Rob Thomas originally wrote Veronica Mars as a young adult novel for publishing company Simon & Schuster. Prior to his first television job on Dawson's Creek, Thomas sold two novel ideas. One of these was provisionally titled Untitled Rob Thomas Teen Detective Novel, which formed the basis for the series. The novel had many elements similar to Veronica Mars, though the protagonist was male. Thomas's father was a vice-principal at Westlake High School near Austin, Texas, and the main character attended a "thinly disguised version" of the school. As Thomas had begun writing for film and television, he did not resume his teen detective idea for several years. Writing a novel could take months for Thomas, whereas a television script …show more content…
Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season.[16] This was changed when The CW ordered a 20 episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes.[26] The second mystery arc was shortened from seven episodes to six,[27] and the third mystery was first changed from a six episode arc to a five episode arc. After an eight-week hiatus for the series was announced, the final mystery was changed to five stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers.[28] The final mystery was originally going to be "unlike any of the others we've done before". Previously, "nice characters" like Wallace and Mac had always been absent from the big mystery because no one was going to believe them as a suspect. For the third mystery, Thomas had wanted to present a situation where …show more content…
Composer Josh Kramon was originally going to produce a noir version of a 1980s song for the theme. However, Rob Thomas was "pretty much set on finding a song", and "We Used to Be Friends" was chosen right from the beginning.[34] This theme was considered by TV critic Samantha Holloway to be one of "the five most recognizable, sing-along-able, memorable and best theme songs". In the third season, the theme song was remixed in a softer piano style with dark and vibrant electronic beats to reflect the more noir-influenced opening