cast led by Hollywood star Kevin Bacon in his first regular television role, we'd expected a pretty classy piece of drama to emerge onto Fox's - and now Sky Atlantic's - schedules.
But if you're looking for "classy"... well, The Following certainly isn't that. However, with talent like the two Kevins on board, this pilot episode is not completely without merit either.
The most importing thing when watching is to dispel from your mind how expertly Sky's own A Touch of Cloth spoofed the crime drama genre back in August, since Kevin Bacon's lead Ryan Hardy is pretty much a walking cliché - he's tortured, a maverick with a "reputation" who "doesn't play well with others"...
Our hero swills booze in secret and even indulges in one of those 'wash-my-pain-away' shower sequences - The Following stops just short of having someone bark, "You're a maverick, Hardy, but dammit, you get results!"
That said, Kevin Bacon is an award-winning Hollywood icon for a reason and he makes more of his crudely-written role than most actors might, succeeding in breathing a little life into what is, on paper, a one-dimensional character.Elsewhere, Hardy's enthusiastic student Mike Weston is the kind of FBI agent who only exists on TV and in films - bestubbled and sporting a leather jacket. But again, performance overcomes the limitations of the script and X-Men's Shawn Ashmore is an endearing screen presence.
They do say though that the devil has all the best tunes and it's certainly our villain of the piece - unhinged killer Joe Carroll - who comes out of The Following the best. James Purefoy's cruel good looks mean he's perfectly cast as a charming figure with a dark heart.
We suspect the British star's close-quarters snarl-offs with co-star Bacon will quickly become the part of The Following that we come to look forward to each week. Their climactic confrontation here, with a fantastically hissable Purefoy munching down on the scenery, is certainly the best part of this pilot by a long way.The psychotic Carroll is all about inflicting violence of both the physical and psychological kind, but it's the former type that has attracted The Following a fair bit of attention - and indeed criticism - before the show even hit the airwaves.
The levels of on-screen violence here probably won't shock UK viewers used to shows like Wire in the Blood and Messiah but for a US network like Fox to broadcast this sort of material is a surprise - with its eye-gouging and brutal stabbings, this show is best avoided by anyone with a sensitive stomach.
But based on the evidence of the pilot, The Following shouldn't be condemned for its brutal nature - these visceral shocks are what keeps the viewer hooked when the plot and characterisation flag.Yes, The Following is ultimately fun and stylish, with a few neat touches - the use of Marilyn Manson's 'Sweet Dreams' as a musical refrain throughout is very effective indeed, and the decision to end the pilot episode on such a dark note, with Hardy's failure and Carroll's victory, is bold.
Casting a familiar face like Maggie Grace (Lost, Taken) as sacrificial lamb Sarah Fuller was a particularly smart move - hiring a big-name actress means that it's a genuine shock when the character's offed, even if it is a repeat of the trick Kevin Williamson pulled with Drew Barrymore in Scream way back in 1996.
But even beyond the one-note characters, the show indulges in far too many tried-and-tested horror tropes - a fake-out scare with a dog... really? You'd think a genre virtuoso like Williamson would know better - we'd hoped he might even take a stab (no pun intended) at reinventing the genre, as he did with Scream 17 years ago.
The Following's ambitions are not that lofty - it aims to be a slick and gory popcorn thriller and, on that level, it succeeds. Just don't go expecting anything you haven't seen a dozen times before.
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