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.

There's a fine line between clever and labored, and "Bones" sometimes strays over that line with one-liners about skull fragments, blood samples, X-rays and microbes. That's where "see how cleverly we can banter" writing creeps into the otherwise crisp proceedings.

While tonight's pilot episode is uneven, it does provide the building blocks for a solid foundation. There is promise here, and there is the potential for quick disintegration. Which way will it go? How do I know? What do you think I am? Psychic? [5 Feb 2000, p.1E]

Visually very different from the film, TV's Rocky Horror Picture Show also boasts superior choreography and wildly inventive costuming. It's a wonderfully dark castle packed with twisted delights.

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

If issues don't get in the way, CBS' The District is a good show - may be one of the TV season's most watchable new dramas. [7 Oct 2000, p.1E]

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.

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

The more these characters talk, the thinner they get, until, ultimately, they resemble nothing more than cardboard figures set up on those splendid Utah and Montana locations. ... Yellowstone crawls when it should gallop, making for something of a dull ride. It's sort of like "Dallas" without the winking sense of soap-opera fun.

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.

More insipid than insightful, Popular fails to fill the bill. Emotionally overwrought and intellectually underdeveloped, the fledgling series is everything you've come to expect from a Hollywood examination of high school - and less. [29 Sept 1999, p.4E]

There are, to be sure, many memorable moments along the way to Monday's second half, but this is one of those padded two-parters that easily could have been trimmed to three hours and aired one night instead of two. And most of the padding is in Sunday's first half.

Here's where you'll find the saccharine avoided by "About a Boy." You'll also find the occasional trite twist and labored comic turn. Still, Growing Up Fisher undeniably jumps to life when Simmons is on the screen, which is quite a lot. That's what gives this underdeveloped newcomer a fighting chance.

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

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

Clever, slightly twisted and occasionally very funny. [30 Jan 1999]

It's all pleasant enough fare, but here we have a lead performance that demands better than fair.

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]

Once it gets past a fixation on breast jokes (I counted nine in the premiere but only five in next week's episode) its talented cast and clever writing could make it a diverting, screwball sitcom. [9 Jan 1996]

There is much to admire here, from the performances to the cinematography, but then there are aspects of the production that aren't all that admirable. That would include the erratic direction and wildly inconsistent dialogue.

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.

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.

A rambling collection of artlessly tossed-together scenes, this disjointed four-hour hodgepodge wanders aimlessly, becoming more murky and melodramatic with each miserable misstep. [13 May 2001, p.8I]

Fresher and more intelligent than most youth-oriented comedies. [24 Sept 1993, p.12C]

James has some huggy-bear appeal as a latter-day Ralph Kramden, but "King" - like most new comedies and unlike "The Honeymooners" - too often tries for belly laughs by going for the groin. [21 Sept 1998, p.1E]

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

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