The author obviously brought some preconceived notions of Duchovny into his viewing, because this series (the pilot, anyway, which has been available on Netflix for several weeks) attempts all those adjectives Mr. Patterson casually tosses around, but never actually delivers on them on any but the most mundane level. The show is pretentious and insipid, and thinks it's a whole lot better than it is. The acting is awkward, the cast mostly miscast, direction/editing standard and mediocre. Even the music selection is tired and old. I suppose if seeing Duchovny's butt for 5 seconds is enough to satisfy his fanbase, then I guess this show could be deemed a winner. However, those seeking real entertainment will have to cross their fingers and hope the show gets over itself in upcoming episodes and realizes that it takes more than simply walking past the camera, droning a few lines and taking your clothes off.

I agree completely with crackedmuse. This show portends to be flippant and wry and sharply witty. It is none of these. It stews in its juvenality so blatantly it makes "Entourage" look like Strindberg. Even the decent moments of humor or insight (or even just a capably-written line of dialogue) are ruined by the crippling pacing and bland (not spare or subtle, there's a difference) acting. And the premise of self-loathing, alcoholic, blocked writer is as clammy as they come. Duchovny might as well be a "cop who does things his own way."

Perhaps I smoked crack when I watched the pilot (and so far I have only seen the pilot) but I thought the show was great, especially the acting, and I am a huge actor curmedgeon, I also don't recall smoking crack prior to watching the show, something I'm sure I'd remember. Normally I detest Natascha McElhone, I just can't get over her face which looks like the unholy spawn of Celine Dion and Meryl Streep, but she is vivacious and as hard to read as a cuttlefish.You can see her confident in her decision to leave Duchovny one moment, only to fight mightily against him when he starts acting the injured puppy. Duchovny is a cross between House and Dexter as an almost pathologically personable misanthrope (not exactly an easy feat of acting itself), and his daughter on the show adeptly walks a fine line between noxiously precocious and adorably naive.

There's a brilliant moment when the sadist Duchovny picked up days earlier is revealed to be 16 and more than just a stranger. This happens in an awkward, coded, exchange between the girl in question and Duchovny in front of McElhone. Unaware that the two have slept together McElhone observes that Duchovny is a dirty old man who was drooling all over this 16 year old. Duchovny who has just been shaken by the discovery of the 16 year old's full identity snaps out of a moment of absolute anxiety and fear to deliver an, "am not" so convincing he actually sounds hurt, to which McElhone still susceptible to his charms despite years of suffering actually apologizes.

Deliciously good.