It is Mr. Willis who elevates the show from good viewing to outstanding entertainment. [03 Mar 1985, p.3K]

Taxi has all kinds of possibilities and tons of potential. All that Brooks, Daniels, Weinberger and David Davis have to do is measure up to their pasts long enough to pull it off. Las night they failed to measure up. [13 Sep 1978, p.18C]

Smartly written and utterly fantastic. [20 Jan 1998, p.E10]

This movie-of-the-week script would be a sorry foundation for a TV series even if it weren't so tone-deaf, failing to convey either the terror of a wolf attack or the quirkiness of small-town life. [10 Sep 2001]

Ignore several adolescent sexual references and you have a sitcom willing to poke fun at the trauma of growing old in a culture that reveres youth. And while Shepherd is not God's gift to TV sitcoms, she holds her own as an island of near-sanity in a sea of hedonism. [30 Dec 1994]

Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher may not captivate like Peter Falk's Columbo, but she'll do quite nicely until something better comes along. [28 Sep 1984, p.2B]

The show is sometimes strained and tends to be a bit sappy, but Family Ties has some good writing. [22 Sep 1982, p.2B]

Depressing, dreary and dull as dishwater-blond hair, "Blonde" - a weird meditation on the life of Marilyn Monroe - confirms that the networks have run out of ideas for programming their big ratings months. [13 May 2001]

Mr. Rhodes is the funniest of the new season's comic-playing-a-maverick-teacher-fighting-a-school-bureaucracy sitcoms. [30 Sep 1996]

In less capable hands, the show might have turned into a far-fetched teen fantasy about life without parental restrictions...Here, it is a touching and finely crafted exploration of what it means to grow up without either the rules or the loving guidance of parents. [10 Sept 1994]

The opening scenes of City of Angels" are so poorly written and in such stunningly poor taste that I was tempted to declare this one D.O.A. after just 10 minutes. And I'm afraid many viewers will do the same, which is unfortunate for City of Angels because eventually the show does find its way. [15 Jan 2000]

For its first two hours, every aspect of FX’s new medieval drama is obscene, from the needlessly degrading sex scenes to the gleeful throat-slitting. Its most heinous offense is burying its promising premise in a pile of corpses before a talented cast can find the story’s pulse.

Tucker is my candidate for the first cancellation of the fall: bad show, bad time period, bad lead-in ("Daddio"). [2 Oct 2000, p.E1]

A serviceable but less-than-stellar spinoff of AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead.”

In its favor, Danny has no laugh track, and Stern is endearingly innocent of the perils of single fatherhood. But viewers have moved beyond conventional comedies like this one. [28 Sept 2001, p.E1]

The plot twist at the end (of the first episode) may wind up redeeming future episodes of That Was Then, but for now you may find yourself wishing afterward that you could travel back in time and get that hour back. [27 Sept 2002, p.E1]

Turns out the "new" version of Luis is virtually unchanged from the abominable pilot that was made last spring. [19 Sept 2003, p.E8]

The show’s salty-sweet themes of loyalty and redemption contrast nicely with the vile comedic speeches Leary has made a career out of delivering.

The first hour of Scream is an efficient fright-delivery system wrapped inside a teen drama, but it’s meta-commentary that makes it worthwhile. That, and the pilot’s promise to spread out its jump scares more slowly and deliberately.

Although it was wise not to try to repeat the double interrogation format of the first season, there are clever nods to those closed-room confessionals, and the show eventually eases into rewarding drive-and-talks between Farrell and McAdams.... What keeps this Detective from being quite as compelling as the first is the lack of early focus.

Warburton is spot-on perfect as Tick. [8 Nov 2001, p.E1]

"X-Files" fans have been talking up this show, sight unseen, for months, based mainly on rumors and snippets from the set. But Harsh Realm may well validate all that hype. [8 Oct 1999, p.F1]

[A] sad-sack parody. [18 June 1999, p.F4]

Wayward Pines has moments where it’s a happy hot mess, but it’s mostly a muddy puddle of confusion, and it has executive producer M. Night Shyamalan’s fantastical fingerprints all over it.

