Gizmo

Charisma Carpenter ("Angel") and Steve Guttenberg ("The Poseidon Adventure") have joined the cast of UPN's VERONICA MARS, beginning with the critically acclaimed drama's second season premiere.

Carpenter will play Kendall Casablancas, a sexy trophy wife and stepmother to brothers Dick (Ryan Hansen) and Cassidy "Beaver" (Kyle Gallner) Casablancas, two of Veronica's (Kristen Bell) rival, affluent schoolmates. She will appear in at least six episodes. Meanwhile, Guttenberg will star as Woody Goodman, a charismatic major league baseball team owner and leading candidate in the local race for mayor of Neptune, Calif. To show his support for the community, his daughter will be transferring from her private school to Neptune High. He will appear in at least seven episodes.

VERONICA MARS stars Kristen Bell ("Reefer Madness") as a smart, fearless 18-year-old apprentice private investigator dedicated to solving the toughest mysteries of her wealthy seaside community, Neptune, Calif., where the rich and powerful make the rules, own the town and the high school, and desperately try to keep their dirty little secrets just that...secret.

Carpenter recently completed shooting the feature film "Voodoo Moon" opposite Eric Maibus. In television, she portrayed the character Cordelia Chase for seven years on the hit series "Angel" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," after originally being featured in a recurring role. Later, she returned to "Angel" for one episode as a guest star for the series' landmark 100th episode.

In television, Carpenter recently guest starred on "LAX" with Heather Locklear, as well as on several episodes of "Charmed." She also co-starred on "Miss Match" with Alicia Silverstone and Ryan O'Neal. In addition, Carpenter starred in the title role of the television movie "See Jane Date," based on the book by Melissa Senate. She has also appeared in several other television shows and feature films.

Steve Guttenberg, who has starred in a dozen films that earned in excess of $100,000,000 at the American box office, is the star of the upcoming television movie "The Poseidon Adventure." The actor starred in four successful series of films: "Police Academy," "Three Men And A Baby," "Short Circuit" and "Cocoon," as well as such acclaimed dramatic hits as "Diner" and "The Boys From Brazil."

His television credits include the mini-series "The Day After" and "Miracle On Ice."

He has a number of directorial efforts, including "P.S., Your Cat Is Dead," the film version of the respected James Kirkpatrick play, which Guttenberg also starred in, wrote and produced.

VERONICA MARS is from Silver Pictures Television, in association with and distributed by Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. Production services provided by Stu Segall Productions, Inc. The show airs Wednesdays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on UPN.

Gizmo

Now if only Alyson was still on the show (her pilot got picked up) it would be interesting to see if they ran into each other.

Daniel-A

I don't like it. The show was very well done the first season. Now the execs see this and decide to tinker it. Teh bleh.

dolphinboy

Eh. I didn't watch Angel, so I kind of look forward to seeing Cordy again.

I trust Rob Thomas to make the show good even with all of the tinkering.

I mean, they have to add characters anyway, since Mac won't be back, Alyson won't be back, and Harry is in the can.

The only problem I had with the first season was that the writing was sometimes very uneven and I think some episodes were too crammed with stories.

I really expect them to get better and better and tighten that up next season.

Still, any news right now about Veronica makes me angry, because it reminds me of how they coerced Mr. Thomas into giving us a dvd release BEFORE season 1 started, so new viewers could be attracted and if he agreed to that he wouldn't have time for the special features that he wanted to give fans. And then because the OC and Desperate Housewives were releasing dvd seasons in August and September, they pushed back the release to Oct. 11. Keeping me from having them earlier, leaving me with very light bonus features, and not giving a lot of people who've stated they were interested in making this a blind buy, the chance to catch up and watch from the beginning when season 2 started.

That really sucks. No one who would have purchased this, wouldn't have because the those 2 other shows were being released. Pathetic.

Gizmo

Tinker?

For a show that was one if the lowest rated on the UPN network, and one of the lowest overall, we are VERY lucky the show got brought back, period. I only wish NBC did this to Freaks and Geeks, but they didn't (bastards).

Considering we lost quite of a few characters last season (Mac, Trina Echoles, Aaron Echoles, Lynn Echoles, Lianne Mars (maybe), Lily...) they NEED new characters. Keep in mind, the show revolved around not only Veronica, but around Duncan and his family, Logan and his family, and numerous other characters. We need new people, and so far, only two have been announced.

However, it does suck alot of regular characters lose a few episodes this season due to a budget cut I believe...but hopefully this show will still remain watchable.

Also, the whole DVD thing sucks. It was either an early release to tie in with Season 2, or a delayed release with DVD extras. Now we get neither. Grrr

MrX

Sounds like she'll be playing a older version of Cordy from the earlier episodes of Buffy.

Daniel-A

Gizmo, from what I read VM did better than most other UPN (aside from the lame reality junk). Also from the sounds of whichever TVGuide I read, they were actually increasing the budget. I may just be crazy (happens often enough). And really I'd rather the show only had one good season than 1 good one and a shadow of itself in future seasons. F&G may have only had 1 season, but it was full of good episodes instead of having a good episode here and there and filler in between. I'm glad it is coming back, but I want it to be back in good form, not just something to pick up fans and ratings from previous work (Joey, West Wing after Sorkin).

Meatpants

Any thread re: Charisma Carpenter that doesn't have pics = teh suck.

Charlie Goose

As long as they don't try to overload it and ruin the chemistry of the major characters, it's okay.

Besides, Steve Guttenberg rules. Don't pretend like he doesn't.

riley_dude

I just saw Cant Stop the Music on TV the other night. You sure about that?

Charlie Goose

He rulez!

I even used a z on the end of that, for extra emphasis.

dolphinboy

Veronica Mars Season 1 is #10 on Amazon.com's top selling dvds.

Pretty good for a show that was so lowly rated and that the studio felt had to be pushed back because of the releases of the OC and Desperate Housewives.

meritocracy

So Charisma's last pilot doesn't get picked up, (it was truly horrible BTW), and eventually joins Veronica Mars. Alysonn's does...and she's gone. Interesting, I suppose, in a Six Degrees of seperation from Buffy/Angel sort of way, but personally, I couldn't care less about either development. My main concern is that Rob doesn't pay too much attention to advice from Bruckheimer, and the neverending series of studio notes he's supposedly being handed. Continue to stick with the tone established in the first season, and we'll all be content.

Daniel-A

Didn't want to use anything too sexy, but boy are there some sexy ones. :x

Gizmo

Mmm....Playboy pictures....

eddy1985

I can't see your pics Daniel.

Daniel-A

I can't now, either. Interesting. That's what I get for abusing google.

LoL and totally wrong forum for this but is there a slip in that 2nd pic? (just noticed the newer smilies)

Jonny2k1

I just read about this today. I don't know why I didn't see it on here days ago, but oh well. I don't like the idea of them messing with the show too much, but I agree there needs to be some new characters after losing so many. I was always a fan of Charisma, but never stuck with Angel, so it will be nice to see her in a show I actually watch.

dstrauss

Sigh. That woman just carbonates my hormones.

Actually, it might finally get me to watch this show, which I've heard good things about.

TritonDrew

Here she was at Comic Con!

danyanez

Answering a question of a fan at the Veronica Mars panel, regarding what kind of role she would play, she says: "A Bitch"