‘Veronica Mars’ Creator Rob Thomas Talks ‘Play It Again, Dick’
Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas recently admitted that the CW spinoff series Play it Again, Dick almost didn’t happen.
The mastermind behind the cult television show proved there’s still a very loyal fanbase willing to spend some time with the characters earlier this year. The big screen adaptation of the series, funded by an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign, landed in theaters back in March. Although people were more than willing to toss their hard-earned cash at bringing the flick to life, it only generated a disappointing $3 million at the box office.
However, the CW was obviously paying close attention to the amount of people who were more than a little excited about the Veronica Mars movie. While the characters may not work well in a theatrical setting, the company seems to think they’re more suited to the small screen. Enter Play it Again, Dick, a spinoff which airs on CW Seed.
Instead of following characters from the Veronica Mars universe, the show follows the adventures of Ryan Hansen as he tries to convince the boys and girls at the CW to make a spinoff centered around Dick Casablancas. The network apparently saw potential in the idea, though Rob Thomas wasn’t too enthusiastic about the project at first.
During a recent chat with E! Online, Thomas explained that CW was pretty insistent about putting together the Veronica Mars spinoff. Although he has his hands full with iZombie, the network really wanted to move forward with Play it Again, Dick.
“I said, ‘I don’t have time, I don’t have the energy. I can’t do it now.’ But they hired an editor I’ve worked with for a long time and they said, ‘He can direct it,’ and I love him. I think he’s talented and wanted him to get that chance, and [they hired a] young writer I was working with and they said, ‘He’ll write the scripts for you.’ I honestly thought we would do it in a day and it would be like Ryan Hansen’s sitting on a couch playing Xbox and you just rotate the other five or six cast members and it would just be them chatting, like three or four minutes of funny chatting on a couch. When I said yes, that’s what I imagined. When I showed up at the first production meeting and they had given us so much more money and they had such higher expectations.”
While some people may not appreciate the show’s meta humor, Entertainment Weekly seems to think the gamble paid off. Play it Again, Dick probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Veronica Mars fanatics should have no problem embracing the show’s premise.
“‘Play It Again, Dick’ really works best if you’re not obsessed just with ‘Veronica Mars,’ but obsessed with the people who are in ‘Veronica Mars.’ The series follows actor Ryan Hansen, playing a version of himself, attempting to get a spin-off about his Veronica Mars character, Dick Casablancas, off the ground. The first episode finds Hansen pitching the show to Kristen Bell, Veronica herself, and to CW executives, who give him the go ahead for a micro-budget pilot.”
Are you planning to check out the Veronica Mars spinoff?
[Image via CW / CW Seed]
