
Uh, guys? I'm absolutely in love with Castle. As in, yeah, I can tell there are flaws, but I just...really don't care. I'm a big ball of giddy watching it because of the banter and the hot Nathan Fillion and I like Kate-who-is-not-all-that-uptight-really-and-occasionally-silences-Castle-with-a-quip. I like the daughter a lot, and her relationship with Castle, and I even like the grandmother who's character has probably been done a million times but I don't care. I don't even object to the two dumb-guy cops who are, as of yet, primarily around for exposition and cop-talk.
Seriously, though - I watch The Mentalist unabashedly. It's a flawed show, in truth, because the crime plots are frequently beyond lame, and really the point of it all is watching Simon Baker smile at people and bounce off his teammates to the great glee of everybody involved. For this show, the mysteries are a touch better written (and I think they've managed to find better actors for the crime-o-the-week stories, although it's probably too early to tell) and there are fun background characters. And on top of it all you have a fun couple sparking off each other. (These are big reasons why I like Jennifer Crusie's books.) Both are shows that wouldn't stand up to much critical attention, but they don't all have to - I mean, I'm watching Kings, and if that show doesn't balance out the fluff with some weighty melodrama (and Ian McShane throwing his weight around and maybe I can forgive him for being in that abomination of a movie The Dark is Rising because I did love you in Deadwood, McShane), I don't know what will. As of this moment, I am very ok with my fun, fluffy, eye-candy show. DON'T MAKE ME HATE YOU AGAIN, ABC.
I seem to use a lot of hyphens when I'm excited. Uh, feel free to blame this entire post on my pain pills, which have just started to kick in. Squee + Percocet = fangirl raving, apparently.