Most sitcoms are average families in one form or another, and the foibles of family life. If Castle were made into a comedy and they removed the murder mystery stuff, you would have something like SRM. NBC was really wrong to cancel this. The creator is the same creator responsible for the best sitcom ever written ... Modern Family. Steve Levitan is awesome in his vehicles. This is one that was destined for gold.
There are a couple caveats. Despite the writing, the energy level on the actors seemed to be low. What was with the fake moustache on Shalhoub? It really looked like a cheap Halloween moustache. I think the casting could have been tweaked a bit. I like Shalhoub, but Neil Harris seemed a bit pulled back from his part. Not totally engaged.
I still like the idea of a rich author who is a bit nuts, be it Richard Castle or Tony's character. Putting an opposite in the water with him was genius. Richard Castle had no uptight opposites on his show. The love affair between Beckett and Castle never worked or fit the show. Raving Mad's set was unnecessarily middle class and stark. Definitely not the set decorator that Castle had. I know I keep comparing SRM and Castle, and aside from one is a dramedy and the other a comedy, there were a lot of parallels. Actually I was pulling for the comedy in Castle, not the drama. I don't watch murder mystery shows per se.
I think not throwing a family in SRM like they did on Castle was a good thing. Whereas Castle attempted to be all things ... drama, thriller, comedy, and romance ... SRM attempted to be only comedy. You can only do so much in twenty minutes a week. The commercial interruptions in the broadcast sitcoms are bad enough, without dividing a show into four different pies.
If they had given the same chance to Seinfeld that they gave to SRM, we would be watching reruns on YouTube of Season One only of Seinfeld. A real shame. Its possible that Levitan should reengineer the show ratcheting up the lifestyle and the financial position of the main character. I think the girls should be rethought.
I gave my thoughts online in a conversation with Chuck Lorre about where to take Two and a Half Men, and he chose a winning route. Ashton Kutcher was not perfect, but a good choice, and while the finale was disappointing, the show had some very well done facets such as set decoration, concept, core stars, and half of the episode story lines. I say all that to say Stark Raving Mad was not perfect, but the concept is brilliant, the main stars are fairly close to perfect, and it begs to be binge watched. The writing on Stark was better than the writing on Two and a Half Men. Like I say, the cluttered impoverished looking loft that Ian Stark lives in is more suited to some twenty somethings wanting to be software billionaires who are just starting out, not a successful novelist of horror. Stephen King lives better than Ian Stark.
Enough for now. Have fun.
