While often a sumptuous watch, it too often strays into the gaudy.

The show is competent for what it is. (Phelan and Rater know the territory.) And the series manages to address some real issues in evenhanded ways. So while it’s not my cup of tea, I wouldn’t write Doubt off.

After the characters try to explain the timeline once too often, it gets confusing and you just stop caring about what's going on. So even if the cast is pretty good, which it is, and even if the show has some excitement at times, Legends--so far--comes off as something of a mishmash of a mash-up.

Limitless makes for a lively show with an addictive potential.

While it mostly traffics in the idea of trying to right the past and how that can go so very wrong, it doesn’t get bogged down, instead letting the action and mystery drive the story. For what it is, you likely will be entertained while watching it, but it probably won’t stick with you very long.

Damnation has laid enough groundwork for a solid series, and the first episode ends with a kicker about Seth and Creeley’s relationship.

While The Son sports sprawling ambitions, the series awkwardly trods over familiar territories.

To its credit, SEAL Team attempts to examine the home life of the military men, but most of the story is devoted to action rather than drama. The action has a gritty “Zero Dark Thirty” look to it, but when the show does focus on the domestic side, it doesn’t dive as deep as History’s “Six,” another show about SEALs. ... It’s solid, if not going into new territory.

So far, City of Angels is a solid, fairly smart series that doesn't quite reach out and grab the viewer as Barclay and Bochco's previous collaborations have done. But a cast capable of doing that when the writing hits its stride is definitely in place. [16 Jan 2000, p.L5]

The Amazon series can play like an old Hollywood movie one minute, self-consciously gabby and filled with witticisms. The next, it’s a smart glitzy contemporary soap opera or sly but telling commentary on the entertainment business. Sometimes it bounces a bit too much between the different aspects. Sometimes things mesh nicely, and the series is never boring.

Vice Principals has some weird twists, like Russell’s home life, that keep the show vaguely watchable at times, but it doesn’t have enough laughs and or a satirical bite to keep it propped up.

Netflix’s new multicamera sitcom, The Ranch, will seem familiar enough for fans of the genre, but it’s enjoyable and inventive enough to make you think there is still life left in the well-worn TV staple.

Versailles has glamor and spectacle, but it’s hardly an epic drama. It dreamily drifts along for the first few episodes, introducing the characters and concentrating on outrageous behavior. All the military-strategy sessions blur together.

To maintain any momentum, however, they're going to have to come up with something more than a ''dead guy of the week beckons from the other side'' premise. There's not much the Others are fighting against at this point, except short-lived skepticism on behalf of the bereaved. [5 Feb 2000, p.L3]

Geere gives a very lively performance and the rest of the cast is also strong. Not the happiest of topics, but Ill Behaviour, puts an interesting face on it.

Pharoah, though, almost makes it worth it. He has a solid presence that lifts the show. You just wish it were a better show.

The series seems to want to exist somewhere between a Pee-wee Herman world, where Miranda exists within her own reality, and “Waiting for Guffman” or other parodies of self-important clueless people. It doesn’t succeed as either, nor on its own terms.

So far, The Mist hasn’t given viewers much to care about. It’s all pretty standard plot thickeners. On the other hand, it’s not badly done--atmospheric, so to speak, if unseen horrors are your thing.

It can never have the immediacy of Ryan McGarry’s documentary about County/USC that inspired it, but the series does capture the film’s spirit and that is a welcome change when it comes to medical dramas. Harden, as usual, provides a strong presence, which helps anchor the show, and Guzman is a plus for any series. Code Black is worth keeping an eye on.

Though lightly entertaining, the series needs a bit more character grounding. So far Weston and Mangan are quite good as the flamboyant famous characters, but the scripts will have to flesh them out more. That may never happen.

Oates is getting to the party pretty darn late; there aren't a lot of bones left to pick through. But what's left isn't pretty, and in adapting "Blonde" the miniseries, director Joyce Chopra and screenwriter Joyce Eliason focus morbidly, as did Oates, on the pervasive darkness in the life of Norma Jeane Baker. [13 May 2001, p.L8]

Peppered in are some humor, like funny references to the past when Lara’s mom saying she met her husband on Tinder, or when Dash uses his abilities for more than seeing crime, like knowing when bird poop is dropping. However, you wish that the show would have been less zippy, less procedural. It hints at dire aftereffects of Precrime, but doesn’t go much beyond that.

There is nothing new in Killing Reagan from filmmaker Rod Lurie. ... Better to read a book--not O’Reilly’s--but a real history of the man’s life.

McHale, the “Community” veteran, is enjoyable. The jokes aren’t bad, and it’s fun having Fry as the out-of-touch editor. Based on the first episode, though, the show is hit and miss. The premise is stretched every which way, but somehow Indoors seem a bit claustrophobic.

The mystery along with its intriguing premise might have been enough, but the main problem with the show is the slow pacing. It’s easy to drift.

Although Olson and the cast give it their all, “The Mick” is no fun.

Midnight, Texas is kind of like the Saturday matinee version of horror. It keeps the action moving along without much bite.

It’s meant as escapism, not realpolitik, and we should have faith people know the difference. Yes, there are flaws in the series, but in the first three episodes it keeps you hooked.