This comedy is set in a paper-supply sales office where people seem to work hardest at finding ways to kill time. I must say that it was an extremely realistic presentation: While watching the program, I kept looking at the clock and longing for it to be over so I could go home. [24 Mar 2005, p.E6]

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]

The freshest take on the single-camera mockumentary since “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

It has personality to spare, so much that you forgive it for its romantic notion that a bunch of highly paid TV people constitutes a "family." [22 Sept 1998, p.F1]

Flawless production design and lush cinematography make Rectify visually stunning, but its simmering mystery and artfully depicted dysfunction make every scene hum with tension.

This behind-the-scenes look at the American presidency from the creator of "Sports Night" (Aaron Sorkin) gets off to a bumpy start tonight when viewers realize that the supposedly liberal chief executive played by Martin Sheen - who in real life is an actual fire-eating Hollywood liberal - has no minorities in his inner circle. (The first black face seen in the premiere episode is a traffic cop who pulls over one of the show's regulars.) [22 Sept 1999, p.F10]

This show has great casting, comedy that crackles and characters who show signs of actually possessing some depth to them. These are rare qualities for any TV show, which is why I ranked it my second-favorite new series of the fall. [22 Sept 2003, p.E8]

The result is a challenging psychological thriller within a gripping crime procedural.

Mr. Selfridge really gets rolling in its third and fourth episodes, when its interlocking stories and Piven’s outsize performance settle into place.

Mamet has supplied Phil Spector with his signature rapid-fire dialogue, but nameless attorneys and consultants interrupting one another only set the table for more tiresome time with Pacino.

[A h]ighly implausible if smartly written hour. [16 Sept 2002, p.E1]

The Shield" also features heart-stopping action scenes, the steady backbeat of its addictive soundtrack and highly entertaining chatter. The combined effect will kick down your door. [12 Mar 2002, p.E1]

What makes Boomtown so immediately interesting is that each of these people is treated like a main character, at least for a few moments. Rather than the standard objective, all-seeing-all-knowing camera, this show teases the viewer by using several highly subjective cameras, including some trained on bit players. I've seen this verite approach in documentaries, but this is the closest any fictional drama has come to approximating the effect. [28 Sept 2002, p.G1]

It brings its own style of spine-tingling dysfunction to the screen.

Somehow it works, thanks in part to a tangled intrigue that pulls this lowly matriculator into a conspiracy of the highest order. [29 Sept 2001, p.E1]

Hugh Laurie is simply brilliant as the sarcastic, Vicodin-popping, cane-clutching healer in House. You want to see a heroic doctor? Go watch Matthew Fox save an island on "Lost." Want to see a terrific performance by a comedic actor who may singlehandedly save the medical drama? Here's your guy. [16 Nov 2004, p.E3]

But if its idea of entertainment is a new domestic terrorist threat every week - as it is in tonight's debut - no thanks. As for the stars, Harmon is Harmon, an acquired taste I never acquired. [23 Sept 2003, p.E1]

So it's come to this - all talk and no action... Some of the lines are funny and several of the stars, particularly Aniston and David Schwimmer, who plays Ross, are appealing. But something is missing here and that something is a story. Where's the beef?[22 Sept 1994, p.F1]

It's safe to say you've not seen anything like it on network television. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the shock does wear off after a few minutes. [22 Sept 2004, p.F3]

What a pleasure to find a woman who doesn't need to karate chop some no-neck to prove she's in charge. [27 Sept 2003]

Less of a punchline parade than a lighthearted look at the foibles of family life, Greetings From Tucson is laced with ethnic jokes about El Caminos, pinatas and family shopping trips. [20 Sept 2002, p.E1]

It's all fairly paint-by-numbers with a fair amount of physical comedy, yet I couldn't help laughing out loud at times - watching Bynes give a terrier the Heimlich maneuver, for example. [20 Sept 2002, p.E1]

Compelling. [20 Sept 2002, p.E1]

Each person in the ensemble is distinct and intriguing. This show is loaded with possibilities.[20 Sept 2002, p.E1]

Rocha, combined with the new format of The Face, creates a real threat to the Tyra empire.... [But] The Face, with a focus on posing, strutting and styling in its first few weeks, has room to fall.

Time will tell whether this spin-off of NBC's cops-to-courts standby can lure an audience to Mondays. There's plenty here to work with. The question is, in what direction will creator Dick Wolf move it all? [20 Sept 1999, p.E1]

If Grey's Anatomy falls short of being the next "ER," it's because it's too slickly produced. It comes with the kind of heart-tugging music and exquisitely lighted contemplative moments you might expect to see on, say, "The O.C." But the writing and acting, if not the staging, helped pull me through surgery. [26 March 2005, p.E3]

If the film sins against history, it's in the many omissions of intriguing minutiae that made the book worthwhile.