The third season suffered greatly by limiting the screen-time and storylines of most of the secondary cast, or focusing on lame relationship stories when they did get them on air (like Mac, whose relationships could have been more about her and her dealing with the Beaver aftermath but that didn’t really pan out). Wallace was MIA for most of the season, and same with Weevil, even if all of those problems had more to do with behind-the-scenes stuff. But that was among many of the many, many problems with the final season (the misogynistic tone, poorly executed mysteries, lack of continuity, somewhat further Mary-Sueing of Veronica).

I’m sure the hiatus hurt the ratings, too, but I think the retention out of Gilmore Girls showed that the more casual viewers were tuning out as the season progressed, and I know many hardcore fans who stopped watching after the final return because of the decline in quality for the episodes before hiatus.

Look, as far as any fictional relationships go, if the pairing suffers once the characters get together, many fans are going to take issue with the writing, because in most cases it feels as though the writers half-assed it and the onscreen relationship suffered as a result. Like I’ve seen said before, the storyline could have been better if it was written better. If it’s written terribly, I’m not going to be happy when it’s put to an end just because the awful storyline is over- my beef is going to be with the writers for making it suck in the first place.

“And as far as affection for Veronica, that was also pretty much gone, thanks to the writing of the staff (led by RT) and the acting of K. Bell in season 3. Hence a quick (but not quick enough to spare embarrassment) cancellation.”

That is pretty much directly saying that the show was cancelled because of the writing and Bell. But the show’s ratings had always been up and down and pretty lousy overall. In fact, the first story arc of the third season, the first eight episodes or so, hit some near-peaks, ratings-wise (and it was even performing approximately on par with the first bunch of episodes of Gossip Girl the next season, after V-Mars got axed). I mean, it was always pretty niche, and never blockbuster numbers, but it wasn’t inconsistent with the first two seasons. The big ratings dive that season happened when the show went on a break for a bunch of weeks, effectively killing its momentum (the finale of the rapist arc was one of their highest-rated episodes). It’s not easy to prove, of course, but I don’t think the ratings slide when they returned from the break was fans tuning out (because fans will keep watching to complain about it). This long break/ratings slide has happened with a lot of shows (Pushing Daisies comes to mind).

I’d certainly rate the third season the weakest, but I wouldn’t call it a nosedive. It’s like going from an A to a B+. It does seem like a lot of shows in the past ten years experience hostility towards stand-alone episodes, but I was always puzzled by the idea that V-Mars should be this huge serial. As well-developed as the first season it is, it has a ton of really good stand-alone episodes, and a lot of the continuity stuff in season two gets a little too convoluted. There were some really poor stand-alone mysteries in the third season, granted (for awhile it seemed like their default solution was: the rooommate did it!), but there were a lot of good ones, too, One of my biggest problems with Season 3 was how they felt obligated to give Logan major screen time even when they didn’t have the money to keep the full ensemble on every episode. At some point he became the “male lead” on a show that didn’t really need one.

Nobody in this thread said that the show was cancelled for those reasons. Of course it was low ratings, but the low ratings might be attributed to decline in quality, which caused the ratings for the show to decline, as it did as season three progressed. And I’m not referring to any relationship problems the show had, though it had many. The writing was at its worst when the mysteries were haphazardly slapped together or really not mysteries at all (and those stand-alone episodes are some of the worst of the series). I think it’s pretty common opinion that the third season too a particular nose-dive in quality, and it’s one that is shared among die-hard fans or just casual viewers (and even members of the cast).

I also find it strange to argue that you “can’t” write a character a “complete makeover” (which is a massive overstatement concerning some changes in Veronica’s character) but you also “can’t” have a character like Barney regress at all once changed. It’s far too soon to say whether the writers are really having Barney unchanged from his relationship with Robin, but neither argument (against Veronica or Barney) has much to do with good and/or realistic writing. That’s more just fans saying “we like it this way and now you’re changing it and not changing it the way I want it changed!”

I don’t see the relevance in comparing Robin and Barney to Logan and Veronica, either…as LoVe were in college and not to mention the whole Not A Sitcom. The fans had right to protest, too, it’s not like Logan and Veronica were based on real people and these real people actually split up at the end. It was incredibly out of character and left field. You can’t WRITE a character/couple one way for however long and then do a complete f*cking makeover on their personality on a whim and expect everyone not to notice/care.

In fact, this article is all over the place. Monica and Chandler? Seriously? I can not see how their coupling put a damper on the show at all. I detect some bitterness, perhaps you just want to find a show where all the characters are one dimensional and stay single for the whole series?

Everyone is entitled, etc…but seriously, some people appreciate watching and caring for fictional characters who tend to grow past their funny facade and you can’t really blame them for getting upset when said character reverts like the growth never happened to begin with. And at that point it IS the writers’ fault.

“But I think a lot of fans had been so trained to look for a Central Couple that it was just considered needless complication to the Veronica-Logan relationship.”

Hey, the majority of people might disagree with you (as you acknowledge, saying the “Piz” character/storyline is “much-maligned”). The show just pretty much fell apart by that point. And as far as affection for Veronica, that was also pretty much gone, thanks to the writing of the staff (led by RT) and the acting of K. Bell in season 3. Hence a quick (but not quick enough to spare embarrassment) cancellation.

I agree with Annie. The lazy writing killed VM, not any romantic relationships.

Late-Friends Ross is pretty awful, and I feel like that’s a writer’s-room thing. Writers get bored, and/or intimidated by how much has already been done with the characters, so their only recourse (as they see it, anyway) is to push things further. You can see this sometimes even in a brilliant show like The Simpsons, later-season jokes that just play like writers trying to top each other with weirdness or grossness or shock laughs (or in Ross’s case, being creepy or unlikable or whatever). So: good for How I Met Your Mother; they’ve had some off episodes this season, but it never threatens to become that show.

I don’t think the Monica-Chandler relationship doomed Friends. I think the endless Ross and Rachel bullshit, after their initial two-season relationship, is what doomed Friends. Honestly, after those first three or four seasons, which I love catching in reruns because they are really funny, the show became Thirtysomething, and once the actors were all making a million an episode, everyone became kind of horrible. I think I hate late-Friends Ross more than I’ve ever hated a fictional character.

Jesse, you’re right that Veronica Mars was a lot more compelling when she was single, or when there was a tension involving more than one potential romantic partner for her, like in season 1, when she was kind of juggling Duncan, Logan, and maybe the kid from X-Men (or was that season 2?). Ali sold me on Veronica Mars partially by saying it was a show where a teenage girl character didn’t have to settle down with her twu wuv forever, but was kind of allowed to play the field. That was new and different and interesting. Although the Piz stuff still sucked.