Friday, October 30, 2009

Television: Spooky Specials

It's that time of year where it not only becomes acceptable to scare your kids, it's expected. So what happens to TV shows that are already scary? They get funnier. Or they should.

"The Vampire Diaries", "the forgotten" and "Flash Forward" pretended like it was just another week at the office, which is sad, but expected, from shows in their first season. Whereas established shows had a little fun with the spooky theme expected at this time of year, ala "The Mentalist" and its ghostly tie-in.

"Castle" this week featured an appearance of Nathan Fillion dressed for Halloween as the beloved Captain Reynolds from "Firefly". In a 40-second gag, this show reminded me why I love this new show. It was clever, self-deprecating, and quite charming. And since the plot of the entire episode involved the investigation of a guy dressed as a vampire being murdered in a cemetary by a stake through his heart, it was also funny... but not in an over-the-top or disrespectful way. "Castle" laughs in the face of death, (sometimes literally) but always in a tasteful way.

It's too bad that shows like "Supernatural" took a week off (or more) for a brief hiatus before sweeps week. I would have liked to have seen what funny tricks they pulled out of the pumpkin.

**Ugh, my TiVo was slow on the uptake, and there *was* a new Supernatural this week. My bad.

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