Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We waited with bated breath for Stana Katic to sign on for Season 8 of Castle. We own all previous seasons and have watched them repeatedly -- never tiring of the witty and humorous dialog; stellar acting, and steady character development. Now it appears that Stana was correct to hesitate to sign on for another season! It's painful to watch our favorite show slip into a downward spiral when we hoped to enjoy it for many seasons to come. The new executive producers and new showrunner couldn't possibly be familiar with the characters and overall tone of the show to deviate so drastically. Shame on them! We felt disoriented watching the season opener. It was as if we'd missed the first several episodes. Very clumsy! Then, rather than flow with the evolving characters of Castle and Beckett (a dynamic, loving married couple, resembling a modern-day crime-solving Nick and Nora, complete with sparkling repartee), they foolishly separate them - as if to recapture the sexual tension. Ridiculous on every count, not to mention completely illogical from a story-line viewpoint. As the new episodes unfold, each character we've come to love in seven years seems to deteriorate into someone barely recognizable. Castle - for whom the show is named - was a confident, successful, often brilliant, "ruggedly handsome", charming boy-man, with unexpected depths. He's been reduced to a needy buffoon. So demeaning! And we're supposed to believe that Beckett, a passionate, intelligent woman of integrity and honor would leave her beloved husband and problem-solving partner - as if that would somehow keep him and the rest of the family safe from whomever would send top level hit squads after her. Absurd! The show is currently insulting to the intelligence of its faithful viewers! I don't see how they can land on their feet from this free fall, but I hope they can pull it off. It would be a sad way to end an exceptional, well written show that so many of us have loved.