I almost never have high expectations for anything that doesn't have a huge name behind it anymore. Even then, it can be really hit or miss. Go in expecting shit and you can be pleasantly surprised!
Basic rule of thumb is that almost any one hour drama is going to take fewer risks and be more by the numbers than any given comedy, even more so on NBC who is so desperate for a mainstream hit that they'll cut anything that might ruffle feathers or, you know, INTEREST A VIEWER. (The buzz is that the pilot they showed for Frontier was really good but people are saying it was "too daring" for NBC, which I assume means either "dark" or "complex characters." Heh.)
My coworker who ADORES McPhee actually agreed with me today that Ivy is clearly being written to read as a villain but that it doesn't really work because she's too charming and nothing she's doing is actually as awful as the show continually implies it is. I compared it to season three of The Office (US), when we're suddenly supposed to hate Karen and Roy just... because they're in the way of the couple who is meant to get together. The show spends a season making them seem like plausible, real people who just happen to be with the wrong person, and suddenly it tries to turn them into ASSHOLES who a viewer might think DESERVES to get dumped. And it doesn't sell it at all. (NBC, you suck at this. You really, really do.)
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Basic rule of thumb is that almost any one hour drama is going to take fewer risks and be more by the numbers than any given comedy, even more so on NBC who is so desperate for a mainstream hit that they'll cut anything that might ruffle feathers or, you know, INTEREST A VIEWER. (The buzz is that the pilot they showed for Frontier was really good but people are saying it was "too daring" for NBC, which I assume means either "dark" or "complex characters." Heh.)
My coworker who ADORES McPhee actually agreed with me today that Ivy is clearly being written to read as a villain but that it doesn't really work because she's too charming and nothing she's doing is actually as awful as the show continually implies it is. I compared it to season three of The Office (US), when we're suddenly supposed to hate Karen and Roy just... because they're in the way of the couple who is meant to get together. The show spends a season making them seem like plausible, real people who just happen to be with the wrong person, and suddenly it tries to turn them into ASSHOLES who a viewer might think DESERVES to get dumped. And it doesn't sell it at all. (NBC, you suck at this. You really, really do.)