Newsday's Scores

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For 2,207 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 61% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 35% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average TV Show review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 The Crown: Season 4
Lowest review score: 0 Commander in Chief: Season 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,506 out of 1506
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1506
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1506
1506 tv reviews
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  1. Shahs of Sunset: Season 1
    Another insufferable nose-pressed-against-the-glass reality romp that says the rich are just like you and me--only rich, and exceedingly, tiresomely narcissistic.
  2. My Crazy Obsession: Season 1
    Crazy Obsession gives us benign compulsives who mainly come off as amusing.
  3. GCB: Season 1
    Not so much scandalous as scandalously dull.
  4. Awake: Season 1
    Yup, the story can be downbeat, the pace at times languid. But this is a show with a brain and a heart.
  5. The Apprentice: Season 12
    [A] confoundedly tedious bric-a-brac of a reality show, now entering its 12th overall season.
  6. Life's Too Short: Season 1
    Odd...make that very odd, and not for all tastes--probably very few. But there are some funny bits.
  7. Cougar Town: Season 3
    Cox remains a very engaging lead, and her supporting cast is rock solid.
  8. Comic Book Men: Season 1
    Way too obscure for the average viewer, Comic Book Men is strictly for Smith groupies, and there are probably enough of those to keep this six-parter afloat over its short run.
  9. The River: Season 1
    The River still has a quirkily eccentric charm. It's just so deliciously odd.
  10. Smash: Season 1
    I've seen four episodes; they're all good.
  11. Spartacus: Vengeance: Season 1
    Everything fans loved about the first season--which improved dramatically over its course, by the way--is here. Everyone is not. McIntyre is good, but he's not Whitfield, either.
  12. Luck: Season 1
    There are three excellent reasons--Milch, Mann and Hoffman--why your faith will be rewarded.
  13. Touch: Season 1
    A bit melodramatic, a bit manipulative, Touch is still one of the best pilots of the 2011-12 season to date.
  14. Archer: Season 3
    Good start to the third season, and from what I sampled, it builds from there.
  15. Unsupervised: Season 1
    Unsupervised is a cheerier, less nihilistic "Beavis and Butt-head Lite," and not remotely as funny or trenchant.
  16. Justified: Season 3
    Lean, laconic, precise and as carefully word-crafted as any series on TV, there's pretty much nothing here to suggest that the third season won't be as good as the second--or better.
  17. Alcatraz: Season 1
    It was a dark and stormy night--and a weird, fun, trippy one, too.
  18. Napoleon Dynamite: Season 1
    In spots, it's been turned into an antic Saturday morning cartoon. A shame.
  19. The Finder: Season 1
    Old-fashioned and a bit placid, but Stults and Duncan save the day, and maybe the series.
  20. Rob: Season 1
    Yup, pretty awful.
  21. Are You There, Chelsea?: Season 1
    A little too raw, especially in this hour.
  22. Celebrity Wife Swap (US): Season 1
    Oddly amusing and amusingly odd.
  23. Absolutely Fabulous (UK): Season 6
    A great concept, mostly divorced from reality, with superb execution, just might extend forever.
  24. The Firm (2012): Season 1
    Silly, but let's take the glass half-full approach. There's nowhere to go but up.
  25. House of Lies: Season 1
    Too brittle and full of bile to cleanly hit the target.
  26. Downton Abbey: Season 2
    Much grimmer, grayer and (gasp) dowdier. Still mostly wonderful.
  27. Work It : Season 1
    A couple of the lines are surprisingly offensive, and a couple others even surprisingly amusing.
  28. Who's Still Standing?: Season 1
    An amusing and not-bad game show; Bailey makes it bearable.
  29. Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis
    Method makes a solid case for Lewis as underappreciated auteur.
  30. Stephen King's Bag of Bones: Season 1
    Sure, there are some fun moments. Sure Brosnan looks mah-velous. He always does. But a little less plodding plot and a lot more action, please.
  31. Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After
    The story has been told many times before, and is told competently--if not always with dazzling or unexpected insight--again Wednesday.
  32. Neverland: Season 1
    You can see Neverland as sly philosophical discourse, or you can see it as fantastically produced adventure. Just make sure you see it.
  33. Scott Turow's Innocent
    It all adds up to one solid nail-biter, with a profusion of clever clues that seems to cast suspicion on everyone.
  34. I Hate My Teenage Daughter: Season 1
    This feels more like a rushed afterthought by Fox instead of a fully developed premise that could carry a pair of seasoned actors to their retirement, or at least to a big payday.
  35. The Exes: Season 1
    Familiar doesn't mean bad, and there's some likable charm here.
