In today's column, I review ABC's new mystery series "Castle":
"I'm here for the story," Castle (Nathan Fillion) tells her.
Castle first hooks up with Beckett to solve a trio of murders based on his books, then decides to use her as inspiration for a new series of novels. As a man in his profession might be, he's obsessed with finding a good story. Time and time again through the two episodes of ABC's new mystery series "Castle" that I've seen, Castle complains that Kate's latest theory of the crime doesn't make for an interesting story, or is pleased when a new development makes the story more interesting for him.
Yet "Castle" the show doesn't seem all that interested in finding the most interesting, or unique, ways to tell its stories. It's an amalgamation of a half-dozen other crime shows (at a minimum) and, at times, is so packed with cliches that my wife (watching the pilot alongside me) began reciting Stana Katic's dialogue five seconds in advance with uncanny accuracy. At one point, after Castle complained that a solution came too easily, my wife and Katic were in stereo as they declared, "This isn't one of your books, Castle!"
(A TV critic's marriage occasionally leads to scenes like this, I suppose.)
Not that we were exactly unhappy watching it. "Castle," for all its predictability -- and its unfortunately timed resemblance to hits like "The Mentalist" -- isn't without its charms, chief among them Nathan Fillion.
To read the full thing, click here. I don't think I'm going to do a separate review of the pilot, so feel free to comment here after you've watched it.