connordad

One of the other reviews here seems to have completely missed the point of this episode and therefore probably the entire series.

That would be the one complaining about "borrowed" or "stolen" plots from Star Trek, saying this one was heavily influenced by the Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer." It's just as heavily influenced by the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" - and yes, all of that is INTENTIONAL - because this is A PARODY.

That is the very nature of parody & satire: making fun of material THAT ALREADY EXISTS.

It wouldn't really work any other way.

A shame the reviewer didn't "get" that because this is one of the best episodes.

This pilot episode spends a good deal of time familiarizing us with six characters that it appears to be setting up as the show's regular cast - but by the end of this 90-minute first episode, three of those six would be gone.

However, they were NOT a father, mother and sister as another review here stated. One was the father of a character who remained in the cast - but the other two were graduate students, not relatives.

Those three would be replaced over the next two episodes by a pair of more interesting and colorful characters - a woman from the future and a man from the recent past - in an effort to have a more diverse group of personalities in the cast.,

A quick reading of the review that called this a "most disturbing episode!" makes it quite clear that the reviewer is unfamiliar with the show and does not understand it at all.

The father of the newborn child of this episode's title is NOT present in the story at all. And to say it's "amazing" that "the male beast" (that would be 'Vincent", the romantic male lead character of the series) didn't "rip the baby to shreds...and eat it" is the most ridiculous comment I've ever read in my life and again, demonstrates the reviewer's total lack of understanding of anything about this series at all...

Another review here claims that Meghan Gallagher was fired from this show. That is not true. She was a regular cast member throughout the show's entire existence (one season), appearing in the first and last episodes and several in-between.

Not sure where that incorrect idea came from; maybe the reviewer confused it with another show.

In any case... This was Dabney Coleman's second "anti-hero" sitcom lead role, after Buffalo Bill.

Unlike the totally unlikeable Bill Bittinger, the character of Slap Maxwell did have a few redeeming qualities and this show had more warmth than its predecessor....