Nathan Fillion

Question: I am already going through withdrawal symptoms for my favorite summer obsession, The Middleman. I fell for this show hard. I love each and every quirky line and cheesy bad guy they throw at me. When they added the brilliant Mark Sheppard as Manservant Neville, I may have literally jumped for joy. Sad, I know. So needless to say, I am very dismayed to learn of the shortened order. It doesn’t bode well for a second-season pick-up. I have to say if ABC Family decides against the further adventures of Dubbie and The Middleman, they must be Peter Piping Weirdos. They need to sit down with a tall glass of icy milk and dismiss any notion of canceling this series. Dare we have any hope at all, or do we inhabit the alternate reality where hope must be bought with cold cash and tennis bracelets? On another front, I carefully pored over my Fall Preview issue, but in the midseason replacement section, there was no mention of Castle, the series starring Nathan Fillion. Was that just because it was announced too late, or since Nathan’s luck as a leading man has been less than stellar, TV Guide figured it was already canceled? His talents were wasted on Desperate Housewives, and I look forward to a show where he can be shiny. Yes, I’m still grieving over Firefly, I admit it. — Linda M.

Matt Roush: I feel your pain about Middleman. I was an early fan, but work, life and other distractions kept me from staying tuned, although I’ve still got a few choice episodes on my DVR for when/if I get a breather. No word yet on its future, but given that this network has given early pickups to other shows it considers breakouts, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. As for Castle, it wasn’t in our midseason roundup because ABC made its midseason series pickups too late for our deadline. Trust me, Nathan Fillion has plenty of fans in this office, even more so after his hilarious appearance as Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. We’re still grieving over Firefly, too, but at least we’ll always have Serenity.