Superman07

What girl at the end?

He was smoking in the bar. Probably blink and you miss it, but he was putting out a cigarette.

TGM

It was OK, felt like an episode of Supernatural. I liked the lead, and the performances were good. I'll watch for awhile, but I wasn't "wow'd" by it.

SteelWill

I thought it was OK for a pilot. He sure was quick to throw his buddy's daughter under the bus when he thought it'd free Astra.

Deftones

TGM

I smell another one and done season.

Mok

I enjoyed it not a bad start.

cultshock

I used to be a big fan of the comic years ago, and enjoyed this episode, it captured the spirit of the comic quite well IMO, I will continue to watch.

Yeah, well that's John Constantine. As a reader of the comic, I just couldn't accept Keanu as Constantine, it was all wrong. The actor in this show makes a much more believable Constantine to me.

sven

I liked it.

Lead actor was very good.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

I was going to say the same thing. Someone who hasnt read Hellblazer seeing those characteristics of Constantine makes me think the writers and actor nailed it.

DJariya

The female artist who was drawing Constantine.

I wasn't wowed by it, but enjoyed it. It did remind me a little of Supernatural. I do think Matt Ryan is a good and more believeable actor to play Constantine. I liked that he was kind of a dick.

I guess the last 2 scenes were probably the re-shoots that were required to write out Liv after they chose not to go with her.

Giantrobo

It seemed to zip by. It was decent. Didnt blow me away. I do like the guy playing JC and I like the Reeves film.

Im in.

Superman07

Ah. Makes sense they filmed that and the bar scene then. I wonder why Griffiths left. Her accent was okay as well as her interaction with Ryan. I wonder if there was behind the scenes set issues.

Tom Creo

I liked the taxi.

Eric F

Best part of the episode were references to other DCU/Vertigo properties.

PhantomStranger

It was...okay. I didn't see anything in it that got me super excited for a property I've already seen in movies and comic book form. It was disappointing to learn they pulled his smoking habit, which is really John Constantine's one trademark. There are powerful anti-smoking coalitions in Hollywood, since they feel guilty for having glamorized it in movies for so many years. That loss destroys Constantine's single-best storyline.

Constantine felt like a typical NBC series. While there was nothing overtly wrong with the actress for Liv, I could see why a network executive might get cold feet casting her as sole female lead. I would have cast an actress closer to a Keira Knightley type for Constantine. The British market will be very important for this show's chances going forward.

Intuition tells me this will be another one-and-done series on NBC, unless they believe the tie-in to DC Comics is worth keeping around for future benefit. I direly wanted another season of Dracula, but I am not sure the network trusted its lead actor to stay on the straight and narrow.

I can neither confirm, nor deny, if I will be making an appearance.

The Questyen

I find it sad that after being the lead of a massively popular and critically loved comic book series with hundreds of issues the only thing people find defining is his smoking.

Abob Teff

The Questyen has a point ... Is the comic book so bad that the ONE defining characteristic of the lead is the fact that he smokes?

I have never read the comic. I did see the movie but don't remember it. I enjoyed the pilot episode. The "bad guy" was rather undeveloped beyond a faceless "demon of the week" which made it hard to care about why Constantine was fighting the demon. The Constantine character was very much a tragic comic hero and the actor did a great job with it. This has some potential ... Hopefully it develops!

wmansir

FYI, my only exposure to the character is the movie, which I thought was OK. Weak plot but cool concepts. Keanu was a little dopey but otherwise fine in that role.

I thought the first episode was OK. I wish they had cut back on the exposition, even if it meant leaving the audience in the dark for a while longer on some aspects of the world. Being that heavy on setup indicates the show is going to be more monster of the week than serial storytelling.

I didn't like the lead. His fast dialog and instant reaction quips made everything he said feel rehearsed and fake.

DJariya

Matt Ryan isn't really well known in the States. He did guest star in Criminal Minds and his role subsequently carried over to the spinoff Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, which some of you know was canceled after 1 season.

JasonF

I enjoyed it and I thought the lead was extremely well cast.

As for the smoking, I can look past it, but for me, the archetypical John Constantine story hinges on his smoking -- Dangerous Habits, where



I suppose you could do that story without the cigarettes, but if you change the proximate cause, you absolve Constantine of the blame for his own predicament.

ytrez

It wasn't bad. I was distracted for the first 15 minutes with "I know this guy from somewhere" syndrome. Finally I said to my son: "that's Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed iV."

Then I was able to continue watching. Typical of a TV show to bring in the sidekicks. I thought the angel was kind of lame. Hey look, it's Doctor Fate's helmet! I'll watch another episode to see how it holds up.

Gooter

Thanks for this! LOL I knew I heard that voice before.

This was just ok. My only exposure to this character was the Keanu movie which I actually liked. At first, the character being English was throwing me off but then I read up on it and he is from England so they are being more true to the source. Regarding his chain smoking habit, NBC's Standards & Practices wouldn't allow the producers to show it (NBC).

madcougar

It was alright. Definitely going to give it a shot. Wonder if we'll ever meet any other members of DC's magic squad. Wouldn't mind seeing Zatanna...

Obi-Wanma

It's weird that they kept the character British, but made all of his associates (Chas, Ritchie, etc.), especially his "oldest friend", American and apparently based in Atlanta. I get them not wanting all the characters to be British on an American show, but it's still strange.

Josh-da-man

He's British, too.

The thing about John Constantine is that he is ambiguous. His motivations are ambiguous. His powers and abilities are ambiguous. Even his sexuality is ambiguous. He's not particularly trustworthy, and there's a good chance someone's relationship or association with him is going to end badly.

His smoking is a rather large and defining character trait; he's that guy lurking in the shadows, watching the world from a distance, with a Silk Cut in hand. John without a cigarette just seems off.