Saturday, March 14, 2009

Why I Deserted "Castle", and Like To Buy Stuff Early

I had planned to do recaps of Nathan Fillion's new show, Castle, which is basically Murder, He Wrote. I gave it a shot last Monday, but it wasn't my type of show. First of all, the show is a variation of Bones, with the smart-aleck guy solving crimes with the stiff, humorless woman. There are two other reasons: Stana Katic's character, Kate Bennett, has no respect within the NYPD, and the show had the nerve to explain that Castle is such a jerk because he didn't have a father figure. That was the last straw. Maybe the show will get better a few episodes later, but it's not enough to get me back every week.

Meanwhile, I am very surprised by how tickets to this year's Paley Festival aren't selling like hotcakes. Maybe it's the selection of shows, ranging from Fringe to The Hills, 90210 to The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory to Desperate Housewives. I was also surprised there's no panel devoted to a classic show. Maybe it's the economy. What surprised me is that tickets are still available for Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible (even if it doesn't include Neil Patrick Harris right now). The panels that have sold out are Battlestar Galactica, True Blood, and a very affordable screening of the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies. I'm fairly sure more panels will sell out in the next two weeks. I'm just very lucky I have the tickets I wanted, and I can see two good panels. It's too bad we couldn't have Mad Men again. That would have been fun.

I am also surprised that Comic-Con has sold out its four-day passes four months before the 40th anniversary of the event. Usually they run out of four-day tix sometime in May. People must be hoping the 40th anniversary of Comic-Con will be bigger than big. It's still possible to get tickets for all four days, but it also means you can't be part of preview day. At least it proves what I have always believed: buy next year's Comic-Con tickets the second you leave this year's event.

No comments: