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.

It's a sentimental journey, to be sure, but it never gives in to sentimentality. And while Tyson leads the way on this trip of a Lifetime, she is surrounded by co-stars adding illumination at every turn.

Checking in means checking out what's in store for the second season, and the tantalizing possibilities are gleaming like the surface of a highly-polished knife blade.

Fallon, 39, made an energetic and charming debut Monday night as the Tonight Show host. But providing the real rocket fuel for this high-profile launch were the many stars dropping by to wish him luck.

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.

It's familiar enough territory, to be sure, yet it's covered in lively fashion, thanks mostly to Katims' breezy script and the delightful comic chemistry between Walton and young Stockham.

Matching last year's blistering pace is a dizzying challenge for Netflix, but this is the team that can get them off to a flying start.

Under the guise of fantasy, Roswell manages to be insightful, profound, romantic, eerie, mysterious and funny. It artfully uses the alien characters as engaging stand-ins for countless teenagers who, rebelling against pressures to conform, feel like beings from another planet. [6 Oct 1999, p.1E]

Murder One survived on appeal after approaching cancellation. It makes a great case for itself tonight. [10 Oct 1996, p.8E]

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]

Many aspects of the 12-part Rome might leave you cold. While certainly impressive in scope and scale, HBO’s awkward stab at a series is being made with a programming weapon that’s often blunt, dull and unwieldy... Where Rome gets tripped up is in the uneven performances and lackluster writing. This is what truly causes the fall of this particular Roman empire. [28 Aug 2005, p.J1]