CASTLE:Take away the love story and you have a woman fighting with everything she has to find her mother’s killer and a man who’s struggling to find something other than fame.

BONES:Take away the love story and you have a genius woman who’s trying to accept that her father abandoned her years ago and a Special Agent.

And I recently got ahold of the original pilot draft for 1x01 for Castle. Written by Andrew Marlowe before they even started auditioning people. You know? Kind of a lure to get writers, designers, producers, and actors interested. Well, there were some differences.

1. “Rick (Richard) Castle” was originally “Nick (Nicholas) Castle.”
2. “Javier Esposito” was originally “Tony Esposito.”
3. “Kevin Ryan” was originally “Brian McNaulty.”
4. Lanie Parish was originally pregnant—and showing and is described as a “Southern belle.” (Because belles say things like “Imma smack you” these days).
5. “Martha Rodgers” was originally “Martha Heath.”
6. Castle knew that someone Beckett was close to was killed and that’s why she became a cop. But originally, Esposito tells him it was her mother.
7. They actually do get hot dogs after visiting Mr. Tisdale.
8. Originally, “Heat Wave by Rick Castle” was “Bullets and Bracelets by Nick Castle.” Castle finishes the manuscript at the end of the episode, which Gina finds on her desk.
9. At the ending, before Montgomery calls Beckett in to tell her she has a “fan,” she was holding a case file with Storm’s End inside it, pretending to read the case file.
10. In the actual episode, Gina is there, what? Two percent of the time? But in this script, she’s there more like 10 percent and her and Castle have a more working relationship.
11. Stana Katic brought A LOT to Kate. The character of Castle was already childishly humorous, but to me it wasn’t exactly clear just how damaged Kate was through the script.

Anyway, so, SO glad that all the actor’s brought their own to the script. Imagine: Brian McNaulty, Tony Esposito, Nick Castle, a PREGNANT Lanie?!?

Thank God for the personality quirks, scene and line changes, and other little (but in the long run, big) things that they did.

Dear August,
Please move your ass along.

Sincerely, a Castle fan.