The Guardian is manipulative, sad and a little strange. But it does put a new face on the old lawyer series, and as its new star, Baker could live up to his advance billing as a breakout. [25 Sept 2001, p.6]

Ritter has a well-honed sense of comedic timing, and some of the lines are clever, for a change. This one could grow on you. [15 Sep 2002]

Watching Ellie is better than bad, but it could be - no, should be - a lot more fun than it is. [26 Feb 2002]

TNT's four-hour miniseries boasts fine performances, exceptional photography and all the other bells and whistles that mark a great show...All is in place, except for the scary bits. There's nary a fright to be found.

Hennessy has the strength to be a leading lady, but she's up to her neck in ghoulishness.

Just cool the frantic efforts to be funny. Go for real family fun instead. [13 Sep 1996]

NBC's Office is as smart - and the office workers appear as well-cast - as the BBC's "Office", and there is no laugh track - huge pluses. Still, viewers who have not been exposed previously to "The Office" will like this more than those who have. [24 Mar 2005, p.01]

Popular is the show to separate the teens from the grown-ups. [29 Sept 1999, p.H-1]

The special effects qualify as middlin' in this TV version of the popular movies and videos. What's superior is the sense of family.

Well, the show is certainly wacky, but I didn't get a good laugh until the third episode I previewed. [9 Jan 1996]

This is hardly a plot to test Hercule Poirot's little gray cells. It is a fairly typical movie-of-the-week type action-lawyer show, and Reggie's a nice change as the strong-woman-hero character. 16 Sept 1995]

Family Guy has yuks - and an enfant terrible who could double as the Soup Nazi - but it's nowhere near Seinfeld in wit and sophistication. [30 Apr 2005]

There's nothing terribly wrong with the show except that it draws from the same procedural well as CSI, Law & Order and the show from which it's spun, JAG. [23 Sept 2003, p.Hou1]

In trying to service all the characters, the drama is not as compelling as it should be. [2 Jan 2005]

God, the Devil and Bob is irreverent, but it's not offensive. It's just not as good or as funny as it should be. [9 March 2000]

I like the idea of The Net as a series, with Angela living week to week in a Fugitive-type existence, trying to reclaim her identity and bring down the bad guys. If future scripts are clever enough, and viewers persevere past the first episode, this show could be a winner. [18 July 1998, p.7]

So far, the plot's in place, but Dead Zone's good old gotcha is minimal. And in anything claiming to trace its roots to Stephen King, minimal chill factor could be risky - maybe even the kiss of death. [15 June 2002, p.9]

It cribs from Family Guy, which has a similar family makeup, and, as with that series, its laughs are hither and yon. [30 Apr 2005]

Quick - which is the one to root for, the one you want to make the basketball team and get the girl? If you don't know, One Tree Hill holds all kinds of possibilities for you. Me, I run from jerks. [23 Sept 2003, p.1]

A six-hour haunted house tale that tugs out every tired trick in the Boo! book, trying to scare you silly. Don't say we didn't warn you, if you're silly enough to watch all that. [27 Jan 2002]

They've already shot 13 episodes in New York City (long before Sept. 11), and the title's name recognition could draw a crowd...Without better scripts and acting to back it up, though, this Law & Order spin-off could wind up eating some of those first 13. [29 Sept 2001, p.9]

That '70s Show does have its amusing moments -- without marijuana. And it does have nostalgia on its side. [23 Aug 1998, p.3]

It's an intriguing premise, and executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting) promises liberal helpings of comedy mixed in the weekly doses of action/suspense. Success rides on where it goes from here. [12 Sep 1999]

Fantasy and cute shtick are on overkill here; Scrubs would be better without those elements. [2 Oct 2001, p.8]

In my opinion, her performance registers as expressionless, which is not terribly impressive for one who's reportedly been acting since age 4. [27 Sept 1996, p.1]

The territory's familiar and the jokes too tame and infrequent to give Daddio the heigh-o. But it doesn't deserve the heave-ho, either - especially if the laughs increase. Chiklis' warm-hearted character is hard to dislike, the kids are cute, and, bottom line, we like this show more than the show that's usually on at this time, Jesse. [23 March 2000]

Wolf Lake, CBS' brooding series about humans in wolves' clothing (or maybe that should be vice versa) premieres after a total makeover that leaves it more of a furry X-Files meets Twin Peaks than a confusing call of the wild.

