I know this is going to come as a shock, but when the scene is designed around Kate, the show sags. By contrast, when Rick strolls into the room, the show perks up.

How it all goes awry is the question that provides Caprica with its ripe potential. Unfortunately, a serious storytelling mistake in the early going has left me with doubts about whether it has the wherewithal to get there.

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

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

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]

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.

I think “Survivors” is going to have a hard time getting noticed, not just because BBC America is way up there on digital cable, but because the hoopla surrounding the end of “Lost” is unrelenting, and “Survivors” just hasn’t done anything to break through.

A perfectly serviceable but utterly forgettable sitcom.

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]

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]

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

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.

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.

I’ve got nothing against Vampire Diaries. Since it lacks broad appeal and hasn’t a clever bone in its body, it will probably be a hit, unlike CW shows I’ve stuck up for (like “Reaper” and “Aliens in America”).

The show could use a return to what made it great in the first place: [Sookie and friends] battling monsters with the help of benevolent, attractive bloodsuckers.

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.

The Bachelor gets off to a slow start but maybe that's to be expected. It starts with a marathon mixer; Take "hi, my name is Angelique" and multiply it 25 times and you get the idea. Michel tells the women he is "humbled and honored" by the turnout, perhaps forgetting that ABC flew all the women to Malibu for the party. [25 Mar 2002, p.D5]

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.

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]

We're supposed to buy that the C.S.I. unit is the next wave of high-tech crimefighting, but their tools don't look very high-tech to me. One gizmo looks suspiciously like a canister vacuum cleaner and the only thing it "finds" is a toenail clipping that could've been spotted with the naked eye. [6 Oct 2000, p.E1]

What's depressing is that Cox is a very gifted comic actress, but she can't seem to land a role that doesn't involve showing off her ample cleavage. [7 Oct 2000, p.E1]

"My Boys" suffers from an unrealistic setup, and too many scenes amount to five people sitting around talking.

"'Til Death" seems a pretty thin concept.

Given the rather sophisticated allegorical treatments that TV audiences have been treated to in recent years courtesy of “Battlestar Galactica,” “The 4400” and the like, I find V’s first episode falling short, other than a fairly obvious allusion to Hitler Youth in the aliens’ outreach to teens.

While it is formulaic and slow-paced, Moonlight is stylish entertainment with a charming star aimed at a specific audience--the folks who stay home Friday night and watch CBS.

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]

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]

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.