Pilot Review: Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime)
Premiered June 16 at 10:30pm

I was fortunate enough to catch the unedited pilot of this show online at Showtime’s website less than 24 hours before they took it down, though unfortunately the second episode wasn’t available anymore by the time I went back to watch it. I would have liked to see it because I believe the second or third episode will be far more of a determining factor in how good this show than the pilot itself. That said, it’s a pretty decent pilot, but it stresses exposition and catch-up rather than furthering the plot at all (unlike, say, “Criminal Minds”, which jumped right in to a cliffhanger at the end of its very first episode). That’s not a bad thing, it’s just hard to judge the show based on that. It has a relatively small episode order for its first season, though it has been picked up for a number of additional episodes beyond that. I think it could work very well on an episode-to-episode basis; the important thing to keep in mind is that Billie Piper is pretty much anchoring this show all by herself. Showy guest stars will be floating in and out of the show, I’m sure, but it’s Piper’s charm that will have to keep it going. She does a terrific job of introducing everything in the first episode, and it’s certainly a fascinating, innovative look at her life. Her attitude towards her work makes it incredibly interesting, and I’m eager to see more of the show. There's a lot of sex, but unlike recent shows like "Tell Me You Love Me", it doesn't seem to be an overbearing element of the show - more integrated into its style, like on "The L Word". I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with it simply because it’s on Showtime and I may fall behind due to episode unavailability on the Internet, but I’ll be providing reviews as long as I’m watching it.

How will it work as a series? I touched upon that above, but I think it should work very well, but each episode will really stand on its own and it may vary incredibly from episode to episode in quality. Hopefully not, but a sour plotline could drag one episode down and then have absolutely no effect on the next.
How long will it last? Cable shows are always harder to judge than network ones, since they usually go in with a more stable and certain commitment. In the case of this show, it’s pretty much guaranteed a long and healthy life, with a dozen more episodes already ordered for the next season. Showtime has been doing well for itself lately, and that will only help this series, not to mention the prime time slot due to the postponement of the second season of “Californication”.

Pilot grade: B+