really expensive episode.” While Thomas is tight-lipped about the details of the budgetblowing finale, he says that, like last year, the episode will end with another cliffhanger. But this year, it won’t be romantic.
“It will be a plot cliffhanger,” Thomas says. “It will open a new mystery and launch us into something that we’ll deal with in the first episode or two of next season.” As for the possibility of a onetwo programming punch of “Gilmore Girls” followed by “Veronica Mars” in the fall on Tuesday nights, Thomas says he’s excited about the prospect.
“This pairing hinges on whether or not “Veronica Mars” is granted a third season.
To help convince the CW powers that be, Thomas has inserted a subtle plea into the finale.
“[Veronica’s nemesis] Clarence Wiedman makes an appearance in the season finale. Someone sees his cell phone and says, ‘CW?’ and Clarence replies, ‘It’s a done deal.'”
