But what's amazing, maybe even revolutionary, about The Corner is this: as its narrative plays out in six laid-back, detail-packed, one-hour installments, you come to see that all the major characters don't belong in this place, in this life. [16 Apr 2000, p.1]

The Christmas special Shrek the Halls is fabulous.

Sick, twisted and darkly funny, "Dexter" is easily the best drama in Showtime history.

Treme may lack the obvious narrative engine that the cops vs. drug dealers narrative gave "The Wire," but it's already a smart, engaging, moving and funny series, one that in many ways is more accessible than its predecessor.

At a time when every TV comedy seems content to look and sound like every other TV comedy, any show that tries to break the mold deserves to be applauded. And a show like Sports Night that's snappy, well written, thought-provoking, and sometimes funny and moving at the same time deserves no less than a standing ovation. [22 Sept 1998, p.59]

This is the most uncompromising and stylistically innovative approach to TV drama since "NYPD Blue" maybe since "Hill Street Blues" 20 years ago. [30 March 2000, p.57]

That balance of viewpoints--positive and negative, tragic and comic--is what makes Carrier such extraordinary viewing.

"Curb" never presents itself as anything but a cleverly plotted, deliberately offensive comedy. But it's more than a comedy: It's a comedy of manners, or bad manners; delightfully rude, and, in its unreal way, honest. [3 Jan 2004]

This is a smart, exciting thrill ride with a tick-tock momentum that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. [6 Nov 2001]

"The Larry Sanders Show" is the most painful comedy on TV, and I mean that as a compliment. At its best, this half-hour sitcom, set in and around a Los Angeles-based talk show, achieves a sublime level of cruelty. [13 Mar 1998]

The acting, writing and directing are superb.

The phrase "stream-of- consciousness" doesn't do it justice. Geyser-of-consciousness is more like it. What holds it together is the program's unique comic voice. [12 Sep 1997]

The funniest and most romantic new show this fall. [24 Sept 1997, p.31]

An earnest, soulful update of the Superman myth. [16 Oct 2001, p.55]

Delightful. [8 Nov 2001, p.45]

It's the best-looking pilot of the season--maybe the best new show, period--even though it may not look that good in the future.

The CW's Reaper and NBC's "Chuck," the two shows featuring the aforementioned Sam and, um, Chuck, are an unusual pairing in that they're not only both good--with ABC's "Pushing Daisies," they're the best new shows of the season.

Fresh, sharp and screamingly funny. [4 Mar 1997]

As someone who has grown exhausted by frenetic and increasingly absurd plotting of "Scandal" and "How To Get Away With Murder," I suspect "The Catch" will prove at least as durable simply because the stakes aren't as high here, and it doesn't take itself as seriously.

It's pretty grim stuff — but quite engrossing and worth your time.

The pilot offers a number of interesting swerves, and Anderson and Mulroney are always watchable, but Crisis shares sustainability issues with CBS' "Hostages."

The metaphorical gloom and doom of Taboo is likewise dense and relentless but so enveloping you can't help but be sucked in.

It's an infectious, engaging hour that sets up the rules of this universe efficiently and effectively (i.e., they can't double back to anyplace they might meet themselves), and the cast gels quickly.

The show feels realistic in the locker room, on the field and in the media circus that surrounds her. (The synergy with real-life Fox Sports commentators and on-screen graphics provides more verisimilitude.)

Only the first episode was available for review, but the writing and direction is assured enough that easy to see where this show headed: an uplifting thrill ride that isn't a heavy lift like so many dark superhero dramas.

7 Days in Hell is flush with over-the-top raunch and absurdist asides, but there's a shaggy charm about this production.

Like the park, Westworld operates on many levels, and the ones that take place below the park are less successful than the vibrant but violent world the programmers have built above. ... The saving grace is the interplay between Ford's sensitive second-in-command Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), obsessed with tweaking the code to imbue the hosts with ever more humanity, and the hosts, particularly Wood's Dolores, who can shift from sunny self-denial to clinical self analysis at a word from Lowe.

These extended sojourns on the mountain, though beautifully shot, are self-serious to the point of spoof. That said, the performances--a supremely shaggy David Morse as Big Foster, a mercurial leader of the clan, Joe Anderson as Asa, who returned to the fold after a decade in the outside world, and Thomas M. Wright as troubled deputy Wade Houghton Jr., with a mysterious link to the Farrells--are strong throughout. And there's much in the material that resonates.