I caught the pilot and must say I enjoyed it. The promos didn't do the series any justice. I lived in Ocean Beach, San Diego where it's filmed and it captures the scenery really well. The mix of comedy and drama was good and I think it will fair better than Justified. If you like pulp style fiction, check this out.
I set up and DVRed this, knowing full well FX has a pretty good history of making good shows. Overall, I liked the pilot, and I actually thought this Pilot was better than Justified. I feel like Justified, for the better part of the first season, should've been called "Tim Olyphant wears a cowboy hat and shoots assholes." Granted, I'd have watched it based on that alone, but that wasn't enough to build a season. Justified didn't start to get good til about 3/4 of the way through the first season. This show, however, has the potential to be really good right away. The pilot was excellent, and set up the rest of the series well. I thought the performances were all good, and I'm looking forward to this show. I'd recommend it.
I watched it because I was flipping channels and stopped when I saw Michael Raymond-James. I was compelled to stop and watch. I've seen nothing else that he has been in but something about him really butters my muffins. I like 'em short and rednecky, apparently.
From what I've read, it seems Michael Raymond-James played some sort of badass on True Blood. Another stellar episode last night. The writing is very strong and the character development is quickly building. Really liked how they wrapped up the last night's episode. This baby's got great potential.
He plays Rene, the quiet little Creole guy who is Arlene's fiance (they got engaged in the episode I just watched). I'm almost done with the first season and I really like his character so I hope your past-tense "played" was just a misnomer.
*sniffles* I just got done watching the finale. Bummer! I know this isn't the True Blood thread but I am a regular Dlisted reader and every time I watch True Blood, all I can think of is Soookeh and Beeeehl. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dlisted.com/node/33281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dlisted.com/node/33281</a>
Are you still watching, Wicked? Too bad no one else is. The ratings are awful. This show is wicked sick. Best characters, writing and scenery(I live here, so I'm bias). This crushes Boardwalk Empire and any other drama this year as far as originality. It's here and now. Very much our generation. Nothing is rehashed, except maybe the usual cliffhanger ending. You don't even realize how sick it is they film this in OB. Which is like this little cult town in San Diego, stuck on island of Grateful Dead and Humble County Kind Bud.
That's because the show is awful. It's too convoluted. Not to mention Donal Logue is totally wrong for that role. He's more suited for comedy - he doesn't do angsty and tortured very well.