Whatever the virtues of the new CW high school sudser "Gossip Girl" might be, there was one nagging question that persisted for me: Shouldn't Veronica Mars be out solving mysteries at her own school instead of talking oh-so-coyly about the follies of someone else's?

The dissonance arises from the use of Kristen Bell, mere months after the demise of her CW cult favorite "Veronica Mars," as the unseen narrator of "Gossip."  Bell also provided the ongoing voiceover for her own adventures on "Mars," and if the CW expects us to forget that voice so quickly, the network perhaps has underestimated its small but devoted audience.

It's just too soon - know what I mean? Veronica's body is not even cold yet.

Perhaps Bell has such diehard fans that they'll watch her -- or listen to her -- in anything, but it strikes me that by including Bell on "Gossip" and inviting the comparison, the CW and showrunner Josh Schwartz are in effect challenging their core viewers to find their new show to be better than "Mars." That's a gambit that might be futile. 

Of course, the whole reason "Mars" isn't around anymore is that it had such low ratings, so it's not as if there's loads of viewers at stake. Much of the reason for launching a new show like "Gossip" is to draw in new auds. Still, "Gossip" has to start somewhere when it comes to gaining ratings traction, and I can't help wondering if it has imprudently risked alienating potential fans by reminding them of their fair show now departed.

Moreover, "Gossip" has to face the prospect of Bell overload, now that she has been cast in a recurring role on NBC's "Heroes."

All in all, "Gossip" will live and die on its own merits, but I think it should have taken the opportunity to completely carve out its own space, rather than link so overtly to a show that many are bitter ended up in the TV graveyard.

— Jon Weisman

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!