The Magnificent Seven is sort of an odd mixture of 1990s political correctness and every cliche that's ever been played out in Western movies and TV shows. But, odder still, it all comes together in a rather enjoyable way. [2 Jan 1998]

This is a drama about a family — the Pryors of Philadelphia — that's actually interesting for viewers' entire families.

With a little bit of effort on your part--The Pillars of the Earth is pretty good viewing. It's the sort of expansive miniseries that we never see on network television anymore.

If Stephen King had written "The Twilight Zone," it would have looked like this. This eight-part anthology — two hourlong episodes each Wednesday for four weeks — adapts eight King stories for TV with pretty good results.

It's tough for anything to succeed on Saturday night, and this show may be too uneven to hold up for long. But it has possibilities, so let's hope ABC sticks with it for a while.

The events of that Season 3 finale have rebounded to the good of the Season 4 premiere. And Season 4 gets off to a very promising start on Sunday.

It's all nicely done, if you like this sort of thing. And there are a lot of people who like this sort of thing, judging by the ratings of both "JAG" and "CSI." [23 Sept 2003, p.C08]

Whether The Others turns out to be a great series remains to be seen. It is, at least, an intriguing one with possibilities.

Both intriguing and very iffy. It's all going to depend on how good a job the writers do in making this mystery work over the long haul. If they follow the "X-Files" example of one-step-forward, one-step-back, this could get old quickly. [20 Sept 2002, p.C08]

Criminal Intent is yet another watchable Law & Order, which has become TV's most popular cop/lawyer show. But does three Law & Orders constitute too many Law & Orders? Maybe. [29 Sept 2001, p.E08]

It's pretty much exactly the same as a slew of shows that have gone before.

The cast, on the whole, creates believable characters in an unbelievable situation. (Pinchot is the exception - too much of his comic persona leaks through and undermines the maniac he's trying to create.)

If you watched the show with the sound turned down, you might well be blown away. But, as has been an unfortunate trend in non-Muppet Henson productions, most of the effort seems to have gone into making the series look great while giving short shrift to the writing. [12 Mar 1999]

Some of the comedy--which arises from the situations, not jokes--is good. So is the drama. Whether they'll work together as the show moves forward remains to be seen.

It's relatively entertaining, but the content is more than a bit rough for its 7 p.m. time slot.

If all teenage boys think about is sex, sex and more sex, then the producers and writers of "life as we know it" have captured the teenage boy perfectly.

A silly bit of fluff, complete with low-tech special effects and silly sight gags. But that's exactly what it's intended to be. [27 Sept 1996, p.3]

It has a very good cast, and Katims has a great track record. But he doesn't seem to have quite figured this one out yet.

"Family Guy" is occasionally quite funny -- but only occasionally. And it's often rather crude -- quite often. ... "Family Guy" does have possibilities. But the writing needs to improve -- it's nowhere near as clever as its producers think it is. [29 Jan 1999]

After watching the first three episodes, I'm not sure if "Happy Town" will deliver on its promise. Let's just say that I'm cautiously optimistic.

George Lopez is a show you can't help but root for because its star is so likeable. And, yes, it would be great to see more ethnic diversity on TV...But while the pilot isn't bad, it isn't all that good. But being likeable and mildly amusing is a start. [22 Mar 2002, p.C08]

There isn't that much to distinguish it from umpteen shows that have gone before. [15 Nov 2004]

Not that The O.C. is a bad show. It actually shows some promise of being a decent drama that will appeal to Fox's young-skewing audience. [4 Aug 2003, p.C06]

If you sit through it, you're not going to be counting the hours until next week's episode.

The premiere is heavy on set-up and light on action. It's more about mood than plot. Whether that will hold up over 13 hours is questionable.

Ritter and Segal are better than their material, but this is the sort of show (like "Home Improvement" or "Full House") that ABC used to do so well. [13 Sep 2002]

Ultimately, "Storm of the Century" becomes rather predictable. [14 Feb 1999]

While it's not a great show, it does do for lawyers what "Grey's Anatomy" did for doctors--create what could be a watchable soap opera on top of cases that involve real issues and real drama.