After Life plays like an odd vanity project.

The series is an adaptation of popular Mexican tele­novela “Terminales” and doesn’t do enough to shake off its more sensational roots. A plot swerve at the end of the hour will set off more groans than gasps.

The editing is kind to most of the contestants, who come off as earnest, intelligent folks looking to engage their inner heroes.... Alas, The Quest’s elimination challenge is unimaginative and the vote deliberations almost as petty as anything on “Big Brother.”

The Collection can be pretty to look at, but first impressions will not lead to second glances.

This sad sack of a show plays like an East Coast, economically challenged version of his HBO hit “Entourage.”

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.

It’s funny, sad, invasive and unhinged.

Quibbles about the premise aside, Ritter makes and sells this show. He balances the pathos and the comedy. In lesser hands, this hour just would not be appealing.

Ringer at times straddles camp--Bridget stays briefly in the "Double Nickel Motel," a wink that the two women truly are flip sides of the same scarred coin --but never succumbs to it, thanks to Gellar's muted performances.

If you are curious about the show, tune into the last 10 minutes of the hour, and you’ll learn everything you need to know. Right now, Bitten is a nibble of a show.

The talking-head portion plays like a video Kickstarter pitch for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, his private rocket company determined to get man to Mars and keep him there in a sustainable community. The drama plays like a low-budget Ron Howard film, which it is, sort of.

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.

Aquarius’ problem is that it doesn’t want to tell a single story from the Summer of Love, it wants to tell every story from that summer, so you get heavy-­handed displays of institutional sexism and racism, drug use, the rise of black activism, the generation gap, the Vietnam War and some marriage melodrama to boot.

There's not much new to see in this neighborhood, but the producers have done a superb job of scoring the series with fresh music.

As a sitcom version of herself, the onetime “American Idol” outshines Gellar, which is not a good omen for the show. Williams seems ex­hausted. So is this show.

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.

The sitcom starts with one of the best introductions to a group of losers. By the end of the third episode Fox provided for review, I was yawning and daydreaming about buying nail fungus remover.

Malkovich’s detective lacks his spirit. ... This detective is subdued, almost meek. He is an imposter.

A spy show mixed with an awkward romantic-comedy. Imagine if “Grey’s Anatomy’s” Shonda Rhimes decided to remake “Get Smart” as a drama and you get a sense of the tones at war here.

Though the tragic-comedy tone is intriguing if a little askew in the pilot, the bigger problem looming ahead is the show's static formula. [3 Jan 2005]

Sunjata is talented and charismatic.... He deserves a show that will cement his status as a leading man. This isn’t it. Tveit buckles under the script shifts, in one scene a dweeb, in the next, a canny agent.

Why did executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Remember the Titans") populate his CBS series with such revolting characters? With the exception of Marg Helgenberger's harried but compassionate investigator, this is a crew teeming with bullies and psychos. [6 Oct 2000, p.S32]

As The Voice made loud and clear, there's not enough talent to go around.

While the cast is competent, Cox seems to have difficulty with her lines in some scenes. With time, she may relax into her role, but I have misgivings Doubt will be around long enough for anyone to get comfortable. Imitation Shonda Rhimes just isn’t as good as the real thing.

This is "King Arthur Begins." Fiennes seems determined to play the Joker. Whether this interpretation of the sorcerer will cast a spell over viewers is uncertain.

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.

Your enjoyment of "Vengeance" ultimately hinges on how much you remember the betrayals and back-stabbings of the first season, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand."

Despite the often eerie parallels to the Showtime thriller, ABC’s eight-part miniseries The Assets is based on fact. That does nothing to make it compelling.