It's hard to imagine viewers voting with their clickers for this pretentious political soap.

The Son rises and sets on Brosnan’s work. Everything else is distraction.

Wahlberg, a favorite here, needs to avoid David Caruso Syndrome. There's a bit too much posturing with the furrowed brow and hand-on-the-hip that has made a caricature of that "CSI: Miami" star. Moynahan is solid as the assistant district attorney, but her character's lefty politics seem at odds with her occupation and her family.....But Selleck as the bad guy in his own show? It almost makes you want to dial 911.

Unlike the similarly post-apocalyptic "Walking Dead," there's never much tension on Falling Skies.

TNT bills Franklin & Bash as a dramedy, but it is more accurately a comedic bromance laced with pop-culture jokes and a dash of legal jargon to trick you into thinking you spent an hour on something of substance.

Fox’s new comedy dangles the promise of outrageous high jinks just around the corner, but at its heart, it’s a conventional story, the misfit forced to become the parent to three wayward kids and, of course, become a better person.

A slow-pokey drama punctuated by shocking violence and sex.

Better With You has the foundation to be an engaging comedy. Right now, it's difficult to commit to a long-term relationship

Your enjoyment of the show will hinge on how much you can stomach the antics of the First Screw-Up.

The Brave’s patriotism and its approach to dealing with threats to Americans is cathartic. Plausible? You’ll have to find another series for that.

The only takeaway from Young Sheldon is that his present is far more interesting than his past.

Lone Star, created and written by Kyle Killen, centers on a con man who lives a double life--with two beautiful women--and is so full of plot holes you could drive a motorcade through it with a parade of elephants behind.

Ramirez does an outstanding job capturing a gentle man and his passion for his work. Penelope Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) co-stars as his doting sister Donatella, who has absolutely no use for Antonio. (That animosity is well documented.) Criss’ portrayal is brittle and needy (and not such a far stretch from the character he played on Murphy’s “Glee”).

[A Very English Scandal] never settles on a tone. One moment, it’s delivering sly, savage moments worthy of Ricky Gervais’ “The Office.” Then it becomes earthquake serious as one heterosexual politician reveals why he wants to decriminalize homosexuality.

Turturro, who is credited not only as an executive producer but one of the miniseries’ four writers, gives one of the most restrained performances of his career. His cleric is soft-spoken, always watchful of every detail in a room. His efforts seem to give other performers license to overact.

After Life plays like an odd vanity project.

The ninth and final season premiere of NBC's The Office definitively answers a few key questions about the cogs at the middling paper company Dunder Mifflin--if anyone out there is still interested in the once smart, now just silly sitcom.

Maybe Abrams just ran out of energy drinks that week. This is a poor caper show that doesn't even deliver half the surprises of TNT's "Leverage."

The pilot is a rough go, winging from one angel to the next, necessary perhaps to set the premise but a slog. Nobody from the cast makes much of an impression.

Anyone really thirsty for laughs will probably come up dry.

Because this is a Bravo reality show, every hour has to end with a manufactured epiphany.

Like the look of the ladies, the show is gorgeous, but it needs to reveal some substance.

The Last Post seems to be one-third military thriller and two-thirds soap opera. Some sequences are harrowing. Others strain plausibility.

Spoils takes its murder mystery too seriously. While this isn’t as dour an affair as Ferrell and Wiig’s recent Lifetime debacle, “A Deadly Adoption,” a little bit more nuttiness would make this mini more a treat and not so much an endurance challenge.

Undercover presents a wonderful tribute to the working man and woman. Middle managers are the villains here, sitting at desks and docking workers for clocking in late at lunch. The hour ends with the predictable reveal.

MTV's documentary series "True Life" has walked this territory before with far more compelling subjects.

Tierney and Morrow are both seasoned TV stars, but even they can't make The Whole Truth ring true.

Many of the scenes with the teens seem staged, especially tonight's climax. Still, the Bruces aren't anything like the delusional couples who populate Bravo's "Housewives" shows. This is a functioning family trying to survive a dysfunctional time.

For a show that starts out with so much energy, Breakout Kings quickly settles into a procedural rut.

Satisfaction has the most provocative premise--until about halfway through when it doesn’t just go off the rails, it careens into the ocean, swims for England, sits for afternoon tea and then flings itself into the moon.

Grimm has a low-rent Saturday Syfy vibe to it.

All this twee is verging on twaddle.

I’m pretty sure there was a Lifetime version of this story and the best part was it was over in two hours. Cardellini does the best she can, but the writing for her character and her motivations make no sense.

Thursday’s conclusion drags a bit if only because the miniseries requires Rosemary to be so deeply stupid for so long, and it’s not entertaining watching Saldana being practically sucked dry by her infernal fetus.

The emo-dialogue only sounds good if you’re just watching your first TV show..... The show’s decade-forward future is intriguing but inconsistent.

