Pilots are often the worst episodes because they have to establish the premise and intro the characters. The show can't just focus on setting on jokes or plotlines, it has to welcome the viewers into the new world. "Tara" does a decent job of setting things up but one thing that hurt the show, in my opinion, was that it made Tara's situation seem too normal. I know that one of the points the show will likely try to make is that multiple personality disorder isn't really much worse than most middle class maladies (the pilot compares the disorder to a boob job) but it just struck me as odd that the only people who really had a major issue were the "bad" characters. The daughter was embarrassed a bit but no more than most kids are by their parents. It just rang a bit false that most people seemed cool with what was going on.

Because it is all played as oddly normal (Oddly Normal might actually be a better title to the series), there isn't really much to the pilot. It's basically the family learning to live with something they already seemed accustomed to living with. I'm really not sure if the approach they've taken is the right one. Part of me thinks that the show would be more interesting if it focused on the family dealing with Tara as opposed to Tara being the lead.

But perhaps my biggest gripe about the show is that it committed the cardinal sin of 2008, moving too fast. The show starts with Tara discovering a prescription for morning after pills in her daughter's room and later T, one of the alter-ego (or alter-ids, in this case), tells the daughter that the mom was snooping. This would seem to be a great set-up for an episode; the kid being upset about the invasion of privacy/lack of trust, the mom dealing with an inner lack of trust since she doesn't know if one of her personalities is going to do something she wouldn't or unveil something she's hidden. Instead, there's a little throwaway jokey line about the mom violating the girl's trust, and then the show moves on.

I'm no Diablo Cody hater but I'm not sure she's the right person for this show. I don't mind the witty banter that many people harp on but the bigger issue is that I'm not really sure she can deal with these deeper issues. I liked "Juno" for what it was, but what it was was a popcorn comedy about teen pregnancy. There was no real insight or deep character moments; it was a lightweight version of "Saved!". This show would seem to call for more insight than wit. This isn't to say that Cody can't write a great show based around this premise but I have a feeling it will be more Mind of a Married Man-level fare. 

Still, while I wasn't blown away by the pilot, it established the characters enough and the show could start developing more in the following episodes. The show isn't a one and done like Knight Rider or Bromance (which is the type of show that everyone should watch once but only once) but my expectations have been lowered after watching the pilot.