The groundbreaking new CBS Sports Network show, We Need to Talk, debuted Tuesday night with an all-female cast discussing the biggest sports stories of the day. Despite a meandering format that will doubtlessly be tightened in the coming weeks and that oh-so-regretful title, We Need to Talk showed intriguing long-term potential and was a refreshing break from the loud, often obnoxious, male-dominated world of sports talk.

Given all the hype and the grandiose expectations for an exclusively female show, there was surprisingly little in the way of self-celebration. No one would have begrudged the 11-woman panel for reveling in making television history but other than a brief introduction at the top from Lesley Visser, there were no references to the historic makeup of the cast. This was simply a sports show hosted by women. It was groundbreaking in that nothing about it felt groundbreaking. The biggest question raised was why this all took so long?

The well-known names on the show — Visser, Andrea Kremer, Dana Jacobsen, Allie LaForce, Laila Ali — were predictably good, but it was one of the most anonymous panelists who established herself as the voice of the show.

Every time she was called upon, Amy Trask, the former Raiders CEO who has been with CBS for the past year, offered sharp, concise takes that were stark in contrast with much of the bloviating that fills cable airwaves. When asked about the female hires recently made the NFL, Trask had a sharp, nuanced response at the ready. “In my view, women should no more want to be offered an opportunity because they’re a woman, than they should want to be overlooked because they’re a woman,” she said.

Through no fault of anyone, that was one of the rare moments of insight in the opening panel, which was hindered by the show’s Sept. 30 premiere date. Starting with the NFL’s recent troubles was a natural, but the Ray Rice videotape has been covered so much there’s little new to say without sounding stale. It wasn’t until the panelists talked about personal issues and more recent events that the takes felt fresh.

Highlights included Laila Ali’s belief that playing a violent sport doesn’t make you a violent person and former swimmer Dara Torres dispensing advice to her friend Michael Phelps after his second DUI.

The always-excellent Kremer, who was underutilized during the show, shined with her end-of-show monologue. If it’s not already planned as a weekly segment, it should be (with some length added to it too). Let Kremer loose and her segment could become the viral hit that all talk shows need to have in 2014.

Impressively, there wasn’t much over-speaking, a bane of the male-dominated NFL pregame shows. The conversations were also held at respectful volumes, unlike almost every other talk show on your cable sports tier.

The show had the usual foibles of any debut program. Some panelists didn’t show enough enthusiasm, others tried too hard. Jumping around from set to set was disorienting. It was obvious when panelists were discussing topics that were out of their comfort zone. (Fox Sports Live had a similar problem in its debut.) But the most noticeable issue was the lack of cohesiveness. At Richard Deitsch noted on SI.com, We Need To Talk opted to premiere without a host. It needs one, or else the free-form nature of the show runs the risk of becoming aimless. Having the experienced panelists moderate each segment was a mixed bag.

Wolfson was out of her element — her questions to Visser were more like suggestions. “I want to hear your take on everything that has taken place,” she said at one point. The panels were much smoother when moderated by LaForce and, in particular, Jacobsen, who had the right combination of gravitas and looseness to lead such a show.

But what kind of show is We Need to Talk? A talk show? A serious panel show? A back-and-forth sports gabber? Can it be all three? The biggest question is how a weekly program can stay relevant in the 24/7 news culture. The show needs to figure out how to advance the conversation, not rephrase it.

In its debut, We Need to Talk showed it was more than a gimmick — not that there’s anything wrong with gimmicks. PTI was one. Around The Horn was too. Gimmicks are how a show gets on the air. Content is how to stay there. Through one episode, We Need To Talk shows that with some selective editing it has the chops to stick around.

But seriously, we have to talk about that name.