There are too many characters, too many points of view, all subservient to big ideas that don’t even begin to come into focus until late in the second part--just as the unwieldy story starts to go out of focus.

Tere's real promise in Parenthood. In time, we may all genuinely care whether Crosby and Sarah find themselves, or at least grow up.

These stylish suits aren't empty, by any means. But we'll have to see if USA is truly willing to let its heroes' souls get emotionally naked.

This show doesn't feel even remotely played out.

Because Rudd's Herschkopf is so reliably repugnant and Ferrell's Marty so utterly hopeless, as a viewer you eventually feel trapped as well. There's no way out, no exit, just eight long hours spent with two famous actors who seem to know nothing of the people they're supposed to be.

A viewing of the first two episodes proves to be quite the chore. We're introduced to one-dimensional characters, presented a mystery that the characters themselves barely seem to be interested in pursuing, and we're asked to just sit there and put up with it. It can be rather excruciating.

The first two episodes of "The Right Stuff" offer a lot of promise, but the characters other than John Glenn need to be more fully developed.

Monday’s busy pilot (crammed with setting reveals and visual effects) leads to a sluggish second hour trading the thrill of discovery for downbeat foreboding. Yet the purpose-seeking characters emerge so starkly--Jason Ralph’s disturbed new student, Hale Appleman as his sardonic guide, Arjun Gupta as his itchy roommate, Stella Maeve as his left-behind soul mate. They feel worth following.

By losing the emotional core of the film essentially after the first act--the death of Kinnear's saintly Fairbrother--the film spends the next three-plus hours trying to fill the void. Fools rush in to fill it, but because most of them are treated with such contempt, or pity, none can or possibly could.

9-1-1 is insufferable, but it’s also watchable.

Passable summer thriller with some decent (for TV) action sequences. The plot? You've been there, done that.

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll smells suspiciously like a vanity project that sat on Leary's shelf for a couple of decades.

Labine and Greer completely hijack the show, and almost threaten to turn Biggs (you'll remember him from "American Pie") and Chalke ("Scrubs." "Roseanne") into props. A well-made and skillfully executed sitcom. Oh--almost forgot--fun, too.

"Pistol's" most watchable episode is the last, covering the band's first and (effectively) only U.S. tour which crashed and burned after the 1978 concert at San Francisco's Winterland. But what comes before is the humdrum — a whole listless swath that spreads over scenes, characters, and episodes. Hardly anyone catches fire, including Johnny Rotten, although his spiked red hair does do a good impression of shooting flames.

The Lottery, with otherwise sage setup and promising performances, merits its own shot at something great.

Crowe is good to a point, but "The Loudest Voice" can be root canal.

Congenial sitcom set in the great outdoors where everything--even or especially a sitcom--seems just a little bit better.

Neither slop, nor the obverse (a masterpiece), "Grand Hotel" resides squarely and benignly in the middle: A pleasant summer diversion with a good and absurdly telegenic cast .

Not a lot new here, but Cheney gets a fair hearing--even though a tougher one is occasionally warranted.

Quirky, strange, dark — and engaging.

A frustrating film that leaves the questions--pretty much all of them--unanswered.

Good actors can get away with glib, and Woods is one of the best, persuasive enough to have you spotting freshness in the familiar and wisdom in cliches.

Intelligent, sharply produced and respectful of its female characters, For the People looks like a winner.

Good Girls understands the genre (revenge fantasy) and source material (see above) but hasn’t the slightest idea what to do with it.

The hokum factor is pretty high, but Hennessy is a nice combination of pert and sour, her primary co-stars are solid and the premise is functional. [24 Sep 2001]

Purefoy brings some raffish charm to the role, but these days, who wants to embrace raffish philandering philanthropists--particularly ones so defiantly dim.

Cheap humor? Yes. Based on obvious stereotypes? Yes. Funny? What can I say? Borat got a chuckle out of me. And so did Bruno. [21 Feb 2003, p.B47]

Skillful, at times powerful, blend of fact with fiction — and not always clear which is which.

The narratives here lack subtlety, historic context or--strangely enough--even drama.

Outrageous, eccentric, funny, campy--and too creepy for small kids.

A flawed if promising start for a tough old veteran that proved it's still got some fight--and talk--left.

Van Damme--older, wiser and slower, also wrinkled, hunched and melancholy--salvages an otherwise fascinating, uneven mess.

Of necessity, the story is so rushed, the characters so carelessly brush-stroked, that what should be climactic--the first manned spaceflight--feels incidental, almost blase.