For now, we have a prologue to set the scene and a large cast to get to know, amid unspectacular special effects, a few punch-and-shoots, and no alien beings at all. [20 Sept 2002, p.1]

A bubbling stew of raging hormones, buff bodies and the culture shock of rich meets poor. [12 Jul 2000]

A crude comedy filled with frat-boy humor.

That stupid daddy thing has got to go before it ruins a good college try. [25 Sept 2001, p.6]

what was left was such a confusing big-city western, it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad. [21 April 1993, p.8]

Having now seen it, I don't think I want to go there. [8 Oct 1999, p.H1]

From the creator of "L.A.Law," Picket Fences has all the oddball characters and eccentric behavior that made "L.A. Law" the hit it has been. But in this setting, they ring a false note that's more grating than ingratiating. [18 Sept 1992, p.1]

Ron Glass' Ronald Felcher, history teacher, should have the star billing. He's the only light, and right, in a faculty lounge of stereotypical teacher put-downs. [23 Sep 1996, p.1]

Aside from Kurtz, everything else in this makeover is about the same. That's not good.[9 Sept 1996, p.1]

Don't waste time trying to follow it. This convoluted camcorder e-mess is already freaked out to reboot mode behind the scenes, and the grade drops accordingly. [6 Oct 2000, p.10]

Once is quite enough to send C.S.I. back to the lab. [6 Oct 2000, p.10]

Kudrow says she isn't a reality-TV fan and the humiliation of its participants, yet she plays her part as victim. So when she gets sucker-punched, we get sucker-punched. What's so funny about that? [4 June 2005, p.10]

If NBC hopes to ride the wave generated by the movie The Sixth Sense, it has a way to go to catch it. The Others is a too-predictable curiosity adrift in a sea of aiming-to-scare-you special effects. [4 Feb 2000]

Unfortunately, Battery Park is a precinct I don't care enough about to come back for more. [23 March 2000]

Luis is a four-car pileup on the interstate - metal-on-metal loud and abrasive, and just about as funny. [19 Sept 2003, p.12]

In this disappointing opener, though, the pace is more frantic than fun, and the plot about the token gay is neither clever nor funny...The one cinch about Spin City is that Fox wants a hit just as much as ABC wants one. They'll just have to try harder; you can bet they will. [17 Sept 1996, p.1]

It's somehow not as funny or as clever as it's meant to be. It tries very hard to be sophisticated, provocative and kinky. But underneath the big city smugg-and-smirk of these junior would-be movers and shakers are some very lonely people. [6 June 1998, p.11]

Friends is the new "Seinfeld" wannabe, but it will never be as funny as "Seinfeld." Even as "Seinfeld" is now, which isn't as funny as it used to be.[22 Sept 1994, p.10]

Louis-Dreyfus, the performer, is not the problem here, and neither is the format. The problem is the material. [15 Apr 2003]

Bathroom is an apt description of the humor level and the language. [21 Sept 1998, p.1]

Its makers must be blind to do a hype-the-hip-young-crowd sitcom about instant sex in this age of AIDS. [11 Sep 1992]

Don't give us talk about "temporal displacement," "sublimaters" and "space-time continuum," then expect us to buy as lame a story as Timecop throws at us. [22 Sept 1997, p.4]

Tucker turns adolescence into hormone hell in this raunchy effort to capitalize on the charm of "Malcolm in the Middle". [2 Oct 2000, p.4]

The opening production numbers are Las Vegas cheesy, Nikki's running battle with Dwight's mother is mean-spirited, and the jokes run from rank to raunch. [7 Oct 2000]

Big Brother is that deadliest of TV sins: It's a Grade D bore. [8 Jul 2000]

To say The Tommyknockers is bad is an understatement. It's awful. [7 May 1993, p.1]

No doubt Lopez is a very funny fellow, but this script isn't. And the writers are the ones to blame, too, for all these tacky jokes about little girls entering puberty and George's digestive problems and wind-passing. The mother-of-mean-mothers gimmick is beyond mere tacky. It's gross...George Lopez is a goner - the sooner, the better. [27 Mar 2002, p.1]

No wonder Danny doesn't have a laugh track. Who's laughing?

The Family Guy is worse than dumb; it's not funny. [30 Jan 1999]

A bloated disappointment that spends more time on the judges than the inventors and their inventions.

It's just about as huge a bomb as might have been expected. [25 Sep 1992]