Veronica Mars
UPN
Tuesday 9 p.m. / 8 p.m. Central

The past 10 years have been kind to fans of the TV high school drama. A generation weaned on such simplistic fare as "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Saved by the Bell" has been well served in its post-adolescence, its TV palate maturing alongside the genre itself. Remarkable in its openness to interpretation, the high school drama has been beamed through many prisms in recent years: "Buffy's" "high-school-as-horror-movie" metaphors, "Freaks and Geeks'" devastatingly accurate comedic realism, "The OC's" near-parodic exaggeration of the genre's conventions. Not only have these experiments been successful, they have resulted in some of the best TV programs.

UPN's new series "Veronica Mars" takes yet another angle on the conventions of the teen drama, retelling the story as film noir. So far, it's doing so splendidly. All of the classic noir elements are here: an unsolved murder, a complex and convoluted back story told primarily in flashback, a corrupt and lawless society with evil forces controlling the action from behind the scenes and a hard-boiled detective who struggles to stay ahead of the forces conspiring against her. This noir, set to the music of the Dandy Warhols and Franz Ferdinand, is chock full of witty, Joss Whedon-esque writing and strong, well-developed characters.

The series concerns the life of one Veronica Mars (charmingly played by Kristen Bell), former socialite and daughter of the soon to be ex-sheriff (the always awesome Enrico Colantoni). When Veronica's best friend Lilly (who is also her boyfriend's sister) is murdered, Sheriff Keith Mars insists that the killer was Jake Kane, a wealthy and powerful software mogul and the victim's own father. The sheriff's persistence eventually costs him both his marriage and his job, and Veronica is forced to choose between her father and the rest of her world (a choice whose consequences are even more dear than Veronica expects). The show's primary action occurs a year later, as Veronica settles into her role as social outcast and active participant in her dad's small-time detective agency.

Veronica deftly navigates the dangerous web of allegiances (both inside the high school and out) with a cocky swagger that comes off like an engaging mix of Buffy Summers and Bogart's Philip Marlowe. Her chief antagonists appear to be the wealthy Kane family, the murder victim's unhinged ex-boyfriend, Logan Echols (Jason Dohring), and her father's bumbling, blustery replacement, Sheriff Don Lamb. The series, set in one of those nondescript California TV towns of indeterminate size, also explores the town's racial schism, as Veronica warily befriends Weevil (Francis Capra), the leader of a Hispanic motorcycle gang. The two have so far formed a tenuous alliance and it will be interesting to see how this relationship develops.

The series pulls no punches with its detailing of contemporary high school life. Teen drinking is taken as a given, and such difficult subjects as date rape are handled deftly and responsibly. The series avoids the pitfalls of moralizing or glorifying and it is refreshing and surprising to see these issues presented in such an unflinching manner on network TV.

But "Veronica Mars" isn't perfect. So far, Veronica's new sidekick, new kid Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III), has yet to jell into a compelling character. Far more egregiously, the second episode featured an extended guest appearance from Paris Hilton. The show's eagerness to get attention from the cool kids is understandable, but, as we all learned in high school, you'll never get respect by hooking up with the school slut. The same episode bombarded viewers with unnecessary expositive voice-over narration that nervously reminded us of the show's central conceit once every five minutes, a tactic almost as insulting to the audience's intelligence as a Paris Hilton cameo. Almost.

But all this stinks of network intervention and was probably out of the control of the series creators to begin with. The show's whip-smart writing, bold frankness and exceptional acting more than make up for these minor stumbles anyway. All told, "Veronica Mars" looks to be yet another welcome surprise from this ever-mutating genre.

— Steve Carey (poppycockcircus at gmail dot com)