I had cable up until about 7 or 8 years ago when I "cut the cord" and now only watch over-the-air programming supplemented by NetFlix. Without cable I started watching some of the weekend and evening reruns of network mysteries I'd never before watched. I was okay with the various CSI programs, and have seen many of the Law and Order ilk. I watched Cold Case and Criminal Minds for a while, but I got tired of both of those. In the already contrived world of television mysteries, they were over the top and not very sympathetic or without original protagonists. They were a yawn.

I started picking a few series to watch, and (straying from CBS) the one that held up best of those I've watched from beginning to end (thank you, NetFlix!) is Bones. Very few cast switches, and the ones that happened were generally logical. It has run long but since it was always a moneymaker for FOX and it has very faithful fans, they kept it going because the mysteries are reliable. They will finish with 12 episodes in the upcoming season 12. Going out gracefully.

One I watched recently that had some charming moments but was generally strained in trying to justify the original premise lasting for so long was ABC's Castle. I saw the earlier seasons on DVD, haven't seen season 8, and am not going out of my way to. It apparently got pretty strange, and they did end up all disliking each other. Too bad. I did see the end of the last episode. Totally stupid, how they did that, tagging on a little "in the happy future" scene after clearly setting up a cliffhanger.

I watched The Good Wife up till the last couple of seasons when I got out of sync with it and wanted to watch it in order. I'll get the rest of it one of these days. It was well-written, cleverly cast, and always delightful. The premise for the program was ripped from the headlines, but the rest of it was amazingly on target as far as current issues, that usually happened shortly after any given episode aired, eliminating the feeling of it somehow being a derivative of the news.