what happens after the best first season ever (news on next season's veronica mars)

some possibly bad news from eonline (potentially spoilerish, if it's true):

According to sources close to the show, Veronica's second-season pickup came with a suggestion: that producers try to pull in a broader audience closer in demographics to its new time-slot partner on UPN, America's Next Top Model. To do so, the idea was that Veronica should get a female companion, hopefully with a "name" (rumor has it they tossed around the name Tara Reid--though I choose not to believe that), an older love interest and, here comes the hard part, that producers scale back two characters close to Veronica (meaning, they won't be in every episode), and write off a third.

The full article is here, though I have to warn you there's an even bigger potential spoiler there, one you may not want to hear.

The legitimacy of this news is questionable; Tara Reid's name was tossed around for the role of Trina (which ultimately went to Allyson Hannigan), so it might just be recycled gossip, plus isn't she the new host of Wild On?

Later in the article, Kristin begs the powers that be not to fuck with Veronica Mars, and I have to agree. More characters, fewer characters . . . that kind of stuff ultimately doesn't matter as much as the tone, the quality of the writing, the emotional heft behind the stories. It's a lesson we all learned on The O.C. this season; a great first season does not guarantee a second, and there's a delicate balance between new and fresh and too many scary changes. Maybe that's why this news has me a little nervous today.

I've devoted so much of myself as a viewer to this show, and I just want it to be worth it. But as I said to Allison: no matter what happens, we'll always have season one.