The O.C. looks as though it will be hard-pressed to build and maintain a loyal base of younger viewers. Sure, it's worth a look. But no, it wouldn't be terribly missed. [4 Aug 2003, p.12E]

Without Mr. Benzali and archvillain Richard Cross (Stanley Tucci), and without last season's meticulously unfolding story, year two of Murder One is not groundbreaking. It's just another solid TV drama. But because the action moves more quickly, it might draw more viewers. [10 Oct 1996, p.1C]

Most of this is enjoyable, some of it a bit much. But Bette is Bette, as is "Bette." She's a hothouse rose, not a shrinking violet. But on a weekly basis, too much scenery-chewing could make even the "Divine Miss M" wear thin. We'll see how it all plays out. [8 Oct 2000]

[The] pilot ... is cleverly campy enough to rate a revisit. [13 Mar 1994]

There's too much of this jurisdictional stuff and an overload of staring by Gibbs, most of it directed at the coltish Caitlin. The story is fairly involving, though. And Mr. Harmon is an underrated actor who's added some softer touches after playing Gibbs as a humorless taskmaster in a two-part JAG that introduced the character. [23 Sept 2003, p.10E]

Sometimes you just have to know when to stop. Scrubs is still learning. [2 Oct 2001]

King of the Hill walks a fine line between celebrating its characters and making fun of them, between being populist and reactionary. Only time will tell if it can successfully negotiate that line. [12 Jan 1997]

If there's hope, it lies in the original version, which after getting off to a slow start did a wonderful job of distinguishing who was who and made you want to know more about them. Hopefully, Fox and Whedon can find a happy compromise, and the cultists can start their keyboards. [20 Sept 2002]

Amusing in spots. ... Future episodes will have to pick up speed if the series expects to really take off. [28 Mar 1999]

It's not enough to justify a six-hour investment, but the climactic special effects at least are first-rate and fun to watch. "Rose Red" otherwise is just too hilarious at times. Not entirely horrid, it's way short on horror. For shame, Stephen King. Larry King is sometimes scarier than this. [27 Jan 2002]

But as visually sleek and occasionally funny as Birds of Prey starts out, the show will have to get out from under its tangled premise if it's to divert easily wandering attentions. So far, it's difficult to tell where the series might be headed, but there are hints in the premiere. [9 Oct 2002, p.12C]

Boy Meets World isn't as classy as "The Wonder Years" - the opening episode doesn't show much willingness to color outside the lines, which Fred's show often did. But the chances that Boy Meets World will stay around are quite good. [19 Sept 1993, p.9C]

But in an age when the icons are often outwitting the impersonators, Hype will have a hard time not living up to its name. [8 Oct 2000, p.7C]

The hour ends with a ludicrously over-the-top, outside-the-courthouse sequence. A downpour gets musical accompaniment from Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" Then a drenched Lilly's hard-driving countenance is framed in a climactic close-up after other key players in the case look somberly upon the scene. Cleansing? Symbolic? No, just way, way overdone.

If The Apprentice is going to succeed, there has to be more drama. Watching ambitious people do menial tasks isn't entertaining enough. [8 Jan 2004]

Mr. James, whose dirigible build strains at the seams of a dumb-looking deliveryman's outfit, looks as though he could grow into the lead role. But King will be hard-pressed to find an audience of like-minded men. They'll all be watching Monday Night Football. Ain't that a kick in the head. [21 Sept 1998, p.6C]

Toto, we're not in I, Claudius, or even Rome, anymore. The problem, though, is that this Spartacus is so over the top that it begs to be considered as total camp.

The corny, almost maudlin conclusions, coupled with the show's we-are-family, us-against-the-network motif, is too sincere to swallow. [22 Sept 1998, p.4C]

The honeymoon's over. My Big Fat Greek Wedding ended its charmed existence as a word-of-mouth movie and became a noisy, standard-issue CBS sitcom Monday night. [25 Feb 2003, p.21A]

With the silly, overwrought Charmed, the network of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek and Felicity is pushing its luck. [7 Oct 1998, p.1C]

Wedged between Friends and Frasier in Jesse's primo time slot, Daddio has a shot at hit-dom. Its chances would be improved if the producers can find a way to increase the show's chuckles-to-groans ratio. [23 March 2000]

Friday's premiere episode is marginally tolerable and includes a cute little scene in which Danny turns a dance class for little girls into a football game. But a second episode sent for preview is a big, broad step backward. [28 Sept 2001, p.3C]

Bland at first but better next week, this new spring collection of plainclothes cops has an outside chance to fit in and maybe even wear well. [23 March 2000]

Mr. Cohen is better served - and better disguised - as the suited, shorthaired Borat. He's reminiscent of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, a painfully sincere bumbler who gets smashed on wine with the Mississippians on Sunday night before addressing an Oklahoma city council meeting next week. [18 July 2004, p.3]

