Gant

The only thing that makes sense to me is some kind of Witness protection for Castle (cue the security specialist he spends so much time with) or some kind of Bracken gone rogue stuff with Beckett, when she has to go into hiding and severe all ties with her previous life and family. Or a mix of those. We get two different stories then for two characters with no or very limited interaction. I don't see them pulling it off for any extended amount of time. Unless they don't go into hiding, just break up for security reasons. But then it smells of Bones.

I kind of enjoyed algebra too, the parts that I managed to master somehow. Was pretty bad at it overall though, so I tried not to show my slight interest because it would have looked pathetic, like graphomania LOL. But geometry and everything that needed any sort of visualization or spatial perception was lost on me. Hence graph nightmares.

I've always envied people who have logical and beautifully structured dreams. Mine are a jumbled mess that can't be used for anything (not even poetry). If secret blood relation wasn't such a terrible cliche I would have almost wished your dream to be true. Because it does explain the DNA part very neatly.

My first thought re: XY was the X-axis and the Y-axis, LOL. Maybe because they poisoned my school years. But it could be like, they go in different (perpendicular) directions, if the split happens in the premier. Or is it just me with my math nightmares?

I agree with this assessment.

I'm super dense today and don't get what the (mild) argument is about. That Stana subtly commented on the quality of season 7 and her role in it by not submitting, compared to the quality of previous years when she did submit? Because I doubt last year for instance she, or anyone from Castle, seriously expected a nom. And all the years before that, or at least since season 4 when I started watching, and all their names always appeared on this consideration list. I would also echo McManda in the "unspoken rule" thing. There can be more than one, and they aren't necessarily known equally to everyone, that's the beauty of "unspokenness" (now that's a word). In my field of work every week at least I'm finding out a new unwritten rule I had no clue about, or share with others something of the sort that they had no clue about. Sometimes professional "unspoken rules" are substituted with personal ones in a subgroup, in a word it's all quite messy. To me it seems that entertainment industry is a very heterogeneous, diverse and disjointed group of people, with many different subgroups with their own lore and order. I don't know though, it just seems that way. So it seems probable that they would have different understanding or value of the same things, in the "unspoken" way. So I doubt that literally 100% of the Hollywood population who didn't submit themselves for Emmy consideration this year are laughing at the poor schmucks who did. And I also doubt that it's frowned upon to not submit yourself for something. I feel that the reality is more diverse and less dramatic than it sometimes seems on the internet.

I remember that one as well, but it sounded more like a friendly dig in NF's direction, the kind he and his friends seem to enjoy. It might sound a bit rude to an "innocent bystander", but if you watched enough of Firefly convention panels, BTS and interviews, and got used to the kind of humor NF seems to cultivate in his friend circle, you see it as just fake mocking and a sort of traditional dig exchange. JH and SD are into that as well. Besides, it wouldn't have been included in the DVD if it really was something untoward, at least I hope so. The comment madmaverick quoted is another matter, because it's not a dig at NF, it sounds like a dig at fans and pitting fans against each other. And it's bad taste IMO. That's why I ask about context. He could say it as a reply to a question similarly structured or something provoking exactly this sort of reply etc. It could be funny and appropriate in context, as long as it was delivered and taken in a friendly spirit and not as something divisive and definitive out of nowhere. Then it sounds like playing with fans and actually building oneself up on fans' issues. But then again, after that recasting drama on Twitter nothing would surprise me much.

Where would he come in contact with so many Firefly fans that it becomes a problem anyway. Is there a context for this joke? I bet it sounded OK in context.

Upset? How it's gonna work, he's gonna stomp his feet and refuse to answer, or grow gloomy and dark? Lol. I doubt that, I think he's going to find words to answer without actually answering, like he does when asked about kissing scenes. He is quick and has the way with words. As for why he doesn't get asked that (never say never), I think it's mostly same old media/Hollywood tradition: women get asked about men they work with, but rarely the other way around. Unless the actress is much more famous than the actor, which is not the case here. There isn't much to ask Stana about, yet. There are more things to talk about with Nathan, both professionally and personally, because media and fans know him better. The rest is the gender thing IMO.

