Bitter Sweet TV

Man, do I love television.  It's weeks like these that remind me of that.  True, it's dreaded season finale time which means we are just episodes away from a painfully long summer waiting for our favorite shows to return and take us back to these exciting moments we're being left with.  But in the meantime, there's so much good stuff happening, I'm just plain giddy.

Highlights:

Supernatural lives to see Season Eight!  And its creator, Erik Kripke, just got his new pilot picked up by NBC ... the one he's doing with J.J. Abrams.  Can you say dynamic duo?  Of course, we are talking about NBC here, soooo...

Fringe - don't worry, I won't say who but we were treated to THE MOST AMAZING SURPRISE RETURN by someone.  I am DYING to say who but I have friends that read this blog that I don't want to spoil it for but I actually stood up and cheered!  Oh, and we are getting a final season, the chance for the show to end right, on their terms.  Thank you, FOX, for that.  Chuck got that and I was so happy.  If a great show must end, as they all must eventually, this is the way.

Hawaii Five-0 saw the return tonight of Alex O'Loughlin, who has been sorely missed.  I am glad he has gotten help for his painkiller addiction and that we only had to go two episodes without him.  Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park carried on well but this show works best when the whole Ohana (Hawaiian for family) is together.  We were gifted with several classic Steve-Danny arguments (normally in the car, this time by phone) and they were as funny as ever.  And it was clearly conveyed throught the writing how much Alex was missed and how great is is to have him back.  The preview for next week's finale looks heartbreaking ...

 2 Broke Girls finished their freshman season on a high, with Caroline and Max scoring a rave for their cupcakes by none other than Martha Stewart.  It was quite a fight to get to her - last minute transport by horse, smuggled dresses, confrontation with an old boyfriend, overcoming family shame - but it was a hilarious journey with a satisfying end.  Our own modern day Laverne and Shirley.

 Grey's Anatomy had most of our docs passing their boards (sorry, April) and now we must wait to see who stays and who goes.  Gotta give them credit:  they're keeping the secret very well ... and it's killing me!  This show has come through cast changes before but this is a solid group and I hate to lose anyone.  From what I've read of the finale, it's going to be another hard one to get through.  Two season ago, when the distraught widower shot up the hospital, I had very few episodes of television that was that jaw-dropping and it's two hours I want to watch again but admittedly can't.  I have a feeling this season ender may do that again.  This show has been on a while and a few years ago it was showing its age but I think it's stronger and better than ever.

Just finished watching Castle's season finale right now and I knew what was coming:  the big Castle-Beckett confrontation about how they feel about each other.  We knew he loves her.  We knew she knew he loves her and, after last week, we were pretty sure he knew she knew he loves her.  Tonight he actually told her to her face.  And they got it on.  At last?  Where it goes from there I'm waiting and watching to see.  I'm on the fence about them getting together.  It hasn't always bode well (Moonlighting, anyone?) but sometimes it has (go Chuck and Sarah on Chuck!).  I like "Caskett" and think they make a great team.  But I don't want their relationship to change.  But I'll keep watching and hey, Nathan Fillion FINALLY has a hit, long-running series, so yay!

And all these shows will be back in the fall so SUPER YAY!!

Still lots of great TV to come this week and next.  Then my TiVo gets a slight break before all the great summer shows come back.  Always helps summer go by faster.  Looking forward to some new shows as well.  Please keep checking back in here for my reviews, recaps, opinions, recommendations, etc!

Oh, one thing I ain't happy about AT ALL:  ABC Family cancelled Make It or Break It.  Loved that show!  And now we won't get to see who gets to the Olympics.  *sniff*  Bad move, net...

Happy viewing!

Firefly Reunion on Castle!

Boy, do I love it when television makes me giddy!  I admittedly - and regretfully - was late to the awesome party that was Firefly ... didn't become a fan till it was long off the air, but now I am a dedicated and enthusiastic Browncoat.  I was also a fan of the NBC series Chuck starring Adam Baldwin and am currently a big fan of ABC's Castle starring Nathan Fillion. 

Last night, all worlds gleefully collided as Baldwin made a hilarious guest appearance on the hit show.

Baldwin played Detective Ethan Slaughter - rightfully named, being the kind of cop he was - dangerous, prone to violence and recklessness, doing any means to achieve his end.  Problem was, Fillion's (Rick) Castle, still hurting after learning the truth that (Kate) Beckett, his partner and woman he loves has been lying to him for months about knowing his true feelings for her, opted to shadow Slaughter as his new muse, allowing himself to be put in harm's way repeatedly.

I confess, I wasn't really paying much attention to the case of the week - a father killed his son and tried to frame a local gang for the deed.  I was too busy enjoying the onscreen reunion and looking for any nods to  Firefly - "easter eggs," I guess you'd call them - and they were there ... or maybe I just saw what I wanted to see.  Eh, who cares?  I wasn't disappointed!

• In Castle's first scene, he is caught playing with dolls ... sorry, action figures ... saying he was working out a scene for his new book.  This was just like Wash (Alan Tudyk) in the Firefly pilot episode "Serenity," playing with the dinosaur figures he kept on his console ("taking over this land which they would then call ... This Land.").

• Baldwin had a line during his interrogation of the father, saying the son's activities were his "boy's brand of stupid."  In the Firefly episode "Heart of Gold," Fillion had a similar line, when deciding to take on the local bad guy rather than run, he told his charge "You're my kind of stupid."

• To get Slaughter to let him tag along, Castle trades his leather coat.  The color?  Brown, of course! (Browncoats were what the rebels wore in Firefly).

