Show:  Veronica Mars

Role:  Authority figure (teacher)

Best Line:  ”You can toss those ballots in the recycle bin when you’re done uncovering [quote hands] corruption.”

Oh, gosh.  We loved Veronica Mars, especially its first season, which might go down as one of the very few series with a perfect first season other than, say, Battlestar Galactica.  And possibly The Killing, but it’s too early in that series to tell for sure.  But, Veronica Mars – the characters unfolded like flowers, the overarching Who Killed Lilly Kane plot propelled each episode, and the plot lines within each individual episode never felt like they were weighing the season down.

Jane Lynch shows up in this pitch perfect first season as Mrs. Donaldson, a teacher and student council elections advisor.  When Veronica Mars suspects that the student council president election between a very rich kid and a very not-rich kid may have been rigged, she runs into some problems convincing Mrs. Donaldson that there should be a recount.   Could Mrs. Donaldson’s reluctance to ok the recount have anything to do with her class sympathies?  Her job description says no, but her sweater-around-the-neck says, I have exclusive access to a private country club.  Class sympathies, what?

The full episode – as well as all 22 episodes from the first two seasons – is online at TheWB.com.