Cleveland Plain Dealer's Scores

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For 299 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 37% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average TV Show review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 The Plot Against America: Season 1
Lowest review score: 0 Hot Properties: Season 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 194 out of 194
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 194
  3. Negative: 0 out of 194
194 tv reviews
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  1. Murder One: Season 1
    Murder One is shrewdly constructed, quickly absorbing and absolutely first-rate - the best new show of fall...Terrifically scripted and perfectly cast, the show gets its biggest lift from the shaven-headed Benzali, whose brilliant performance as the principled, supremely confident Hoffman could be the best advertisement for defense attorneys since Clarence Darrow. [19 Sept 1995, p.9E]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jan 29, 2014
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Sopranos: Season 2
    Anyone who doesn't think this is the best drama on television should have his head examined. [16 Jan 2000]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jul 19, 2013
  3. Atlanta: Season 2
    The ever-audacious comedy continues to surprise viewers in all sorts of unpredictable ways. As bold and daring as ever, producer-writer-star Donald Glover's cable series picks right up where the first season left off--fiercely funny and marvelously mercurial.
  4. The Sopranos: Season 3
    HBO made four of the 13 new episodes available for review. Taken as a whole, they stand as compelling proof that the series' creator and executive producer, David Chase, still is in complete control of the brilliantly constructed crime saga. [4 Mar 2001]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jul 19, 2013
  5. The Americans: Season 4
    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.
  6. Game of Thrones: Season 4
    "Justified" and Game of Thrones, each in its own way, has done its share to raise that bar to dizzying heights.
  7. Louie: Season 4
    His character is brought low often enough, but no comedy soars higher.
  8. The Shield: Season 1
    With a cast led by Michael Chiklis and CCH Pounder, The Shield isn't just pushing boundaries. It's bashing through them like police officers wielding those door-destroying battering rams. The results are often quite arresting... Chiklis and Pounder are terrific. Their co-stars aren't even close to being in their league. [12 Mar 2002, p.e5]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Mar 19, 2013
  9. Better Call Saul: Season 5
    [The first five episodes of this fifth season] provide overwhelming proof that “Better Call Saul” remains one of the best shows of any kind anywhere on television. And Odenkirk hardly is the only compelling reason to follow this series. All of the characters are intriguing.
  10. My So-Called Life: Season 1
    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]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Aug 27, 2015
  11. Game of Thrones: Season 5
    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.
  12. Downton Abbey: Season 1
    If some plot elements in the third season seemed forced (and they did), then Fellowes seems to have completely regained his balance in the fourth season. And that balance means expertly bouncing between the upstairs and downstairs worlds of Downton, letting the plot turns flow naturally, carrying us along joyously for the posh ride.
  13. Rescue Me: Season 3
    A four-alarm run of fiery performances laced with hurt and hilarity. It means writing that swerves brilliantly from racy humor to lacerating pain, from steamy encounters to brutal insights. And it means spending quality time with some of the most human, street-level, flesh-and-blood characters you're likely to encounter anywhere in the television realm. [30 May 2006, p.E1]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jan 27, 2014
  14. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story: Season 1
    Travolta's cartoonish Shapiro is the exception, after all, and even most of the peripheral performances court favorable verdicts.
  15. The Vietnam War: Season 1
    Time and again, over a span of more than 35 years, we find Burns constructing bridges that insightfully and profoundly link Americans with their history. Nowhere has that been more powerfully true than in the 18 hours of his stunningly realized, intricately detailed 10-part film, The Vietnam War.
  16. Boomtown: Season 1
    Stylish and briskly paced, Boomtown clearly shows the impact of "Pulp Fiction" in its quirky dialogue. The impact of "Rashomon," Kurosawa's film about a murder recounted in different ways, is most obviously seen in the program's structure. [29 Sept 2002, p.J1]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Mar 18, 2013
  17. Masters of Sex: Season 2
    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.
  18. Fargo: Season 3
    The hallmarks of a Hawley show are wonderfully offbeat yet endlessly intriguing characters, boldly innovative visual flourishes, a somewhat antic sense of humor, marvelously textured universes, compelling performances and whip-smart writing. Are all of these elements to be found in the immediately riveting third-season opener of Fargo? Oh heck yah, youbetcha.
  19. Justified: Season 6
    Typical of the series, Yost and his team tackle something deceptively difficult to do well and make it look easy.
  20. 24: Season 5
    Even if you're bothered by the "oh-come-on" moments, you're more than compensated with the sheer number of "oh-wow" moments. They are in huge supply over the course of this opening four-hour run.
  21. Arrested Development: Season 1
    Generous with the laughs. A wonderfully quirky and stylish series from a creative team headed by director-producer Ron Howard, this isn't merely the best new comedy of the season. It's the best new show of any kind.[2 Nov 2003, p.J1]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted May 26, 2013
  22. Everybody Hates Chris: Season 1
    It easily lives up to its advance billing as the best new show of the fall season.
  23. The Roosevelts: An Intimate History: Season 1
    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.
  24. Sherlock: Season 3
    This trio of tales uses plot elements from the original stories in wonderfully inventive and deliciously brilliant ways. In other words, knock the dust off of 221B Baker Street.
  25. 24: Season 1
    The show wins points for innovation, intelligence and solid production values. [6 Nov 2001]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jun 18, 2013
  26. Malcolm in the Middle: Season 1
    So funny that you might not notice it doesn't have a laugh track. [8 Jan 2000]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jul 15, 2013
  27. Better Call Saul: Season 4
    Better Call Saul just keeps on getting better and better. That's an easy call, particularly after seeing the gripping first three episodes of the "Breaking Bad" prequel's fourth season. ... One constant in Better Call Saul is that, as riveting as Odenkirk is as Jimmy, this hardly is a one-actor showcase.
  28. Better Call Saul: Season 3
    AMC's best current show? Not even close. By a big stretch, it's the "Breaking Bad" spinoff (and prequel series) Better Call Saul, which launches its third season in grand style. ... It feels like some kind of brilliant first cousin.
  29. Felicity: Season 1
    Russell brings great subtlety and appeal to the role, in an engaging show that captures the exhilarating and sometimes scary possibilities of a time of life when everything feels new. [29 Sept 1998, p.1E]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Mar 16, 2013
  30. Ed: Season 1
    It's where quirky meets quixotic, and the mix is enchanting - equal parts wit and whimsy. [8 Oct 2000, p.11]
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • Posted Jun 12, 2013
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