  36. Kourtney and Kim Take New York: Season 2
    What's fascinating is just how ruthlessly it has been edited, or (more likely) re-edited since the breakup to turn you-know-who into Little Ms. Perfect.
  37. All-American Muslim: Season 1
    Noble intentions meet nice people.
  38. Vietnam in HD: Season 1
    Even at six hours, this tends to be more impressionistic, and less bound to a strict historic timeline.
  39. Hell on Wheels: Season 1
    Solid cast, intriguing premise, and--best of all--the Old West. Should easily be another winner for AMC.
  40. Bones: Season 7
    OK, caution dispensed, tonight's episode is a good start. But wait till the baby comes.
  41. Chuck: Season 5
    A big fat wink to fans. The fifth season looks like a winner.
  42. Grimm: Season 1
    Grimm has real promise if NBC has real patience.
  43. Allen Gregory: Season 1
    So pleased with itself, it doesn't seem concerned about pleasing us.
  44. Beavis and Butt-head: Season 8
    Like opening a time capsule. The boys remain the same. At least their snark has been updated for contemporary targets.
  45. Monster in-Laws: Season 1
    Robbins means business, calmly prodding family members--and not just the apparent aggressors--to truly comprehend where others are coming from. She calls people on their bull, eliciting not just tears from stress but tears of realization.
  46. Once Upon a Time: Season 1
    What's best about Time is its ambition; it glows with a near-theatrical shine, challenging viewers to think about TV drama as something other than boilerplate.
  47. Boss: Season 1
    The Gus Vant Sant-directed pilot of what is easily the most important project in Starz history pulses with the sort of corruption that absolute power sires.
  48. American Hoggers: Season 1
    Hoggers is more down-market than Beers' crab fishermen and ice road truckers.
  49. Man Up!: Season 1
    There's a smoldering ember of promise here, mainly in the cast, even if the pilot tended to smother it.
  50. Sing Your Song
    Richly documented, but tends to become long-winded--or just plain winded--by the end.
  51. The Walking Dead: Season 2
    Six million zombiephiles watched the finale of the first season and those 6 million will not want to miss Sunday's opener, which is excellent and appropriately disgusting.
  52. Enlightened: Season 1
    A rare HBO misfire--but I do hope Amy finds peace.
  53. Last Man Standing (2011): Season 1
    Dreadful. Or to use a more manly phrase, aaarrgggh, awful.
  54. American Horror Story: Season 1
    Amusing to watch, but not particularly scary. "Creepy" seems the better word.
  55. Homeland: Season 1
    Showtime lets them take their time to spin serpentine story lines, gradually pulling us deep into one very sticky, scary web of intrigue.
  56. Dexter: Season 6
    A not-bad start that promises to take Dex (and Dexter) in a slightly new and fresh direction.
  57. Prohibition
    An enthralling film.
  58. How to Be a Gentleman: Season 1
    There's no "here" here.
  59. Suburgatory: Season 1
    "Suburgatory" falls flat--a flatness that will be accentuated by the smart suburban comedies that bookend it.
  60. Hart of Dixie: Season 1
    I did catch enough of "Hart of Dixie" to tell it's formula absurdity for the "princess" demographic of magical thinkers who now imagine being lifesaving doctors as well as rescued royals.
  61. Terra Nova: Season 1
    The opener is marred by a conventional plot. The producers--who include Steven Spielberg--show almost complete indifference to science (or sci-fi). That said, TV's most ambitious new series has some promise.
  62. Pan Am: Season 1
    A gorgeous production, though the story sometimes keeps it on the tarmac.
  63. Boardwalk Empire: Season 2
    "Men," of course, remains the King of the Emmys, while Empire nailed the equally prestigious Golden Globe for best drama last winter. But Sunday begins to build the case for Empire, and build it convincingly.
  64. The X Factor: Season 1
    The X Factor is a hugely entertaining endeavor full of malarkey, good performances (and bad), and enough momentum to keep you engaged from the first overblown second to the last.
  65. Charlie's Angels: Season 1
    Reboots can work ("Hawaii Five-0"), but they haven't got a prayer if they lavishly, ludicrously, embrace all the hooey and hokum of the original. Welcome to the new Angels.
  66. Person of Interest: Season 1
    A gritty, almost plausible winner, and distant reflection of Stephen Spielberg's "Minority Report."
  67. Prime Suspect: Season 1
    There's texture galore in this city-shot cop hour, eyed by handheld lenses echoing "Homicide's" edge (and director Peter Berg's "Friday Night Lights" intimacy).
