One of the episodes I saw was the series premiere, which was understandably exposition-heavy. "Richard Castle (Fillion) is a famous crime novelist and overgrown kid, divorced from his second wife, with a studious teenage daughter and a slutty live-in mother. Detective Beckett (Katic) is a no-nonsense, crime novel-loving cop with a troubled past, and when these two get together, blah blah blah they're partners." Not to say I didn't like all of the set-up, but you want to see how the show goes when there isn't this big hump to get over. Luckily, the other episode I saw was tonight's, and I was still impressed. In it, Castle is now officially riding along with Beckett (he's basing a new character on her), and the two investigate the murder of a nanny, who's left on the spin cycle in a dryer in the laundry room of an apartment building. Fillion is still funny, and Katic is still humorless, although that only makes it funnier when Fillion teases her about not having had sex in a while. I've said this a lot, but if you mix up the personality traits of the two Mentalist leads, or the two Bones leads, you've pretty much got this show. Also, the episode is called "Nanny McDead," which is what Castle calls the victim. If that's too cutesy for you, then maybe the show isn't your cup of tea, but I'm hoping that eventually we see what drove Beckett to become a cop, and what happened to Castle's first wife, and those stories should darken things up nicely.

Watch Castle tonight and every Monday at 10:00 (9:00 central) on ABC. To see more recommendations, check out our Week in Preview.