Whether this is all weirdness for weirdness' sake or something more complex isn't clear, not even after the first four episodes.

Perhaps recognizing the professional problem, the show's writers return with an episode where the crime has a painful personal connection for Grace. Some of the scenes still drag, but it's stronger than most of the season one episodes.

While HBO’s new "How to Make It in America" is light on plot, characterization and humor, it’s got atmosphere to spare. And for a few episodes, that may be enough.

The law students are an assortment of not yet very distinctive ambitious types, with the exception being audience surrogate Wes Gibbons (Alfred Enoch)

Tonally, Privileged is an amalgam of the CW's other shows in this genre: more contemporary and (at times) funnier than the new "90210" but not as nihilistic as "Gossip Girl." And Garcia's both charming and a promising light comedienne.

Hipsters will roll their eyes at the show's many cliches - decent small-town folk, cynical city slickers, the healing power of the great outdoors, etc. - but everyone else will be grateful. And fortunately, some of the performances are just odd and striking enough to reduce the sugar quotient. [16 Sept 2002, p.23]

With this cast, and the writing of Fresco and company, I expect Ted season two to again hit the heights of that first season. But these two episodes are a reminder of how hard it is to pull that off.

I've since seen two more episodes, which in some ways intrigued me even more than the pilot. It's not "Battlestar Galactica", in that it swaps out the military components of that show for a bit of teen angst and soap opera intrigue, but I really like the lead performances by Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales (two actors who in previous roles often made me feel like there was something missing), and the social commentary is just as sharp here as it was on "BSG."

The jokes that do hit on "Life and Times of Tim" suggest that Dildarian might be onto something really good if given time to fix the slow spots.

The two-hour pilot episode was engaging and fun in a way that NBC's other throwback dramas ("Knight Rider," "My Own Worst Enemy") have failed to be.

Like the movie that inspired it, Parenthood isn’t an instant classic, but it’s smart and warm and knowing, and it casts its net so wide that at least part of it should connect with you.

Some episodes and moments have such undeniable dramatic power that you may weep; others may just leave you scratching your head. [9 Sept 2001, p.1]

When Doe is just exploring the depth and breadth of his great brain - playing a virtuoso rendition of "My Funny Valentine," showing off for a crowd of library patrons - John Doe feels like a show that a lot of people may want to get to know. [19 Sept 2002]

Cranston's performance alone is enough to keep me watching for a while, but I'd like to see something resembling a completed formula, and soon.

The whole space cowboy gimmick shouldn't work, but Whedon and co-creator Tim Minear have managed to create a world where space stations and men on horseback can plausibly co-exist. Little touches like deliberately old-fashioned dialogue - one character describes the bar fight as "just an honest brawl between folk" - help immensely. [19 Sept 2002]

There's loads of potential here; like "The Simpsons," Groening's new effort manages to be edgy and reassuring at the same time, which means it can lead us anyplace and be confident we'll follow with a big grin. [26 Mar 1999]

So, to sum up: decadent and adult, but too entertaining to be this week's harbinger of the apocalypse.

It’s a solid meat-and-potatoes family comedy; next to "Hank," it’s the next "Malcolm in the Middle."

Royal Pains can't help but suffer in comparison, but it's not a bad summer diversion--which, frankly, is all that "Burn Notice" was in its first season.

The Ex List has the kind of silly romantic comedy premise that makes you feel dumber just for hearing it, but the show itself is actually fairly smart and funny--for the time being, at least.

Another Period also skewers gender politics (and classism and the cult of celebrity), but the jokes are not particularly charged, aiming for--and granted, usually reaching--bawdiness, not brilliance.

Newcomers to the franchise--there may be a quite a few, as 24: Legacy gets the prime spot right after the Super Bowl--may get sucked in, mostly thanks to Hawkins' charisma, although Miranda Otto is also very watchable as Rebecca Ingram, the tough CTU director who is leaving the agency to help her husband, played by Jimmy Smits, run for president.

The era is a rich vein to mine, and to their credit, the creators are light on pirate cliches--I do not believe one "aargh!" is uttered--but at the same time, there's a little too much emphasis on pirate economics and labor disputes than is necessary, and the sprawling cast and hierarchy a little hard to keep straight.

Sometimes it seems that Darabont is more in thrall to the rise of the West Coast mob than to the story he's allegedly trying to tell.

Both Feldman and Milioti are appealing, but the show doesn't feel particularly fresh, and there's probably one gimmick too many.

The first episode is not as edgy (or, quite frankly, as funny) as it thinks it is. Olson is a gifted physical actress but the woman-behaving-badly shtick starts off a bit toothless. The second episode is sharper.

Gruffudd's characterization is a bit uneven; sometimes he's gruff and aloof and still pining over the loss of his World War II-era love, yet he's able to turn on the charm when he wants to.

This is supposed to be a cat-and-mouse game, but it's more like a kitten with a ball of yarn.