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.