Comparisons to the BBC show are unavoidable since the first two episodes are practically a scene-by-scene reshoot of the original's opening. The stars even look like doppelgangers of the English cast.

Sarah Palin's Alaska turns out to be a tepid travelogue of the former governor's home state's tourist attractions interspersed with homespun homilies and family downtime.

Of the handful of episodes I watched, the pilot tonight, written by Adlon and directed by C.K., is the strongest. Subsequent episodes meander.

Homeland now stumbles through familiar territory, and the view the second time around isn’t half as compelling.

Urban and Ealy are competent in their roles, damaged spirits destined to become brothers of a sort, not if, but only when.... While some viewers will be oblivious to the show’s racial politics, others will struggle to find a point. Somebody at Fox short-circuited.

Reign is a big stick of stupid wrapped in gauzy costumes and tramping around a sumptuous estate.

This hyper-violent crime soap from creator, executive producer, director and writer John Singleton is punctuated with some terrific performances fighting against predictable plot bumps.

[The] premiere serves as a rocky reboot to the once robust hit.

With its relentless narration, Gold Rush: Alaska more often plays like anaudible.com download with stunning visuals of Sarah Palin's home state as a backdrop.

Seal Team Six won't sway undecided voters; it also won't entertain many, either.

The uneven 10-episode series shifts from pedestrian cloak-and-dagger to camp.

There’s much intrigue and backbiting going on in the small domestic household of the Dowager Countess, but that, too, ultimately goes nowhere. Fellowes hints at drama and pulls his punches.

The show appears to be an uneven hour that hesitates at going either for the full-throttle laugh or an authentic dramatic beat.

A sometimes intriguing sci-fi show from executive producer Ronald D. Moore about a viral outbreak at a desolate Arctic base. The bug isn’t airborne, but stupidity apparently is.

The players have all done fine work in other venues, but the story isn't here. The network that "knows drama" needs to step it up a beat.

A last-minute reveal in tonight’s episode is dropped for shock value and is all but retracted next week. The twisting in the story is a betrayal of viewer trust.... With a story like The Family, everyone needs to be paying attention to the fine details. But at least we get to enjoy Allen in our homes every week, for a time, anyway.

If GCB wants to soar to heavenly numbers, it better let the devil out to play.

There’s so much [music] here, Vinyl runs the risk of turning into “Treme,” which seemed to be a music show with a touch of plot. Vinyl spins back years with copious flashbacks, and they do Cannavale and the show no favors. No matter the year, no matter how his hair is parted, he looks the same, a middle-aged guy. Some things can’t be finessed.

Nightflyers, like YouTube Premium’s “Origin,” features a wholly impractical spaceship design, one that is expansive and minimalist, with long corridors and plenty of convenient places for something to hide. What starts intriguingly turns sillier the deeper you go.

This supernatural thriller is much more attuned to the times than PBS’ costume period piece “Downton Abbey,” which filters such hot topics as women’s rights and homosexuality through a modern lens.... Mina’s aspirations to become a surgeon are publicly disparaged by the person closest to her next week in a moment that hits harder than the onscreen horror. Dracula’s visit to an under­ground gay club next week is well, bizarre, but it captures how homosexuals dwelled in the shadows, terrified of exposure. Those moments are far more biting than any of the so-called scares.

Those who love the books will probably geek out on the series. The rest of us may have a harder time sitting through Game of Thrones.

The glimpses of 1930s Hollywood come off like cotton candy dipped in bourbon. ... Of the cast, Grammer manages to keep his head above the material. His studio mogul can be gruff, but Grammer is canny enough to play against the dialogue.

The series’ greatest pleasure is seeing Lewis and Giamatti spar with each other, but there just aren’t enough of those moments to make Billions a bargain.

This remake of a tart British sitcom of the same name starts with the moment that has killed many a show: its two main characters in bed, post-booty call. It's anything but romantic.

The show’s formula--particularly the ease in which the villains track down Chuck--is getting creaky.

It’s not a good fit [with Lifetime], and there’s not a lot of drama in this biopic about the first U.S. Olympic gymnast and African-­American to triumph in both the all-around and the team competition.

Suvari and Bartels are competent, but don’t have a lot to do in the early episodes. The scripts hit every beat you might expect. “American Woman” makes “Sex and the City” look timeless.

The scatological jokes run high, while some of the action sequences are worthy of a C-level thriller.

The first three episodes are essentially capers involving spy chasing spy as angst-ridden Russians try to defect, the CIA tries to get to them and the SVR sics the O’Connors on everyone.

Ben Stiller, best known for his comedic turns in such films as “Meet the Fockers” and “Zoolander,” directs all seven episodes and he’s competent and maybe too thorough. The series could have easily been trimmed by a third.

Right now, Up All Night is the TV equivalent of a glass of warm milk.

Rookie Blue is set in a nondescript big city, which also serves to make the series generic. The cast, however, is spunky and promising.