Being Human echoes, move for move, the BBC America fave of the same name. Yet, Syfy simplifies the tone into young-adult novelhood, where there's lots of white space around really big print. Subsequent episodes improve as plots thicken.

It's cheeky parody/homage, exhibiting affection for comic books and other pulpy amusements, while maintaining such a zippy pace, there's no time to consider whether it hangs together. Or whether that matters. (Great voice cast, though.)

Like the previous four "AHS" editions, the fifth is a visual feast (which is probably the wrong word here, but you get the idea). Everything--everyone, and not just Gaga--is eroticized, too. Even the shadows are seductive. A shame that it all feels so grim and joyless.

Terrifically hard to love, but some superb performances indicate that at least it's worth the effort to try.

Fine reboot that gets better in two later episodes.

de Cadenet's interesting. Her talk show is much less so.

The three judges are amiable, upbeat and gentle. They’re also incapable of criticism, either constructive or harsh. ... It’s a soft down pillow, a gentle bromide for turbulent times. Ageless, old-fashioned, congenial, reassuring.

If it wasn't a docucomedy, it would just be dull.

Where is this headed? Who knows? But it's heading there slowly. Nevertheless, the cast--Common, Meaney, Heyerdahl and Mount--is good, while the Old West still feels especially beautiful and perilous.

Above-average special effects and the presence of two old and beloved friends--you know who!--more than make up for an eye-rolling new premise.

The fifth-season opener efficiently brooms away that creaky storyline, and even pivots on an effective twist that reinforces one more “HoC” theme: Frank will be Frank.

Dumb premise threatens to sink promising series.

Yes, this is all very familiar--Sundance's "The Returned" was better, by the way--but there are still solid hints of an engaging series.

Parker’s good, but otherwise Divorce is sullen and sodden.

The “fat” stuff is way overdone, but Bader and Mixon are good. Otherwise, your watchwords are: too soon to tell.

The first few episodes of "Truth Seekers" are somewhat disappointing, but the acting is strong and there's potential for improvement.

You may hate yourself for laughing--just don't be too surprised if and when you do.

There are, in fact, too many plates. At worse, they induce vertigo, or prevent close inspection for logical consistency (and there is some). But at its best, they promise something unique, even smart.

Beals and company (including Joe Morton as her remarkably flesh-and-blood boss) breathe life into this tale the way their characters restore life to patients, with skill and guts and, crucially, souls that radiate precisely what this show is about.

Samantha Who? which is not nearly as cool a title, but still a sparkling comedy that treats its viewers as--gasp!--actual grown-ups.

The few “Spring Awakening” numbers are good, the cast is solid, but otherwise Rise falls flat.

It's not particularly funny, but it does have style and energy. [26 Feb 2002]

Future episodes aren't as snappy or scenic. But Shahi & Show deliver win-win, anyway.

There's too much going on to tell what might ultimately stick, other than the contents of the Mallow Marsh.

The writing is sharp, but sharp-edged too. Overwhelmed with venom, Queens tends to be more mean-spirited than free-spirited. The cast is energetic, particularly Roberts and Curtis, who look like they're having a great time. But they can't quite convey that fun to the audience.

Good performances, strong start, but the pulp and cliches eventually take over.

The Catch is about illusions, also about who’s real, or not. It’s about human mirages. Could Ben possibly be a genuine “catch,” or is he just another Shondaland heel in a bespoke suit? The answer is not so clear-cut, and it’s also what makes The Catch so possibly engaging.

Decent pilot that promises a decent series--just not a particularly novel one.

The target is broad and easy to hit (others already have) except "Based on a True Story's'" aim is unsteady. The show would much rather be a comedy (also unsteady) or thriller (unsteadiest of all). At its best, this series features three seasoned and particularly appealing actors who know how to sell the premise — outlandish and as full of plot holes as this one is. But at its worst — far worse — is a recurrent pattern of violence against women.

The cast throws this curveball that catches the plate for a strike.

Time after Time is timeworn.

To love "Smith" is to love an ice cube. There may be a cold beauty to the craftsmanship of this enterprise, but there's a pinched, frostbitten heart at the center of it as well.

In spite of impressive pedigree and cast, along with a few laughs, A.P. Bio ultimately earns a gentlemanly C.

If only the series works its way toward more effective show than tell, Las Vegas might find itself with a winning hand.

