Ah, out with the old, in with the new. The television season is dead, long live the next television season. And to prepare for it, I’m going to review new shows as the pilots become available.

Veronica Mars; UPN, Tuesday Nights 9:00 pm

After reading the promotional material for this show, I assumed it would be another of the many teen-angst-run-rampant shows we’re subjected to nowadays. And I suppose it could end up being one, but the pilot episode is a surprisingly strong story about interesting characters in an unforgiving town. If it weren’t for the punk hairstyles, I’d almost be tempted to use the term, “noir.”

Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is not your average teen. Her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni, Just Shoot Me), formerly the sheriff of Neptune, California who lost his position when accusing one of the richest men in town of killing his own daughter, is now a down-on-his-luck private detective. Her mother left the family after the loss of status, leaving her nothing but a music box and a note. She works at the agency with her father; while he runs after bail jumpers, she slinks through the Neptune evenings photographing the rich and powerful as they debauch. She has more reasons than the money, though…after her father’s removal she was date-raped at a party, with no memory of who, or what. The Sheriff, treating her badly, earns her permanent wrath…and this kid can hold a grudge.

At school, things aren’t much better; she’s treated by most as wrong-side of-the-tracks vermin, and is assumed by faculty and others to be a drughead. But this kid is too smart to dull herself; she stands up to both the new Sheriff and the town motorcycle gang with equal parts sugar and vinegar. She displays Mission: Impossible-like planning skills, using a single scam to kill-three-birds-with-one-stone in the pivotal sequence of the pilot.

But while following the software mogul, who’s wife has hired the firm, to a sleazy motel, she makes a startling discovery - one that may very well lead to the destruction of what little is left of her family, and may bring down the most powerful people in the town.

I can’t help but like this kid’s style; although the show was occasionally predictable and infrequently sappy, there were enough unexpected twists and turns to keep my attention throughout. The best thing I can say is that at the final fadeout/end credits, I was wishing for more. Scrubs will probably trounce this show, but it’s worth recording and checking out, even if you Must See TV.