Montage of Heck achieves its goal of intimacy almost too well. It’s such a tightly cropped portrait that criticizing it feels like criticizing Cobain. But it’s too long and a bit repetitive, and it keeps trying to explain its subject through his own scribblings long after his soul has been laid bare by more direct means.

A three-hour miniseries that bounces between tragedy and comedy with ease.

It's a more compelling, faster-paced and less frustrating journey than fans were treated to in “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance With Dragons,” the novels that line up with the current action in Westeros’ winter-is-coming world.

Daredevil stands alone as an artful, gritty ensemble drama that could elevate the superhero origin story like HBO’s “True Detective” did for the crime procedural.

I could watch Roger (ever-dapper John Slattery) fire people all day long (Sunday’s surprise firing is an epic one), but Don’s cryptic conversations with strangers can feel staid and scholarly.... And then--herein lies the addictive nature of the show--the action pauses for just a moment, the acting thrums with tension, and you feel satisfied that you have been a good student.

Haggis’ journey into and out of Scientology could have made a fascinating film by itself, and he’s just one of a dozen articulate talking heads.

The Slap is rare TV, depicting the kind of drama viewers might find themselves caught up in. It’s nice to see a show shamelessly go about doing its manipulative business.

The moral quicksand that made The Americans so compelling for its first two seasons is deeper than ever.

The History channel’s Sons of Liberty miniseries tells a satisfying tale of Boston’s slow burn toward rebellion in the 1770s.

Unlike "The Office," Backstrom hasn't yet fleshed out the supporting characters to water down Wilson's well-oiled obnoxiousness generator. Once it stops explaining everyone's backstory--why is he so bitter? why is she so naive? why are the firefighters evil?--Backstrom might turn into a decent chase for the bad guy of the week.

It’s a bit of a mess.... Between the issues of race, tribalism, rape and consent, The Red Tent covers more ground than expected.

With a Capt. Hook who spent most of his time seated and an opaque Peter, my expectations gradually evaporated. The show seemed like a slowly deflating balloon.

Frances McDormand delivers another one of her consistent, airbrush-free performances in HBO’s four-part miniseries, an adaptation of Strout’s book that focuses more tightly on its title character and ends up drawing to a simpler, more raw-edged conclusion.

Death Comes to Pemberley, on paper and the small screen, is not as satisfying as a newly discovered Austen novel would be.

Gunn and Tennant are flat-out fantastic in Gracepoint. The supporting cast, including Nick Nolte at maximum haggard levels, is compelling. They’re so good, it might take a while to notice that you’ve seen this story before, even if you haven’t seen “Broadchurch.”

It’s a pleasure to watch Bean fall into his “legends,” or fake identities, even as the show pushes the boundaries of what TV audiences might accept when it comes to instantaneous computer heroics.

Some of it works, like a jealous dream Doug (Louis) has in next week's episode about his wife (Marshall) and the hunks working on his water main. [24 Sept 2002, p.E1]

This is a very talky show, filled with Braugher soliloquies, and it will be hard to top the first episode, which plays out like a Greek tragedy... But I was spellbound, except for the jarring interludes involving Gideon's motley crew of medical students. [10 Oct 2000, p.E1]

Sexy and stylish. [4 Oct 2003]

I waited for delicious strands of dialogue to memorize - it's a favorite pastime among "Sopranos" addicts - but none was forthcoming from "Falcone." [3 Apr 2000]

Like “True Detective,” The Knick benefits from a consistent vision and stellar cinematography. Its turn-of-the-century sets and costuming will transport viewers into the past more vividly than any stuffy sitting room in “Downton Abbey.” But it requires dedication to stick around with The Knick until the action gets going a few episodes in.

