You are right, Bones and Castle are different shows, the characters have different backgrounds so what works for BONES may not necessarily work for Castle, and vice versa. What I enjoy in BONES more than the romance between B&B, is their PARTNERSHIP, with the team as their extended FAMILY.

My problem with Marlowe is what he says in interviews do not necessarily translate to well executed Castle episodes. Such a let down when you know some of the other shows that “inspired him” have done a better job.

Lots of people like soap-opera style shows and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, Bones didn’t start out being that and that’s partly why people like me who used to watch it no longer do. On the other hand, Bones has picked up new viewers who obviously aren’t bothered by the inconsisteny in the story. Bones has a GREAT cast of talented actors and I don’t think anyone would deny that. Bottom-line: People don’t like the same things. It’s allowed. Aside from both having had a UST couple as a focus and being crime-dramedies ( a combination that’s been done on TV seemingly forever) Bones & Castle are very different shows.

I can also understand your belief that Marlowe’s plan is to break them up. It’s been what every show has done since Moonlighting. However, if you read Malowe’s interviews over the years up until now, he has always seen Castle as kind of noir love story. His intention has been to put them together and then follow them through the work of building and maintaining that relationship. Unlike showrunners of the past (not just Hanson) Marlowe did not take the industry’s golden rule about TV couple’s as fact. He talks about going back and RESEARCHING shows like Moonlighting to see for himself what did and didn’t work. He discovered what viewers have known for decades: what kills a show isn’t the couple starting a relationship. Rather it’s the stalling with unbelievable plots, the getting them together only to pull them apart two episodes later, in short, the dragging it out beyond belief. which kills a show. Being that he’s figured that out, I’m not worried about a sudden breakup. Tensions and fights – yes, those events will happen because those things happen when in a relationship.

I guess you don’t count H5O as serious, tough, and genuine competition then, huh?

Oh and for the record the reason Castle has never been moved from its timeslot is probably because its strong enough to hold off competition. I think building an audience every single season says more about the strength and quality of Castle than anything else.

I am feeling the same about Criminal Minds – I had the finale on my dvr but just have not gotten around to watching it. I still like all of the characters it is just that what they are doing no longer holds my interest. I don’t know what will replace CM on Wed maybe shows I have dvr’d from Mon and Tues.

The story of Bones involved two things. There was the general will they/won’t they – but the sudden brain tumor of season 4 made it pretty clear that HH wanted to stall that as much as possible. (I remember rolling my eyes at that one, but was still willing to play along because Emily and David gave it such real emotion:) The second, more compelling storyline was that of Brennan – would she ever come to accept that there was such a thing as love. This is why the 100th so marked “the beginning of the end.” They built that journey for her, let her reach the pinnacle of it in episode 98 where she is able to say that because of Booth she now did believe in love, only to throw away an almost 5 year journey and have Brennan react as though those 5 years never happened. That’s when I realized that HH wasn’t interested in the story at all, just in replaying the gimmick.

The only reason B&B are together NOW is because Emily was pregnant. Hanson’s original plan was to have them sleep together but then immediately break up. Why, because he wasn’t working with a story, but rather a gimmick. Ironically, this is the same thinking that was the ” final nail in the coffin” for Moonlighting. Despite all the problems and issues going on behind the scene, it was the idea that allowing them to actually be a couple would destroy the show that led to the two story decisions that DID destroy the show. The first was breaking up Maddie & David right after they get together. That decision was a story decision – not because Cybil Shepard was pregnant. They could have chosen any number of reasons why Maddie wasn’t around much. The SECOND decision was to have Maddie come back married to a guy she met on a train coming “home.” Shepard had protested her character would never do that – but it wasn’t about the character. The writers wanted to “recreate” that sexual tension they’d had in the beginning. They mistook the gimmick for what the audience was interested in, when what the audience was (and is) always interested in is the characters’ story. Bones made the exact same mistake.

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