We need to discuss other viewing options :)
We watched it, not sure if I was as pleased as you, but I know it takes several shows to build characters and I think TN has the makings for an enjoyable show. I just had a feel of "Jurassic park and lost" had a baby fell about it. They kept the back story pretty short and just tossed you into the time machine. I liked the smuggling of the little girl, but would have been nice to explore Dad's getting out of jail part in more detail. I hope such things are NOT done in a LOST format, that show could make you head spin with flashbacks.
I really like Fallen Skies, the pacing was great right out of the box. Will Patton is great in everything he does, so you can't beat him as a supporting character. The show the EVENT was horrid I thought, they had a great premise that just didn't seem to click and I really loved Heroes but it got muddy too into the last two seasons, it just was WORK to follow especially if you missed (or misunderstood) anything.
It's odd what causes a show to tumble and burn - some never get enough air-time to get to their point, others have no point.
I always go back to my favorite series of the 90s - OZ! Rough, often hard to watch TV with a remarkable cast (most of who are now in one or more Law and Order series) but it had realism about it, I worked in a high security jail for 5 years, I could smell the place in my mind every time I watched Oz.
You and I Kathy have seen a life time of TV series come and go. If we talk horror, serious drama, sci-fi and all the shows which fall in between, it adds up into the hundreds and hundreds. Some touch us, from the gambit of eclectic themes of Quantum Leap where you went from silly to hard core serious from one week to another, to the pulse pounding run of 24, there have been a lot of great shows indeed. All of which are taking a backseat to reality TV, most of which is so mindless that no neurons are triggered in our brains until the commercials come on.
I know I've mentioned my favorite shows currently running elsewhere, but to anyone new reading: Breaking bad is simply the best thing on TV right now IMHO. Followed by the always fun and smart Leverage. In just a week or two the Walking Dead returns, can't wait - it is amazing but true, you could NEVER see another Zombie Scene again in the Walking Dead and it would still be a very good series about relationships among the survivors.
I think Madmen is creative and does a great job of showing us how technology evolves and how people change during some turbulent times in our country. The Good Wife and Blue Bloods, the 3rd Watch and ERs all have a place in my memory. When you feel sorrow when a character dies, it shows that the series got to you, it did what the director had hoped.
The modern detective shows are smart too - yeah, you have all the CSI and NCIS and Law&Orders, but you have the Glades and The Killing and Dexter. Cable channels SURE HAVE BALANCED OUT THE CONTENT, from smart yet funny shows like Monk and Psych to the darkest shows that mimic reality like the Wire.
Can't say there isn't stuff for everyone.