I co-hosted the Black Girl Nerds Podcast with the youngest stars of the television sitcom Black-ish. It was a great conversation, click through for a link to listen!
Tag: ABC network
Castle 7.08 Review: "Kill Switch"
After a bit of a broken TV, breaking news, work all day delay, my Castle review is up over on TV Overmind! Click through to check it out!
This episode was a great return to a standard episode, an episode that could be placed in any season. Though it was Espostio-centric, we also got to see a lot more Gates and Lanie (who we got to see in more than one scene over a dead body), more Tori–who some fans suspect could have had a thing with Espo had he not been so hung up over Lanie) and even Marissa, a new cop. It was a great episode to shine some light on lesser seen characters, while remaining true to the Castle formula. The mythology episodes and the romantic episodes are great, but it’s also nice when we can return to a typical case of the week and not slow things down.
I love that this episode had so many people of color as the focus, Esposito, Lanie, more Gates, and even Marissa the uniformed cop. It was great to see. More at: Castle Season 7 Episode 8 Review: “Kill Switch”.
Castle 7.07 Review: "Once Upon a Time in the West"
This week’s Castle post!
This episode was so much fun and it’s great to see that the banter, the eye rolling, the magic of Castle and Beckett has remained even in what could have been an overly schmoopy, post-wedding bliss episode. But that’s not their style. This show really knows how to give character development while realizing that there are core truths to the characters that wouldn’t change, which gives the series both development and consistency; many other shows don’t know how to strike that balance. It gives me hope that now that they’re married, the show will still have somewhere to go. But as I’ve stated before, I wouldn’t be surprised if an end game was near. I didn’t think they could pull of this Old West honeymoon, but they wove it into the plot nicely and gave us many fun lines and moments.
Read more: Castle Season 7 Episode 7 Review: “Once Upon a Time in the West”.
Castle 7.04 Review: "Child's Play"
In this week’s episode of Castle, Castle accesses his not so inner child to find out who murdered an ice cream truck driver.
Some of my TV Overmind review focuses on what little Castle reveals about the mind of a child, giving us insight into what may have made little Ricky Rodgers become a writer…
“An experience that powerful is going to find a way to express itself and end up on the page. Even the wildest fantasies have a kernel of truth. As a master storyteller, I am able to separate the makeshift from the tell-tale details of thinly veiled facts.”
I am really loving the ways the cases of the week have been, even in small ways, tying into the larger mystery of Castle’s disappearance and his mysterious childhood encounter. I think more than any other season, it will lead to a large fluidity and connectedness between each episode, even the filler episodes. Castle hints here at whatever he experienced as a child that made him want to become a mystery writer. What powerful experience did he have as young Ricky that changed him so powerfully? What kernels of truth exist among his dozens of novels that hearken back to that night in the woods?
Read the rest of my review here: Castle Season 7 Episode 4 Review: “Child’s Play”.
#Castle Season 7 Clues
In writing this season’s Castle recaps for TVOvermind, I want to keep track of the clues we’re being given with regard to Castle’s disappearance, crossing them off as we get resolution. So here’s a master post of clues as we build them.
Let’s crack this mystery Castle-style!
Clues up til now:
- Remember: “three people.” Castle was seen alone for the rest of the episode, but two people dragged him out of that car. Could Henry Jenkins have been one of those people?
- The money Castle took out for the wedding got used for the dumpster drop to trash the car. Who knew about the money? Was that the first thing they did when they grabbed Castle? Made him get the money—where was he holding it that it wasn’t being watched by the cops or the feds?
- Beckett tries Paris, no dice.
- Lanie’s check-in:
The 38 key sewn into the lining of his pants.Dengue fever, tropical climate. Grazed rib wound. - Montreal, the Bank, the suspicious bank manager.
- Fake Henry Jenkins again— the willing amnesia, or so “Fenkins” (as Terri Edda Miller put it on Twitter) says.
- Where did Castle get those memory cards, camera? Was he doing something else with them before making the videos? Why were the videos so quickly done, who was he expecting to interrupt?
- Hollander’s Woods. February. 11-year-old Castle. What happened and why is it coming back to haunt him 30 years later?
Read my other Castle reviews and theories over at TVOvermind!
