Veronica Mars—the comedy/mystery show about a teen girl detective that built a cult following during its initial run in the mid-2000s and helped launch Kristen Bell into her current position as America’s Sweetheart—is coming back for new episodes on Hulu next year.
That news broke about a month ago, so one would think that it is both old and unrelated to sports. One would be wrong. This week, show creator Rob Thomas tweeted out the names of the show’s writing staff, and, well, there’s one writer who’s especially tall and has 38,387 more career NBA points than the rest of the staff combined.
Yep, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—Basketball Hall of Famer, television critic, and jazz appreciator—is going to be writing for the rebooted Veronica Mars. And before you just assume that this is too random to be true, Thomas is apparently serious about Abdul-Jabbar’s new job, or is at least committed to the bit. (Also mentioned in the initial tweet is someone whose Twitter handle is @RickFoxTheActor. No, it’s not another former Laker.)
Veronica Mars was absolutely riveting and entertaining TV in its first two years, then pretty much took a rough dive off a cliff and became something I cannot in good conscience recommend in its third and final season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, however, was a complete marvel of consistency throughout his entire 20-year career as an NBA player. So maybe this hire makes some sense after all.