Post by RG on Oct 20, 2015 11:02:16 GMT -5
If anyone is expecting something fun or romantic from RG, this isn't the thread for you. Check out my photos from Florida and home in the OT Discussion area. These are my thoughts on Castle, Season 8 and they aren't fluffy...
I have stopped watching.
There is nothing redeeming, romantic nor funny in this show anymore unless you’re a four year old boy and think the Three Stooges were the height of all three in the industry.
Season 8 is based on the premise of the most asinine arc in the history of this show; I refer to K-Fed, or Kate Beckett, Federal Agent. The woman, whose opinion of the Feds for almost 5 full seasons was at best ambivalent and sometimes downright derogatory, suddenly and desperately needed and wanted to be one after a talk with an agent who pretty much was incompetent during the case they worked. To me this was a pathetic display of lack of imagination on the part of the writers and producers. To this day, I still haven’t watched the three episodes of this arc, nor will I.
Now we find ourselves in season 8 with the entire season, and so far it looks like this will be the background for the entire season, based on the federal arc of seasons 5 and 6. Does it seem odd to anyone that Kate Beckett feels more responsibility towards a team she worked with for all of three weeks before being fired from it, than she does to the man who stood beside her for 7 years? Remember, Kate was in training at the beginning of 6x01, so she was only a real part of the team for three weeks. I guess these people became so close to her during that time that she feels responsible for any and everything that happened to them and obversely, doesn’t feel as much for Castle. Please don’t point out that she is doing this separation for him, it is obvious from the discussion with his “stepmother” (another ridiculous contrivance) that getting involved would only bring him harm, perhaps to Martha, Alexis and her Dad as well, yet she chose to put them all at risk to avenge the murder of “her team”. In essence, McCord and the others mean more to her than anyone else, including herself. The lack of imagination on the part of the production team and writers is truly remarkable.
I’ve pretty much kept silent on this part of my life but Pam from California from CBR actually hit the nail on the head once when she asked me if I had any acting experience. I still have my Actors Equity card. I acted all through high school and college and acted professionally during my college years and a few after before turning away from it in disgust. I was good at it, to the point where friends I met all those years ago are still trying to get me back into the game. Many of the people I met through those years have remained close friends and are pretty big in the business, one produces a very popular show on NBC, others are writers and directors as well as actors and producers. At least two dozen times a year I am asked to cold read scripts, some for the theater, some for movies or TV. Some times they’re good, sometimes they’re not, but it does give me a very good idea of what good and bad writing is, and for the past few seasons, Castle’s writing has been for the most part, so, so.
One of my good friends from college is a writer in Hollywood. He has actually won awards for his scripts. His daughter took a class this summer on television production. Now he knows that I have enjoyed Castle, and written stories about the show, so he found it interesting when his daughter brought home some notes that talked about what NOT to do on a show. The example used for what NOT to do was Castle. They specifically spoke about the abrupt change in character and 6x23 in particular. Now when a college course on TV at a university in LA uses Castle as an example of doing things wrong, well that tells me it’s in trouble, and this was before season 8 started.
Season 3 had some great scenes between Beckett and Castle, showing their growing feelings towards one another, yet the entire season was clouded by the relationships they had with others. Who cares if Kate watches Castle sadly walk away after saving the city when she has her arms wrapped around Josh? At the end of that episode, I remember that Andrew and Terri were expecting all sorts of kudos for the excellent writing and were relaxing in Hawaii but had to cut their time short and come back to LA because of all the uproar over the way the episode ended. If you read the script, it is tightly written, well developed and riveting, but when you watch the episode, all that fly’s out the window when Josh shows up to comfort Beckett. Any ending without Josh would have been preferable.
Unfortunately for us the show runners this season seem to believe that everyone wants to see sad Castle pining away for Beckett, I guess we should be grateful that she hasn’t run into the arms of another man to make it more poignant (oh God, I hope I haven’t given them any ideas!). It doesn’t matter how sad Kate may look when she leaves Castle, the fact that she is takes away from that and pretty much leaves the viewer feeling nothing if not upset. We don’t feel sad for Kate and Rick, we feel anger and frustration, and never in the history of entertainment have those two emotions helped a television show stay on the air. In every case, they have done the opposite and ensured or hastened the show’s cancellation.
Now after an ending that once again takes away from the enjoyment of the show, we are left to drift for three weeks. I guess the front door outside the main building at ABC has a sign that states, “Deposit brain in box before entering.” Let’s let the show sit and simmer for three weeks on a downer. Yeah, team! We missed the field goal and lost the game, let’s party!
Castle once owned Monday night. Nothing put on any of the other networks could stand against it, at least not for long. Now it is in 3rd place and seems to be firmly set there. It could be argued that football takes away from the ratings, but at best the show would possibly squeak into second place. From the highest rated season to the lowest it wasn’t caused by the principal characters finally getting together. Contrivance. Poor writing. Ridiculous story lines and deliberate destruction of character development are what has done this, and sadly for those who continue to watch, the rest of the episodes are already in the can and this charade will continue till the break in November.
