Castle (ABC) — Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Becket (Stana Katic) try to solve the murder of a prominent “ghost hunter” (thanks for that, Syfy) who gets killed in a famous haunted house. Whenever I think of murderous ghosts, I remember 13 Ghosts. The 2001 remake, not the original. Shannon Elizabeth was like a Jennifer Love Hewitt who was cool enough to show her boobs.

Two and a Half Men (CBS) — “True Blood’s” Joe Mangianello guest stars as Bridget’s (Judy Greer) new boyfriend; Jane Lynch is back in her old role as Charlie’s therapist.

Hoarders (A&E) — Season premiere. Mary has a bunch of Victorian-era junk, and Kevin just hoards regular junk. It’s nothing specific, but his apartment is filled with so much crap that “he has to enter by climbing a ladder and crawling in through the window.” (Yahoo)

Bored to Death (HBO) — John Hodgman makes an appearance as Jonathan’s (Jason Schwartzman’s) nemesis Louis Green. And just like the Mac ads, Hodgman’s character is more likable than the intended protagonist.

Monday Night Football (ESPN) — Woof, Ravens at Jaguars. As usual, we’ll have a live-blog at KSK, but I actually wouldn’t blame you if you watched the pivotal World Series Game 5 (on Fox). Just do yourself a favor and mute it.

LATE NIGHT GUESTS: Salma Hayek on Letterman; Jonah Hill and Paula Deen on Leno; Zach Galifianakis on Kimmel; Bryan Cranston on Ferguson; Naomi Watts on Fallon (musical guest: Beirut); and Chris Colfer and Charlene Yi on Conan. Not too often that Conan has the least interesting guests.

“Castle” has a new promotional photo for its upcoming Season 4, and as you can see, it’s all washed out and noir-y. Castle (Nathan Fillion) still has a granite jaw, Beckett (Stana Katic) is glammed up, and we also get our first look at newcast members Penny Johnson Jerald (third from right) and Lobster Dog (left foreground). It’s a cool photo, but for my money the better noir promo was the pulp cover for “Bones.” (As former Joss Whedon heroes go, though, David Boreanaz isn’t fit to hold Nathan Fillion’s jock.)

On the following pages, I’ve got the full-size cast photo minus my Photoshopping, plus new cast photos of Fillion, Katic, and Molly Quinn (far right) that aren’t noir-themed. Why so many of Molly Quinn? Because she’s a young redhead wearing stockings and a short skirt, and I’m only human. Whatever, you can’t judge me. Only God and Oprah can do that.

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A few days ago, I wrote about some shameless examples of terrible product placement ads in “Days of Our Lives.” Here’s an example of product placement being integrated a little more smoothly: in this scene from Monday night’s “Castle,” Nathan Fillion’s character advances the plot by using voice-cued Bing on his Windows Phone 7.

The OS has encountered similar heroism on FOX’s ‘Bones,’ where Dr. ‘Bones’ Brennan gets a text on her WP7 device during an interrogation. Before that, WP7 appeared on CBS’ ‘Hawaii Five-O,’ where a character actually told another to “Bing it,” when referring to a search. Microsoft is obviously trying to achieve a ubiquitous verb-form of their brand, as there is with Google (i.e. “Google it”). [Phone Arena]

While the product-whoring in the video above is obvious, I don’t find it too blatant (although, interestingly, Castle had previously used an iPhone on the show). As long as the product is used sensibly within the story’s structure, I don’t mind the occasional bit of advertising slipping into my television programs — after all, I’m practically encouraging the practice by fast-forwarding through commercials on my DVR. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Suck a moldy dildo, commercials.

Look, I know that headline isn't fair - she didn't even put on that much weight. But I'm in love with it, so it stays.

Much like el jefe, I find myself getting sucked into “Castle” pretty frequently.  For a police-based network procedural, it’s pretty solid.  Admittedly that’s a low bar to hurdle.  But as they say, in the land of the blind the one-eyed man molests with impunity.  Or something like that.  Anyway, Tamala Jones plays the medical examiner on the show.  I always had a thing for Ms. Jones, dating back to her role as the sassy black friend in Can’t Hardly Wait, and her appearance as a thong-wearing slave girl in the video for Wu-Tang’s “Gravel Pit” (right side of banner pic).  So I was a bit let down when I tuned in to “Castle” and saw she put on that weight.

Now at this point, you’re probably thinking, “As good as it is to see you DG, and it’s mighty good, I don’t think you came all the way out here to speak to me about Tamala Jones.”  Guilty as charged.  That opening paragraph was just an excuse to talk some more about that awesome Wu-Tang video.
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Last night’s episode of “Castle” — the second half of a two-part cliffhanger — marked a ratings high for the ABC crime series, winning its time slot in part because of the “Dancing with the Stars” lead-in. That led to today’s news that “Castle” has been renewed for a third season.

I’m glad to see this show doing well; in the last few months I’ve gone from being mostly unaware of its existence to watching it more and more often. It’s a cop drama that actually has a sense of humor and some romantic tension, something that’s largely fallen to the wayside in networks’ urge to churn out more procedurals that follow the “Law & Order” and “CSI” models.

Oh yeah, and there’s this new TV spot, which sexes up Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) a lot more than she usually gets on the show. I approve. How come attractive detectives never wear heels and little red dresses to work more often? Actually, that goes for ALL you ladies. Would it kill you to sacrifice some comfort for my visual pleasure every day?