Surface fashion styling can't cloak the underlying framework of yet another CBS procedural.

Bigger, brassier and even more thrilling, Homeland has boosted the stakes.

[A] stylish Gothic thriller that almost gives away a little too much Sunday. Otherwise, thumbs up.

Two things are going for this latest adaptation--solid production values and a talented lead actor.

Maybe just crazy enough to be engaging in the early going. It's the long run that looks questionable.

While The Neighbors sketches something genuinely creative--and truly weird--its comedy doesn't really come together.

The plastic "punch lines" grow more contrived. The tired stereotypes feel more offensive.

Kaling's good (and always is), but the pilot is just not all that funny.

Brush aside the hyperactivity and hard sell, and you're left with a winner.

CBS' sustained level of series craftsmanship is certainly admirable--their dramas all look sharp and function smoothly--but that doesn't go so far when even a sweeping period piece in a distinct locale with superior stars seems to roll off the same assembly line.

Parks and Rec remains funny, sharp and inventive.

The results so far are very (very) funny.

There's an almost overwhelming been-there-seen-that feel to the pilot, which doesn't really offer any suggestion of "well, you haven't seen this."

No, it's not exactly "House." But it isn't like any other show, either, with its mad mix of moral dilemmas, medical crises, family ties, double-life-living and, y'know, rubouts 'n' stuff.

A re-energized and immensely entertaining start to the third season.

There's little here that hasn't been dramatized to death already.

One episode in, "Glee 2.0"--otherwise known as the fourth season--looks to be a winner.

Nothing to see here. Move on.

It's less the Plot Events that ring true here than the well-played little side moments and background squabbles, the simmering resentments and recriminations, the emotional tugs-of-war.

The New Normal needs to take a deep breath, get off the soapbox and get funny fast. The right elements--talented cast and showrunner--are already in place.

Sure, the plot's ridiculous, but the film's mostly fun, while the pleasure of watching Burstyn play a homicidal wacko is not to be denied anyone.

Bible Challenge tries to cover all bases in America's complicated Christian field.

Sincere host, unguarded participants, sensitive treatment. And more cool stuff!

The first three episodes totally nail it.

The characters hold promise, the show looks swell, the stories reflect rich history and the makers have earned our trust.

Its hasty pace frequently muddles precisely who's who where, when or why. Even the zippy sex scenes play like another gratuitous burst of firepower.

If only it were more interesting.

No relaxing allowed with Boss. Sorry about that, and sorry for this series, which remains smart, absorbing and particularly well done.

A sharply written, acted and directed start that will hook fans immediately.

Will a cheerfully biased newcomer with a few amusing, well-crafted one-liners be enough to get FX on the boards in late night? To paraphrase Yoda, difficult to say--always in motion is the future--but Rock may want to light a fire under this act sooner than later.

Not terrible--really--but not yet remotely the winner NBC so badly needs either.

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.

The cast is good, even excellent. But Perry's the one who sells Go On.

Bracing and tasty.

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

Taut, efficient and directed with a scalpel, Breaking Bad remains a marvel.

it's a clanking, clattering collection of collagenous clinkers--of dialogue so inept, of acting performances so preposterous, of plot points so cliched that the only question worth posing is why someone of Weaver's stature would be caught anywhere near a turkey like this.

Some wild twists, but you've seen a variation before on one of them. Nevertheless, the Patty Hewes story is almost over, and in Close's hands, it's still compulsively watchable.

Beautiful and often moving.

Perception is both clever and ridiculous.

Still fun, but the innocent first moments last season were better.

One of TV's best shows, comedy or drama, because this series often succeeds as both.

A grim, macabre march through a terrible crime, deploying a bad twist--the voice of the deceased.

We've just seen this stuff too many times. Merely changing script specifics to Olympic references doesn't make it fresh.

Not great comedy, but hopefully the beginning of long overdue recovery process for a talented, troubled actor.

Snooki & JWoww reeks of the end-times--the end-times for "Jersey Shore."

There's plenty of heart here--and some very sharp writing and acting, too.

It does well what standard sitcoms do.

The good Lord created sitcoms like The Soul Man as relaxing, relatable humor with heart, and Cedric's new creation isn't about to mess with His template.

