… @NathanFillion drops by, taking the time to pose for a nerdgastic photo with @adamsbaldwin, @zacharylevi and twitter free technophobe Yvonne Strahovski. To paraphrase Liz Lemon, “I want to go to there.”

Remember earlier in the week when Ausiello leaked a CASTLE first look featuring a very steamy make-out scene between Alyssa Milano and Nathan Fillion? Well it turns out there’s a little more to the story than meets the eye. Make that lot more!

Turns out, Milano plays Kyra, also known as “the one that got away.” And when Castle and Beckett are called to a wedding to investigate the death of a bridesmaid on the January 11 episode of CASTLE, it’s bride-to-be Kyra, caught off-guard by Castle’s reappearance in her life, who must investigate if she’s marrying the right guy. More first look photos of which can be found after the jump.

Photo Credit: ABC/RON TOM

Rule #1 of successful television blogging: Never turn down an opportunity to interview Nathan Fillion, even when said interview inexplicably lands in your lap giving you quite literally less than two minutes to prepare. Rule #2: Be Canadian. Or at the very least, throw in the occasional “aboot” or “Eh!” into the conversation so that the Canadian born actor — who was doing one final promotional push on Friday to promote tonight’s season finale of CASTLE — will cut you a little slack upon learning that you aren’t nearly as prepared for the interview as you should be. Joked Fillion (we hope!), “I’m far more forgiving when it comes to Canadians.”

There have been a lot of rumors swirling about CASTLE’s chances for renewal, what have you heard?
Nathan Fillion: I find out for a fact on Friday whether the show is coming back or not.

I find it hard to believe that Nathan Fillion doesn’t have any insider information!
Everyone finds out a week from today. There is no insider information and it has been difficult because there was a big delay with the ratings. We’re all waiting.

With the show’s fate hanging in the balance, are you paying extra close attention to ratings?
I’ve got a dedicated team of people that scour the internet for information such as this. They’re known as my family; My brother, mother and father. They are my team, my google alert if you will.

I love that a typical Fillion family get-together now includes talk about shares and demos.
My brother was just trying to tell me what a share was last night. People start talking digits, I start to check out. My head can’t handle numbers, times or dates.

What can you tell me about tonight’s episode, is it true that Castle uncovers some extremely unsettling information about Beckett’s past?
Yes this is true. Castle starts poking around in Beckett’s past, and this is where we see just how smart Castle is when push comes to shove.  Is he smart enough to stop when she [Beckett] tells him to? Will he go too far?  What’s wonderful about Castle is that he’s so immature, so self-serving, so seemingly careless, yet we forgive him because he’s not malicious in anyway. Tonight is where we find out if he cares enough about Beckett to stop.

Does the finale wrap up nicely, or leave fans with a cliffhanger?
It is a season finale so there will be a cliffhanger.

I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to watch DR. HORRIBLE on the big screen at the recent Paley Festival but must admit, I was kind of hoping that Joss [Whedon] would reveal the title to the DR. HORRIBLE sequel. Do you know what it’s going to be called?
I do.

And I don’t suppose you can share what that title is with us?
I cannot. But it’s awesome, so much so that when you hear this new title, you’ll get that same rush and feeling of excitement you did when you heard about the first DR. HORRIBLE SING-ALONG BLOG. It will boil you blood a little bit.

And finally, you recently tweeted “I need me more Eliza on tv. Somebody do something to show Dollhouse more love!” Have you had a chance to see your FIREFLY co-star Alan Tudyk’s fantastic performance on the show?
I actually saw the episode months ago. I took a bunch of classy black and white photos at the DOLLHOUSE wrap-party of Joss and friends and on the day I dropped by Tim Minear’s house to show him, he said, “You got to see this.” And I saw a rough cut of some really exciting stuff of Alan [Tudyk], Amy [Acker] and Eliza [Dushku]. I’m just a huge fan of the show.

