Dirk Gently

How can you not admit the brilliance of stealing a character from an extremely popular show such as "Orphan Black" three years in the future? It doesn't get any more holistic than that. Beyond that playful jab at Siren555, this is typical British inanity. Enjoyable but not memorable. I am about to watch the second episode about a month after I'd seen the first and must admit I recall very little from the pilot. Yet I'm sure I will smile often, chuckle occasionally and potentially laugh out loud once or twice. It is what it is, you get what you pay for and caveat emptor.

Ps. Apparently the first episode was not the pilot. I'll have to try and find it.

Wellalright... found the pilot. Excellent! I gave it a 9. Amidst all the silliness was actually an imaginative mystery. Mysteries I should say. The twists at the end were Hitchcockian/Serlingesque. Very entertaining and worth every minute.

Addendum: The way I rate shows... I don't usually review anything less than a 7 because 6 would be a failing grade and I won't waste my time watching it. I'm old; I don't know how much time I've got left. Since I probably turned it off before getting even halfway through, it wouldn't be fair to rate or review it. 7 is watchable but I may go a while between episodes since, though somewhat entertaining, there are other shows more interesting or compelling. 8 would be a regular in my lineup. 9 is a must see and probably bingeable. 10 is just the epitome of superbity and headed for my all-time favorites list. I'm adding this to my reviews because it seems there are a lot of binary reactions to pretty much everything these days. I am not a like/unlike kind of guy. I see a lot of grays so if I give something a 10 it doesn't mean the only alternative is a 1.

Stephen Mangan is a riot as Dirk Gently, who runs a "holistic detective agency." Gently believes in the interconnectedness of all things and that the universe will solve his cases. The universe might, but they won't pay his bills or clean his office. Darren Boyd is sort of his partner, MacDuff, and Gently drives him nuts.

This is a wildly funny show, with one client paying Gently to find out who is stalking him, which turns out to be Gently himself, in another case he works on finding a cat and uses time travel, that sort of thing.

Mangan is intense and outrageous as Gently, with wild hair and a declamatory voice. Everyone around him looks fairly discouraged. Unfortunately this series only lasted one season, but I notice there's a TV movie made in 2015. Maybe it will be back.

Holistic detective Dirk Gently (Stephen Mangan) solves his cases by deciphering the interconnectivity of everything no matter how incredible. His cases range from a missing dog to a murder linked to the Pentagon. Richard MacDuff invests into his agency despite his girlfriend Susan Harmison's objections.

Stephen Mangan is great and I love him in Episodes. MacDuff is a bit of a dud. His character doesn't have much charm. I'd rather have more Susan Harmison. She's a great foil to the Dirk character. This is based on Douglas Adams work and it has his irreverent touch. The first episode has a hilarious take on Schrödinger's cat. I need more of that and a better second to Dirk. Otherwise, this is pretty fun with a wacky character.

I have multiple copies of each Dirk Gently book, including soft covers, hard covers, first editions, and signed copies. This show kept Dirk pretty darn close to the true spirit of the originals. The stories are reminiscent of something Adams may have written in the early 2010's.

Mangan is the perfect casting for Dirk, and plays him naturally. MacDuff is a bit more bland than the novels, but is played well by Boyd.

It is a shame that there are so many people that don't appreciate how well done this show as, from the perfectly themed and timed musical cues, to the cinematography itself.

Any true DNA fan prefers this adaptation to the horrid, new atrocity playing on TV.

This series is amazingly bizarre, Amazingly Funny and leaves you guessing where the story is going often leading you down a rabbit hole that only concludes when you've looked at the most improbable solution to the problem possible. Dirk Gently is a detective who solves cases Holistically believing every thing is interconnected in the universe and that by pursuing every solution for one case he will often solve other cases, while this often appears to his partner McDuff like he is doing nothing on one he has a way of one thing from one case coming back and helping him work the other cases. His cases aren't always simple cases with obvious clues though as they often result in super science and solutions that push improbability to the limits.

The two lead characters personalities play off each other well and the actors do a good job establishing these traits.