As a family, they are particularly eager to convey a sense of normalcy, but Sister Wives still doesn't have much interest in exploring the religious underpinnings or larger ethical questions of this anything-but-normal lifestyle. You're left without a solid clue why the Browns--all five of them--have gone to this much trouble.

Sharply crafted show, but far too long at eight hours.

Multiple-personality thriller starts a bit slowly Wednesday night, but early signs still indicate a summer keeper for TNT.

You can see Neverland as sly philosophical discourse, or you can see it as fantastically produced adventure. Just make sure you see it.

The trouble with "Friends" is that Cox is not strong enough as a comedian. [5 Sep 1994]

Will this be your next "Downton Abbey?" Probably not, but it could be your next "Poldark." Nothing wrong with that.

Watch the first few minutes of "The Class" in its CBS sitcom debut tonight, and you may not believe me when I say this, but here goes. I think they might have something here.

Consider Seed the cutoffs and flip-flops of the comedy dress code. Acceptable in summer. But just barely.

As episodes unfold, the relationships resonate, and the characters run deeper.

A second-rate knockoff of what's not quite a first-rate fabrication itself.

The wit can get a little heavyhanded sometimes - yes, it's another series with voiceover narration (can anybody say "Sex and the City"?) - but its heart, and head, are in the right place.

The elements don't quite congeal, but it's intriguing and well-crafted.

The best part of the new series is that unfussy, effortless way of getting Kate's sexual orientation out of the way, and also Kate herself. She's a bantamweight crusader with lightning moves as opposed to devastating ones. ... What's less-best is the usual reliance on the sort of story that Gotham has undergone countless times before. There are no surprises left here, not even a decent dopey headline in the still-dopey, ever-credulous Gotham newspapers (which still don't have websites).

This can sometimes be an exercise in rehashing as opposed to reassessment.... The Seventies, however, gets better when the story gets stronger, or at least more resonant.

Pleasurable, amusing, well conceived and written, though perhaps just a little shy on character development (New York excepted). Give this one time - these guys feel like they're worth getting to know, and the show as well.

The Housewives evolve. Yes, watch what happens, if only for the richer plot lines, smarter dialogue and more pressing matters of the day.

It's a romp and a half.

A huggable charmer with a big heart that can’t decide whether to go deep or skim the surface.

It's inert, lackluster and a trifle old-fashioned. Even the action scenes feel geriatric. It's also vaguely silly--a big reason the venerable good twin/evil twin gambit is better suited to comedy than drama.

Strong personalities evoke the hold of the old, the tug of the new, and that intersection's human fireworks.

Mars is interesting, and much more: Quirky, funky, earnest, intelligent, engaging and occasionally melodramatic.

"Away" should be much better than it is, squandering a fascinating subject on pedestrian family drama.

These too-timid re-enactments, punctuated with the occasional burst of VFX gunfire, are interspersed with some informative commentary by real experts like veteran mob reporter Selwyn Raab and dramatically less informative observations by actors like Vincent Pastore, who of course played a mobster on TV.

Should Lopez go big and broad with cultural comedy, trafficking so hard in stereotypes they seem all the more absurd? Or stay subtle and let its less-enlightened characters hang themselves? “Lopez” can’t decide, overloading its pilot with maid/valet/parole jokes (those crazy Mexicans!) vs. “white-man problems.”

Strange Angel refuses to yield its secrets readily, or quickly, but instead methodically. Given the science (difficult) and the cult (abstruse) that's a reasonable approach to the story, just not a gripping one. And over the first three episodes, "Angel" often loses its grip.

With feet of clay, Aquarius plods relentlessly toward a climax everyone already knows, while making just enough fictional detours to make the journey truly exasperating.

We've seen this show before, in fresher settings, with stronger comic structure --from, in fact, the same creators: Merchant and American "Office" writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky.

Heights almost feels like atonement for the biggest hit in MTV history. The kids don't swear (much), esteem their elders, work at their dreams and have no obvious or debilitating vices--until they drink.

You hope for a laugh, pray for one, then give up. To be fair, tonight's pilot runs fast (19 minutes) and feels more like a "sizzle reel" than a fully formed show. Williams, at least, is a genius, and maybe he'll get the time to turn this into something worth watching.

The hope is fleeting, the twist a tease, and the show--you must finally, reluctantly and quite accurately conclude--is basically just a bore.

Because this [Manhattan-cetric romcoms where self-absorption ultimately gives way to romance] is such an overly familiar TV trope, it demands great chemistry among all the leads and sharply funny dialogue to match. I wandered through this purgatory for three episodes and found zilch.