The premise was interesting and decently executed. The two leads (FBI agent Kay Daniels and Magician Cameron Black) seemed too young for their roles of being a senior agent and world class magician respectively but I suppose that is part of the illusion. It is nice that they explain some of the tricks at the denoument. I have not seen "the Mentalist" so I cannot complain that it is like that but I do see the criticism that it follows other shows' formulae.
As for the high ratings if one takes away the 200 tens you get a normal poisson distribution suggesting some plants in the rating scheme - perhaps from cast and crew wanting to give it a good send off. However I find crew and cast tend to be the most critical of a production so it may be another cohurt used to bump the ratings. This is further supported by the age distribution of voters being closely divided among the three main age groups whereas most productions receive ratings in the 19 to 30 grouping.
Just the same the first episode merits watching the second to see if some of the acting levels out and that it doesn't get too far fetched
As for the high ratings if one takes away the 200 tens you get a normal poisson distribution suggesting some plants in the rating scheme - perhaps from cast and crew wanting to give it a good send off. However I find crew and cast tend to be the most critical of a production so it may be another cohurt used to bump the ratings. This is further supported by the age distribution of voters being closely divided among the three main age groups whereas most productions receive ratings in the 19 to 30 grouping.
Just the same the first episode merits watching the second to see if some of the acting levels out and that it doesn't get too far fetched