In another ever changing strategy move, UPN has announced that starting on Tuesday, April 11th Veronica Mars will broadcast on Tuesdays at 9pm/8pm central through the finale. This change was made in an attempt to get Veronica Mars away from stiff competition in Lost and American Idol as well as to get the show back in its original time slot and perhaps a preview of its possible pairing with Gilmore Girls on the CW.
Please keep in mind that Veronica Mars will remain on Wednesday for the next two weeks, still airing on its scheduled night on March 29th and April 5th. Once the switch is made, repeats of VM will occupy the Wednesday slot for a couple of weeks until UPN makes up their mind on what move to make next.
What does this mean for our dearly beloved show? One can draw both positive and negative conclusions from this news. It is a good move to get Veronica Mars out of the way of Lost/Idol competition and to put it back in its original time slot. With the repeats airing on Wednesday, this will not affect the casual fan because they will still get to see the newest episode of VM for the week. On the downside, another move signals that UPN is not happy with how VM is performing and the endless tinkering could kill the show. Repeats of Top Model would become the new lead in for VM on Tuesdays and could end up not being a good enough draw for the original episodes of VM. Remember what happened with South Beach as a lead in?
My conclusion is that the jury is still out. This move does not signal doom or celebration. Bottom line is there is still a lot of work to be done before getting Veronica Mars on the fall schedule and the first place to start is to keep getting new viewers and to notify as many people about this scheduling change.
