After watching all 4 episodes available on Netflix, I really like the show, it's something new to the TV series genre. It has gory operations, profanity, mediocre sex and drug abuse, all set in the 1917 time frame. There's some comic relief too. Daniel Radcliffe plays a very mature role, probably in an attempt to get rid of the childish Harry Potter persona, and he does a good job at it.

I have only watched the first episode and it is already very, very promising. The mix of comedy and drama is irresistible. We are actually lookin' at how great an actor both leads are.

Both Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm are superb in this four part adaptation of short stories from Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. Taking place between 1917 and 1918 it tells the story of a doctor looking back on his time practicing in a small village hospital whilst struggling with morphine addiction. This first season strikes a fine balance between comedy and drama and makes for a unique, and interesting, watch.

I detect a distinct note of Russian humor in this show. Not too surprising of course since it is based on short stories by Bulgakov, one of twentieth century Russia's greatest writers. Hamm is the older version of the doctor undergoing a police investigation for drug abuse. His younger safe finds himself trapped in a dead-end hospital in rural turn-of-the-century Russia, a difficult situation which contributes to his later problems. The interaction between the younger doctor and the older doctor provides the backbone of the show. Certainly not for every taste, but the "Notebook" provides supplies a significant variation of normal TV fare.