I'm rewatching my Criminal Minds dvds (currently in the middle of Reid's drug-use arc), and I like how their personal backstories infuse the texture of the show, but only rarely are they directly addressed.

In "Seven Seconds," that whole scene where Morgan and Reid are tossing the missing girl's house and bedroom and discussing cookie-cutter neighborhoods suitable for Rockwell containing deep waters, kids being afraid of the dark, and then Morgan finding her mutilated Barbie and figuring out her molestation, that was all about their backstories as much as it was about the girl's. But, if this was the first ep you've ever seen and you knew nothing about them, you wouldn't pick up on that underlying thread.

It's gotten to the point, though, that you begin to wonder where are the people who became cops because they wanted to help people or there was a family tradition of it or something. With some shows, it seems like the police force exists as a form of therapy. That was one thing I like about Castle, Ryan and Esposito are "just" cops. But they're also subsidiary characters, despite their overall awesomeness.

Am I the only one who thinks that the new blond female cop internal affairs show looks like a hot mess?

No! I am the audience for police shows, procedurals, etc. and I am running away from this one. The Lifetime show fucked me up for good. I won't be taken in like that again.

Am I the only one who thinks that the new blond female cop internal affairs show looks like a hot mess?

The previews for that one look awful. I'm not going near it.

That was one thing I like about Castle, Ryan and Esposito are "just" cops. But they're also subsidiary characters, despite their overall awesomeness.

I think about Castle in comparison to the Mentalist a lot, and I like that the in Mentalist, the one with the driving personal issue is the one who has inserted himself into the process while the primary cop is more or less just that. The Kate's mother stuff just seems so over the top, and kind of cheap storytelling.

Though both shows had similar "superior is secretly caught up in huge implausible conspiracy" storylines this past year so it's not like one has it so much over the other.

If Kate's mother had been a random-act-of-violence thing, without the conspiracy--and especially without the Captain being involved!--I would have been much happier. I think you could get a lot of drama out of "Bad shit happens and sometime you never know why and you have to learn how to cope." Or, heck, random junkie looking for 20 bucks for his next score. Because it doesn't always mean something--though this is Hollywood.

I think what I like best about Castle is the family dynamics between Rick, Alexis and his mum; that's what keeps bringing me back. That and I ship Castle and Beckett hard.

I don't watch the Mentalist at all, but I do watch Hawaii Five-Oh and all three of these shows sound like they're playing from the same crib sheet. Parent who is murdered by corrupt cops (Castle and 5-0) and bad supervisor (all three.) The amazing thing is that they are all different enough that most of us watch at least two of them, if not all three. So they're doing something right!

I like the Closer on the same ground. I mean the Chief has tons of issues, but they are neuroses and ordinary issues with family, not deep tragic angst.

I keep thinking I'd like the Closer, but I have an irrational bias against her voice.

Connie,

I got used to it, and the accent had changed over the years. Watch the pilot. If you don't like the pilot, bail.