Beneath all of the insanity, BrainDead again and again demonstrates it has a brain in its head. It's goofy-good-time stuff, all right, yet it has a point.

It is packed with towering performances that boldly and magnificently reinterpret characters who have become part of our national folklore.

The depictions of Houdini and Doyle never seem authentic. The mysteries aren't particularly riveting. And the mix of fact and fancy is anything but magical.

Already TV's most literate and stylish horror drama, "Penny Dreadful" is adding new and intriguing elements to the ambitious structure as the third season begins.

Writer David Farr updated le Carre's novel with expert care, and his script is stunningly realized by a sensational cast guided by the unerring direction of Susanne Bier. Indeed, just about everything goes right in this sexy, riveting and suspenseful miniseries.

It's quite a good one. It boasts a brisk pace, strong direction by Rick Famuyiwa and a superb cast led by Kerry Washington as Hill and Wendell Pierce as Thomas.

From the first frame, it's clear that Jackie Robinson is a genuine labor of love. The warmly crafted two-part, four-hour PBS documentary from filmmaker Ken Burns positively glows with its admiration for the man and his accomplishments. ... Another mighty home run for PBS.

The stumbling spin-off makes a wearisome return by quickly reverting to that frustrating first-season form.

The marvelously textured performances and addictive narrative remain the most compelling reasons to watch Outlander.

Mr. Selfridge has some enticing items to tempt those shopping for a quality viewing experience. At the top of this list is the gift that keeps on giving: Jeremy Piven's wonderfully textured portrayal of Harry Gordon Selfridge.

Plenty of fascinating medical material here for a series. And yet, Heartbeat botches the job, because the dialogue, direction and supporting characters are wearisomely artificial.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about this stylish, wonderfully atmospheric British production is how fresh it seems. It's not as if this is a tale rarely told.

The Americans stands tall in a crowded field of quality dramas. It keeps getting stronger and stronger, a realization underscored by the arrival of the fourth season.

The writers do take the occasional misstep along the trail. The series has it didactic moments, to be sure, as well as the occasional cartoonish character (usually among those chasing the runaways). But these drawbacks are more than offset by the riveting narrative, the outstanding lead cast and a seamless weaving of the greater historical context into the ongoing story.

There is a razor-sharp focus, as well as a renewed sense of purpose, in the six new episodes Netflix made available to critics in advance of the fourth-season premiere.

Once this crime thriller lures you in and really gets going, it's an off-to-the-races ride that never forgets to delve deeply into the dark sides of the central characters. Derivative? Yes, but in endlessly sly and fascinating ways.

The documentary not only is a moving tribute to the prolific director who died at 84, it's a reminder of what's too often missing from so much of television and pop culture--conversation... real, in-depth, smart, respectful, insightful conversation.

Travolta's cartoonish Shapiro is the exception, after all, and even most of the peripheral performances court favorable verdicts.

This first hour is all about reinvention. It's a rather clunky attempt to remake the 1993-2002 vehicle in a manner that will please loyal fans and new viewers. The second episode, with guest star Doug Savant ("Desperate Housewives"), pushes this redesigned vehicle into a higher gear.... Now this is the X-Files we fondly remember. Can they push this to yet a higher gear? Why, yes, they can, and they do with the third episode.

[These] episodes find the celebrated series running true to form. That means an occasional misstep, to be sure – too much time inexplicably spent with one of the blander characters or a less-than-intriguing subplot. But, for the most part, it means elegant storytelling that richly blends social commentary, comedy, soap opera, romance, intrigue, tragedy, melodrama and razor-sharp satire.

When it's up and running at full power, Childhood's End is as intriguing, provocative and unnerving as any visit to the "fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man." And there are many such stretches in these six hours. Yet there also are slow, padded, uninvolving stretches when the direction and dialogue wander off course. Ragged in structure and pacing, the miniseries is a slick-looking vehicle that occasionally stalls and sputters toward an uncertain future.

Although some liberties have been taken with the characters and plot, it is an immediately intriguing, wonderfully textured realization of Dick's challenging book.

Sure, it's all very derivative. It's purposely so. That's not the problem with these scripts. The problem is that, despite all the blood, too many anemic characters fail to register on the flesh-and-blood scale.

Much of this sounds grim, but Breakthrough is anything but depressing in its overall tone. After putting towering problems into chilling perspective, the series humanizes the issues, keeping the focus on individual stories.

