I liked TNM. It lagged at times, was wholly improbable both in plot and details - knowing even a little about military hardware makes that shopping list he photocopies pure comedy gold - but it was entertaining. TH himself was too. There were some hammy moments and that chuckle was the stuff of nightmares, but it was a solid performance.

But the show and TH pale in comparison to other series in that season. That's the problem with it for me. There were times when I watched TPvOJ and just knew that I was watching performance/script perfection. Vance and Brown's courtroom scenes about race and Mark Fuhrman were masterful. I never had those same feelings when watching TNM, not even with Coleman's 'sports day' scene - and I'd just written a paper on the use of chemical weapons.

When the creative team talks about not doing a second series unless it is as good as the first, all I can think is, 'Could you not do a second series unless it's better than the first?'