Castle 7.01 Review: "Driven"
When the news broke this summer that Andrew Marlowe was stepping down as Castle showrunner, I can’t say that I was actually all that nervous. David Amann was already a Castle writer and I just had a lot of faith in the writing staff to protect Marlowe’s project, especially since 1. He’d still be around (he’s writing 7.02!) and 2. His wife still writes for the show. And after that premiere, I feel safe in my faith in the show going forward. Six plus seasons is a long time to keep things fresh—a typical procedural relies to cycling through “ripped from the headlines” cases and replacing the cast when necessary, not Castle. They somehow brought us fresh dynamics to fuel us throughout the season while keeping the characters the same.
The beginning of the episode was stunning. Kate in her beautiful dress reaching towards the flames, then getting doused in water as she waited for the confirmation that Castle wasn’t in the car. (I’ll forgive them for letting Kate stay that close to a car that could explode at any moment.) After the moment of despaired silence, the action kicks into gear as Kate does what she does best, look for clues. I loved the Sergeant who was so eager to help out, especially after Kate’s “he’s one of our own.” Castle has been granted this treatment before, but it’s always so great to hear. Esposito and Ryan are dashing detectives as they start the investigation still in their tuxes, doing whatever they can for two of their favorite people. Our team finds the SUV that ran Castle off the road, just as it’s being flattened—Beckett takes that to heart as she tackles the junkyard employee flat to the ground.
Read more at TV Overmind
ConStar's Pilot Watch: Forever
ABC's Forever presents absolutely nothing new to the "white guys lives forever, is basically Sherlock Holmes" trope.
ConStar's Pilot Watch: Cristela
Cristela started off a bit rough, but pleasantly surprised me in the end. A solid show featuring a funny Latino family with an opportunity to break stereotypes along the way.
ConStar's Pilot Watch: Manhattan Love Story
One of the batch of romcom/sitcoms coming this fall, I came in around the middle of Manhattan Love Story. The thing that made me enjoy this was the main character (I forget her name) got trapped in a staircase at work and had to walk all the way down out the building. She landed in a dirty alley, I set off an alarm at 30 Rock when I interned there… I related to that moment, so I was engaged lol.
It wasn’t a strong pilot, really, but not terrible. I’m not really feeling the male love interest or her best friend and the BFFs husband seemed to have been hitting on the main character? Very skeezy. Maybe I missed important exposition on their relationship, but I didn’t get a good grasp on their relationships. I think the love interest definitely needs to lose the beard, it tonally matches his face too closely, made me really dislike him. It might be a nice thread if her list of NYC places is featured in every episode, but I don’t know how far that takes us.
Between this, Marry Me, and A to Z, there seems to be an advent of meet-cute, fall in love type stories, which might wash the palate of what How I Met Your Mother could have been in its last season. Seeing how Cristin Milioti is in a meet-cute/fall in love show this season, I’ll have to watch that just to see if it makes up for how HIMYM failed me. But I’m thinking HIMYM’s success and the success of the final season (up to the finale itself) is why there are so many rom-com/sit-coms on right now. This is the new comedy trend it seems; moving away from the family or office comedy.
VERDICT: Might binge a few on Hulu after like 3 episodes, but so far I’m not really all that invested.
'Castle' Producer David Amann to Replace Creator Andrew Marlowe as Showrunner – TheWrap
‘Castle’ Producer David Amann to Replace Creator Andrew Marlowe as Showrunner – TheWrap
Wow! Big news for my favorite show!
Andrew Marlowe hopefully feels very strongly about this decision and the team backing Amann, but Lord knows fans will be in an uproar. Seasons past cries of “In Marlowe We Trust” are being thrown back at us as we face the fear of a new showrunner (even one whose been on the show for so long). After some fans felt disappointed by the season 6 finale (leaving Castle and Beckett pointedly NOT married), for there to be a new showrunner will certainly cause more angst and anxiety as we fans wait for season 7 this summer.
Let’s hope that Marlowe’s presence will still be “day to day” as the article says, though this probably also means no more episodes penned by Marlowe and wife, Terri Miller, which is definitely a bummer for fans of their joint episodes. Hopefully more on this as the writers get back to work in full…
*I guess this means I’ll have to adjust my “Andrew Marlowe” showrunner category!