Castle Feeds the Joss Whedon Fan

The writers of ABC's lighthearted procedural CASTLE (full episodes available at the link) have no illusions regarding who watches their show, and they are giving the early adopter fans some easter eggs tonight. In the brief episode preview below, I counted two Whedon easter eggs and one Underworld/White Wolf World of Darkness easter egg -- and I wasn't paying that close attention to the preview. It's nice to see the staff on CASTLE acknowledge that a lot of their fan base is there solely due to Nathan Fillion. We might be staying because the show is very enjoyable, and I certainly think it is, but we followed Nathan here.

It has been interesting watching the first few episodes this season. The title sequence is making it clear that the show is still in the "recruiting an audience" mode. Every episode begins with a brief description of the premise, something only new fans need. Certainly not something that the fan who has already purchased Heat Wave need to see. My guess is that they are trying to recruit some of the older demographic that is currently watching DANCING WITH THE STARS and wanders over to CSI: MIAMI when that show is over. Given the comedic and romantic tones of CASTLE, versus the almost 4-color melodrama of CSI:MIAMI (which I really like for all its over-the-top-itude), it's probably a good strategy.