First of all, nobody’s pretending there’s anything “enlightened” about Richard Castle. He’s a goofy writer that nobody takes too seriously. Det. Beckett is neither “overtly mentored by” nor is she “consistently bested by” her “borderline-omnipotent male counter part.” She’s constantly besting him and proving him wrong. There may not be a mom at home, but there is a female authority figure–the grandmother. Castle isn’t just redeemed by showing his “softer side” as a father–through the series so far we’ve seen him making different choices as a result of his relationship with his daughter, seeing women as human rather than sex objects once he makes the connection that these young women are no different than his own daughter. I’ve heard men in real life remark that they began to recognize their own sexist behavior once they had a daughter. Where’s the bad in that?

I was one of those girls who had a horrible mother who was not always in the picture, and a loving, nurturing, and extremely flawed father. Part of the reason I’m drawn to the show is the sweet father-daughter relationship! I think it’s a little overly simplistic and kind of twisted to reduce affectionate father-daughter relationships to a replacement of hetero marriages.

I also think it’s great to see men in roles as loving, nurturing, affectionate fathers. There are far too few of these around. Liberating women involves liberating men as well.

@jke: anime eyes! now that’s all i’m going to see mooning at me. this is good context for my Veronica Mars viewing, but might be confounded by Californication. featuring another anime-eyed daughter, the producers have to keep the mom in the show since the dad’s a sex addict and having solely him raising his daughter would invite the icks.

do any of these shows attempt to have the smart, but not as intuitive woman mentor the daughter?

Dr. Brennan (female) is presented as more intelligent than Agent Booth (male) in Bones, but her intelligence is limited strictly to matters of scientific inquiry; she’s presented as tone-deaf to matters of emotion and interpersonal relations, in which Booth excels. While the contributions of both characters are often required to solve the crime at issue, Brennan’s insensitivity to emotional nuance leads her to appear almost as a precocious child who needs Booth’s quasi-parental interpretation of adult emotions and relationships in order to function.

So, no, maybe not.

I hadn’t really thought about it specifically in terms of intelligence, more in terms of power, until I read your comment, and it’s an interesting point. I’m trying to think of a show that’s not a comedy where the woman is consistently presented as smarter than the male partner. The Closer, I guess?