Newark Star-Ledger's Scores

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For 511 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average TV Show review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1
Lowest review score: 0 In the Motherhood: Season 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 270 out of 270
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 270
  3. Negative: 0 out of 270
270 tv reviews
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  1. Ugly Betty: Season 1
    I have no interest in fashion, little inherent fondness for soap operas, and I'm absolutely not the gender this show is targeting. And based on the two episodes I've seen, I'm going to be watching "Ugly Betty" every week. It's that much fun.
  2. Damages: Season 1
    Damages offers two superb performances by old pros Glenn Close and Ted Danson.... One thing it doesn't have: a compelling main character. It's a doughnut show: lots of sweet, satisfying goodness around the edges, nothing in the middle.
  3. The Good Wife: Season 1
    The Good Wife is confident and polished, and a much better showcase for Margulies than her last legal drama.
  4. Marvel's Daredevil: Season 1
    This is a smart, simmering human-scale crime drama that transcends the superhero genre.
  5. Bessie: Season 1
    Thanks to Queen Latifah, we know exactly who Bessie Smith is; the movie itself could have spent more time exploring how she got to be that way.
  6. Fresh Off the Boat: Season 1
    Watered-down or not, the immigrant/culture clash storylines are the freshest things about Fresh Off the Boat, which is a pastiche of other ABC sitcoms (thankfully, the good ones).
  7. Without a Trace: Season 1
    Has a fine, film noirish vibe and an irresistible mystery hook. [25 Sep 2002]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Jul 9, 2013
  8. Burn Notice: Season 2
    Nix and company had a very thing going last season, and they've found a way to change the show a little without screwing it up.
  9. Top Chef: Season 5
    The challenges--including a head-to-head competition where pairs of chefs are sent into various New York neighborhoods and told to cook the local cuisine--seem appropriately Big Apple-centric without being silly.
  10. House: Season 1
    At turns funny, terrifying and moving. [16 Nov 2004, p.73]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Mar 11, 2013
  11. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Season 1
    Last fall, "Studio 60" would have easily been the best new drama; this fall, it's lucky to squeeze into the top five, and a lot of that is based on potential more than what's on screen.
  12. Younger: Season 1
    Younger, with its fizzy sensibility and sexual frankness, is a not-so-veiled attempt to lure younger audiences to the network, but there's a caginess to the humor, poking fun at both the younger generation, whose self-worth seems irrevocably tied to the strength of their Instagram following, and the pop cultural obliviousness of Liza's generation.
  13. Grease: Live
    It lacked, for the most part, the emotional punch and sheer vocal prowess of NBC's recent staging, but the production itself redefined what a live musical could be.
  14. Ray Donovan: Season 1
    The show, stylishly shot and strongly written, throws a lot at the wall in the premiere.
  15. Monk: Season 1
    Nobody likes a know-it-all - especially when he starts pointing out something you could have figured out by yourself. Let's hope this unusual man gets some equally unusual puzzles in the coming weeks. [11 July 2002, p.35]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Jun 25, 2013
  16. Big Little Lies: Season 1
    The basic structure is compelling enough--viewers don't even know who the identity of the murder victim is through much of the series, and the layered performances keep us in flux over who we'd like to kill off, and who we wish would do the killing.
  17. Nurse Jackie: Season 2
    Jackie remains watchable because of Falco's no-nonsense, weary performance, and because of the off-kilter comic brilliance of Merritt Wever as Jackie's bubbly, spastic protégé Zoey.
  18. Supergirl (2015): Season 1
    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.
  19. Bloodline: Season 1
    Mendelsohn is superb as Danny, who shifts between vulnerability and venality with a swiftness that will leave you breathless. And there is an authenticity to the interplay between these adult siblings, freighted with unspoken accusations, long-held grudges, bitter rivalries and yes, even love, hinted at in flashbacks and fleshed out in a shocking flash-forward.
  20. The Practice: Season 1
    In the early episodes, the cases are knotty and compelling... and Kelley comes up with some intriguing legal strategies ... But as the weeks go by, those wacky subplots start cropping up again. [4 Mar 1997]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Jul 23, 2013
  21. Chuck: Season 2
    There are shows on television that are smarter than Chuck, deeper, more ambitious, whatever. At the moment, I can't think of one that's more fun.
  22. iZombie: Season 1
    A cheeky mash-up of police procedural, screwball comedy, and horror parody with lots of heart. And, yes, lots of brains.
  23. Carrier: Season 1
    That balance of viewpoints--positive and negative, tragic and comic--is what makes Carrier such extraordinary viewing.
  24. CSI: Season 9
    Fishburne doesn't show up until halfway through the episode and mostly stays in the background once he does, letting the intellectual chess match between Grissom and DJK be the focus. And that feels right.
  25. Nip/Tuck: Season 4
    Murphy's writing has never been especially fond of subtlety - give him a fly to kill, and he'll ask for a brick of C4 - but this version of Nip/Tuck more closely resembles the show the fans fell in love with instead of the one they thought they wanted with The Carver story. [5 Sept 2006, p.27]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Jan 21, 2014
  26. Sinatra: All or Nothing at All: Season 1
    While Sinatra die-hards may find all this too familiar, there are still intriguing revelations throughout.
  27. Chuck: Season 1
    Chuck starts a step slower, with more exposition in the first two episodes and no larger-than-life character like Satan to smooth over that, but by episode three, it's just as assured and entertaining in its own extremely similar way.
  28. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 1
    Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles happens to contain that show's most interesting character. It just ain't Sarah Connor.
  29. Nip/Tuck: Season 2
    If FX's other signature drama "The Shield" is a fine example of how cable's relaxed content restrictions can lead to more compelling drama, Nip/Tuck is a symbol of that freedom run amok. "The Shield" is heavy on shock value, but those shocks are there to serve some kind of larger purpose. When the Nip/Tuck writers throw in something raunchy or disgusting, it's simply because they can. [21 June 2004, p.27]
    • Newark Star-Ledger
      • Posted Jan 21, 2014
  30. Westworld: Season 1
    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.
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