The pilot episode for CBS' Supergirl does manage to get off the ground, yet it never really soars to the heights of the supercharged "Gotham" and "The Flash." Nor is it as immediately intriguing as those two DC-inspired shows.

The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend premiere also was full of surprises, taking oddball twists and turns with, not only Rebecca, but the supporting characters as well. All in all, an impressive prime-time debut for Bloom as star, co-creator and executive producer of the slyly crafted show. That's the good news. The great news is that, from what the CW has revealed of future episodes, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend appears to be staying on the wild and unpredictable track.

The two-tiered, supersized season premiere tells its compelling story with flashbacks intercut with what's happening in the present.

The jokes weren't marginally different in tone and quality than those delivered so expertly for so many years by his predecessor, Jon Stewart. It was all about his delivery, which seemed breathless, slightly rushed and a little uncertain.... New correspondent Roy Wood Jr., reporting on the discovery of running water on Mars, made a stronger impression Monday night than Noah.

The first hour of FX's The Bastard Executioner is a bit of a slog.... Just when you're thinking the battle is lost, Sutter goes all medieval on us and pulls everything together in a fiercely compelling manner. Patience is rewarded, and The Bastard Executioner suddenly becomes every bit as addictive as it is intriguing.

In some ways, the show recalls the early days of "Beverly Hills, 90210." With its exceptional writing and sensitivity, however, it resembles nothing so much as a "teensomething" version of "thirtysomething." [25 Aug 1994, p.1F]

The odious Tucker is a crude and blatant rip-off of Fox's brilliant January starter, "Malcolm in the Middle." The producers have gone to the absurd extreme of citing "My So-Called Life" as their inspiration, a pathetic ploy to avoid the obvious charge of "Malcolm" marauding. [2 Oct 2000, p.9D]

Much of this takes a by-the-numbers approach, but the cast is strong, and you get the feeling that the second episode is more indicative of where the show is heading.

What's missing from Blunt Talk is any degree of wit, any genuine character development, any sense of comic structure that delights, rather than depresses, the viewer. What should be winning leaves you wincing.

The closer The Bomb gets to the present, the more frenetic and less effective it becomes. You can't expect a two-hour study to be in any way comprehensive, but some surprisingly big swaths of the historical territory get little or no mention.

Sharknado 3 has the look and feel of any satirical concept worn a trifle ragged through repetition. But, again, it's not as if that's going to hurt its Emmy chances. There's still enough bite left in the concept.

The Strain continues to rely too much on action and not enough on compelling character development. The uneven results are entertaining but hardly infectious.

And yet, given how derivative it is, (say it with me now), Humans turns out far better than you'd think possible. The performances, pacing and direction are that compellingly good, at least in the first two episodes made available to critics.

Whatever the reason, or the combination of reasons, the second season of True Detective drags disappointingly along as wearisome second-tier stuff. That doesn't mean it's without merit. It doesn't mean there aren't dazzlingly surprising stretches.

Emphasizing action more than character, Babylon 5 is a show that's simply grittier, more exuberantly freewheeling and more fun [than "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"]. [25 Jan 1994, p.9D]

It's an ambitious and engrossing combination of mystery story and medical drama - and a powerful reminder that docudramas can be more than true-crime sleaze. [11 Sept 1993, p.1E]

Memorable performances are delivered by Dominique McElligott as Louise Shepard, Azure Parsons as Annie Glenn and Odette Annable as Trudy Cooper.... Lacking any semblance of compelling structure, the series is a jumble of scenes artlessly arranged in a by-the-numbers chronological order.

Loco is the right word for this amiably goofy and endearingly dumb comedy. [8 Nov 2001, p.E11]

In its present ragged state, Harsh Realm is a jumble of great promise and great weaknesses - every bit as annoying as it is amazing. At its best, the series is stylish and clever. At its worst, well, things have a tendency to get pretty heavy-handed and obvious. [7 Oct 1999, p.1E]

The tone of the second season is slightly different from the first, yet he remains remarkably true to his stated metaphoric mission. Have no fear, it's the same Penny Dreadful, but Logan is shaking things up in all kinds imaginative ways.... No if about it. Penny Dreadful works.

We have fifth-season banquet of delights spread before us.... With each season, that load is spread out more and more, with young players coming into their own and crafty veterans added to the cast. The storytelling also gets stronger and more assured, pushing Game of Thrones to greater and grander heights.

