Scandal

The final moments [of the premiere episode] set up a new mystery that could propel Shonda Rhimes' Sodom-on-the-Potomac creation through the rest of the fall. [4 Oct 2013, p.59]

Scandal is about as realistic as Mamie Eisenhower Witch Hunter but it has so much headlong energy, you may not care. [9 Apr 2012, p.40]

This may not be Peabody material, but if you like a show that's not afraid to go bananas, this might just be your type of low-hanging fruit.

Rhimes doesn't develop these affairs beyond their impact on the characters' careers, perhaps because the tone is supposed to be serious, not fun-flirty like Grey's. So it's hard to tell why these women sacrifice so much for the people they love.

The cast around Washington is also quite solid, and the show looks and is refreshingly different from a typical procedural. But it also feels a little too slick and superficial, and those gaps in logic may be a problem for some viewers.

Over the top? Yeah. Closer to the truth of the matter? That, too.

As usual, Rhimes' workplace characters talk very fast, but the manic visual style can't obscure a series flawed on most every level.