Think of Doll & Em as a collection of short stories rather than half-hour comedies and it’s quite absorbing.

Other than the unspooling of the ghost of policework past, Golden Boy is so formulaic as to be instantly forgettable.

It will leave viewers alternately amazed at being allowed into the private universe of uncommitted male sex and disappointed from a dramatic standpoint. Handsome flesh and cinematography, but is that all there is? [3 Dec 2000, p.I-01]

Darabont certainly proves his love of the period, of pulp fiction and of the dark and moody film technique. He's less convincing when it comes to selling a story.

Much of the insanity that drove viewers to “hate-watch” the show in its first season has been scrubbed. Competence reigns. The results are mixed.

Nobody will accuse it of being ponderous or academic. It's expensive-looking and shallow but long.

It's all very creepy, mysterious and loaded with questions.

Better than a haunted house story, 666 Park has the potential to seduce audiences with a mix of grandeur, drama and horror and an underlying message on what's truly valuable in life.

Beyond profundities laced with humor, the action drama from J.J. Abrams, created by “Fringe’s” J.H. Wyman and starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy, is a visual feast.

The likability of a lying, cheating, essentially egomaniacal criminal defense lawyer is a stretch in the first place. It takes a lot of grinning and tousling from Kinnear to make it work.

Sadly, the story is mystifyingly botched, failing as it tries too hard to be an action-packed mystery of secret societies and Dan Brown-esque intrigue with a strange penchant for geek humor.

The cast is inviting.... But the too-prominent, overly obvious voice-over narrator is a truly awful innovation.

The plotting is intricate, the entire acting ensemble is first-rate.

Dramatically gripping and well cast, the film offers a glimpse inside the compound that has made headlines.

So far Grey's Anatomy is groping for a balance between over-the-top nuttiness and heartstring plucking drama; it lands awkwardly in the dram-edy category. If it would stop trying to be droll and ironic (this is no "Scrubs"), it just might make the cut. [27 March 2005, p.F01]

Self-indulgent but packed with great cameos and kitschy production numbers, the whole affair could have been a tight 90 minutes. Instead it's flamboyantly self-referential and clocks in at four hours.

If the tone of this miniseries lays it on thick, the subject is universal, the information is solid, the photography brilliant and the whole effort a sumptuous departure for NatGeo.

Unfortunately the storytelling lacks subtlety. The good and evil characters are too starkly one or the other. The camera tends to flag ideas or objects in advance and make points too obviously.

A little bit screechy, a little bit preachy, NBC's The New Normal is nonetheless the best comedy of the season--a season short on innovative comedies.

The subtlety that made [The Good Wife] work is not in evidence here. Nor does this hour demonstrate the sophisticated humor of “Veep,” a better parody that doesn’t need a zombie-like subplot.

Some are going to embrace this new freedom; others are going to be overwhelmed. The very personal reactions make for grand voyeurism.

Dreyfuss is sensational as Madoff, a twinkle in his eye as he explains his "magic."

Sharp, funny and demanding of its lead actor, 'Watching Ellie' is NBC's best sitcom attempt in years. [26 Feb 2002]

If you like the idea of a murder victim texting endlessly, even ridiculously, for help mid-attack... if you enjoy the fright of horror only when undercut by laughs, Scream Queens may be for you. For many, sampling the pilot will be enough.

It's all a fairly standard spy-thriller template, but the cast and crew give Legends an edge. Trust Howard Gordon ("Homeland," "24") and company to devise a well-plotted mystery.

The obsession with appearances and materialism - from cars to houses to Botox to breast implants - makes "Housewives" a case study for everything that is shallow and pathetic about our society. Of course, that's also what makes it so entertaining. [20 Mar 2006]

Duchovny is eminently watchable.... At times the music is more involving than the acting, and appears a useful cover for some lame dialogue. But creator John McNamara ("In Plain Sight") successfully layers sociology, crime story and period music in an involving semi-historical drama.

Of course it's formulaic, but the cast is inviting and the formula works.