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.