Pilot report: Nick's (Krause) father dies. Nick directs silent, tight-lipped, thought-chugging stare at the Darling family, who show up at the funeral. Darling family offers Nick a job. Responsibilities include managing tabloid coverage of illegal-immigrant imbroglio, keeping the Darlings' nympho daughter at arm's length from his wife, helping presidential candidate Billy Baldwin reconcile with transsexual girlfriend, and explaining a whole lot of complicated backstory. More silent, tight-lipped, thought-chugging stares ensue.

Representative dialogue: "Patrick, listen to me. You are going to be a United States senator. You're going to occupy one of the highest offices in the land. Don't you as a future U.S. senator at least have to have enough courage, enough integrity, to walk into a hotel room and give a tranny hooker a check?"

Breakout star: The soundtrack. Peter, Bjorn & John, the Fratellis, Spoon, John Brion, and that awesome wuss-crushing Rage Against the Machine song that closed out The Matrix. Finally, someone other than the CW is buddying up to his local record-store clerk!

Worth a season pass?: Maybe. Because this is the pilot, it's necessarily packed with service dialogue aimed at illuminating the backstory, which can be a drag. But we like writer Craig Wright (Brothers & Sisters, Lost, Six Feet Under) and his sick sense of humor, and at its best, the show's insider tone makes it feel like The West Wing for people who read the Times "Style" section before the front page. And that includes us.