So what do you think?

Let's see: We have opening credits that are a poor man's version of the opening credits for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; a scene with Vikings landing in the New World that was clearly inspired by the movie 300 and not as well-done as the Spartacus series; then there's a whole lot of talking; then we cut to a middle-aged guy going on a blind date and winding up in the sack with a woman who asks him to worship her and she winds up--how to put this? hmmm--snatching him up; then our protagonist, Shadow Moon (are you familiar with the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens?) gets himself hired as a majordomo/bodyguard by Mr. Wednesday, who is almost certainly Wotan (Wedesday is derived from Wotansday) while a really bad and annoying Tin Pan Alley song from the 60s plays in the background; then Shadow has a pretty good Donnybrook with a 6 1/2-feet tall Leprechaun; then Shadow buries his dead wife and we get this interesting exchange between he and a friend as Shadow stands over her grave: Shadow: "She's in a better place," Friend: "She is in Parkview Cemetery. Target would be more interesting than this;" then Shadow discoveres a strange, glowing VR headset that sucks him into Cyberspace and introduces him to a Silicon Valley pussy whose opening line is a laughably pathetic "Don't fuck with me," and asks questions to which even a Mongoloid would know that Shadow could not possibly know the answer, then has Shadow beaten up and then some force kills all the beater-uppers. The End. I like Neil Gaiman very much. Stardust and Coraline are in my video library. I am going to give this show a chance. Game of Thrones started slowly. So did Emerald City, and I came to love them both. The production values of American Gods is NOWHERE NEAR the values of ES and lightyears removed from GoT. The spoken exposition is tedious. The cast is promising. If Starz, i.e., CBS, is not lazy, this could--and I stress could--be good. At the moment, that conclusion is not a slam-dunk.

But it will never be great.

Yes, I am disappointed.

Neil Gaiman is so immature and over the top; it's all so cringe. I just hate it. Like everything else Neil Gaiman I only look to see if I'll actually like it and I always hate it. I still can't believe his Death is the Death in the DC Universe. How can this work for a large audience. Whatever.

Let's say: I expected more from Brian Fuller.

Wow, and I thought I'd have the unpopular opinion here! I, too, was disappointed in it. I give it the benefit of the doubt since it's only the first episode, but I can't say I was too enthralled with it. I guess, as some others, I expected more by this coming from Fuller. The style is there, but not so much the substance.

There were moments I liked, and I'll keep up with it for a few more episodes, but if I still feel this indifferent towards it by then I'll probably stop watching.

If the show stays true to the book, which it did in the opening episode, then it is going to get a lot more carnivale-esque in the future.

I like it a lot!

I've never read the book, but I like Brian Fuller's stuff, so I was excited for this. The first two episodes were a disappointment and a bit of a chore to sit through. Scenes were happening, and were going on way too long. And everything looked so dark. Why? Episode 3 I thought was better.

I liked the addition of characters from Slavic mythology. Those are usually overlooked. But that's more in the "That's neat" category, that anything else.

Lots of shows struggle a bit in the first few episodes, so hopefully it gets better from here.