Don’t miss the season finale of CASTLE tonight at 10PM on ABC

Knowing full well that the story of how a ridiculously talented family band together during last year’s WGA strike to create what would become the most buzzed about internet sensation of last year has been told ad nauseam, this TV Addict thought we’d take a different approach in recapping last night’s DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG panel from Paley Festival 2009. So here it goes, one or two (or fifteen) things that you may not have known about DR. HORRIBLE. Including but not limited to Nathan Fillion’s true feelings about Neil Patrick Harris, the power of Sondheim and the true power of Wonderflonium… but more on that later.

FAMILY MATTERS
Aside from changing the whole landscape of television and becoming the accidental poster-boy for do-it-yourself content on the web, one of the major driving forces behind DR. HORRIBLE was to give Joss an excuse to work with his brothers. Or as Joss explained, as only he can, “DR. HORRIBLE will bond us or break the family apart forever. It’s worth the risk.”

LITTLE KNOWN PALEY TIE-IN
If you were one of the hundreds of fans lucky enough to attend last year’s Paley Fest BUFFY reunion and was curious as to why exactly Joss was out of breath and looked like he had just run a marathon prior to the event, well… mystery solved. “The very last night of the very last shot [shooting DR. HORRIBLE] was when I snuck in the bathroom of the laundromat, changed into a suit and came here to talk to you about BUFFY,” revealed Joss.

FILLION=FUNNY
Okay, so not exactly shocking news, but when asked by the event’s fantastic moderator Matt Roush (Part-Time Whedon Fanboy, full-time critic for TVGuide Magazine) as to what his favorite part of the experience was, Fillion dead-panned, “You [looking at the Whedon Bros. and Felicia Day] did all the heavy lifting…. I’m just so happy now…. I can’t even tell you guys how much joy it brings to my heart that… Neil [Patrick Harris] couldn’t make it.”

IT PAYS TO HAVE FRIENDS
Or to be more specific, friends in high places — as Joss explained to all you aspiring filmmakers out there, “The head of production at Universal gave us the lot, the run of the whole thing, for a song, just because we worked together on Serenity and he’s a really sweet guy.”

IT ALSO PAYS TO BE A MUSICAL THEATER GEEK
Being raised listening to showtunes may not exactly scream popularity in high school, but as Zack Whedon can attest to, may in fact pave the way for a lucrative career in television and movies, “Definitely a Sondheim influence because it’s unavoidable if you’re writing something that’s good.”

FELICIA ON THE FUTURE
When she’s not starring in DR. HORRIBLE and dropping by popular television shows such as BUFFY, HOUSE and DOLLHOUSE, Felicia Day spends her time writing, directing and producing THE GUILD, one of the web’s most popular online television shows. “I basically got bored and wanted to act, but nobody would hire me,” explained Felicia, semi-seriously backpedaling, “Well, people will hire me… sometimes… whatever, I’m still here. But I got so passionate about it [THE GUILD] because I really had control of it and with DR. HORRIBLE it’s the same thing. Here we are making it, having a great time, putting our heart into it. You just don’t see that in the traditional world of television.”

JOSS’ FELICIA FASCINATION
“THE GUILD was really the first series I watched on the internet, that I was involved in and made me laugh,” explained Joss about his internet viewing habits. “And before we ever talked about Felicia being in it [DOLLHOUSE], I asked her for advice about how do I do this.”

Which as it would turn out, paid off in unexpected ways, when Felicia gave Joss’ agency and their internet gurus a lesson [or two] in online marketing, “Felicia just schooled them. They had no idea what to do with this. It was completely new, even though it was very traditional storytelling and ultimately the exact same length as an episode of TV… It was a great thing to watch. Little Felicia who had been very quiet and then started to speak and everybody else got very quiet. It was quite a BUFFY moment – the woman you aren’t paying attention to is the one who’s getting it done.”

JOSS ON TWITTER
Since it’s virtually impossible to have a conversation these days without the topic of twitter coming up, here is Joss and Jed’s take on the subject. After of course a shameless plug for theTVaddict.com’s own Twitter account (Follow us here!)

