Hello, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from making similar Simpsons jokes, occasionally, on Dayorama in the past.

Just dropping by to make a couple of wonky related notes. First, a report that MPs are lobbied at least 100 times a week. A gross underestimate, I assure you.

On to the main purpose to my posting tonight - the first episode of Party Animals, a new BBC drama based on the lives of MP's researchers in the House of Commons. Well, that'll be me then. It has been said elsewhere in the political blogosphere that it was unlikely to be too realistic, which was one of the points of the series. They weren't wrong.

I watched the first 15 minutes in the office, then walked home, and caught the last 20 minutes at home. In that first 15 minutes, I lost count of all of the mistakes that were made. A junior minister wouldn't base herself out of Portcullis House. Nor would the Chief Whip. Nor are the offices that big or nice. (Well, some are, but they're reserved for the big beasts, not a PUSS and her shadow Tory spokesman.) The pass isn't quite right. The set for the chamber was a bit shabby. I left the office with little hope.

And yet, on my walk home, I gave some thought to the whole concept. It's a sign of the changing television times, I suppose. For example, Party Animals is being sold as This Life for my generation. Now, I remember watching This Life on its first run of repeats in 2000, and I'm currently making my way through the DVDs now. Even now, it still presents an aspirational lifestyle for me to lead. I'm not sure I'd want to lead it, but the point was that it was something I could do in a few years time. Similarly, The West Wing always had that sense of distance (if slightly less achievable) that drew you in. But not Party Animals. All I can see is something so very different from my job (and the jobs that are more directly shown on the show), which makes me write something like this. I fully expect there to be many similar reviews online and in the corridors tomorrow by other researchers. I'm not aspiring to live the Party Animals life; I'm annoyed that a show that wanted so much to portray a realistic picture of our jobs could go so wrong. Of course, it's all in the name of drama, but for the first 15 minutes, it didn't look like a trade worth making.

But I sat down at home and watched the last 20 minutes. It really wasn't much cop for most of it, until - spoiler here - they ran over and killed the annoying, alcoholic, drug taking lobbyist. Genius. Completely unexpected, well acted, and I'm excited to see how this will play out in the next episode.

There were a few other nice touches as well. The outside locations are all on site, and make it more realistic certainly (although researchers can't really afford to drink in the St Stephen's Tavern, frankly). And the scene with Danny falling asleep by Newsnight is so very, very true - he says typing this post in front of Jeremy Paxman on screen.

So, it's... merited another viewing. But frankly I can't help but feel they've wasted an opportunity here.

See you in another few months!