drama from the 2004-05 television season to be renewed. Starting in the second season, Veronica Mars was moved to Wednesday nights, placing it in direct competition with ABC's popular Lost. Rob Thomas said that, "I wish the juggernaut that is Lost wasn't our direct competition." At the same time, Veronica Mars was placed after UPN's America's Next Top Model. On the date of the airing of this episode, Bell and Thomas talked to The New York Times, where Thomas commented, "We let Veronica say things that, if you get all day to think about it, would be the perfect retort." The episode was originally titled "Urine Trouble", a joking pun on "You're in trouble." The episode's title refers to a phrase said by both Veronica and Wallace, indicating that things are supposedly "normal," though they are not. The episode was written by series creator Rob Thomas and directed by John T. Kretchmer. This episode marks Thomas's fourth writing credit for the series (after "Pilot", "Credit Where Credit's Due", and "Leave It to Beaver") and Kretchmer's fourth directing credit for the series. In the episode, Logan mentions that producers wanted Tara Reid to play Trina Echolls (Alyson Hannigan) in casting for the film adaptation of the Echolls' story. During casting of the role of Trina, Reid was actually almost cast in the part. In the episode, Logan makes an obscene hand gesture known as the shocker, something that the UPN censors did not notice. Before the filming of "Normal Is the Watchword", Rob Thomas informed actor Teddy Dunn, who played Duncan Kane, that he was planning to remove the character from the show. Dunn has said that he was not too upset by the news, as he almost did not return for the season at all. On his role in the season, Dunn stated, "And so I knew going in that I had a finite amount of episodes, so it was like any other job. It was week-to-week and then I went on my merry way." The episode features a brief cameo by Julie Chen, wife of UPN executive Leslie Moonves. The cast members did not know important plot information before they received the script for the episode, including who was at Veronica's door and that Veronica and Duncan would resume dating. "Ashes" by Embrace plays during the bus crash scene. Casting "Normal Is the Watchword" introduces several new characters and