Joss: I don’t get twitter, I think it might be dirty.
Jed: You’re going to twitter tonight.
Joss: Buy me a drink first.

Note, you can now follow Joss @drhorrible and Nathan at @nathanfillion on twitter.

MORE FUN WITH FILLION
Not only did Nathan reveal that one of his part time jobs while working through university was as a Karaoke host “I could kill ‘The Rose.” Joss let us in on a little secret about actors. They always want to do whatever they’re not doing. “When we were doing Serenity, we were recording the Reavers and Nathan said, ‘I can take a run’ and of course it was the best vocal track we got.”

DR. EVIL LAB INCLUDED
One of the other ways in which Joss and Co. were able to cut costs for DR. HORRIBLE was in the set department. Where as luck would have it, Dr. Horrible’s lab wasn’t so much of a set as an actual lab, “Our Assistant Director Otto was friends with a guy who had an evil lab,” explained Joss. “All those tubes you see in the background of his blog all dispense Vodka and Jack.”

THE HORSE OF COURSE!
Who’d have thought that the most famous actor aside from Neil Patrick Harris who couldn’t attend tonight’s panel was a four legged-one. Turns out, that the horse who played “Bad Horse” is one of Whedon’s most prolific stock players, having appeared in DR. HORRIBLE, ANGEL and next week’s episode of DOLLHOUSE.

PROOF THAT YES, WHEDON’S ARE HUMAN TOO
In testing the initial DR. HORRIBLE trailer, Jed fessed up to uploading it to Vimeo and then naming it ‘Dr. Horrible,’ “Like I’m a genius…. I mean who’s going to go on the internet and find it!” Joked Nathan, “How ever did they crack your code?” Replied Jed, “Not my finest hour.”

JOSS IS A NPH FANBOY
“I’m a huge fan, I saw him do ASSASSINS. I love his voice and comedic chops,” explained Joss when asked how casting Neil Patrick Harris came about, “I know him through Amy Acker so I’ve known him for a while and actually sung with him and Amy and James Wedding. Which put me in full “Squee” mode, I was geekin’ out so hard!”

FUN WITH FILLION PART 3
“I would wear a darker outfit, to symbolize the darkness,” joked Fillion when asked what he imagines his character would go through in a DR. HORRIBLE sequel. “I would grow my hair out and do more of a pompadour. All heavy hitting character stuff. Layers upon layers of acting challenge.

AKWARD QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
Goes to the fan who asked Joss what would happen if you took all the money FOX is giving you for DOLLHOUSE and made more episodes of FIREFLY, would anyone notice?

MORE FUTURE OF THE WEB WITH FELICIA
“I love doing the web shows, but I’m not rolling in money,” admitted Felicia who it turns out was only slightly embarrassed to have discovered that she is wearing the same shirt that she wore in DR. HORRIBLE. “I haven’t bought new clothes for a year!”

CRINGEWORTHY FAN QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
As much as we cringed when a gentleman in the audience asked Felicia if she would join his World of Warcraft Guild. We kind of want to thank the man for making us feel only slightly better about our unhealthy obsession with television.

BEST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
What will happen if Wonderflonium is bounced? “It’s too terrible to tell,” Joss says. “But I will tell you that it will cause me to Twitter.”

ACTUAL BEST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT
When one fan asked Joss why he keeps on going back to FOX after the FIREFLY fiasco and now DOLLHOUSE (not to mention, joked Joss, “Let’s not forget ALIEN RESURRECTION”) “The fact is it is eerily similar in some ways [but] very different in other ways. And the reason I went back was because of Eliza [Dushku]. And I don’t care, she’s worth it. There are different people that I’m dealing with [at FOX] and I think they’re pretty decent, honest people. Some of them have left recently but some of them are still there. The relationship has always been equitable. It’s always been [about] trying to find the show. And it’s very different than when it was with FIREFLY. But I will say that probably the worst thing I could have done right before starting DOLLHOUSE was DR. HORRIBLE. Because it just rolled off us, it just came out from our hearts. We sang and bang that was it. I mean five months total between our first sit down to stream. And then to work so hard and get so lost [on DOLLHOUSE] by a process that, you know, it wasn’t being run by bad people or mean people, it’s just that grind after the freedom of DR. HORRIBLE. It made me a much crankier person and a worse boss.”

