This show is an amusing, brilliant parody of all things detective. It picks holes into the classic cliches and tropes of the mystery genre while creating witty dialogue with a very original outlook from the point of view of literary characters who have lives external to the books they are portrayed in. Each member has a role to fill, and even when they don't like how their role is going, they must attend to it properly or risk being written out. This program destroys the fourth wall completely. There's a "backstage" room for the characters to meet in externally to the story, there's comments about ratings and audience approval, and their are unexplained or seemingly random changes which mimic the flaws of a poorly-conceived mystery which all mystery lovers love to hate. I have to confess I wasn't wild about this show until I had seen several episodes. Its humor, while so obviously satiric, was not really what I had been expecting. After I lost all of my expectations for brilliant mystery, I found myself wrapped up in the comedy, satire, and witty "outside the box" thinking which went into it. The episodes were cute, the music fairly decent, and the cast had the energy and mannerisms necessary to making their roles work. It generally seems to be a show that people had a lot of fun making, and because of that, viewers can have a lot of fun watching. If you aren't a fan of the mystery genre, a lot of this humor will fall flat. If you are, then the humor may irk you as being insulting to a genre you love. However, if you can just watch this show without trying to take it seriously, it becomes a real gem.