You aren't meant to compare grades between any shows… for the very reason you pointed out. It doesn't make sense. The grade applies to the show and the show alone, not in comparison to any other show.

This show has all the makings of a hour-long drama series but feels like Showtime said "well we already have Homeland and we need a comedy… so turn it into a half-hour?" This clearly resulted in the writers shitting their pants going "oh fuck, we don't know how to write comedy."

Lesson learned from this show: previous Showtime president never should've left and Rob Thomas' corporate espionage drama pilot would've made it to series and Kristen Bell should've been cast in it.

This episode was definitely a step in the right direction. I hope the rest of the season is like this. Also, you have to admit, it has a sweet theme song.

Surprised that the review doesn't mention that Ritter's agent was played by one of the show's writers and executive producers, Peter Tolan, who as we all know co-created The Job and Rescue Me.

Richard Fish said "moving on" a fair bit anyway…

My take is that Charlie's freak-out was largely due to him not being to process what happened exactly. That he missed the obvious fact that she was a tranny (embarrassment over how he was the only one who didn't realise) as well as the fact that he did enjoy it, as it's something that he "should not enjoy." I think he…

The fact that this show doesn't have a title sequence shits me to no end… I don't know why, I guess I just expect better from a premium cable show. At the very least the title card could be interesting. Plain, boring white text on a black screen for half a second. Small nitpick, sure, but I like title sequences and…

I much prefer it when famous guest stars play a character rather than themselves, I find it far more interesting (30 Rock is a great example). I think the Burt Reynolds thing still worked fairly well though.

YOU DON'T SKIMP ON SKEWERS!

Nope. And the fact that she doesn't want to be the lead in a TV series again (or at least for a long while) makes that even more unlikely and quite frustrating…

He said he (half) *expected* a mostly negative review.

Carell's nose is pinched and pointed, that guy's nose looks nothing like it.

Very very clearly? It's not him.

As Myles said, I never bought that Cox liked Carla. That whole thing seemed so forced and I really disliked it, partially because it wasn't interesting. At all.

No Kelley defenders here? I guess I'll step up to the plate.

Agree with everything here, I think you're dead on. I also agree with the comment that @avclub-0257ef47ca24afa78ea6150826388f08:disqus made above, I think this just had a bad case of pilot-itis. The cast is too good to just toss this show aside, so I'm sticking with it in hopes that future episodes let things breathe…

1. Merely a distraction, in order to put the focus on Walker, drawing focus away from Brody and allowing him to get close without suspicion.

I have an issue regarding the elephant in the room. I do think that the writers wrote themselves into a corner regarding Brody blowing himself up. The way they got him out of the situation, in comparison to how they handled the rest of the season, was poor.

Nope, I had no clue. I've been wondering for so long who that other woman was, so thanks for that.