Castle

Learned something today.

POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Friday, October 23, 2009 19:35
VIEWED: 4886
PAGE 1 of 3

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 3:52 AM

Hulu discussion boards are vicious and full of people who are trying to take crime fiction /comedy too seriously.

I don't know about everyone else, but I think that the camp and cheese factor for Castle is part of the fun. I guess... some people... don't like camp? *speech broken, like my poor traumatized brain*

KWICKO

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:16 AM

With a show like Castle, I can suspend my disbelief. I don't think they REALLY expect you to believe that a writer is going to be allowed to go on hot calls with homicide detectives. The whole idea is a bit campy, so I roll with it, and it's fine.

However, when a show like Law & Order slips and fails, I tend to take it a bit more seriously. One episode recently, they'd just fished a woman's body out of the East River, fully clothed. She's still lying on the ground, clothed, soaking wet, and the Medical Examiner (and why is the M.E. *always* a black woman?) say, "Well, she's definitely been raped." And then never goes on to explain how she could possibly no that from a fully clothed drowning victim they just fished out of the river!

S.V.U. found its way out of my lineup the other night, when a guy was on trial after blacking out and bludgeoning a woman to death while he was drunk. The prosecutor, of course, didn't believe a bit of it - she thinks alcoholism is a crock. Of course, then she shows up drunk to court after pulling an all-night bender, this in light of the fact that NEVER have they even intimated that she might be a bit of a tippler.

I guess it grinds my gears when a show refuses to even follow its own internal logic. Castle DOES follow it, so all is well, as far as I'm concerned. And I don't believe in vampires or demons, but Buffy worked for me - and worked really well - because it stuck to its internal logic, and generally either stuck to the accepted vampire lore, or explained WHY it was a crock. Made it easy to suspend disbelief, and get drawn into that world. Supernatural is the same way - they stick to their rules, even if their rules seem ludicrous by our standards. And the whole show works beautifully because of that.

Anyhoo, that's my tuppence.

Mike

Let the wild rumpus start!

RAHLMACLAREN

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:26 AM

The ONLY problem I have with Castle is that it's on a network that I can't get very well. Even tonight with CLEAR SKY it came in choppy and unwatchable. Unless, I'm standing with one hand on the antenna, well, than it comes in just fine.

Grrr.... Sucks sometimes, living on the corner of No and Where.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 6:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
The ONLY problem I have with Castle is that it's on a network that I can't get very well. Even tonight with CLEAR SKY it came in choppy and unwatchable. Unless, I'm standing with one hand on the antenna, well, than it comes in just fine.

Grrr.... Sucks sometimes, living on the corner of No and Where.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

Reception ain't a whole lot better here in Long Beach, Ca., in the microwave shadow of Signal Hill.
Since the big whoop-tee-doo digital conversion we get worse reception on local channels 11 and 13, often none at all. and Gods forbid anybody should move in the living room while the TV is on- picture goes all chunky lo-res. But it does help if you hold one arm of the rabbit ears...

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 1:55 PM

Kwicko: Sounds to me like that was one of the occasional Hallmark-esque message stories. Doesn't matter if someone's been depicted as erudite for five seasons, if the character can be written as illiterate for an episode just to show "illiteracy sucks!" it can and WILL be done.

It's almost a tvtrope. I've certainly seen enough spoofs.

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 2:03 PM

Oh hey, I found it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anvilicious

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceWhaleAesop

NCBROWNCOAT

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
With a show like Castle, I can suspend my disbelief. I don't think they REALLY expect you to believe that a writer is going to be allowed to go on hot calls with homicide detectives. The whole idea is a bit campy, so I roll with it, and it's fine.

However, when a show like Law & Order slips and fails, I tend to take it a bit more seriously. One episode recently, they'd just fished a woman's body out of the East River, fully clothed. She's still lying on the ground, clothed, soaking wet, and the Medical Examiner (and why is the M.E. *always* a black woman?) say, "Well, she's definitely been raped." And then never goes on to explain how she could possibly no that from a fully clothed drowning victim they just fished out of the river!

S.V.U. found its way out of my lineup the other night, when a guy was on trial after blacking out and bludgeoning a woman to death while he was drunk. The prosecutor, of course, didn't believe a bit of it - she thinks alcoholism is a crock. Of course, then she shows up drunk to court after pulling an all-night bender, this in light of the fact that NEVER have they even intimated that she might be a bit of a tippler.

I guess it grinds my gears when a show refuses to even follow its own internal logic. Castle DOES follow it, so all is well, as far as I'm concerned. And I don't believe in vampires or demons, but Buffy worked for me - and worked really well - because it stuck to its internal logic, and generally either stuck to the accepted vampire lore, or explained WHY it was a crock. Made it easy to suspend disbelief, and get drawn into that world. Supernatural is the same way - they stick to their rules, even if their rules seem ludicrous by our standards. And the whole show works beautifully because of that.

Anyhoo, that's my tuppence.

Mike

Let the wild rumpus start!

The same for True Blood. No way will vamps be "out of the coffin" and own bars or have a romance with a telepathic human who works at a bar owned by a shape shifter that can change into a dog. But it works somehow in northern Louisiana.

As Bill tells Sookie in the first season,"Don't you think it's not magic that keeps you alive? Just because you understand the mechanics of how something works doesn't make it any less of a miracle. It's just another form of magic ...and my magic is just a little different from yours."

That sets up the whole mythos and believability of the story or any story by that matter.

As for Castle, it's not about the murders or the mystery. That's just the back drop. It's about the inter play of the characters . Just like Firefly but this time it takes place not in the space of the future but in a NYPD precinct.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

STORYMARK

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 5:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
The prosecutor, of course, didn't believe a bit of it - she thinks alcoholism is a crock. Of course, then she shows up drunk to court after pulling an all-night bender, this in light of the fact that NEVER have they even intimated that she might be a bit of a tippler.

Her not believing in alcoholism seems like a pretty blatant set-up to me. I've known full-blown alcoholics that I didn't know had a problem untill they told me point blank.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

FREELANCERTEX

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 5:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite: Hulu discussion boards are vicious and full of people who are trying to take crime fiction /comedy too seriously.

I don't know about everyone else, but I think that the camp and cheese factor for Castle is part of the fun. I guess... some people... don't like camp? *speech broken, like my poor traumatized brain*

You mean bashing Castle because it's not "real" enough? That's lame. The cheese factor *is* part of the fun :P

STORYMARK

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 5:11 PM

I'm not a fan of camp myself, generally speaking. A little bit, handled well, can be okay. But too much, and I loose interest.

Castle I like, but really, just because of Nathan. Anyone else were the star, I doubt I'd watch.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."