One can see from this pilot that it was going to work but for two or three problems. The core cast work well and Lurkio, the senator and Ammonia work perfectly together. It is like an unpolished genius. The problems lie with Cassandra the sooth sayer. The point of a sooth sayer is that they are "old and withered" but Cassandra is a young lady who isn't very good as a TV actress. I believe Frankie Howerd suggested his very good friend Jeanne Mockford for the role and she plays it perfectly. My other issue was with Tarsius, he was hamming it to the extreme that it wasn't funny and was very happy when he jumped.
On the whole though...very enjoyable.