Just when we thought we couldn’t love Nathan Fillion anymore, our phone rings. As it turns out, watching TV twenty-four-seven does have its privileges. As evidence by the voice on the other line being none other than CASTLE star Fillion himself, who was kind enough to take the time to answer five questions on failure, flaws, fatherhood, future and of course, Felicia Day.

FILLION ON FIREFLY
For reasons that remain a mystery to us, Nathan Fillion has yet to star in a breakout hit. Which is why we started off our interview by asking if he was a little apprehensive about jumping back into series television after the disappointments that were FIREFLY and DRIVE. “Not at all, I mean geez, I’m an actor who wants to be acting. I want to be doing fun material, good material with talented people and I don’t care if it’s TV, or if you’ve had a sour experience,” explains the always upbeat Fillion in his traditional classy style. “If you’ve had a girlfriend that broke your heart are you going to stop dating girls forever? No you’re going to move on and keep doing your thing.”

FILLION ON FLAWED CHARACTERS
Simply put, he loves them. Which it turns out is what attracted Fillion to the role of mystery novelist turned detective Richard Castle in the first place. “People have flaws. I have them. I’m a little too perfect and a little too modest and you know what, I have to live with that!” jokes the actor in his trademark sarcastic tone. “I think one of Castle’s flaws is that he enjoys himself perhaps a little too much, and as an actor, that spoke to me. Just like [FIREFLY's] Malcolm Reynolds spoke to me. I’m not a dark haunted brooding man, but there was something about him [Mal] that I could connect with, a sense of justice perhaps. Whereas Castle plays to more of my boyish, playful side. Castle is living an adventure everyday and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

FILLION ON FATHERHOOD
“Castle just lucked out.” explained Fillion when asked about what has become the highlight to many fans of the show, his character’s relationship with his fictional TV daughter. “Alexis turned out fantastic and incredible and I don’t think it was due to Castle’s parenting skills in anyway. She’s so very much the parent because Castle wasn’t much of one. But Castle does love her, cares for her and protects her and he is adamant about that.” Pauses Fillion, who then takes a moment to acknowledge actress Molly C. Quinn who plays his fictional TV daughter, “What a wonderful actress Molly is. She brings such a real life person to what you could say is written on the page as maybe being a little too perfect.”

FILLION ON THE FUTURE [of DR. HORRIBLE]
“I do know Joss [Whedon] has gotten as far as to come up with a title for a sequel so you know he has got ideas running around in his head,” said Fillion when asked the obligatory DR. HORRIBLE sequel question. “Of course, nothing is in stone, we haven’t filmed anything yet as everybody is a bit busy, right now. But there are whispers.” Whispers that come as no surprise to Fillion, who earned critical acclaim playing Captain Hammer in the beloved online video experiment.

“We were talking about doing a sequel the very first day we started filming DR. HORRIBLE and I think in this day there ought to be a broadway musical,” adds Fillion. “You combine DR. HORRIBLE with the musical commentary of DR. HORRIBLE and I think you have a complete musical right there heading for broadway, let’s go!”

FILLION ON FELICIA DAY
But don’t expect to see Nathan Fillion’s name in lights anytime soon. “Felicia Day is a much better singer than we allowed her to be,” admitted Fillion when asked if fans might one day see him heading to Broadway. “If I came to New York City to see a Broadway Show I’d want my money back after hearing me sing.”

