Things are looking up for 'Castle'

Let's start with the good news.

The second episode of Castle, the new series premiering tonight at 10 p.m. on ABC, is so much better than the pilot. And thank goodness.

As I told you I watched the pilot (which you'll see tonight) when I was in LA for the Television Critics Association Press Tour in January and it just depressed me. I love Nathan Fillion, who stars a famous crime author Richard Castle. I think it's high time Fillion who captivated us in TV series like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, movies like Waitress and the internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, to get his own series. He's an immensely likeable screen presence who is convincing as both the hero and the bad guy.

But the pilot was sooooo bad. It was like something that would air in syndication at 2 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon. It was a project not worthy of Fillion's vast talents. Even he couldn't charm his way out of the mess.

In the pilot, Castle learns that a murderer is copy the crimes he writes about in his novels and the New York City Police Department turns to him for help. Enter Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) who begins a contentious but ultimately flirty banter with bad boy author. I think they were going for a type of Moonlighting will they/won't they tension but it simply didn't work. Not to mention the fact that Katic was super annoying.

So I put off watching the second episode. You know how I get. It's the same reason I waited a full month before watching the sixth season finale of 24 or why I delayed watching the premiere of the "Fugitives" arc on Heroes until the last possible moment. I dreaded watching the episode but finally forced myself to late last night. It was totally one of those -- cue the whiny voice -- "Mooooom why do I have to watch Castle? You are so mean." Honestly I thought about doing my taxes last night instead. I thought that would be more fun.

Now I don't know if it's because I was dreading it but I was pleasantly surprised by the second episode which seemed to correct many of the problems of the first hour. To start with the repartee between Kate and Castle is toned down to a tolerable level. Sure you still have to accept the fact that the NYPD Police Department would let an unarmed, untrained man into an actively hostile situation but the whole set up just works better.

Kate's colleagues get a lot more air time in the second episode which makes her world more full and makes the show more balanced. (And because it was driving me crazy I'll tell you right now that the reason Detective Kevin Ryan looks so familiar is because he's played by Seamus Dever, the dear departed Dr. Getti, on Army Wives.)

And Fillion really seems to have found the right tone for his character. Castle can't always have a quip one liner at the ready. He has to sometimes be affected by what he sees and at the end of the second episode he expresses that without a word of dialogue.

I'm almost tempted to tell you to skip tonight's episode and tune in next week. But I think you'll like next week's episode even more if you see how far the show has come.

Does TV need another crime drama? Probably not. Would I watch this show again if it wasn't for Nathan Fillion? Most likely no. But here I am willing to give Castle a fighting chance. I think Fillion can make this show succeed by the sheer force of his talent and the series could take on that "comfort food" feel (much like that other 10 p.m. Monday night drama Medium).

For now three stars, after you've watched the show, let me know what you think and talk about Castle below.

American Idol

I still can't believe the judges brought Tatianna back for the Wild Card round. It was such a blatant plea for ratings. (Don't even talk to me about how Tatianna can sing. She can but the show needs someone who is mentally stable enough to survive the intense pressure that comes from being in the top 12 and Tatianna clearly isn't mentally stable).

Anyway, I'm moving on and vowing to not speak of this again. Therefore, it's time to make my fearless predictions for the final four. Are you ready? I think the final four will be Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, and Michael Sarver.

What's your fearless prediction? Post them below.

Highlights of the Week Ahead

All times listed are Eastern Standard Time for March 9 -- 15

It's a big night for guest stars on CBS comedies. Summer Glau guest stars as herself on The Big Bang Theory (Monday, CBS, 8 p.m.) and Laura Prepon guest stars as Ted's college girlfriend on How I Met Your Mother (Monday, CBS, 8:30 p.m.).

So word is we'll find out tonight that Melissa Rycroft, who Jason Mesnick broke up with last week on The Bachelor, will join the cast of Dancing with the Stars tonight (Monday, ABC, 8 p.m.). That could make the season even more interesting.

Stephanie March returns for six episodes as ADA Alex Cabot on Law & Order: SVU beginning Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBC. Many of you remember that when March reprised her role of Alex on the short-lived NBC series Conviction, the show never address how Alex got out of witness protection and returned to prosecuting criminals. That will be explained Tuesday night.

Scrubs moves to its new Wednesday night at 8 p.m. on ABC time slot this week. But it's a repeat of the episodes that kicked off the season.

Were you confused by last week's Lost? Well ABC is repeating it again this week at Wednesday at 9 p.m. Yes that does mean there won't be a new Lost this week which I kind of feel breaks the implicit agreement I had with the show. I wait until January for new episodes, you air a new episode each week. My guess is that ABC wanted to get Lost out of the way the results show of American Idol which moves to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on FOX. I love the idea that those left behind decided to create a life for themselves on the island and that they might not want to be "rescued" after all. I took Sawyer's reaction when he got the phone call from Jin as more of an "Oh crap! They'll goof up everything" more than a "I'm so psyched to see Kate again." Especially considering Sawyer's back story, he never had a big reason to go back to the life he had before the plane crash. Things I'm looking forward to: the Sun and Jin reunion (because I don't get the sense that Jin has moved on, do you?), when the gang meets up with a young Ben (can they stop his nefarious plan to take over), finding out why Kate changed her mind about coming to the island, and learning what Sawyer will do now that Kate and Juliet are both in his life. Sure this new direction has a little bit of the "Back to the Future" conundrum because if you think about it too much,  it might all fall apart but I still love it. What did you think of last week's Lost? Talk about it below.

Christine Baranski, who was so funny on The Big Bang Theory, guest stars as Matt's mother on Ugly Betty (Thursday, ABC, 9 p.m.).

We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Izzie will finally receive a diagnosis on Grey's Anatomy (Thursday, ABC, 9 p.m.). I kind of think there's nothing the show can do to recoup this storyline, how about you?

That's all for today. I'm back on Wednesday with this week's familiar faces. Also coming this week thoughts on the new season of Breaking Bad (shame on me for not telling you to watch Sunday's second season premiere), a review of the new NBC series Kings and much much more. Have a question? Seen a familiar face? Want to nominate a quote of the week? Write me at amytvgal@zap2it.com. Have a great weekend. Talk to you on Wednesday.

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