A light week for Remote Uncontrolled as we enter the stride period of the season. Pretty much everything (and certainly anything worth seeing) has premiered by now and the new shows are what they are at this point and the old shows have established their season focus. It’s a good place to be, and it’s when some of the highest quality episodes are shown. Sweeps will try and ruin it though, with the ramped up drama, but for now, it’s all just right.

Speaking of sweeps–lesbian kissing pool, any takers? I say 3.

Anyways, here’s what we thought. Tell us what you thought in the comments!

Scott:

The Venture Bros.
It’s hard to believe at this point that one of the best series in Adult Swim history began as a Jonny Quest parody. The Venture Bros.’ fourth season kicks off with an episode that will surely please longtime fans and utterly confound anyone else who stumbles across it. On top of being incredibly mythology-heavy and featuring a lengthy Brock storyline that pulled from Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Kill Bill, Star Wars and James Bond until he basically became a Jungian superhero archetype, it also employed an absurdly confusing timeline that cut back and forth with flashbacks, flash forwards, time travel, and cloning. It all makes for one of the series’ most complicated but ultimately rewarding episodes, coming full circle with Hitler’s reincarnation as a pitbull (yep!). It’s been a long time since season 3 wrapped in August of ’08, Venture fans. Time to block out Sundays at midnight for the strangest appointment viewing slot ever.

Mad Men
The pieces are falling into place for the final three episodes of Mad Men’s subtlest season yet (apart from that lawnmower amputation). Here are a few predictions, which will probably all be proven wrong a month from now. Don will leave Sterling Cooper, or become its president after talking Connie Hilton into buying it. Peggy will leave too, either for Duck’s boring new home or Don’s destination. Bert Cooper will die or retire, and Roger Sterling will be forced out. Sadly, Betty will continue to accept Don’s emotional violence and slip deeper and deeper into depression. And because of that, we the audience will continue to lose respect for Don and watch as his cool façade is stripped away until we see him as the selfish jerk he really is.

Zoe:

Bones
Like Castle for Robert, Bones is my fun, light crime drama. It’s my anti-House, a show I love almost solely for its characters, since the plot hardly seems to matter most weeks. Entering the 5th season is always somewhat risky, it seems. Shows tend to peak around season 3 and then enter a slow, often painful decline, especially for procedurals. The first few episodes of Bones this season made me think the decline was on the way, but the last two have really rallied, getting back to the tone and atmosphere that makes Bones fun for me. The characters have been on-point and I’m really hoping the streak continues this week. Maybe the 5th season doesn’t have to be a death knell after all.

Community
I want this show to give me a hug, you know? It’s so light and happy and somewhat sad and I just dig it. There’s some tweaks to be made sure and I think this week was a step in the right direction (i.e. having us give a shit about Britta). It might not have been the best episode of the season, but it still made me laugh out loud, something that very, very, very few shows ever make me do. I wish I had more to add, but really, I just want to hug it out.

Robert:

Castle
I’m so enamored with Castle these days that I’m devoting my entire entry this week to it. After two solid episodes and an OK third, last week’s episode “Fool Me Once” brought some of the best moments of the season so far. The chemistry between Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic is firing on all cylinders and the show has found a good balance of incorporating secondary characters like Castle’s daughter Alexis and the friendly rivalry with detectives Ryan and Esposito. Even Beckett can’t resist making a “date” with Castle’s first novel “Heat Wave” based on her exploits. Oh and did I mention that the book is now officially on the New York Times bestseller list?

So much is going right for Castle right now except for the ratings numbers, which are slowly on the drop since the Season 2 premiere, but it’s not too late to get into the show, especially if you’re a fan of police dramas but want something with a lighter touch. Season 1 is available on DVD and new shows are available online at ABC.com, Hulu and iTunes. A campaign started last season by die-hard fans to keep the show going is already working to let ABC know that the show is worth hanging on to and encouraging viewers to spread the word. You know, I’m beginning to think Nathan Fillion brings these people with him wherever he goes. And that’s not such a bad thing.