Don’t miss a brand new episode of CASTLE airing tonight at 10PM on ABC

You know him, right?  Depending on who you talk to, he’s the guy best known for poking out one of Xander’s eyes on BUFFY or as the Dashing Captain Tightpants from FIREFLY.  Or maybe you know him as the sheriff charged with defeating an oozy alien species in SLITHER, or if you’re my Grandma, you know him from doing….something on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.  Inevitably whenever I bring up his name, the response is always the same: “Oh yeah, that guy! I LOVE that guy!”

So why is Nathan Fillion not a huge star? This is a question I asked myself recently as I was rewatching (but not obsessively or anything) WAITRESS, which was one of my favourite films of 2007.  In this sweet little confection of a romantic comedy, Fillion plays Dr. Pomatter, a Lloyd Dobler-esque small town doctor who pursues Keri Russell’s titular waitress.  I defy both women and men alike to watch Fillion in this role and not fall just a little bit in love with him.  The same goes for his role in FIREFLY and its big screen counterpart SERENITY.  Captain Mal Reynolds, with his bad boy streak and his heart of gold, is just the guy you want ride through the black with for the rest of your life, swooning all the way.

So again I ask, why is this guy not a gigantic movie star?  Below are some reasons I have come up with.

IS HE JUST TOO DARN HANDSOME? 
This is a distinct possibility.  Maybe “the man” is simply jealous of his rugged good looks.  Those limpid blue pools he calls eyes, his broad mountain-man like shoulders, his impish smile.  Most people simply do not win the genetic jackpot the way Nathan Fillion clearly has, and that makes them angry and petty.

IS HE TOO FUNNY? 
Yes.  It just makes people feel insecure about their own inferior wit.

TOO CHARMING? 
I think I may be on to something here.  Fillion’s innate adorable-ness is liable to cause a giggling schoolgirl-like reaction that would make those who are not actually giggling schoolgirls rather uncomfortable.  Big-time studio executives probably don’t like to giggle in public.

IS IT BECAUSE HE’S CANADIAN? 
And therefore way too nice?  If you’re not tossing your cappuccino at your assistant or holding up production until just the right type of organic eggplant is airlifted to your trailer, people just don’t respect you.

NOT MAINSTREAM ENOUGH?
As much I believe in my heart that it’s all of the above reasons, my head is telling me that this is probably the real issue.  Whether by choice or necessity, Nathan’s resume is best described as quirky.  He may have started his film career playing one of the Private Ryans in the Oscar-winning SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but the majority of his roles have been in cult favourites or small indie films.  While FIREFLY or DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG is very near and dear to the heart of many a TV/movie geek, the majority of the population just hasn’t had a chance to get to know our Nathan, and as much as we’d probably like to keep him all to ourselves, it’s a crying shame that the world at large has yet to discover him.With his latest role as the star of ABC’s CASTLE, Fillion is reaching a wider audience than ever before.  I predict that he’s on the brink of super-stardom.  Today a television detective, tomorrow world domination and you heard it here first.

With Entertainment Weekly calling CASTLE “an implausible muddle,” the Washington Post proclaiming it to be a “misbegotten MOONLIGHTING imitation” and theTVaddict.com’s very own Aleks Chan admitting that it’s “actually very boring,” one can only imagine the excitement this TV Addict was feeling for Nathan Fillion’s new series CASTLE.

Which is why I waited until late last night — following a rather lengthy two-hour AMERICAN IDOL extravaganza — to give the show a shot, hoping that at the very least, Fillion and co-star Stana Katic’s playful back-and-forth would keep me awake until my traditional nightcap arrived in the form of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Well, mission accomplished.

Not only did CASTLE manage to keep me awake, it kept me laughing, smiling and most of all wondering how on earth anyone could fail to enjoy this show.

In case you missed it, CASTLE stars the ridiculously-likable Fillion as Richard Castle, an equally-charismatic novelist who finds himself paired up with Kate Beckett (Katic), a tough-as-nails NYPD detective, in an effort to track down a killer who has been using the author’s best-selling murder mysteries as more of a “how-to” rather than the light and fluffy page-turners that they are intended to be.