Burns’ direction is choppy, except for his closing­ scenes, which are un­expectedly strong. He does know how to end an episode. If only he knew how to begin one.

The Salahis are the attraction here. Judging from the season teaser, the show will spend the entire season building up to the infamous dinner-crashing scene, to which the Bravo cameras appear to had access. Remember, a fame whore needs your attention to survive. Look away now.

Defenders rises and falls on what its cast can bring to the mix. The less Finn Jones is onscreen, the better. He might be the most miscast actor in any series ever. Colter brings Luke’s look and nothing else. Now Ritter and Cox, on the other hand, I could binge on a Jones/Murdock spinoff all weekend long.

Feed the Beast manages to be both overheated and undercooked. Stock up on antacid.

There’s a real disconnect in this telling. With the exception of Sara and two junior detectives, fraternal twins ostracized on the force because they are Jewish, the story seems as dry as a box of Wheat Thins. The scenery is set. The people are dressed for their parts. But The Alienist rarely gets moving.

This show details the death of a marriage by a thousand cuts, a few hundred insults and a bag of clothes thrown in the trash. Maybe that’s your appointment TV. I’d rather binge watch root canal videos on YouTube.

The Thundermans doesn’t do much heavy lifting, but it waves its cape proudly.

Call me bored. Encore's adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, the cable network's first original miniseries, is about as thrilling as a three-hour tour of Boston Harbor while blindfolded on a sweltering summer day.

The show’s pacing, particularly in the first hour, could trigger a nap.

Pacing issues undercut Adams, who presents a finely wrought picture of a woman who turns her anxiety in on herself with a ferociousness that leaves her scarred. ... Ultimately, the source material is not Flynn’s best work and shares little of the shocks and twists of her superior “Gone Girl.” Sharp Objects should leave more of a mark.

Mullally is this show’s greatest asset, and unlike her colleagues, knows how to finesse every joke for maximum effect without mugging to the back row.

The show needs more juice. Instead of skirting away, it needs to embrace the story that inspired it.

Mind Games is the kind of dramedy that could give you a brain cramp.

Series creator, director and writer David S. Goyer (scribe for Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy) twists the already amazing life of the 15th century artist and inventor into something fantastical--but not altogether convincing.

While Boss has delusions of Shakespeare, it's not even in the same league as the TNT revival of "Dallas."

Legacies establishes its world fast. This is a supernatural “Riverdale” — which might be redundant, given the direction of that show this season. But after two series, the magic is thin and your interest may wane like the moonlight.

If only Instinct had a little more going for itself, it might be worth making room on your DVR.

Collette, as always, elevates the material, but there’s no escaping the sad realization that these are profoundly selfish people who deserve each other. Wanderlust is a show that would be markedly improved by cutting each episode by half. There’s entirely too much thrusting and groaning, yes, we get the point, and a lot of people have sex with their clothes on.

This show almost works, and credit has to go to star Jordana Spiro ("My Boys"), who imbues her Dr. Grace Devlin with equal parts brass and cleverness.

Russell and Rhys seem adept at the disguises and stunts. But their characters are practically flipped from pilot to second episode, and some of the black humor here is awkwardly executed.

Impastor has a stronger­ point of view [than The Jim Gaffigan Show] but fewer laughs.

Some of Knightfall’s CGI action, at least in the cut the network offered to critics, is ambitious but unconvincing. When the show settles the swordplay to push plot around, Knightfall rises to far-fetched.

Even though it’s been a heady year since the first thrilling installment and the season runs but eight episodes, something feels undercooked about this production.

While much of the teen supporting cast, including Kyanna Simone Simpson as best pal Yvonne and Sarah Mezzanotte as mean girl Marnie, are just right, Rose is flat through most of her scenes. The scares, at least in the opening episodes, rise from jump cuts or dreams. Ten episodes just seems too long for any heart to suffer this story.

Tim Kring (“Heroes”) and Gideon Raff (“Homeland”) teamed to create this 10-episode miniseries, and while they’re smart enough to acknowledge their debt to “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” they aren’t able to match their source material.

There are two last-minute twists that stretch and nearly break any credulity.

TNT’s latest crime drama reeks of stale TV crime procedurals from the ’70s and ’80s.

TLC’s editing, as expected, goes out of its way to make the family appear like idiots.... But the Thompsons don’t care what other people think. They’ve got each other. In that, they’re light-years better adjusted than just about any family on any other reality show.

Manifest moves fast, but it plays like a ticket to nowhere.

Troubled spirits: Mixology is drowning in them. Save yourself.

Netflix’s new sitcom Love is everything you expect from Judd Apatow --raunchy, rude, crass, bloated with drug jokes and sex gags and maybe more 
f-bombs than any other series­ ever.... Across 10 episodes, Love takes its time bringing its two leads together, which is just fine.