His answers in the past weren't exactly fandom crowd pleasers either, lol. Heartbreak Hotel because they dressed as "Elvii" and the episode with Adam Baldwin because it was with Adam Baldwin. So I don't know what answer he could give to please everyone, or even the majority. Hey, he could say "Sleeper" and lose my respect forever!;)

Yeah, I would agree with that if NF didn’t go on and on about how grateful he is for Castle. Disinterested? Yes. More and more as seasons go by. At a loss what to say about the show in interviews? Totally. His attempts to find at least something pleasant and different to say are funny to observe, he usually just goes into BTS stuff, coworkers and fun incidents on set. I'm not a huge fan of his Castle interviews unless it's all BTS discussion, but what ungratefulness has to do with it, I don’t know. If by “being interviewed with a heavy representation of Castle fans in the audience” you mean Dallas con, in that video he specifically says how grateful he is for his years on Castle, that it presented challenges and gave him satisfaction as an actor (so yeah, he obviously is able to lie, lol ), that “8 years of Castle can’t be wrong” etc. He also told a funny story about how that One Direction bit was worked in. Yet, all that people took from it was that he couldn’t remember episode names, and that means he is ungrateful and disrespects Castle fans. Like I said, these people are addicted to feeling righteous indignation and can't help themselves.

Personally, I tend to feel a little offended if I detect that someone purposefully says not what they think, or spews an apparent PR piece, because they think it would be more palatable for me. It implies that I am someone to be placated and not taken as an equal, and kind of insults my intelligence. So these constant complaints (don’t mean KaveDweller, that was more of an observation) in the Castle fandom about this matter always mystify me. People literally say “He could just pretend, he’s an actor after all, he could give us this and think whatever he wants, but we would feel better”. I fail to see the value of this sort of communication, when one side asks the other side to lie, to pretend, to skew their opinion just so that the first side would feel better. And feels offended and disrespected in their God given rights when it doesn’t happen. I’m projecting here, but have to admit - if I learn that someone would actually feel insulted by me not talking about kissing another actor as a peak experience of my life (or by me having a different favorite episode, or by me treating my job as a job – nice job, but still not a be-all end-all of my life), I am petty enough to purposefully urge them to take that offense and run with it :). I am a believer in giving people what they need, not what they want, in the words of The Rolling Stones. And IMO this sort of fans definitely need to feel righteously offended more than they think they want to hear an opinion mirroring their own. It’s proven time and again by their persistent searching for the reasons to get offended.

Just watched the Alan&Nathan panel, I've seen more entertaining ones from both of these guys, but still pretty fun. Questions were meh for the most part, but they really have great rapport and can hold a room of 9 thousands people (the panel's host, who vanished immediately, said that it's more seats than in SDCC's Hall H) like nobody's business. Most of the talk was about Con Man that starts shooting tomorrow, I believe, but Firefly and Castle got a few mentions as well. I see fandom has already divided in two parts: one that touts NF's quote "8 seasons of Castle can't be wrong", and another that gets collective panties in a bunch because of his failing to name a favorite Castle episode from season 7 :). The only thing he remembered as his favorite was the One Direction mention he and the boys worked out by themselves, if I understood correctly. They even studied the 1D tour schedule to get the dates right :). I may be too thick-skinned, but I can't make myself feel offended because an actor from a show I watch couldn't remember an episode's name, which is apparently one more in a huge pile of insults to twu Castle fans that makes people's blood boil :). NF also gave away scraps of Castle sides to those who asked questions. His mention of doing more different and shorter roles as opposed to a several years long Castle commitment, as his bucket list option, doesn't say much of course, but makes me doubt the possibility of Castle continuing beyond season 8, whatever Paul Lee wishes. Sure money talks, but I still feel that everyone got enough of Castle at this point. Or will, by the end of the season.

This project sounds right up my alley story-wise, voice actors are solid, and I love animation. Downside is I'm not that fond of puppets, and while the characters look pretty interesting, I'm not sure about the motion thing. It looks kinda jerky and creates a homemade feel, would throw me out of the story I think. Still gonna give it a look though, but I couldn't find when it comes out (?). IMDB only mentions 2015 in general.

From the whole cast I like Seamus Dever's interviews about the show the most. I find that he usually gives fairly detailed answers yet still injects a bit of humor and perspective. Stana tends to use big words, big ideas and general "artsy" feeling too much for my taste, this is my personal gag reflex, so no judging :). I just often find myself good-naturedly eyerolling and wanting to say "Oh, come oooon, not "my craft" again". Nathan seems to honestly have nothing to say about the show, it's actually funny to see him scrambling and straining to feign some interest and find words to convey it, he has good vocabulary so usually manages all right, but it's still a more or less generic stuff. It just seems like he sees the show as a pretty cut and dried procedural and secretly wonders how and why people find anything of interest enough to ask questions :). Looks very different from the interviews when he is truly interested in the topic, he's a crappy actor when he is not an actor ;). Jon's interviews are very uneven, as far as I can remember, he can give good balance like Seamus, or he can go off on a tangent, as if emulating Nathan, only his tangents can be odd and disturbing, like that time he talked about wanting to have a make out scene with Susan Sullivan or something like that. I still have nightmares (I don't). Molly needs to acquire some polish where interviews are concerned, she does lack diplomacy and is kind of abrupt in her opinions. Tamala.... yeah.

