Castle & Cupid: ABC Hits Bulls Eye With Love And Crime

One is a writer searching for godly inspiration for his new pulp fiction character, Nikki Heat. The other is a God playfully mixing and matching us mortals in order to please his fellow immortals once again.

Those would be short blurbs to describe ABC’s new hit comedies – with serious subjects – Castle and Cupid.

The leading men have their leading ladies panties in a bunch (if we drop the P.C for a second) over what these amorous, ornery and witty god-men decide is right in their pursuits.

Castle (Nathan Fillion, right) takes over where the Moonlighting series left off that ABC ran over twenty years ago. While the guy is slightly more controlled, has a charming young daughter and is much, much more successful, his partner, is more urban, East Coast-educated and refined, than the Cybill Shepherd model character ever was. Castle is playing cop – vicariously acting out his latent, if crude and unvarnished, detective ability stored in his prior novels – while driving the hard-boiled lady cop (Stana Katic)bonkers with his antics. “Children are so hard to control,” she thinks every time Castle interrupts any train of thought she has, yet she likes the child and man in him.

Will Castle’s inspiration like his future Nikki Heat version of her? Will the flames reach season two?

And with the arrow – he hits the mark. Cupid. Eros. The God of Erotic Love. A ‘Stimulus Package’ for your recession love life.

Just what America needs.

Charm and creativity is the name of the love game. Friction can be attractive. Unforeseen happenstance becomes Cupid’s (Bobby Cannavale) target and objective. Vocations in conflict become harmony in the bedroom. Only there’s a problem: Female psychiatrist(Sarah Paulson) thinks he’s crazy, and destroying people’s chances at ‘true love.’

Through Cupid’s imagination and rough-cut plan and her responsible actions and look-before-you-leap intervention, so far, the couples come home cheery. And only 98 more to go before he goes home to Olympus.

It’s Hitch on TV – and the psych lady has a thang for her Cupid – and the God has to fall for ‘Psyche’ sometime.

ABC put these male-female characters at odds, with the men providing the slapstick comedy and the women at the ready to shutdown their whims. It’s fun; and keeps one from dwelling on the recession. Or turning to just ‘reality TV’ that is not in any way reality.

These hour-long forays into the romantic comedies are nicely written and show potential for a 3-4 season run if given their head.

If I had $1,000,000: A poor man's guide to money

Well, maybe I should be Brian Wilson first, lying in bed. But really, what would an ordinary person (like me) do with $1,000,000 tax-free dollars?

• $150,000 goes to the S&P 500 for a long-term investment. The stock market long-term is usually a 10-12% Return on Investment yearly. I think that's pretty good.


• $150,000 in mid-term CDs.


• $200,000 in some depressed Real Estate market that I figure can be turned around. I would look South or West in the United States. Move to my temporary home (looking for a good 'out time' always) but turning it into a modern home with state-of-the-art bells and whistles. Always conscious of the appearance, the neighborhood, etc.


• $40,000 on furnishings in my newly acquired loft/ranch/whatever it happens to be, but make it a cross between a business style home and bachelor pad. Yes, this doesn't sell it, but I plan to live there for at least 2-3 years.


• $100,000 to my immediate family. That should get them out of debt and buy some normal things. Over time, I don't expect them to spend it wisely, so another $50,000 will be available.


• $30,000-50,000 on the most fuel efficient vehicle I can purchase on the market. Alternative fuels ready and gets 50-65 Highway MPG or more. Plenty of latest things, but I'm not into 15-in subwoofers or anything. Just good technology....


• $20,000 on high-tech gadgetry. Blackberry, laptop, home system, high-end printer, productivity software I can't ferret from Download.com or other free/cheap areas of the Internet. I'd try to get a Consulting business started with a few techies I've met over the years. Since there are so many avenues for making money - and plenty of competition too - I'd have to sit down with 5-6 of these guys and figure it out. I can only do the low-end, low-margin stuff: writing business plans, resumes, sensitivity analysis, Pro forma statements, labor standards, some 2-D AutoCad designing and maybe some minor stuff. But a real business that is tied to the Internet explosion and produces a great product or service, that's where the money is. An additional $30,000 would be set aside for investment into technology initially.


• $10,000 on a new clothing and accessories. Look, I haven't been clothes shopping since I don't know when, so this is small compared to the amount I see people waste on getting uncomfortable shoes and baggy crap that makes you look stupid.


• $200,000 left. Charity is an option. More investment in certain stocks. More into a real business venture. But really, this is was my previously earned income currently for 3-4 years. (Now I make what your paperboy does...) So, this is for living day to day while I get my new company or ideas off the ground. Since I've wanted to be a writer, this may also go into getting a few books published and keep me from pissing it all away.

So that's it. Money doesn't quite go as far as it use to.