The writing can be a bit cliché here and there, the budget shows occasionally, and the direction can be bland. But the show moves too fast for these problems to ever really irritate me. Every bad scene is followed by 10 good ones. At it's core, the glue of the show is it's concept and the fantastic performances of JK Simmons and Olivia Williams. Second season has a couple of weak episodes, but overall the whole show's great