  68. Whitney: Season 1
    The show's core relationship is appealingly relaxed. It dares to suggest successful coupledom lies less in heated passion than in being able to dress down and screw up and know you're still loved.
  69. New Girl: Season 1
    If you love Zooey Deschanel, this one's for you. If not, a pass.
  70. The Playboy Club: Season 1
    A competently made soap with some good actors and nicely staged musical numbers.
  71. Unforgettable: Season 1
    Unforgettable was on no one's list as one of the "buzzier" fall pilots, but that doesn't mean it's not one of the better ones. It is.
  72. 2 Broke Girls: Season 1
    The well-written pilot has a couple of brazenly vulgar sight gags, but nothing that will shock "Two and a Half Men" fans.
  73. The Secret Circle: Season 1
    A not-bad formula gothic that'll rise or fall on the Dekker/Robertson chemistry; I'm betting on the former.
  74. H8R: Season 1
    The angel on my shoulder says H8R is a piece of slime, bringing out the worst in everyone involved. But the devil on my other shoulder says this show is the logical outcome of our culture's celeb-obsession, and everyone involved gets precisely what they deserve. Which is soooo fun to watch.
  75. Up All Night: Season 1
    A well-rounded, nicely mature comedy.
  76. Ringer: Season 1
    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.
  77. Free Agents (2011): Season 1
    What's missing here, besides laughs? Chemistry.
  78. Mel Brooks And Dick Cavett: Together Again
    How could you possibly go wrong with these two? You couldn't.
  79. Sons of Anarchy: Season 4
    This remains one of the best shows on TV, and (as usual) not for all tastes.
  80. Dark Matters: Twisted But True: Season 1
    Science channel publicity materials call the show "a real-life Twilight Zone," and in terms of mood, that's on the mark.
  81. Quirky : Season 1
    Fascinating documentary--and extremely effective commercial.
  82. Death Valley: Season 1
    It's "Reno 911!" with bloody bite.
  83. George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview
    In blunt and at times salty language, Bush gets to say exactly what 9/11 meant to him; it's visceral but only occasionally revelatory. We all know this story very well. Maybe too well.
  84. William & Catherine: A Royal Romance
    A quick summary makes it sound schlocky, but William & Catherine is pretty slick schlock.
  85. JUNKies : Season 1
    JUNKies follows a familiar formula, but adds a buoyant burst of adrenaline when the guys spontaneously react to the inventions and their makers.
  86. Gloria: Season 1
    This evocative hour doesn't lionize Steinem, but simply lays out what happened.
  87. The Lying Game: Season 1
    Nothing is left unspoken in dialogue as blandly obvious as "I am the only other person who knows" and "She had a lot of secrets."
  88. Russian Dolls: Season 1
    Russian Dolls is so busily edited--is any shot longer than 3 seconds?--that there's no flavor of anything.
  89. Whisker Wars: Season 1
    If it wasn't a docucomedy, it would just be dull.
  90. ThunderCats: Season 1
    ThunderCats fanboys and girls will approve, although the story does feel a lot darker and more violent.
  91. There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane
    It's an exhaustive and exhausting film, but Garbus finds nothing that will change minds or reverse conclusions. The tragic void remains.
  92. Same Name: Season 1
    When you start doodling on the Internet instead of watching the show you are supposed to review, then either you, or the show, has a problem. I'm going with the latter.
  93. Entourage: Season 8
    Entourage is clarifying a moral message--drugs will kill you, terrible behavior is terrible, and real friends are forever. It feels like a reassuring final season.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Web Therapy: Season 1
    The cameos often are amusing, and so is Kudrow, but someone at Showtime evidently forgot to ask whether a one-joke webisode can or should be expanded into a one-joke TV series. This one feels like a strrrretch.
  95. Breaking Bad: Season 4
    A stunning, brilliant, terrifying launch to TV's best series.
  96. Dance Moms: Season 1
    Inexorably transfixing, whether you're taking names or taking notes.
  97. Damages: Season 4
    While a bit deliberately paced, a good start, with (as always) an excellent guest-star roster.
  98. Rescue Me: Season 7
    Middling start, but we've stuck with Rescue Me this long, and no point in bailing now.
  99. Roseanne's Nuts: Season 1
    Roseanne's Nuts isn't awful. It just is. There's "nut" much happening.
  100. The Closer: Season 7
    The Closer may be the most comfortable old shoe on all of television; slip it on and be assured of no blisters. In fact, the cast (and not just Sedgwick) is so competent, the characters' tics so familiar; and the format and formula so firmly etched in "ceeement" (as Brenda might say) that it all feels almost too comfy.
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