American Gods

I've been a huge fan of the book, and was looking forward to the show.

It's good. In some ways, it expands on the book. In others, it falls a little short.

The Good:

Expanding Mad Sweeney's and Laura Moon's role over how the book went. 2 very good characters who kind of got a little lost in the shuffle in the book at times. Too many characters = some don't get enough attention. And their respective actors are killing it.

Ian McShane is great in anything. Not really who I pictured as Wednesday (I always had Brian Cox in mind). But I'm very happy with his performance.

Gillian Anderson as Media. Even more over the top than I pictured.

Orlando Jones as Nancy. But I'm also putting this under bad. He should have a bigger role. I'm sure he will next season. I just wish they gave him more attention than, say, Bilquis (more on that shortly). It's funny, because Nancy is elderly in the book. I initially thought Jones to be too young for the part. But I like his take on it.

Easter. I had my doubts about Christine Chenoweth. Now, I can't picture anyone else in the role.

The Bad:

Not all changes from the book work. I can't really go into why without spoilers. So I'll leave it at that.

Bilquis. Enough already! We get it! She's a man eater (literally). The first time you meet her in the book is a real "WTF?!" moment. But she's a very backseat character otherwise. And for good reason: her story isn't very compelling. Not sure why they focused so much on her when that time could have been spent better on Nancy, Czernobog, Easter, Ibis and Jacquel (and Bast who is almost completely unseen so far), the Jesuses (Jesi?) The actress is good, but the character is still lacking and one note.

The Ugly:

8 episodes is too short for a season. 10 is even a tad short. The story was just picking up steam, and they cut away for a year? Not a great way to get a big audience.

All in all, I was surprised that they didn't really go too far into the book yet. At this rate, they'll take 3 seasons to do the book. (And by then, maybe book 2 will finally come out). There's a lot of quirky and cool characters yet unseen. Some events were left out that I'd like to see. And there's a certain god that they're being VERY coy with. I dig it. It worked in the written word, but on screen, it wouldn't have unless they used some trickery. I'm not too keen on Shadow being a full on believer already. He was a bit more stubborn in the book. I really hope we get Hinzelman next season and maybe Mama Ji. And with the expansion on the story, maybe even a few characters the book never covered.

As to the sex and gore. Bilquis is over the top. Granted, that first scene is SUPPOSED to be over the top. But to constantly repeat it ad nauseum is too much. Otherwise, pretty much par for the book. Other than the unnecessary Bilquis scenes, the other sex scenes serve the story. Violence and gore? I think Preacher has it beat there, and that's on regular cable! It's not so bad.