Every time the 1943 of Manhattan begins to feel like 2014, it returns to the nostalgia of movies like “The Right Stuff,” where brains and grit make the peace, back to a time when America trusted its fate to the smartest guys we could find.

It’s Gretchen and Jimmy’s repartee, their unrelenting need to voice their awful thoughts, that makes Worst worth watching.

Thanks to its excellent cast, led by Nat Faxon and Judy Greer as Russ and Lina, Married rises above its cliched setup.

The show’s recycled vampire mythology fails to justify this level of bloodletting, which even fans of “The Walking Dead” might find gratuitous.

It’s not that The Leftovers isn’t great storytelling, because it is. It’s just befuddling, violent and sad--more and more all the time, with no satisfaction in sight. Theroux is flat-out fantastic and Emmy-worthy in this role.

Because "Traffic" is filmed like "24," you can experience the excitement of a whole season of Fox in just three nights. [25 Jan 2004]

[The pasts of the ladies at Litchfield] are less “Shawshank Redemption” than “Goodfellas,” with every episode using sparse, smartly edited scenes to tell one inmate’s story.

The pilot is plodding at times, the result of a few too many heart-to-heart discussions among the characters. Still, Williams, Holliday and Heard create such fresh, memorable characters that it's impossible to get bored. [16 Sept 1995, p.E7]

The series hits its stride a few episodes in, when Lowe and Blackbeard finally get on a boat together to fight a common enemy, knowing they’re each just waiting for the right moment to kill the other. Their dynamic evokes the tense partnership between Al Swearengen and Sheriff Bullock in "Deadwood."

Penny Dreadful is a smart, self-referential Dracula vs. the Wolf-Man vs. Frankenstein concept delivering the scares, chills and laughs that summer TV needs.

Seems like a high-stakes game of Baccarat, with NBC throwing good money after bad. [22 Sept 2003, p.E8]

Walton and Stockham are a seamless comedy team straight out of the gate. Their banter is more salty and cynical than sappy, but that’s how it gets to you.

Simmons, who was Juno’s dad and Brenda Leigh Johnson’s boss, is consistently funny and compelling, but the younger cast members haven’t settled into their roles yet, and the show doesn’t know what to do with them, anyway.

In its second season, House of Cards is just like its main character: clever, ruthless, a bit too self-satisfied and surprisingly powerful.

Queer as Folk obviously has a healthy libido. It'd sure be nice to discover it has a heart, too. [2 Dec 2000, p.E5]

Murder One is by far the best new drama of the season, a sensational and intelligent combination of grit, mystery and conflict. [19 Sept 1995, p.E1]

Sometimes slasher flick, sometimes courtroom drama, this Lizzie is a cynically dark, shamefully fun account of an all-American crime.

The core of the show is its characters, who are vividly drawn and well cast, and its tangle of provocative story lines. [22 July 2003, p.E8]

Lifetime goes there, then backs away from the issue immediately, making for some scenes that add nothing to the story but brief bouts of nausea.

Black Sails is exactly like the 18th-century Caribbean pirates it brings to life: dirty, amoral and worth stomaching only when there are no women around.

Alongside Roth, Shepard and talented character actor Tim Blake Nelson, Madden pulls off the sometimes treacly dialogue, but the insistent no-duh musings (“the die has been cast”) wear thin quickly.

After True Detective, all the other TV cops hunting serial killers are going to look like copycats. It’s that the taut script and spot-on dialogue takes us on a ’90s noir roller coaster ride of Shakespearean tragedy with fearless literary aspirations, delivered by two actors at the top of their game.

Showrunner Julian Fellowes knew he had to spice things up, apparently, so he employed a lazy, “shocking” plot device that will leave fans sickened, indignant and wondering why Fellowes just didn’t give his beloved characters something worthwhile to do instead. That offensive event aside, this season’s repetitive tropes, recycled conflicts and predictable heartbreak are not worth the trouble this time around.

Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch are pretty great as Bonnie and Clyde, despite a just-servicable script to explain how Clyde won Bonnie’s anxiety-ridden, artistic heart.

