I heard this show was really good, so I tried it. After watching the pilot, I don't have any interest in watching anymore. Very derivative, with uninteresting characters and plot. The biggest problem I have with it is that it is so incredibly pretentious; it is trying so hard to be as good as an HBO show, that it makes me hate it even more. It's pretentious because random creative decisions are made for the sake of them being 'cool'. It feels like the filmmakers behind it just saw a bunch of really good shows, picked out things they liked and slapped it altogether to create this.
- every scene ends and/or begins with electric guitar in the tune of westerns, then fades out after 10 seconds. It sounds cool, but doesn't fit
- first scene is especially weak, given that it sort of 'homages' westerns (music + everyone hiding behind things + character on a horse, walking slowly down a street). I expected the show to be sort of satirical then. Except the show isn't, which makes me think it basically ripped it off because the filmmakers thought it looked and sounded cool. They didn't understand that this cliché has become so iconic that it can only be used for satire nowadays.
- no character development or clichéd character development. I can't tell you a single interesting or unique thing about any of the characters.
- cinematography, while pretty at first glance, comes off as very random. Sometimes there are inserts of a character we haven't even been introduced to yet, looking at another character for up to 10 seconds, while that other character is talking. Lots of reaction shots-especially annoying cliché of character smirking at something that another character says, in order to try and make the audience laugh. Same use as a laugh track in sitcoms: doing the laughing for the audience, at a 'joke' that isn't usually even funny. 2-3 insert shots of things in reflection off surfaces (random).
- scene of Sam Neill coming into the town by carriage has been in about a hundred other movies/tv shows
I could go on forever...