Mr. Morrow plays the lead character with no discernible flair or charisma, making even by-the-book Joe Friday seem like Willy Wonka or something. [23 Jan 2005]

The macho-vigilante ethos of the show quickly grows tiresome. But with scene after scene of the Chief's righteous indignation - uttering lines such as "I don't care how much it costs, people out there are dying" - The District can be silly fun. [7 Oct 2000, p.1C]

The overall effect is dispiriting and off-putting. Maybe Mr. Carter knows where he's going with all this. It's doubtful, however, that many viewers will have the will to go with him. [8 Oct 1999, p.1C]

Whether intended or not, this emphasis on serial killers and other antisocial freaks indulges a morbid fascination with sicko behavior at least as much as it celebrates smart and dedicated crime fighters. [22 Sep 2004]

An unfunny formula sitcom with one so-bad-it's-good production number to its credit. [8 Oct 2000, p.7C]

The six-week series premieres tonight on ABC, a network so desperate it has stooped to ripping off Fox, home of the infamous Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? [25 Mar 2002, p.12C]

While a little more crude and silly than Malcolm, Tucker isn't nearly as imaginative. [2 Oct 2000]

It is neither visually nor narratively compelling. Since the story didn't make sense in the first place, filming a literal (not literate) version of The Shining only makes its shortcomings stand out. [27 Apr 1997, p.1C]

Its first cases ... play out cheaply as setups for one-liners, only a few of which land squarely. [3 Oct 2004]

More problematic than the dramatic license taken by creator Gary Scott Thompson (The Fast and the Furious) is the lack of a compelling story. [22 Sept 2003, p.12E]

Judging by the pilot, it seems a safe bet that soon enough everyone will have slept with everyone else on the show. But unless the storytelling evens out, there won't be anyone watching.

Mr. D'Onofrio is the best reason to watch Criminal Intent, particularly when he's in full metal insult mode...The show otherwise is weak from a story standpoint. Clues fall into place with remarkable, sometimes unbelievable precision. Wrongdoers are too easily broken down or duped during interrogations. The criminals' minds frankly aren't all that interesting anyway. And unlike its two fellow travelers, there are no palate-cleansing trials in Criminal Intent. Episodes instead end in abrupt arrests. [30 Sept 2001, p.3]

The insights, the connections to Jane Austen's Emma are lost in this watered-down version. As if! [19 Sept 1996, p.1C]

From the Earth to the Moon, your 12-hour, Tom Hanks-piloted paean to NASA, goes boldly where we've gone again and again. And again. It's kinda like Mom and Dad surveying the old two-story after the last of their five kids has flown the nest. "Honey, do we really need all this space?" [5 Apr 1998, p.1C]

Occasionally hypnotic but too often implausible or incomprehensible. [9 Jan 2005]

Yes, this series is as cornball as it sounds. [3 Apr 1994]

It pulls its punches and takes cheap shots. [19 June 1999, p.1C]

But by the third episode, Maximum Bob turns into minimal entertainment. The plot contrivances become strained beyond repair, and the farcical edge is blunted. [4 Aug 1998, p.1C]

Plagued by pedestrian scripts and mostly nondescript characters, it slogs from night to night without nearly enough suspense or consequences. [2 Apr 2000]

Ms. Garth is even less appealing, forced to carry the weight of the show's many pop-culture references. It calls for a referendum ending all Wang Chung punch lines. [20 Sept 2002, p.6C]

The Trouble With Normal is one of those television shows that makes it hard to believe that the networks ever turn down any idea. The premise of this new ABC sitcom is that people suffering from mental illness are funny...OK, that's stating it a little harshly, but only just a little. [6 Oct 2000, p.4C]

With its cheap look and gross-out sensibility, Kevin Smith's 1994 movie Clerks wasn't for everyone...A new animated version for ABC isn't for anyone. [31 May 2000]

This low-rent knockoff of the estimable 1960 movie is a sleep--inducing, cliche-choked, rope-a-dopey slowpoke starring a buncha no-names substituting for the likes of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. We haven't seen markdowns of this magnitude since Sears fire-saled its entire line of Johnny Miller menswear. [3 Jan 1998]

The Big Easy on TV is the opposite of The Big Easy on film. The series has no texture, no thrills, no darkness. It's a flat canvas drawn on by people with more money but no more imagination than the producers of late-night action series starring Julie Strain or Andrew Stevens. It's Silk Stalkings with accents. The one thing TV's The Big Easy shares with its movie predecessor is a convoluted plot that's tied up too easily at the end of the premiere. But it has none of the edgy mood of the film. [10 Aug 1996, p.1C]

The only thing keeping Luis from a flat-out F-grade is its employment of a multi-ethnic cast. That's commendable on the face of it, although under these circumstances all involved might be better off unseen.

This behavior might make for a juicy melodrama if the rest of the characters weren't so predictably earnest. In the pilot, the stakes in a one-on-one showdown turn out to be meaningless, making any emotional investment in the outcome worthless. [23 Sept 2003, p.10E]