Do sparks fly between our two leading players? Of course! Is the episode’s ultimate baddie utterly predictable? You bet’cha! Does Castle’s overly-sexed mother and too-smart-for-her-own-good teenager daughter scream television cliché? Absolutely!

Yet Fillon more than makes up for any and all of CASTLE’s shortcomings thanks to the perfect mixture of flirtatious eyebrow raising and a seemingly endless stream of witty one-liners. So much so that I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching an hour-long police procedural.

Don’t get me wrong: I wouldn’t trade in my mythology-laden, dense and disturbing hour longs such as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, LOST, and TERMINATOR for anything. But there is simply something to be said for a show that just wants to have fun… and doesn’t make me feel like a modern-day luddite for not realizing that the guy in that grainy black and white video on last night’s LOST was revealed to have been vaguely connected to the Dharma Initiative four seasons ago.

Good News: Martin Sheen reminisces about the fictional Bartlett administration. Bad News: With Paris Hilton. [Video]

Good News: The women of THE VIEW are crazy as the daily gabfest continues to devolve into a rip-roaring can’t miss political free-for-all. Bad News: I’m almost starting to feel bad for Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Emphasis on the “almost.” [Source]

Good News: Nathan Fillion’s return with CASTLE looks fantastic. Bad News: Which means it will likely last a solid four episodes before its abruptly canceled. [Trailer]

Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy as much as the next Browncoat. But does the first part of DR. HORRIBLE, Joss Whedon’s just launched internet musical featuring the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day honestly warrant such an exuberant outpouring of affection? I mean take a look at this flurry of twitter messages:

mytakeontv: I’m on my 5th viewing of Dr. Horrible. AMAZING!

DuckyDoesTV: Dr. Horrible is sheer genius!

raelee: Dr. Horrible is wrecking havoc on my schedule for the day. Can’t stop watching.

thc_jen: Dr. Horrible was AMAZING!!! Who wants to talk about with me?

thedirtycanuck: I can’t believe i’m going to miss the Whedon fan-event of the year (Dr. Horrible) because of work. boo to life.

GMMR: ‘Dr. Horrible’ is FRAKTASTIC! Act I is live and it doesn’t disappoint! Go watch..now!

justjody: NPH is made of awesome. “The world is a mess, and I just… need to rule it.” LOL!

matsie: If you haven’t watched the first episode of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, I just don’t know what to think of you!

That’s not to say I’m not in full support of what Whedon’s trying to accomplish. In fact, I’m so in favor of Whedon’s plan to as he so eloquently put it, “Turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience,” that I went ahead and paid for the entire DR. HORRIBLE series on iTunes so that everybody involved in the project will actually get paid. I’m just not quite sure that it’s the second coming of Buffy. Okay, third if you count that time she came back from the dead.

[UPDATE:] I the overhype warranted Who knows, maybe I’m the moron? Here’s some more Twitter Posts

themarc: Boo, the internets are crashing around Dr. Horrible.

atlanticwasborn:Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog = AMAZING! I finished act 1 a while ago, and it is just AWESOME! They better release an official soundtrack!

texpatriate:Dangit! All you Whedon Dweebs get off the Dr Horrible site so I can get on!

faketwitt: My Doctor can now cut the cord since I’ve lived to see Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible!

And yes, that last one’s made up. But you get the idea.

Joss Whedon is awesome. He is better than you. He is better than me. He’s better than roller skates, bubble tea, and kittens combined. That means anything he comes up with is worth anticipating. In this case, we have DR. HORRIBLE’S SING ALONG BLOG, a three part online musical he put together with his brothers during the writers strike. The musical is about a Z-level villain (Neil Patrick Harris, baby) trying to woo a lovely lady (Felicia Day) while contending with pesky superheroes (the amazing Nathan Fillion). I’m pretty sure it’s mathematically impossible or scientifically improbable for this to in any way suck. That’s why you should check out this trailer.