Am I stupid? Or is it just not good?

So, I finally watched the Mad Man opener. Lots to love. LOTS. Really engaging on about twenty different levels. One of my favorite things about this show is that I, as a pretty smart watcher, have no idea how Don Draper is going to react to things. It's like watching this man tettor totter between the best of himself and the worst. No idea from one problem to the next if he's going to take someone's head off, or give them a pass. And it was hot. Really hot in that awesome repressed sexuality way - totally dug it.

But I was reading a review of it - in Rolling Stone I think. And they were talking about how the aspects that the show gets right - namely Draper - they're A+. But the aspects they fail at - namely pacing, meandering subplots and staging - they really do fail.

And it opened my eyes to the fact that I've let this show get away with so much because I've been convinced it's so much smarter than me. If something doesn't work for me it must be my fault because the show is SO GOOD. But just because something is great and I mean really really great at a few things, doesn't mean it's bullet proof. I've had my blinders lifted.

Are there shows/books/movies out there that you've given the benefit of the doubt because parts of them are so amazing?