The miniseries, allegedly based in fact, is one great big advertorial for the company, not that it doesn’t have its pleasures, chief among them some thrilling road contests that suggest the chariot races of “Ben-Hur.”

Technically, the show is superb, melding animation with actors similar to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Hines and Meadows in particular do a great job essentially acting opposite nothing. But Son of Zorn seems like Adult Swim filler. There are better shows out there for fall.

Holloway looks leaner than his Sawyer days and cleans up nice. Ory, such a spitfire on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” as both Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, seems tamed here, and unfortunately, a little dull.

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

Allison is one precious snowflake and is about as interesting as last week’s church bulletin. Lynch, meanwhile, plays her interloper with Sue Sylvester snark peppered with the kind of innuendo you’d hear on “2 Broke Girls.”

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.

Judd, who serves as series co-executive producer, makes for a surprisingly convincing action hero. It's when she stops to emote in full mommy mode that the show drags.

Aaron Sorkin can write crackling dialogue. Believable characters, not so much.

Once the story finds its pulse, Coma is fun, but there are a few hiccups.

The show is so far removed from the standard set by "The Sopranos." It just doesn't get off the ground. [4 Apr 2000]

McBride is convincing, not surprisingly. He has a special knack for inhabiting the skin of imbeciles, and I mean that in a good way. Goggins proves he is one of the finest character actors working in television.

You think you know how this story will end, but trust DeKnight and his company of players to surprise us to the last bloody moment.

Beau resents his son for abandoning the family homestead. Rooster enjoys egging them on. The war of words can sometimes feel brutal. The work gives Kutcher a chance to truly act, to bring some pathos to the fore, but The Ranch is a slog.

CSI producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Amazing Race producer Bertram Van Munster combine the worst elements of their shows for this six-episode time-killer.

Crossbones rises and falls on Malkovich’s inspired delivery and is under­cut by the show’s joyless, convoluted plotting, especially in next week’s episode.

Delany can be both captivating and infuriating as the know-it-all medical examiner, but she always holds the screen.

The direction, at times, has a jerky feel. The dialogue is riddled with cliches.... But just when the whole miniseries, which Syfy is clearly hoping will become a regular series, is starting to feel mundane, there’s a last-minute twist that will demand your attention. It has the potential to make the series fascinating and much more than it originally seems.

At times, the dialogue stops and unloads for exposition dumps, and a few of the young cast mates could use some more training back in the land of the Muggles.

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

Scoundrels is wicked fun when the Wests are being wild.

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.

Too often “Project Blue Book’s” approach makes “Dora the Explorer” look like a work of subtlety. Government coverup? Check. Conspiracy? Sure. Shadowy men wearing fedoras? Why not? The truth may be out there, but is it here? With a series like this, it’s best to indulge your own inner Scully.

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

Disenchantment casts a demented spell.

Everyone seems to be down to their last nerve here. No Activity might have that same effect on you.

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

Schooled at its goofiest recognizes the value of teachers.

There are moments when Innocent Man plays like one of those popular true crime podcasts. Its storytelling can be pokey and features a dizzying array of supporting characters--the pistol-packing preacher is a highlight--and a few, granted, become stunningly significant as the narrative continues.