MONDO EXTRAS

RT: Here's the thing: Kristen is the only singer we have. So that will prevent us from doing a musical episode. But when we do jump the shark, our plan is the Clue episode. Now you know.

CB: A bit about Veronica's character. As personable as she is, she definitely dances on an ethical slippery slope quite often. Do you worry at all about making her unsympathetic? Is that a place you'd be willing to go?

RT: I worry a great deal more about making her soft. I mean, I'm so on the other side of the fence on that -- I worry more about her becoming cute and lovable, bordering-on-popular Veronica Mars, and everybody loves her -- that will make me nervous. The funny thing about what private eyes do -- there's a lot of talk on the boards about how wrong it was that Veronica broke in and stole Duncan's medical files. But that's what private eyes do -- they invade privacy. People are asking if she'll get her comeuppance, and maybe, but there's no great plan for that. I want to keep her edgy, and something that I like about the network is that they haven't made her a good girl. I remember pitching story ideas on Dawson's Creek, and it was always, "Oh, no, then people won't like Katie Holmes."

CB: Wow, and I couldn't have hated her more as it was. [Rob laughs.] And speaking of whom, what's with everyone using Veronica's first and last names?

RT: Ah! I'm so glad you asked that question!

CB: Well, I have to make sure it's not some sort of homage to Joey Potter.

RT: Oh, no. To me, it's just that the two names sound great together. "Veronica Mars" rolls off the tongue really well. But people pointed out to me -- before it ever aired, we were in the editing room working on the pilot, and I realized how many times it was in there, and we started this joke that it was a drinking game. You sip on every "Veronica," and you chug on every "Veronica Mars." And we were thinking of an idea in the office where Veronica runs for school office, and people would be reading off the ballots, "Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars..." I'm going to set up the rules for the Veronica Mars drinking game when I get my site up.