Nathan Fillion is King of this Castle

(I feel like lame puns in headlines are part of the tradition of TV reviews, and now I'm part of it)

Last night ABC premiered its new mystery show Castle, starring Stana Katic as a young and attractive but tough female detective and Nathan Fillion as the crime novelist who's brought in by the NYPD to act as a consultant while he does "research" for his next novel. Of ocurse, this "research" consists of helping solve the crimes while hitting on his partner. Good times all around.

The show's premise is strong enough to lift it above the class of ordinary procedurals, and the mystery (of the first episode at least) is twisty and turny enough to keep you entertained throughout the entire hour. However, the dialogue isn't always as witty or smart as it could be, and the supporting characters are written (and played) by the book and uninterestingly.

What makes the show stand out, and gives it a shot at being a big hit, is the charisma and chemistry of the two lead actors. The over-the-top grandeur of Nathan Fillion's performance as Rick Castle is no big shock to fans of Joss Whedon. He's as smarmy and cheesy as he was in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but he brings the intelligence and wit of Captain Mal from Firefly and Alex Tully of Tim Minear's short-lived FOX drama Drive, without any of the intense gravity of either of those characters. He sells the immaturity of the character well, without making us doubt that such a man-child could be a prolific author of crime novels.

Meanwhile, Stana Katic, who I know only as "Wireless" from the first season of Heroes, is suitably uptight as the genercly-named Kate Beckett, without feeling cold or unlikable. Her character seems to be getting the short end of the stick, however: she's clearly competent, but always wrong, and it's Castle's brash, sloppy intelligence that wins the day.

Here's hoping they mix that dynamic up a bit as the series progresses. Beckett complains that Castle's like a child, but he's clearly perceptive and bold enough to solve the show's mysteries. Beckett takes on the function of playing nanny to the brilliant but uncontrollable genius, like Peter Bishop to his father Walter on Fringe. That's a relationship that works well on a science fiction show, but on a cop drama like this, I hope that we'll come to see Castle and Beckett as equal partners.

I'm not a huge fan of procedurals, but I think I'll be keeping an eye on this show for a while. Even though I don't think the first episode hits it out of the park, it has the makings of a hit. I suspect that ABC is trying to do for mystery procedurals what FOX did for doctor procedurals with House: Create a show with a sense of humor and a charismatic lead actor that delivers top-notch procedural drama week after week but focuses on character drama as much as plotty cases-of-the-week. ABC failed with Pushing Daisies and Life on Mars, which brought in fantasy elements, but can the not-quite-as-bold Castle be that show? I think it can be, but I'm not sure whether it will be. The ratings for the first night were fairly strong, but nothing to brag about. Either way, I'll be keeping an eye on it.