In its best moments, the drama has the grit of something more likely to be found on cable channel TNT.

Unlike most movie-inspired TV series - in which the TV version is usually a soggier incarnation of its movie original - this Buffy, created by Joss Whedon, an Oscar nominee for his "Toy Story" script, fulfills some of the promise sorely lacking in the 1992 big-screen version. [10 Mar 1997, p.32]

Can we please have a moratorium on voice-over narration? This lazy device is being overused to convey what simple dialogue should. In John Doe, the title character's innermost thoughts won't stop. [19 Sept 2002, p.48]

The good news is the characters created here are so interesting that we want to know more about them. Whedon continues to slay viewers. [19 Sept 2002, p.48]

Meloni is smirky, Hargitay whiny, and transferred-from-"Homicide" detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) seems out of place. But Wolf has proved an expert at integrating cast changes on "L & O," and we have to believe he'll iron all this out. [20 Sept 1999, p.36]

A familiar premise with fresh faces and equal doses of humor and pathos might be the right prescription for fans of the genre. [27 March 2005, p.039]

This is not an easy show to watch, not because of its ambition, but because it’s just so pointlessly mysterious.

We've all been there. Which is why Freaks and Geeks works so well. Cloaked in grunginess, it's a totally unpretentious slice of high school life, a decidedly unmelodramatic drama devoid of "Dawson's Creek"-speak and sticky self-analysis. No one is wearing designer duds and the closing scene at the high school homecoming dance reveals that not one student possesses a shred of rhythm. [25 Sept 1999, p.25]

Abrams and co-creator Damon Lindelof infuse the opener with horror, poignancy, mystery and pitch-perfect humor...If Abrams and company can sustain the pace and intrigue of the pilot, then Lost will be a great place for viewers to lose themselves every week. [22 Sept 2004, p.EDGE 47]

This is “The Da Vinci Code” crossed with “Indiana Jones” with dialogue courtesy of a Magic 8 Ball.

Rest easy: The premiere is good; next week’s episode is flat-out superb.

You’ll be able to spot the front-runner and eventual winner probably 10 minutes into the show.

Community is still kicking, with more gas and laughs than just about any other NBC sitcom.

The musical numbers are competently staged, even if they often play like filler to underscore character montages. The plots mosey between drama and comedy and never hit their marks.

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 series gets off to a strong start as a black satire of not only D.C. but how politicians and journalists can leech off one another.

Do No Harm, a modern spin on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," sounds lame. Yet it is so fast-paced and slickly produced, it could just be your new guilty pleasure.

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.

There are some lovely shots of South Boston. Like everything else here, they've been staged.

If there's a nighttime soap any better, I haven't seen it.

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.

The overarching premise of the 15-episode season cracks and crumbles under the slightest scrutiny.

Williamson has crafted a pilot tense and frightening. But in the subsequent three episodes, The Following deteriorates into a serialized version of CBS' "Criminal Minds." ... After four episodes, this viewer was weary of seeing women terrorized.

Legit is the sort of comedy that lets its heart beat once an episode.

There hasn't been a show since "The Sopranos" so concerned with bodily functions, and it makes its oft-compared predecessor "Sex and the City" look like a TeenNick production. But it's also fresh, bracing and original.

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

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.

Vivian's secrets are predictable. Judging from the first two episodes, Joanna is not much of a sleuth. Scene set-ups go nowhere. Minor characters are brought in, disposed of, and the show bumps along to another complication.