I just finished watching it and I will say, no disrespect to Dan, but I was a bit disappointed as well. I know he posses WAY more talent than what he displayed.
My wife has seen me perform for over 14 years and she stopped watching the show because of how "staged" and preset up everything was. She picked up on the ring being borrowed from the farthest guy on the right, and immediately said "Isn't that just a borrowed himber ring?" I am in agreement with Scott that I was "hoping" for more of French Kiss with Smoke type effects which doesn't require footage to be edited out. She laughed at the Harry Potter book thing and said the same thing Scott did, A Harry Potter book wouldn't be on an end cap in the book store all by itself with other books the way it was set up.
I understand a lot of TV effects are staged with "friends" of magicians and camera crews but I was expecting to see more of Dan's sleight of hand talent. Maybe there will be more to come in the next few episodes. I will definitely continue to watch.
I will admit I enjoyed the 2nd episode more that the first. The driving thing was a bit silly but the broken glass was at least a little more believable. Did you happen to see that one?