OK :) It's just that my life strategy is to expect the worst so I would be pleasantly surprised by things even minutely better than the worst. So don't pay attention to me:).

Didn't they try to present Pi as a "young Castle 2.0" model? I seem to remember Marlowe talking about a similar scenario, as if they're so alike that Castle goes nuts without realizing the resemblance. Of course this scenario existed only in Marlowe's head, I don't think I ever heard even one opinion from a viewer who recognized Castle in Pi. Maybe if they planned something more for the character, it would have come through, who knows. Maybe it's just that the actor wasn't hitting the right notes. But as it was presented, I saw no resemblance and was a bit irked with these comparisons. Only if they can pass the Bechdel test. Because something tells me they would start with eyerolling about clueless Castle and adorably doting Ryan, go into Lanie's man troubles, particularly with Esposito, move into giving a valuable boyfriend advice to Alexis and then someone in the bar gets killed.

You think? Heh not that crowd, although she could have at least turned the volume down by stopping those endless and irritating goodbye tweets a few even had me going at one point they were that doom laden. I would’ve had no issue with goodbye tweets if I believed they amounted to something. Like that she was really undecided or hovering on the brink of quitting. But everything, not just information from Hal, points to it being a PR play from the start – from media, network, studio, actors etc. Like, really? It just all came together before the Upfronts – MilMar quitting, Stana signing, poor recast outcasts signing and everything is sunshine and roses? Please. So it kinda ruins the “feels” of it all, but the pics by themselves were nice :) Speaking about feels, caught up on the latest fandom spins, and it turns out that the paradigms have shifted since yesterday. Apparently now Stana is not the helpless victim sacrificed along with the boys by powerful evil Fillion to the ruthless Hollywood machine. Turns out she’s been the most powerful player all along, implementing her “art over money” concept into picking the new showrunners, making sure that the future of Beckett and the show is bright and artistically fulfilling, looking out for the boys, and only then signing the contract. ABC was intimidated by her stance, producers cowered in fear of losing her and in the end had to satisfy her demands of “making art”;) So looks like next season we’re going to get some artsy version of Castle, unless of course TPTB deceive her, probably again because of Fillion’s foul play, and we gonna hear cries about shattered dreams and broken promises (that are assumed to have been given). But today Stana saved the show, while NF was just happy to sign ASAP for the money, perks and due to the lack of decent offers or any professional future at all. That’s about it I think. The equal pay issue seems to have been relocated to the back burner for now, guess in the face of all the art over money happening it’s too mundane a topic to focus on. It’s good to see how Marlowe’s subtext training is paying off for this fandom, all voids and cavities get immediately filled and refilled with meaning and “facts” :).

So based on the good feedback I watched the finale and, surprisingly, really enjoyed it. When the afterglow passed though, I realized that it was not due to the writing and plot at all. IMO it works because of the still excellent chemistry among the cast, several good performances, and let’s not forget the overall nostalgic feeling permeating the episode that makes it more dear to a fan’s heart. When you shake off this “we grew up together” attitude, the charm of apt delivery and some good acting moments, you see that plots are still improbable and thoughtlessly cooked up on the spot, direction is sometimes anvilicious and pompous, dialogues are very generic, and all that is concealed and elevated by such intangibles as acting, chemistry and your own positive attitude :). This is of course IMO. I’m gonna rewatch it and see if my enjoyment holds or maybe even increases, who knows. But so far the main writing achievement for me is that they left characters more or less alone to do their thing (compared to other finales), and didn’t write something super convoluted in their relationships to prevent the chemistry flow. So… thanks for not meddling too much, I guess. I was checking out this board and live tweets during the episode, and have to agree with Wendy and others, I didn’t see anything offensive in “Beckette” whether it was a typo, an autocorrect or an inside joke. English is not my native language, but to my ear it doesn’t sound insulting at all. Am I wrong, are there some connotations I don’t know about? It’s not like he called her Shmekket or whatever :). I laughed at this exchange, and also liked self-reflecting Esposito :).

