The pace and the performances carry the film.

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

If its characters continue to be dumb about someone in their midst (hey, see how that title comes into play), it could diminish them and the show. ... [Unlike ABC's Whiskey Cavalier,] this show goes beyond the standard cloak and dagger to ask some serious ethical questions about methods and how even the most seemingly benign operation can lead to civilian collateral damage. For treating us like grown-ups, you might be willing to make friends with “Enemy.”

The show everybody will be talking about around the water cooler. [20 Jun 2002]

Starz's Spartacus - Gods of the Arena is endlessly creative when it comes to all things stabby. It seems to have a bottomless bucket of fake blood in its production budget.

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

Kelley is known for cre­ating wonderfully mem­orable, sometimes deliriously neurotic characters. Judging from the writing here, it’s as if he’s been medicated into a stupor. Diagnosis: Waste of time.

The two episodes tonight give you a chance to see how a series can change post-pilot. One of the nerds disappears from the core work group, and Emet’s oldest son is dramatically recast. ... Bad’s supporting cast excels at tormenting Emet in the most loving ways.

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

Her tips could be found in the nearest public library. And stretched to an hour, Jobmother seems downright inflationary.

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.

After hewing reasonably close to the record, at least for the trial, the film goes off the rails in its postscript.

Unfortunately, the drama between Federline and Jackson seems to be about the only reason to tune in, making this serving of “Fit Club” especially tasteless.

Peter Pan Live! wasn’t interesting enough to hate watch.

The maestro behind “Sons of Anarchy” returns to FX with this over-the-top gorefest that tries to outdo both “Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead” for spectacle.

Judging from the first two episodes of the 10-hour season, the show is riddled with characterizations that are meant to be humorous but are just dumb or offensive.

It’s a dank, depressing series made on too little money that could have been vastly improved by cutting the episode order by at least a third. At 13 hours, you’ll feel as if you’re the one being punished for something.

From pariahs to parodies. What a quick ride. The party is almost over for Jersey Shore.

The original show balanced horror with comedy and supernatural threats. The update feels like sociology homework.

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

[Wayans] shouldn’t have to work this hard, but that’s the funny thing about comedy. When the material’s this light, somebody has to do some heavy lifting.

Baker exudes a stoic charm. As his demanding father, Dabney Coleman is a disquieting presence. [25 Sept 2001, p.48]

You have to wonder if Morgan and Wong learned anything from Chris Carter. With no semblance of an ongoing secondary story line, such as the government conspiracy of "The X-Files, The Others" boils down to a gaggle of flaky mystics who flit about applying their brand of drippy New Age closure. [5 Feb 2000]

Locked up in cliches, tedium and barely believable bipeds. ... As far as extinction events go, Zoo is lame and tame.

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

Fox’s creaky re-imagining of the cult classic “Rocky Horror Picture Show” misses the point about what makes the original so beloved.

NBC's The Cape aspires to be "The Dark Knight" but unfurls more like the campy 1960s "Batman" TV series.

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.