I expected that, too! I was pleased that the show didn't take the obvious route, but let that energy between the two crackle a little bit.

Check USA's site to see if they're still offering episodes for free streaming; they did have the pilot up, but that was a few weeks ago.

it looked like there might actually be a show where Better Off Ted and
the Car Czar's Apprentice stare at each other and [probably] quip

That's exactly my hope. Very few comedies are doing their best work in their first season (though there are always exceptions, and this year we've been lucky to see a bumper crop), and Benched features excellent cast members who mesh well as an ensemble. I hope this show gets the time it needs to find its feet.

As I said in the review, the premise sounds plausible (at least to the decidedly-not-a-lawyer I am), but the execution of it is muddled.

I'd been thinking of her as "a pretty Muppet" for some time before that episode, so seeing her do the arm-dance with Elmo was both gratifying and hilarious.

Similarly, 7-year-old me is still chilled through by "Stopover In A Quiet Town," and even though adult me can see how predictable it all is, the effect of seeing it as a child never quite left me.

I said that one already! (I know, but it's a really good one.)

And just for good measure, the lyrics to the Sullivan Silly truck commercial:

I'm not remotely suggesting that the names are unrealistic; unusual names abound in all classes and demographics. I'm saying that the show is taking shots at unusual names as if they were natural punchlines, and that it's cheap and lazy.

[with false modesty] I know a lotta things.

She's still credited on-screen in "Hooked And Booked" and IMDB lists her on seven episodes so far (some of them credit-only), so I expect she'll return. Here's hoping her character serves some function other than exposition in the future.

Please pitch this premise to a network immediately.

USA has been rerunning episodes on Tuesday mornings, so you can probably just set your DVR for "Hooked And Booked" next week and blast through two episodes on Tuesday.

That is a great line, summing up a lot of this episode's theme, which is why I used it as the subtitle for the review. It's right at the top of the page!

Yeeeeeah, that's not an effect of watching the video. He's just there, in your peripheral vision. All the time.

Erik should be back on AHS next week. I certainly didn't dose him with cupcakes and sell him to a shady museum, if that's what you're thinking, which you shouldn't be, so don't.

He should be charged with grievous bodily charm.

“They are special bulbs from Holland. PLEASE DO NOT QUESTION ME!" Frances Conroy, killing it as always.

In general, I like that Benched isn't presenting Nina Whitley as a savior or hero who can right all the wrongs. Despite years of experience in the law, Nina's genuinely shocked by the conditions under which PDs are required to work and the cost to their clients' cases that those conditions pose. We see Nina chipping…