 The writing of the pilot was criticized as " ponderous " , and having " familiar , conventional plots " . One critic claimed it did not offer much " to inspire an actor " , while another thought it had the " worst writing of the new season " . The dialogue was described as " groan @-@ inducing " . Tom Shales of The Washington Post criticized the series creators ' decision to make St. John a private investigator , and felt that they " appear eager to avoid what makes their show unique " . Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times saw promise in the series , but remarked it got " lost between concept and execution , and instead of suspense we get silliness , as if the creators were determined to use only the clichés of both genres " . The acting of the pilot was criticized as " sub @-@ par " and " woeful " . Robert Bianco of USA Today felt that Moonlight had a " less adept cast " than Angel . Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe depreciated the chemistry between O 'Loughlin and Myles as " artificial " , and said that they " exchange lines of dialogue with a stilted rhythm and no natural flow " . O 'Loughlin was described as a " <unk> " , and " passable in the lead role " , while Sossamon 's appearance was said to be " preposterously not @-@ scary " . Travis Fickett of IGN praised the actors , however , and felt that O 'Loughlin did " a decent job " , and that Myles was " perhaps the most promising aspect of the show " . Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune commended Myles as " reasonably good " . 