• Mid-episode, Slaughter made Castle believe that the former had killed someone, later having a good laugh about it.  In the Firefly pilot, Mal (Fillion) made Simon (Sean Maher) believe he'd killed Kaylee (Jewel Staite), then the crew had a hearty guffaw at Simon's expense.

• Later, Slaughter throws a gang member into a garbage truck to "question" him about the murder, threatening to kill him by turning on the crusher.  In the Firefly episode "Ariel," after Jayne (Baldwin) had betrayed the crew, Mal looked him the airlock and opened the door as they were heading off into space, threatening certain death.

There may have been more, but those were the ones I happened to catch.  Clearly the boys had a blast working together again and the shift of power - Castle tried to be a badass to keep up but ultimately needed to be bailed out by his team, while Mal was a natural badass who confidently led his team -was a cool dynamic.  Stana Katic (Beckett) took a backseat in this episode, but toward the end we were brought back to the magic connection her character shares with Castle, and both seemed on the road to healing.  Castle knows who his true partner is and so the will-they-or-won't-they continues.

Baldwin's Slaughter was very much a marriage of his Jayne character - lots of gun play, raw violence and lusting after women - and his Chuck character John  Casey - tough-as-nails spy, also with a penchant for violence, clearly in charge.  He looked more like the former, scruffy, unshaven, but with much more unruly hair. 

Slaughter, with Castle and Beckett's help, got the bad guy in the end and maybe learned that his methods don't always yield the right results.  But I don't see him changing his ways so easily.  Hope he returns.

I know it's a mission of Fillion's to have a bigger Firefly reunion on his show.  Unfortunately, this guest star appearance may not allow for Baldwin to join in that fun (as another character, that is), but you never know.  Castle is going strong and Fillion might get his way (fingers crossed!).

That's not to say other Firefly alums are busy with their own work!  Check out:

Gina Torres (Zoe) on USA's Suits, returning in June.
Alan Tudyk (Wash) on ABC's Suburgatory, airing now.
Sean Maher (Simon) on ABC Family's Make It or Break It, airing now.
Jewel Staite (Kaylee) on the CW's The L.A. Complex, premiering next Tuesday, April 24.
Summer Glau (River) has been most recently on ABC's Grey's Anatomy.
Morena Baccarin (Inara)on Showtime's Homeland, returning later this year.

Bonus:  sweet promo after the credits for May 4th's The Avengers featuring fun, playful, one-upmanship banter between Fillion and Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man)

Hope you got to enjoy the mini-reunion!  Catch Castle Mondays at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Make Your Monday with Great TV

Set your DVRs for some terrific viewing tonight as these great shows make their returns:

This funtastic CBS comedy is back for its seventh season to tease audiences with more "is she or isn't she the Mother" antics (show is signed for two more seasons so I'm guessing more "isn't" than "is") with lovelorn romantic Ted (Josh Radnor).  This season also celebrates the pregnancy of Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), new romantic and professional pursuits of Canadian darling Robin (Cobie Smolders) and the wedding (say what?) or eternal womanizer Barney (the masterful Neil Patrick Harris).

Check out How I Met Your Mother on CBS at 8 p.m.

Then tune in at 10 p.m. for the return of two great partner-centric cop dramas, CBS' Hawaii Five-0 and ABC's Castle (they go head-to-head, so choose one for live viewing, one for DVR, but don't miss either).

Both shows had shocking finales that shook up the characters' lives and careers last May:

On Five-0, Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) was arrested for the murder of the Governor Pat Jameson (Jean Smart) by the cold and cunning Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos) while rookie Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park) was suspended for suspicion of the theft from the drug forfeiture locker (sorry to say, she's actually guilty, along with her task force teammates), leaving Detective Danny Williams (Scott Caan) to clear their good names while trying to make sense of the apparent abandonment of the fourth member Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim), who went back to the Honolulu PD just in time to arrest McGarrett.  Fortunately, the team will have help with their precarious situation as Lt. Commander Joe White (Terry O'Quinn, reuniting with Lost alum Kim) - McGarrett's former SEAL training officer - comes to the Aloha State to lend a hand for at least six episodes. 

Hawaii Five-0 has lined up an impressive guest cast for their sophomore season, including O'Quinn, Peter Fonda, Patty Duke, Tom Sizemore and more. Surf's up for Season Two!

Over on Castle, we were left with the shocking shooting of Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) at the funeral of Captain Roy Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), who was killed after it was revealed he hadn't been the cleanest cop in his early career and whose past caught up with him at last.  Turns out Montgomery was fighting to protect Beckett from imminent danger brought on by her investigating her mother's murder, fearing she was getting too close (guess so, giving the shooting).  By her side is the ever-charming Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), successful mystery novelist-turned-unofficial police detective/comic foible/potential love interest for Beckett (think David Addison and Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting), who finally confessed his love for Beckett after the shooting (too bad she was unconscious).  Will this be the season that end the "will they or won't they" tug of war the show's been teasing for three seasons now?  Wait and see ...

Catch Hawaii Five-0 on CBS and Castle on ABC at 10 p.m.

If you like the actors on these shows, catch them on these other shows:

Josh Radnor - The Court (may be hard to find)
Jason Segel - Freaks and Geeks (on DVD)
Alyson Hannigan - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (on DVD, Chiller channel)
Cobie Smolders - The L Word (on DVD)
Neil Patrick Harris - Doogie Houser, M.D. (on DVD)
Alex O'Loughlin - Three Rivers, Moonlight (on DVD, Rivers streams on Netflix)
Scott Caan - Entourage (on DVD, HBO repeats, syndication)
Daniel Dae Kim & Terry O'Quinn - Lost (on DVD)
Grace Park - Battlestar Galactica (2005) (on DVD, streaming on Netflix)
Nathan Fillion - Firefly (on DVD)
Stana Katic - Heroes guest star (on DVD)