When I looked at the IMDb reviews for this title, I saw the weirdest bunch of reviews of any title I had seen. Most people had heaped praises on the show and those who didn't, I could safely classify as prudes. I decided to watch the show and as a non-prude, I was not completely impressed.
The good things first of course. Everyone cast here is amazing. They lend great depth to their characters and pull off great performances. Don Cheadle is given the meatiest role here and he pulls off humorous cynic and depressed egotist with panache. His scenes with the breaking of the 4th wall are done really well. It was only in the pilot episode that I felt it was a tad overdone. Certain scenes when he holds a conversation and slips in single words to the viewer keep you interested amidst all the business jargon and keep you entertained. The business lingo is still kept to a reasonable level with most of the dialogue being banter or 4th wall shattering stuff. This is good since we can't have all those numbers clouding the experience for the uneducated.
Now the not-so-good things. People have rebuked the amount of sex in this which is incredibly foolish considering this is a Showtime feature. But I did feel that the sex, though few and far between, is sometimes stretched beyond the comic threshold. And at these times, it's not pretty. Sex jokes only get you so far. The show also treats most other businessmen either like complete morons or shrewd underhanded jackals. The show bathes in the stereotypes set by the populace and doesn't ever seem to want to show some of the truth in how people actually do business. They mostly seem to want to concentrate on humour and Marty Kahn's character but using clichéd business as a backdrop. This in itself is clichéd and this disappointed me greatly.
But on the whole, going simply by the intelligent humour, this is a great watch though taking this show seriously would not be recommended.
The good things first of course. Everyone cast here is amazing. They lend great depth to their characters and pull off great performances. Don Cheadle is given the meatiest role here and he pulls off humorous cynic and depressed egotist with panache. His scenes with the breaking of the 4th wall are done really well. It was only in the pilot episode that I felt it was a tad overdone. Certain scenes when he holds a conversation and slips in single words to the viewer keep you interested amidst all the business jargon and keep you entertained. The business lingo is still kept to a reasonable level with most of the dialogue being banter or 4th wall shattering stuff. This is good since we can't have all those numbers clouding the experience for the uneducated.
Now the not-so-good things. People have rebuked the amount of sex in this which is incredibly foolish considering this is a Showtime feature. But I did feel that the sex, though few and far between, is sometimes stretched beyond the comic threshold. And at these times, it's not pretty. Sex jokes only get you so far. The show also treats most other businessmen either like complete morons or shrewd underhanded jackals. The show bathes in the stereotypes set by the populace and doesn't ever seem to want to show some of the truth in how people actually do business. They mostly seem to want to concentrate on humour and Marty Kahn's character but using clichéd business as a backdrop. This in itself is clichéd and this disappointed me greatly.
But on the whole, going simply by the intelligent humour, this is a great watch though taking this show seriously would not be recommended.