We can only hope that the show will be returning in February, but honestly at this point I’m not sure I really care, and if the show keeps losing viewers, neither will the network.
I have stopped watching.
There is nothing redeeming, romantic nor funny in this show anymore unless you’re a four year old boy and think the Three Stooges were the height of all three in the industry.
Season 8 is based on the premise of the most asinine arc in the history of this show; I refer to K-Fed, or Kate Beckett, Federal Agent. The woman, whose opinion of the Feds for almost 5 full seasons was at best ambivalent and sometimes downright derogatory, suddenly and desperately needed and wanted to be one after a talk with an agent who pretty much was incompetent during the case they worked. To me this was a pathetic display of lack of imagination on the part of the writers and producers. To this day, I still haven’t watched the three episodes of this arc, nor will I.
Now we find ourselves in season 8 with the entire season, and so far it looks like this will be the background for the entire season, based on the federal arc of seasons 5 and 6. Does it seem odd to anyone that Kate Beckett feels more responsibility towards a team she worked with for all of three weeks before being fired from it, than she does to the man who stood beside her for 7 years? Remember, Kate was in training at the beginning of 6x01, so she was only a real part of the team for three weeks. I guess these people became so close to her during that time that she feels responsible for any and everything that happened to them and obversely, doesn’t feel as much for Castle. Please don’t point out that she is doing this separation for him, it is obvious from the discussion with his “stepmother” (another ridiculous contrivance) that getting involved would only bring him harm, perhaps to Martha, Alexis and her Dad as well, yet she chose to put them all at risk to avenge the murder of “her team”. In essence, McCord and the others mean more to her than anyone else, including herself. The lack of imagination on the part of the production team and writers is truly remarkable.
I’ve pretty much kept silent on this part of my life but Pam from California from CBR actually hit the nail on the head once when she asked me if I had any acting experience. I still have my Actors Equity card. I acted all through high school and college and acted professionally during my college years and a few after before turning away from it in disgust. I was good at it, to the point where friends I met all those years ago are still trying to get me back into the game. Many of the people I met through those years have remained close friends and are pretty big in the business, one produces a very popular show on NBC, others are writers and directors as well as actors and producers. At least two dozen times a year I am asked to cold read scripts, some for the theater, some for movies or TV. Some times they’re good, sometimes they’re not, but it does give me a very good idea of what good and bad writing is, and for the past few seasons, Castle’s writing has been for the most part, so, so.
One of my good friends from college is a writer in Hollywood. He has actually won awards for his scripts. His daughter took a class this summer on television production. Now he knows that I have enjoyed Castle, and written stories about the show, so he found it interesting when his daughter brought home some notes that talked about what NOT to do on a show. The example used for what NOT to do was Castle. They specifically spoke about the abrupt change in character and 6x23 in particular. Now when a college course on TV at a university in LA uses Castle as an example of doing things wrong, well that tells me it’s in trouble, and this was before season 8 started.
Season 3 had some great scenes between Beckett and Castle, showing their growing feelings towards one another, yet the entire season was clouded by the relationships they had with others. Who cares if Kate watches Castle sadly walk away after saving the city when she has her arms wrapped around Josh? At the end of that episode, I remember that Andrew and Terri were expecting all sorts of kudos for the excellent writing and were relaxing in Hawaii but had to cut their time short and come back to LA because of all the uproar over the way the episode ended. If you read the script, it is tightly written, well developed and riveting, but when you watch the episode, all that fly’s out the window when Josh shows up to comfort Beckett. Any ending without Josh would have been preferable.
Unfortunately for us the show runners this season seem to believe that everyone wants to see sad Castle pining away for Beckett, I guess we should be grateful that she hasn’t run into the arms of another man to make it more poignant (oh God, I hope I haven’t given them any ideas!). It doesn’t matter how sad Kate may look when she leaves Castle, the fact that she is takes away from that and pretty much leaves the viewer feeling nothing if not upset. We don’t feel sad for Kate and Rick, we feel anger and frustration, and never in the history of entertainment have those two emotions helped a television show stay on the air. In every case, they have done the opposite and ensured or hastened the show’s cancellation.
Now after an ending that once again takes away from the enjoyment of the show, we are left to drift for three weeks. I guess the front door outside the main building at ABC has a sign that states, “Deposit brain in box before entering.” Let’s let the show sit and simmer for three weeks on a downer. Yeah, team! We missed the field goal and lost the game, let’s party!
Castle once owned Monday night. Nothing put on any of the other networks could stand against it, at least not for long. Now it is in 3rd place and seems to be firmly set there. It could be argued that football takes away from the ratings, but at best the show would possibly squeak into second place. From the highest rated season to the lowest it wasn’t caused by the principal characters finally getting together. Contrivance. Poor writing. Ridiculous story lines and deliberate destruction of character development are what has done this, and sadly for those who continue to watch, the rest of the episodes are already in the can and this charade will continue till the break in November.
We can only hope that the show will be returning in February, but honestly at this point I’m not sure I really care, and if the show keeps losing viewers, neither will the network.