Mars Investigations Closed for Good?

So Long, Veronica Mars: Adios to Rob Thomas’s CW cult hit Veronica Mars, as sources familiar with the situation tell Variety that the series is canceled. Last-minute attempts were made to reboot the series as Veronica Mars, Four Years Later, but the network wasn’t convinced. Joss Whedon, Paul Rudd, our wife all consumed by righteous fury. [Variety]

48 More for 24: Kiefer Sutherland series 24 renewed for two more seasons by Fox. Producers claim to be “recreating� the series, dismissing most of cast besides Sutherland. Save Chloe! [HR]

Macy to TNT: William H. Macy will co-write, star in drama series Family Man for TNT. Series follows a conflicted criminal as he tells his story from prison. Let’s hope no one ends up in the wood chipper. [Variety]

Rothkos Expensive: Sotheby’s set records at last night’s contemporary-art auctions, fetching $72.8 million from a mysterious bearded collector for Mark Rothko’s White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose). Auction house had taken huge risk, guaranteeing $46 million plus portion of its fee to seller, David Rockefeller, and still came out smelling like yellow, pink, lavender, and roses. [NYT]

Carter Memoir to S&S: Alice Mayhew at Simon & Schuster has bought rights to new memoir of Jimmy Carter, telling story of his post-presidential transformation from goofball to humanitarian hero. Current president to read with great interest. [PW]

Par Buys Former Staffer’s Book: Paramount Vantage options A Good and Happy Child, debut novel by former Paramount scout Justin Evans. Thriller is southern Gothic suspense, to be pubbed later this year by Shaye Areheart Books. [Publishers Marketplace]

Kutcher, Diaz Go to Vegas: Aston Kutcher and Cameron Diaz team up for 20th Century Fox’s What Happens in Vegas …, romantic comedy about mismatched pair who wake up to find themselves married. Julian Farino directs; Dana Fox wrote the screenplay. Former HBO head Chris Albrecht reads title, laughs bitterly. [HR]

Miller Has Spirit: Comics guru Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) will make solo directing debut lensing his adaptation of Will Eisner’s legendary The Spirit. Miller was shopping script around Hollywood in wake of 300’s success and found a taker in Lionsgate. “Will was a dear friend, a mentor, and translating his vision to the screen will be a labor of love,� Miller says, which we’re translating as “no slow-motion shots of rippling abs.� [Variety]

Cornel West, Prince, André 3000 Collabo: You read that right! Princeton professor Dr. Cornel West has a second rap–spoken-word album coming out this June, featuring West trading verses with such luminaries as Prince, André 3000, KRS-One, Black Thought, and Talib Kweli. Harold Bloom’s country-rock album with Tim McGraw due this fall. [Pitchfork]