Yeah, Marlowe is the worst interviewer of all the showrunners and writers I've ever heard or read. No genuineness, never an honest observation or an interesting thought, just rehashing his own clichés, boring turns of phrase and tropes that were already old when he learned how to spell. Same goes for his DVD commentaries. It just feels like he's sleepwalking through it, or it's such a painful experience for him that he puts on some mental shield that shows nothing real to the outside. I wouldn't complain about it if his output at least shown him as a true creative, because not everyone can be entertaining and clever when put on the spot (certainly not me). But he's the one writer of the team from whom I came to expect the most convoluted and cringeworthy stories, and his overall showrunning leaves a lot to be desired IMO. And it's not just his manner, because I can't get past what I see as some kind of clueless obnoxiousness, when he says stuff like "no development for secondary cast", or admits that they can't write for both main characters at the same time and someone has to be a furniture. He says it like it's an obvious, natural, widely understood thing that it's impossible to do, and we should be grateful for all the hard work he does anyway. I never get if he's trolling saying it like that, or if he's truly clueless and doesn't watch TV to think that several storylines going at once and development of more than one character is something unheard of. I'm not gonna be able to watch the finale today, and guess I will check the feedback first so I won't unknowingly plump right in the middle of something resembling last year's finale or Sleeper. I really hope that Alexi Howley and TPW are not going to carry on this bombastic high-stakes/low IQ tradition and will focus on more castlesque things.

Wow, I only went off-grid for a day, but Castle managed to deliver lots of drama even with no new episodes ;) Usual high-stakes conspiracy but with a simple touch of human folly, brilliant two-parter material. A lot of information to swallow, disappointed with TPW as a showrunner due to reasons already mentioned here. Love him as a writer, the only one I can depend on to still deliver at worst mild entertainment and continuity, but usually something more special than all the other Castle writers. But showrunner? Any hopes for some creative change seem to be dashed (never say never of course). Also color me tired of these more and more obvious games media, network and some of the cast play with fans. I thought this recasting "leak" was the new low, I can't see it as anything other than Seamus and Jon generating hysteria for leverage in negotiations, and can't respect that. Sure, contract negotiations never bring out the best in people, and secondary cast especially needs all the support they can get, I understand that. Still. Maybe I'm just tired of all these fandom hysterics and crazy speculation since SK started posting her goodbye pics and then NF's supposed (don't know what to believe anymore) signing was leaked, how long we've been living this? A month? Feels like a year. Anyway, I hope they're gonna wrap it up real soon for everyone's nerves sake.

Well, this doesn't look encouraging to me.

Firmly pre-Always. I felt that writing was much stronger, and seeing as my interest in potential Caskett has been steadily waning through seasons 3-4, I as a viewer had nothing to gain from them getting together. Season 4 seemed so gloomy and forced to me (funny, by comparison with the following seasons it now looks OK, with more good episodes than bad, and it was also the season during which I started watching the show) that I at least hoped that getting the WTWT out of the way, might free TPTB and Castle writers creatively, and this strange slump the characters have fallen into, would end. But IMO it got only worse for the characters since then.

I've actually never heard NF expressing any preference or abhorrence of showing Caskett as a connected couple, all his fears were expressed pre-Caskett, about getting them together. I'm not sure I heard it from MilMar as well, except for Bowman's admission about darkly lit kisses as a way of "giving it to fans without actually giving it".

This is the first I hear about MilMar and NF supposedly bandying together, with SK as an opposition. Usually it's the other way around, all these years people assumed that SK is great friends with AM and TM, while NF is at best a cold acquaintance. As far as I remember there have been countless pics of MilMar with Stana, joint appearances at events, warm words about each other etc, and nothing of the sort with NF. Some thought that the developments of their characters reflected this state of affairs as well. I’ve even read assumptions that NF made MilMar leaving a condition for his staying, or that Stana is leaving because of her loyalty to them. So this suggestion is quite a surprise. Guess it depends on one’s perception of MilMar’s overall contribution to the show’s success. If one feels that it’s ultimately more positive – after all they’re the creators! – then I noticed it is usually assumed that SK is on their side with NF more or less working against them. But apparently seeing their influence as more of a negative thing, leads to a somewhat Manichaean conclusion about NF backing them and Stana at odds, even if there is no factual evidence accumulated in the last 7 years that could suggest it. It’s great though that the Good and Bad poles are always the same, with MilMar like a compass needle floating to and fro, according to the prevailing party line ;)