"the following"? more like "the DoNotWatchowling"
jesus no crap. it was getting more and more ridiculous and really culminated with him escaping in a helicopter in the middle of a major city in broad daylight and everybody was all "herp derp I guess he got away again herp derp." 
No offense, but the show is about a serial killer setting up some form of super army while in jail, including all hugely successful walks of life, while the FBI can't deal with it and decides to bring in an alcoholic guy on disability to get it all figured out, yet the helicopter ride is what got you?
I mean, it was pretty obvs what the show was just from the commercials pre-air. Bust out your willing suspension of disbelief and just enjoy that this isn't some show by Dick Wolf or the guy from Survivor.
CNS Casey is right, the show sucks but if you watch it just to make fun, it is kind of entertaining. Be warned that the main plot devices are contrived incompetence and lazy character development.
My favorite quote from first episode:
“Dammit, we need to rip apart the library’s Ethernet!” - actual dialogue from The Following.
my favorite characters from the first episode were:
- charming, kind gay couple we were introduced to 30 minutes into the episode only to have it be revealed 10 minutes later that they are bad serial killer people. Later you find out that they also aren't gay. Only...they kind of liked pretending to be gay and decide to actually kind of be gay. Then some girl who doesn't like that they are sort of really gay now stabs one of them to death. Can't miss TV!
- room full of dead guards who were all killed by just one man before anyone had time to notice the unrecognized-serial-killer-disguised-as-security-guard-guy drawing his weapon and killing all their buddies. These awesome guards are who make the rest of the show even possible.
