The Good:
- Though I was one of the initial backers when Con-Man was being crowdfunded, I remain genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the final product. It made me laugh out loud on several occasions (which is rare for a sitcom) and there were several moments I felt were truly original (again, rare for sitcoms these days).
- The cameos! My word, they really pulled these out of the bag, right from the first scenes. Aside from the (practically expected) Firefly cast appearances, having individuals like Sean Astin turn up made the whole concept far more believable – plus everyone involved clearly had a lot of fun! Special mention here to both Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day: the former for a cameo so disguised I totally missed it the first time through; the latter for completely stealing the show! The running gag of Felicia always wearing the exact costume as Ray, down to the arm through the wrong sleeve, was brilliantly executed. I definitely hope she returns in Season 2!
- Though clearly drawing on real-life occurrences and situations, the script felt unique and distinct in its own right. I was worried this would be a "too close to the bone" look at the life of main actor/scriptwriter Alan Tudyk, but the reality was far more nuanced and interesting. I didn't come away believing Ray = Alan, nor was he just a parody of Alan, but a unique character in his own right. In other words, both the characterisation and scripting was far better than I had anticipated.
The Bad:
- Cringe humour is not, shall we say, my favourite form of comedy and Con-Man relies on it frequently. Some people will love that, but for me it was a little bit of a shame. That said, however, Con-Man largely managed to walk the fine line between humour and despair that this form of joke-telling requires. Unlike other modern "classics" that rely on cringe humour, such as The Office (UK) and The Inbetweeners, the gags in Con-Man did just enough to make the cringe worthwhile.
- Though the majority of episodes flowed nicely into one another, occasionally the short run time led to some forgotten subplots or jarring intercuts in order for the main story to progress. Characters, in particular, felt a little off centre occasionally and would have benefitted from a slight bit more development.
- Despite appreciating the running joke regarding Nathan Fillion's character never being in the same place as Ray, I really hope they don't keep it up in Season 2 as it was beginning to get a little old by the final episode.
The Ugly:
- That title sequence. I mean, I know it was filmed on a budget, but when that budget can easily accommodate an entire plane set and a recreation of a whole spaceship set/sets that looked very genuine, surely they could have managed better here!