Grim, sad, painful.

Skies fans should be pleased.

Yes, indeed, a love letter this is, but 41 is better than rank puffery because it also takes the full measure of Bush.

More of a continuation than a "remake," this one looks to be a winner.

Families can watch this together nightly. The pace isn't exactly taxing. And it's summer.

Bunheads seems to know exactly what it's doing.

At least Take Me Out has plenty of energy and camp.

A densely packed, well-paced gothic horror soap with surprisingly funny twists placed at the worst.

"Awful" doesn't begin to do The Choice justice, not that it deserves justice.

As always, a sunny, laid-back pleasure.

Roughness still feels bland and unexceptional. Thorne remains what's best about this idea in the first place.

A sober, intelligent, placidly paced drama as only the Canadians can make.

[These women make] instant impact, of course, with their stories but also through sheer personality.

Unassuming Longmire doesn't shout "LOVE ME!" but instead works its charms subtly, quietly.

The feel is more documentary than "reality" show, which some viewers will appreciate and others won't.

Dogs is a perfectly pleasant show based on the perfectly reasonable proposition that dogs are people, too.

Stellar production, famous leads. What's missing? Heart.

Violent and dull.

TBS' entry only lacks "Sex and the City's" craft in writing, characterizations, plot, production and wit.

One thing you can say for USA: It knows what it's doing. It's got its shtick, and it's sticking to it.

Hardly a treasure, but a lively island of adventure.

One of the flat-out funniest half-hours of television in the English-speaking world.

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

Thought I was going to hate "Total Blackout." Then couldn't help laughing out loud.

Nothing remotely lurid in either show [7 Days of Sex and The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet].

The show has sneaky depth. The leads are pretty without being "pretty," refreshingly down-to-earth likable, and able to flesh out their youthful stereotypes with this weird thing called personality.

Some amusing lines, but otherwise a disappointing misfire.

Watch this, and you'll be tuning in next week.

Extremely funny and extremely raunchy (consider yourself warned), but Dunham's a major talent.

They honor the job without trivializing it, or turning it into melodramatic entertainment pap for the masses.

Raunchy and at times genuinely funny, Apartment 23 is jam-packed with promise--and inconsistencies.

Falco, Eve Best (Ellie O'Hara) and Anna Deavere Smith (Gloria Akalitus) are flawless, and... very amusing.

First impression of the third season is a good one.

Still very high quality, and still a tiny bit dull.

BFF is not bad--classify this as another Young Urban New York-based sitcom--but it's not great, either, or certainly not smart enough, or different enough, or flat-out funny enough to deserve anything other than the bleak future that now appears preordained.

Clear away the soap bubbles, and you'll find ... more soap bubbles. But you won't be bored.

Sleepy, listless, dull. But it has a great set; the beach and clouds on the horizon are alluring.

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

TV's best (but do your homework before diving in).

Pauly is still Pauly--but he's a more grown-up version who cares about his friends, ailing dad and career.

Yeah, Brooklyn 11223 is awful, and awful not because it's inauthentic--it isn't necessarily to those being portrayed here--but because it's hugely phony.

Mad Men is back and back in all the right ways--the humor, the writing, the period details, and best of all, the flawless attention to these characters and their cluttered interior worlds.

Which isn't to say Duck Dynasty isn't entertaining. It's just more of the same.

The show ambles along without getting viewers to particularly care about Alex or Pete. Without that requisite electricity, they're hollow, or just sad.

Stunning, beautiful, hypnotic, engrossing, spectacular... That oughta do it here as well, except Frozen Planet unexpectedly adds another word: Unprecedented.

Nice locales (Paris! Rome!), a couple of decent action sequences... but otherwise a tepid potboiler over-seasoned with too many spy tropes and a plot with too many gaping holes.

All the eyeliner in the world can't make Cleve intriguing.

If you can see the forest through the trees, it's good, wearable fashion that's the real "fashion star" on this show, and it gives viewers an unusual glimpse into the world of retail despite all the superfluous hoopla.

No matter where you stand on the death-penalty debate, this is must-watch revelation--and, thanks to Herzog, tense and suspenseful drama.