This series had a very tough premise to overcome: A comedy (no fooling) about a federal prosecutor (Scott Foley as an Assistant United States Attorney, known as an A.U.S.A.) trying to put people in prison. Tragedy may equal comedy, but this is a tough stretch to get laughs. I got sent out by my agent for the role in the pilot episode of a Federal Marshall who is screening Scott Foley's character, a brand-new federal prosecutor at the door of the courthouse. Foley's character was evidently startled just as they took his ID photo, and his goofball expression was enjoyed by all of my cop colleagues as I passed his ID around for laughs (an ignominious debut for a federal prosecutor). Scott Foley did a great job as the befuddled A.U.S.A. newbie, getting laughs with lines that many other actors would have blown.My agent never sent me out for lawyer roles, even though I'd done over a hundred actual jury trials myself. I just got auditions for "cop" or "dad" roles - not bad when you think about it since there are always lots of those parts.Too bad about the series. It was a very interesting - and funny - chemistry in the plot and characters. Alas, I think the title of "A.U.S.A." was so esoteric that few if any viewers knew what on Earth it meant. "A.U.S.A." got off to a bad start, just like "Cheers" did when it debuted, only the network had enough guts to keep Cheers on until viewers were hooked.

Four episodes into the first season and "A.U.S.A" is having the funniest first season (in my opinion) since "Cheers" debuted all the way back in 1982. I hope the cast and crew are able to keep up the hi/low combination humour for the rest of the season - if the show even HAS a full season. Apparently "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" is just TOO tempting in that time slot for the mediocre masses to even consider changing over to a show with an actual talented WRITING STAFF. Oh well. Hopefully, like 'Cheers" (which was dead last in the ratings for its entire first season) and "Seinfeld" (which also took a very long time to catch on), somebody at the network will take this show under a wing and let it cultivate popularity. But more than likely, it'll simply be cancelled before it even has a chance.

I was excited to watch this show as I am a huge Scott Foley fan and was pleasantly surprised at how funny the pilot episode was! I think this is a must-see. Scott Foley is great as the lead. The supporting characters add a lot, too.

I laughed when I saw this show. Twice. That's about one laugh per 15 minutes of show time. The vast majority of the show telegraphed its humor so far in advance that by the time the punchline arrived, the joke was stale. Actually, it looked like some of the jokes were stale before the show aired.Personally, I don't see this show lasting very long. Watching people act helpless while bad things happen to them is not as funny as some television executives seem to think. I get enough of stupid people acting stupid in real life.