Nathan Fillion Returns to TV in CASTLE
March 9, 2009 by Kath Skerry
Whedonites all over the world are gearing up to see one of their own return to TV tonight. Nathan Fillion, best known for his role as Mal on FIREFLY and most recently Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, is back on the small screen as the star of ABC’s newest drama, CASTLE, premiering tonight at 10pm on ABC.
Fillion plays Richard Castle, a mystery novelist with a rock star appeal. He’s got the looks, the charm and all the spoils of someone rich, famous and connected. But when he opts to kill off the hero of his books those around him are left wondering what’s next. The very same question the very bored Castle is asking himself.
But when a killer starts copying the murders from Castle’s novels, the boredom is squelched as the writer is brought in to help police predict the next steps of the copycat killer. Leading up the investigation is Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a tough as nails cop that doesn’t take kindly to Castle’s suave approach to life. Together they must work together to solve the cases (and fight a mutual attraction) in order find the killer before the next page is turned.
(Check out the first 15 minutes of tonight’s episode)
I’m a big fan of Nathan Fillion and wanted to instantly love CASTLE. I didn’t. And that’s no fault of Nathan Fillion. It seems that he’s the only one that gets the show. Nathan brings this dark but very fun approach to Richard Castle. He’s witty and charming and quick on his feet. Fillion brings a humor that helps to set CASTLE apart from other crime procedurals. But unfortunately it seems like not everyone was on the same page with respect to the approach and tone of the show leaving the audience confused as to what this show is really all about.
With all due respect to the actress, it was Stana Kanic’s portrayal of Kate that really threw me. Throw this actress and this role on to any Law & Order franchise and she’d be great. But juxtaposed with Fillion’s subtly and charm she seems overly stiff and not quite ready to keep up. This in part contributes to the total lack chemistry between Richard and Kate – a problem since their will they/won’t they relationship is supposed to be a cornerstone of the show.
Admittedly, I have one seen the premiere episode. Perhaps my views will change with more episodes. I hope so. As I was watching I kept thinking ‘Nathan Fillion deserves better than this.’ CASTLE on paper is just another procedural drama with subpar writing based on a plot we’ve seen many times before, but it’s what Fillion brings to the role that makes it stand out. If everyone else would step up their game to Nathan’s level then they might have something here.
I’ll give it another try tonight and I’ll watch again next week. It’s one episode, maybe things pick up in the next chapter.
Check out CASTLE for yourself tonight and come back to this post tomorrow and let us know what you think.
Amrie from My Take on TV recently had the chance to talk one-on-one with Nathan Fillion, check out highlights from their chat: Exclusive Interview: Nathan Fillion in CASTLE.
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Can’t wait to see Cap’n Hammer back on the TV. Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite TV guys…hopefully, they’ll give him something good to work with soon. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Speaking of TV men we love, have you seen Kristin at EOnline’s poll of TV Men for March Madness….I’m dying to have you and Ducky do a podcast and run us through your picks. 🙂
I’ve been hearing similar grumblings about the pilot, much to my disappointment as I also love NF (who doesn’t?). I’m still going to give the show a chance and hope that perhaps the bugs in the pilot get worked out.
You’re review reminds me of how I originally felt about Fringe – Joshua Jackson was great, but the lead actress fell flat and put a damper on things. I’m still watching though, and warming up to Anna Torv, so hopefully the same thing happens with Castle.
The real question is – is Castle as bad as Dollhouse? I am still watching Dollhouse and since there are no conflicts on Monday for me, I will be watchign Castle. For now.
I’m probably overly excited to see this tonight- so I hope it’s not a let down for me. We’ll see….
I encourage you all to give CASTLE a shot tonight. If we dismissed all shows based on the pilot episode alone we would be missing out.
I am looking forward to this show. Not to be critical…. but I believe the role NF is best known for is OLTL Joey Buchanan….I know it would kill you to type such a thing! LOL
Actually, I was going to write that (for reals) but I feel like I’m always saying that about Nathan. Do you know he’s going back to OLTL for Asa’s funeral…or maybe he already has. I saw him talking about it on The View.
I’ll definitely be tunning in tonight. On a super busy night, would you believe that my 9 o’clock hour is free? I agree with you, Nicole, it took me a long while to warm up to Anna Torv too. She was just too flat, and I saw absolutely no chemistry between her and Josh’s character. But I still watch, and was really loving it before it disappeared from TV!
And hey, if I’m still watching Dollhouse, and not entirely enjoying it, I’ll probably stick with this show too, even if it’s not what I desire.
Another blogger, TVGal, said she hated the pilot but liked the second episode quite a bit. So, while I’ll be skipping the pilot, I may check back in on the show later.
Though really, I watch too much TV already, and I don’t feel any strong desire to watch cop procedurals, even one starring Fillion.
Well, just finished watching the first installment of Castle … and I LOVED it! It came off very “Dexter” to me, with the drama mixed in with humour. Nathan Fillion is amazing in the lead, and I actually adored the female lead too, *and* I felt total chemistry between Castle and Beckett. I’ll definitely be tuning in for the foreseeable future, just to see where the stories go, and where the “will they/won’t they” goes as well.
Oh, and can I just say that when Beckett handcuffed Castle to the car to make him stay, I thought, “hey, now there’s what Casey and Sarah should do with Chuck!” Just when I thought Monday night TV couldn’t get any better…
I’m glad you liked it. That’s why I always suggest people check it out for themselves. Tastes always differ. I’ll be checking it out next week to see if it gets any better for me.
I watched it last night and really enjoyed the episode. He’s just so cute. I could eat him up. It had pretty snappy dialogue, I thought. I’ll definitely tune in again next week.
Ok- I loved it. Not the best pilot I’ve ever seen (there aren’t that many good ones….) but I am definitely sticking around for next weeks episode. I think one thing that threw it off for me was the fact that I’d seen so many promos, etc. that I felt like I’d already seen the episode. But that’s probably my own fault lol
I just watched and I have to say…I like it better than Dollhouse! Although I guess that’s not saying much. Nathan Fillion is hot and I like the lead actress. She reminds me on someone. Although he hair may become distracting.
Just watched and I also really liked it. I agree that it had weaknesses, but I find that’s fairly common in pilots when shows are figuring out what works best (except for Friday Night Lights of course which had the distinction of having a perfect pilot).
Nathan Fillion is just so….(insert unabashed gushing here). Love him. And I have to say even if he was the only thing I liked about the episode it would be reason enough to tune in again next week. Luckily that’ s not the case – I liked the supporting players as well and thought the dialogue was pretty witty.
I’m so late to the party, but I just wanted to chip in and say that I liked it. Billy compared the writers’ poker game to House having a team to bounce ideas off of. And I liked that they gave NF a vaguely Malcolm Reynolds-looking brown coat. 🙂 A nice nod to the fans who are no doubt watching.
And can I just say, for the record, that Nathan Fillion … DAMN, he knows how to look at a woman.
I thought Nathan Fillion was darling, of course. I thought there was such chemistry coming from him, but none from the lead actress whatsoever. We didn’t get so much as a lifted eyebrow from her- you get that she’s a Castle fan, but no emotion from her- give a dog a bone, here.
I hope TPTB will give the show a chance. I’m on the verge of watching NO NEW SHOWS because they all seem to get cancelled.