Yeah, I know it’s the kiss of death when I’m interested in a new show, but here it goes.
Reasons to watch Castle:
- “… starring Nathan Fillion.” You know what? I’ve been watching Fillion in a lot of different stuff for awhile now, and in the first episode of Castle I saw some stuff from him that he hasn’t used in previous work. He’s smart, he’s quick, and he’s funny. (Kate adds: ‘adorable!’)
- The cop partner. To paraphrase one of the finest compliments I’ve ever heard: “She keeps up.” There’s a lot to keep up with when Fillion’s on the screen, and she handles herself really well. There’s a scene where Castle ‘reads her’ and talks about her past, and the subtle way her face goes from cocksure to hurt over the course of 20 seconds. She’s good.
- The Bright Daughter. The writer has a smart, bookish daughter. Huge surprise, right? Well, no, but the pleasant part of the non-surprise is how well the actress playing her pulls of the sharp “almost-equals, who’s taking care of whom” repartee.
- The writer’s dream gig. Are you kidding me? The titular character has a gorgeous apartment with room for his daughter and his (boozing, aging-cougar) mother (awwwww), he has signing parties that look like music biz album releases, and he’s got the mayor of NYC on speed dial. These things NEVER happen in real life, so writers and wannabe writers? G’head and watch the show and vicariously live the-dream-that-never-is.
- The tension. Yeah yeah. Sexual tension between the two leads. That’s been done. The far more interesting bit (to me) is the fact that Castle’s publisher rep is his ex-wife. Ouch. In the real world, there’s no reason those two would have to work together (and many reasons not to – don’t marry your agent, people), so why do they?
- The dialog is snappy and smart. I laughed many times. Reincorporation is funny.
- 11 million viewers for the first episode. Compare that to the (steadily dropping) 3.4 million viewers that Dollhouse is clinging to after four episodes, and you’ll see a snappy, funny show with people you like… that might actually survive to a second season.
- The show is pro-reading. Seriously. This seems obvious, since the titular character is an author, but it goes beyond that. I counted no less than a half-dozen pro-reading references in the show, some of them quite overt, some pretty subtle. I like it – it might be the thing I liked the most about the show.
And that’s it. It’s a good show. Murder mystery/comedies are fun. Get it on the DVR and watch it.