This show manages to give us the hilarious, horrific and heroic... and it has brains.

Aspects of Battle Creek seem familiar, to be sure, yet it registers high on the giddy scale thanks to energetic direction, clever writing and the comic chemistry generated by Duhamel and Winters.

While the political dynamics have changed greatly, House of Cards remains an addictive mixture of over-the-top soap opera, wicked dark comedy and sly melodrama.

Better Call Saul is an offbeat drama with moments of quirky humor. The drama is wonderfully heartfelt. The comedy is a little more hit and miss.

the pilot episode is briskly paced and told with a certain amount of flair. Technically, it's not without merit..... [But] It needs to get smart or risk being exposed as a pale impostor lurking among the elite TV operatives.

So many strong ingredients could have gone into this brew, but, no matter how obviously the casting tries to turn up the heat, it's still a half-empty glass of weak tea.

Typical of the series, Yost and his team tackle something deceptively difficult to do well and make it look easy.

The wildly uneven series that bears his name also is a mess, a murky mixed bag of dreary and delightful moments.

It hits a few sour notes, to be sure, and there are some off-key moments, but, for the most part, Empire artfully draws you into its high-stakes game of throne envy.

Not all of the plots work at a high level. Still, even when things go wrong, you know the grand performances will save the Downton day. You're always in good company with this series.

This incredibly trite and preposterous series are serious about all the hackneyed twaddle lumbering and stumbling into view Monday night. Just when you think it can't get more laughably bad, it does.

The wildly uneven Constantine premiere is a decidedly mixed bag of magic tricks. It's moody and mysterious. It's also muddled and meandering.

There is a warm sense of family in this series. There is a distinctive sense of style--of being its own kind of show. And there is a sly sense of humor. On all three counts, Jane the Virgin delivers.

The Walking Dead still has a strong grip on our imagination as it continues to aim at all three levels--brain, heart and stomach--with deadly accuracy.

Although not anywhere near as epic in scale as Fox's Batman prequel, "Gotham," The Flash does have a better sense of what it has set out to be: a sturdy superhero drama with an engaging lead character played by likable young star.

Eventually, though, the series will need to get past some growing pains and mature into a drama that fully embraces the comic-book elements. You may have doubts about Heller reaching that destination, but, with this blazing a start, you'll want to be along for the thrill ride as he sets out to solve that riddle.

Weaving the lives of these three towering Roosevelts into one triumphant 14-hour film, Burns has found another ideal prism for examining the American character and the American story.

The dreary, leaden dialogue is the real crime in this drama. Around every Miami corner in the early episodes, you catch the writers in the act of assaulting viewers with self-importance and stilted banter. [1 Oct 2003, p.E9]

There is one depressing symptom noticeable throughout tonight's opener. Even with the dialogue blazing by us, we can't help noticing how tired cliches, awkward observations and anemic lines are seriously reducing the script's overall vitality...What this show needs is an emergency transfusion of fresh writing. It needs scripts as strong as the acting and directing. Without that, Gideon's Crossing will remain this simmering cauldron of potential - a potent mixture waiting to be brought to full boil. [10 Oct 2000, p.9E]

The real strain is in trying to turn Tarzan into a crime fighter like Spider-Man, complete with the gravity-defying leaps and whoosh-wham special effects. [4 Oct 2003, p.E6]

Obvious similarities to the Jason Bourne films and other espionage stories are only part of the derivative drama's problems. The lurching plot turns are preposterous. The supporting characters are thinly drawn. The structure is terribly disjointed. And the dialogue ranges from ham-fisted to stilted.

It's grittily atmospheric, sharply scripted and acted with a depth that becomes more apparent as the series goes on. It will leave you on the edge of your seat. [4 Apr 2000]

The dialogue is intentinonally bad. The CGI work is intentionally cheap. The plot is intentionally ludicrous. The shock tactics are intentionally schlocky. And all this bad adds up to one monstrously good time, particularly if experienced with a rowdy and ready group of friends.

A sturdy family drama. [2 Apr 1994]

This is hardly a one-character show. Ray is at the center of the movie-land maelstrom, to be sure, but everything around him is intriguing. And everything speaks to danger.

Director Michael Apted and writer Michelle Ashford masterfully guide you back into the Masters of Sex story, providing a beautifully textured framework for these wonderfully nuanced performances.

While The Strain is pretty much a cauldron churning with familiar ingredients, the dark brew bubbling inside is served up with a great deal of panache.

