'Amazing,' 'Mars' race to the finish

Two of television's more surprising treats go head-to-head tonight at 8, so get that VCR or DVR all warmed up.

Both CBS's "The Amazing Race" (8 p.m., Ch. 2) and UPN's "Veronica Mars" (8 p.m., Ch. 24) are anomalies. "Race" is a reality/competition show that's exciting, doesn't exploit anyone and is as good a series as you're going to find in any genre on any network.

And "Veronica" is a good show that's on UPN. And "good" and "UPN" aren't seen that often in the same sentence.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about "Amazing Race" is that we're down to three two-person teams and only one person I can't stand. Ex-beauty queen Kelly McCorkle has been fairly annoying throughout, but when she suggested a couple of weeks ago that her boyfriend, Ron Young, could never commit to anything — and that he got out of his commitment to the military by becoming a P.O.W. in Iraq — she lost me for good.

I like Ron, though. And husband-and-wife team Uchena and Joyce Agu. And engaged (now married ) couple Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, the "Survivor" survivors.

The title of tonight's two-hour finale sums up the season — "5 Continents, 25 Cities and More Than 40,000 Miles!" And the race to the finish features a traffic ticket, another fight between Kelly and Ron (who, hopefully, dumped her as soon as taping ended) and the excitement the best-edited reality show on TV always manages to produce.

Meanwhile, there will be plenty of excitement on "Veronica Mars" as well — we're finally going to get the answer to the seasonlong mystery of who killed Lilly Kane.

Veronica (Kristen Bell) is not only going to have to betray someone she loves to get that answer, but she's going to put herself in danger doing it. Not too much danger, apparently, because, despite low ratings, the show has been renewed for next season. Whew!

If there's something to worry about, it's how "Veronica" will adapt after this big murder mystery is solved. But the writing has been top-notch to date.

For now, though, just finding out whodunit will be the treat.

ROB AND AMBER are sort of the King and Queen of Reality TV — they both competed twice on "Survivor" (Amber on "Australian Outback"; Rob on "Marquesas"; both on "All-Stars"); they've now made it all the way to the end of "Amazing Race" — and their recent wedding will be a May 24 special on CBS.

And I love watching Rob, who is fun, funny and really gets into the game.