TWoP The Second Rob Thomas Interview (after first arc of Season 3) p10:
RT: And by the way, I want to make something clear -- I'm not backing off the story. I'm proud of these first nine episodes. I don't think there's any falloff. In any season, there are episodes I adore, and episodes that I don't adore, and episodes that I dislike, but I think our batting average is as strong or stronger than ever. I'm remarkably proud of this season. Our worst episodes are still, to me, Season 1. That season has been deified in this strange way. The thing I will give Season 1 is that the big mysteries worked better. But episode by episode, I like our batting average better than ever.
CB: Yeah, I really thought these last four were awesome.

RT: Veronica, in my mind, can't win; every week, she pours herself into helping someone out, devotes all of her energy, and people complain about her meanness.
.. I think that Veronica hasn't changed from Season 1, and certainly hasn't grown any meaner. It's like she keeps all the things that I think make her interesting. I think there are forty other network shows if you want a female lead who's a sweet nice choice, but people fell in love with Veronica when she was flawed and made bad choices and was vindictive and snarky and tough and unforgiving, and she continues to have problems with all those issues.

RT: I have no idea what the fans think of the Logan/Veronica journey this season. I mean, I kind of have it vaguely mapped out in my head. The thing that I've said is that it's going to be a rocky ride -- I want it to feel like the real world. I want it to feel like...[with] somebody you're incredibly drawn to, there are ups and downs, esp with two characters that are so tough on themselves and tough on each other, they're kindred in so many ways, but are also volatile. I mean, I'm enjoying it. It will continue to be bumpy -- I think it would be a boring show and hard to believe if we played a fairy-tale romance, and yet I think it would cheat people who see the attraction, the chemistry between the two, if we didn't pay it off at times. So that's kind of my theory going into it, at least.
CB: I've actually liked the Logan/Veronica relationship this season. I knew it was unlikely to last, but they've had some nice functional moments.
RT: Yeah, and I could easily see...the winds could change, if we go five seasons. In my mind, is there a epic journey for these two characters? Do I feel, personally, that they have a future in store? Yes, unless something comes along...that isn't set in stone, but I recognize, watching the two of them on screen, that they're good together, and they are certainly written in a way in which, if they could ever solve their dilemmas and their hang-ups, you could see them being an amazing couple.

--At this point, Rob and I discuss the gray morality and the ins and outs of certain upcoming plotlines. I'm not at liberty to reveal them until they've aired, but it's really good stuff, so I will make that part of the interview available in a future recap.--

RT: When we have a B-story serial killer [e-string strangler], with girls in peril, tackling the killer...I think those should be special occasions. I don't think we can do that in our standard B stories; at least with our A stories we've built to it. I don't regret the action-thriller sequences in "Spit And Eggs" because I think we earned them.

CB: Let's talk about Keith for a minute. It feels like his plotlines haven't really been integrated into what everyone else is doing. However, since he and the Dean had become friends, are we going to see him pulled in?
RT: Yeah, I'll say that Keith, in this middle mystery, is going to feel much more involved. The rape mystery was a Veronica mystery, and Keith didn't have a part in that. Who killed Dean O'Dell is intentionally a Veronica/Keith mystery -- in every episode, you see both of them working on that case.
..we didn't find out about [the episode order being only twenty as opposed to twenty-two] until we had only three episodes left in the Dean O'Dell mystery, and it forced us to do all that storytelling in two. We had to drop some Dean O'Dell beats that I wanted to play. There's this one scene that, certainly, I can explain away, but I try to be good about paying off things that are brought up. Well, I should rephrase that -- I don't pay off red herrings, but I try to pay off the things that actually do lead to the end result. We'll shine a spotlight on a character's situation and raise the possibility that he did it, but if he didn't, I don't go back and tell the rest of his story. We did set up this one thing in the middle mystery that I wasn't able to pay off, because I lost an episode.

CB: So as I understand it, before the decision was made to bring back Veronica Mars for a third season, you were offered the showrunning position on Friday Night Lights. That must have been very gratifying. Were you tempted to take it?
RT: Very. I really liked the pilot, and it was set in my hometown of Austin. NBC told me that if I accepted, they would definitely pick it up. I was very torn, and I went to the network and asked if they could guarantee that Veronica Mars was going to be renewed. They said they couldn't, but that they could tell me that if I left, it definitely wouldn't come back. Renewal felt to me about a 70% shot, so Friday Night Lights was the bird in hand, and if it had been some show I was only moderately interested in or I didn't think was cool...I really loved the way it looked. I haven't watched it all year, kinda because it's a little painful, but I've been TiVoing it, and I finally watched a couple of episodes. I think it's interesting the way it's shot and the way it's acted, so that's a regret, but Jason Katims is doing a great job with it.
and now he is joining FNL as a writer, right? I think I read. so that's good, he did not miss out on working on it.
7/28 hmmm where did I (think that I had) read that? more recently saw sth about him signed on then off of Miss/Guided and writer said that hopes he fins a show that fits him better. so it does not sound like he is onboard with frinilights.
yes, here: Rob Thomas leaves Miss/Guided - TV Squad