If you’ve never watched the ABC show “Castle”, you’ve been missing out on a great story. Ever since the first time our family watched it, we were hooked. But, these days, we have to settle for “Castle” reruns since it was canceled earlier this year. Many fans are still asking “How can a show that was so good and so popular be canceled?”
“Castle” was the story of Richard Castle, a rich and famous playboy/writer. His forte was murder mysteries and the darker and gorier the better. Fame and fortune-wise, he was on the same level as some of his best friends, like real-life famous writers James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Stephen J. Cannell, and Michael Connelly, with whom he regularly played poker. When Stephen Cannell passed away, a fictional writer took his place at the table, but an empty seat was always left at the table in his honor.
Other pals of Castle’s included famous horror moviemakers like Wes Craven, as well as the Mayor of New York City. The latter friendship was what got him in with the NYPD and Detective Beckett in the first place, much to Beckett’s chagrin. Her opinion of Richard Castle, in the beginning, was very low. In fact, she likened him to a little kid on a sugar high. At one point, she even told him that he reminded her a little of Hooch in “Turner and Hooch”. Most fans of the show will say that they considered that to be a classic “Castle” moment. If you never saw that amazing Tom Hanks film, Tom played Turner and Hooch was an adorable drooling dog.
Besides Nathan Fillion as the title character and Stana Katic as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, the show had a very well-rounded cast. Molly Quinn played Castle’s beautiful redheaded daughter whom we watched grow up before our very eyes. Like most kids, she seemed to go from cute little girl to lovely young woman overnight. We felt for her during her boyfriend troubles and especially when she was kidnapped and we all feared she would end up dead and be leaving the show. Of course, at the time, little did we know that the entire show would end up dying instead. Too bad Castle’s father, Jackson Hunt, played beautifully by hunky veteran actor, James Brolin, couldn’t save the show the way that he and Castle saved Alexis.
But, back to the amazing “Castle” cast. Susan Sullivan played Martha Rodgers, Castle’s charming mother who has the same red hair as Alexis and has lead a very interesting life as a serious stage actress. When she lives with Castle and his daughter, it’ pretty funny, but heartwarming stuff. And, Jon Huertas and Seamus Deaver are excellent, as well, as police officers Esposito and Ryan, Beckett’s on-the-job sidekicks. To round out the “Castle” cast, Tamala Jones plays Lanie Parish, the curvaceous medical examiner who often has to tell Castle to stop looking at the “girls” when he’s staring at her breasts.
All of us “Castle” fans will miss every one of these characters. But, as for the cancellation of the show, apparently, it wasn’t ratings or any of those usual TV show failings that caused it, but rather the exit of Katic that was its downfall. Rumors abound as to what happened there. One was that Fillion treated her horribly all of the time on-set. You’d never know it from watching their obvious on-screen chemistry, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Hollywood is full of big egos and sometimes they get in the way. He seems so likable, it’s hard to believe those rumors, but oh well, stranger things have happened. Right? At any rate, according to industry insiders, Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion were simply unable to get along and were seen clashing repeatedly. As a result, their scenes together were limited. Possibly that was the reason she left the show.
Other rumors, however, say that Katic was publicly fired. But, why? Maybe because Fillion was the show’s namesake and keeping him was more important than keeping his onscreen wife. And, even in the face of her leaving the show, a season 9 was on the canvas. Several different endings of season 8 had been written and one was for Beckett to be killed off, leaving Castle to brave season 9 on his own. Well, that would, of course, be until he found a new love interest, which really shouldn’t take long. One show revealed that all the women of New York high society thought of him as “the white whale”, i.e. a real catch.
Whatever the reasoning, the end result was the cancellation of “Castle”. Now, it would appear that most fans feel like we do that the show should be brought back even if it’s without the Beckett character. And, the initial ending would’ve allowed for that. In it, Kate and Castle are shot in their deluxe penthouse apartment and the ending shows them holding hands as they die (maybe). Had the show been renewed for another season, Castle could have simply survived via the magic of television and the show would go on.
But instead, the powers-that-be decided on the termination of the show, but not the characters. They faded instead from dead to five years in the future where the couple lives happily ever after with their three absolutely adorable (of course) kids. OK, it was kind of a cheesy ending but more satisfying for die-hard Castle fans than their ultimate death. It also leaves an opening for somebody like FOX to pick the series up and continue to run with it. After all, it worked for AMC and “Nashville”. They picked up the country singing TV series when it was canceled and we’re all just dying to see the first episode coming up soon. So, who’s going to pick up the enormously popular “Castle” now that it’s been unceremoniously dropped by the network?
Perhaps somebody will, but then again, maybe not. A recent poll actually showed that when asked if they would still be watching “Castle” after the departure of both Katic and Jones, only 20 percent of the 34,200 voters said that they would. So, maybe it’s not quite as popular and sorely missed as we thought, but we’re still sad about the entire turn of events. Then again, we’ll always have the reruns and the “Castle” boxed DVD sets that all of the show’s fans will probably be heading to our nearest big box store or online retailer to buy.
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