Extant is a hodgepodge that serves up some creepy moments but gets bogged down by the inelegance of its copycat nature. It rumbles when it should roar. It stumbles when it should soar.

If not top-tier TV terror fare, Under the Dome certainly is solid second-level stuff. And given the state of horror on television these days, that's a bloody good compliment. Even while acknowledging the occasional misstep, give Under the Dome credit for getting a lot of things right.

There's deliberate and there's plodding. This is plodding. Indeed, the jittery camera work and abrupt flashbacks almost take it from plodding to stumbling.... The acting styles differ greatly, yet none of the capable regulars hits a false note, whether playing subdued rage or over-the-top fervor.

While the two episodes that the network sent to critics stumble baldly into the humor-impaired category, each manages to sparkle for a moment or two. And Emmy winner Louis-Dreyfus provides most of the sparkle. [26 Feb 2002]

As Barry struggles with his sense of identity, so does this series. There is little consistency of tone here, and the efforts to depict a realistic Middle Eastern political struggle are undermined by campy and melodramatic moments.

The potential definitely is there for a bloody good finale. The setup is intriguing enough.

Nothing on this futuristic landscape stands out: the performances, the dialogue, the direction, the special effects. The premise is solid enough. Yet everything constructed on this foundation seems to have been fashioned from nothing more substantial than cardboard.

In a season overloaded with domestic sitcoms, Dave's World is distinguished by featuring the least annoying and most realistic kids, and by being based on the work of a Pulitzer Prize winner, humor columnist Dave Barry. [20 Sept 1993]

Smartly and humorously written, spiced with cartoonish mayhem and over-the-top acting, it visually resembles the "Dick Tracy" and "Batman" movies, deals in the sort of speculative scientific fantasy that distinguished "Quantum Leap" and the miniseries "Wild Palms," and provides ... escapist fun. [19 Mar 1994]

Murder in the First is an immediately engaging crime drama boasting a deep cast and crisp direction.

Due to faulty programming, it's a mixed bag of delights and drawbacks. The performances are exceptional. The dialogue is ham-fisted and stilted. The dark, grim tone is intriguing. The pace is choppy.

Viewers shouldn't be fooled into expecting more than a conventional lawyer show. [16 Sept 1995, p.8E]

Serve up enough great moments (and The Normal Heart certainly does), and Ryan's occasional missteps are easily dismissed as mere annoyances, not major gaffes.

Clueless pulls off the balancing act of being bright and sophisticated while remaining almost squeaky-clean. [20 Sept 1996, p.1E]

The result is a delightful horror hodgepodge packed with eerie surprises, colorful characters and Gothic plot twists.

While it might sound like fun, the premise is so flat-out dopey that it's impossible to care about any of the characters or alleged story, and the leaden dialogue discourages any attention that the occasional cool gadgetry might attract. [22 Sept 1997, p.5E]

His character is brought low often enough, but no comedy soars higher.

It starts at a dead run and never slackens its pace.

It’s raucously funny in its own right and in its own way. If the first season’s remaining nine episodes are anywhere near as laugh-out-loud hilarious as tonight’s opener, Barbershop: The Series will be nothing less than Showtime’s strongest entry yet in the comedy field. [14 Aug 2005, p.J1]

There's plenty of room in the graveyard for Salem, although it's way too early to tell if it can effectively build on the scary and sensual elements introduced in Sunday's premiere.

In the past, the slower season premieres crackled with energy. You could feel the tension. Traveling through Time Zones, you experience something of a power failure.

"Justified" and Game of Thrones, each in its own way, has done its share to raise that bar to dizzying heights.

A smart, stylish, sexy romp full of sizzling patter and clever chatter. Behind the glitz and glamour of Sin City are solid performances by Caan and his immediately likable co-stars. [22 Sept 2003, p.D7]

It's another faulty futuristic fantasy drama patched together with used parts and overused designs.

It's moving so fast that the missteps never turn into a full-fledged fall. More than compensating, Anderson and Mulroney deliver big time, while Gross and Erenberg make a surprisingly winning odd-couple team. If there is a weak link in this cast, it's probably Taylor, who has yet to convince us she's a savvy and experienced FBI agent.

Sequoyah is a charmer, and a few of the action sequences help grease the wheels on this fast-paced ride. Yet it's not enough to make up for the cloying and cliched writing.