While its premise isn’t new--anyone remember “Total Recall 2070” or “Mann and Machine”?--the show’s ambition, solid cast and pure production values make it a worthwhile diversion.

Lead writer Daniel Knauf, who created HBO’s “Carnivale,” has tweaked Bram Stoker’s classic tale in delightful, if heavy-handed ways.

Although it’s a medical drama on one level, Masters of Sex is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, with romances, mysteries and coming-of-age stories unfolding throughout its large cast.

Paired with the endearing self-awareness and cerebral nods to pop culture Whedon brings to his best projects, it’s the perfect setup for fall’s most promising new TV show.

Lopez might just be trying to prove that Latinos have as much right as anyone to bomb on ABC. [27 Mar 2002, p.F1]

It's an engaging set-up for what will likely be a hit, since it was obviously designed to complement the social-service minded "Judging Amy." [25 Sept 2001, p.E1]

Over nine weeks and 10 hours, this extraordinary television event looks for humanity in the midst of carnage and despair. Time and time again, Band of Brothers finds it. [9 Sept 2001, p.11]

It’s a fascinating visual ride. But without heroes worth rooting for or a victim worth avenging, the rubble heaps of an imploded metropolis can only do so much heavy lifting.

Smallville roped me in. The most intriguing premise is that young Clark is only starting to grasp the enormity of his arriving on Earth a dozen years earlier. [16 Oct 2001, p.E1]

If this one doesn't make you laugh, it may be time to report to the cryogenics lab. [26 May 1995]

Every minute of "The Practice" is imbued with urgency, but it is a contrived, almost comical urgency. [2 Mar 1997]

It is a show driven not so much by story line as by story telling. We may never have seen a TV program so adept at painting brilliant little vignettes that have nothing to do with anything except the sheer pleasure of watching a scene unfold or hearing pitch-perfect dialogue. [3 Mar 2001]

The best drama on television. [18 Sep 2004]

Spellbinding ... Blends intelligent writing, seamless special effects and more wonderful creations from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. [19 Mar 1999]

A contrived and predictable drama in military dress. [23 Sep 1995]

This just feels like the show "CSI" should have been all along. [23 Sep 2002]

The best that can be said about "Medium" is that it has a little more pep than similar shows and a sense of humor. [3 Jan 2005]

Carey, a stand-up comedy veteran, has great timing and expression. It's easy to relate to his working-class persona. Now if someone could just make his friends a little funnier, "Drew Carey" could be a winner. [13 Sep 1995]

Mostly a hoot. [4 Feb 2005]

Elevate[s] the state of TV drama with fine writing, convincing acting and compelling stories. [16 Sep 1994]

Tough, gritty, almost exhausting to watch. [16 Sep 1994]

An entertainingly raunchy spoof of reality TV. [23 Jul 2003]

Orange is scary, smart and relevant, and it will make you wonder why no one thought to give the “Oz” formula a dose of estrogen before now.

The Bridge will no doubt tie all these threads together in 13 well-executed episodes, after a lot of red herrings, victims killed in horrific ways and one final twist. It’s guaranteed to be a depressing journey, and it’s starting to feel like one we’ve been on before.

Like other CBS crime dramas, this one is grim, dark and laden with production gimmicks. ... You would never know it came from two established filmmakers, Tony and Ridley Scott. [21 Jan 2005]

If Trump keeps showing us that success has not gone completely to his head, this should be a good season. [9 Sep 2004]

A standard-issue WB teen soap opera about love and basketball that promises to get better because it can't really get much worse...It has no distinguishable stars and worse, for all its dramatic story lines, no real passion. [23 Sept 2003, p.E1]

Ray Donovan is undeniably derivative, but it sure is fun. Liev Schreiber leads a stellar cast as Ray Donovan.

Some critics called the book incisive and addictive, while others dismissed it as pulpy and juvenile. Under the Dome checks all those boxes in Monday’s pilot episode.