FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CAST

Adam Rayner is serving up sexy daddy realness. Those blue eyes are so dreamy.

Jennifer Finnigan looks like the poor man’s Jane Krakowski. She is the worst.

Ashraf Barhom looks like he could be the older, angrier brother of The Professional.

Noah Silver is ruhl cute.

Alice Krige will always be the Borg queen to me.

and Justin Kirk will always be Andy Botwin.

THE PREMISE

Barry Al Fayeed (Rayner) takes his family back to his home country to go to a wedding, his father dies, and he reluctantly stays in the country. His father is a dictator and his brother is basically Qusay & Uday Hussein rolled into one.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING

Tyrant is very well acted (except for the wife), and very well written (except for the wife).

Here’s the thing. If my father ruled another country, you better believe I would be fucking be there abusing all of my privileges. ALL OF THEM. Dictator money spends like regular money. I would be buying blood diamonds all the time. I wouldn’t care how many people were dying behind the scenes, as long as the Prada, Gucci, and Ferragamo kept rolling in. Kill 10 citizens, then go get a new Benz? Done.

Barry Al Fayeed does not agree with me in any way whatsoever. He’s a pediatrician in Los Angeles. His wife is fucking terrible, and they have two kids, Sammy (who I am living for because he speaks fluent fag) and Emma (who is about as exciting as steamed cauliflower). The Borg queen is his mother, and Andy Botwin in a slimy guy from the US embassy. In any good drama, or comedy for that matter, there has to be a bitch. If there’s no bitch, I am not satisfied. The bitch on this show is Barry’s sister-in-law. Jamal’s (Barhom) wife, Leila, is a BITCH. Plus, she is stunning. I am pretty sure she would be best frenemies with Claire Underwood, and any friend of Claire’s is a friend of mine.

What will be interesting is watching Barry navigate all of the gray areas going on in his country. Jamal is ruthless, and has people killed at will. There is a resistance of sorts in the country trying to unseat the Al Fayeed’s. If you like watching internal struggles, then this is the show for you.

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T

There is no reason, really. The ratings pretty solid for a basic cable network. The pilot reeled in 3.1 million viewers, of which 1.2 million were in the 18-49 demo. That is impressive. Do I expect Emmy love? No. Golden Globe love? Yes, Uncle Morty will be into it.

THE GRADE: B+