Good things about Numb3rs:

• David Krumholtz has the right mixture of cuteness and geekiness to carry the show. Not that I’m qualified to judge the former.^[1]

• The show has a nice demonstration of how random patterns are harder to construct than you might think.

• When taking notes on his brother’s lecture on serial killer behavior patterns, Krumholtz uses the ∃ notation for “there exists.” I used to do this when taking notes for non-science classes. (“For all democratic governments, there exists a unique principle…”)

• ohmygod it’s Natalie — I mean SABRINA LLOYD!!!!

Not-so-good things about Numb3rs:

• The “3” is not even remotely l33t.

• Peter MacNicol’s character is just as annoying as he was on Ally McBeal, and he makes a surprisingly unconvincing physicist.

• “Let’s have a show about a mathematician hero and premiere it right after football. Then let’s move it to Fridays at 10!”

As a side note, is it just me, or have commercials gotten totally weird? I haven’t owned a working TV for nearly three years, and most of what I have watched has been Tivo’ed shows or shows-on-DVD. Now that I have emerged from my cocoon, it seems there is a bewildering array of prescription pharmaceuticals and other medical products available for purchase these days. Is that just CBS, or is that true for all network TV? One commercial simply instructed us to follow our doctor’s instructions when taking Zocor. But what the hell is Zocor? And why do we need commercials to remind us to take it according to instructions? We are a very strange nation.

Did I mention Numb3rs has Sabrina Lloyd? This is important, worth mentioning. Thank you.

1. Although if I did, it’s not like there would be anything wrong with that.