Fun comedy that takes time to warm up to.

You see no skepticism in Beyond. No analysis. No thinking. Just a lot of truly scary people yelling at very young kids.

The pilot is flawed (most pilots are), not particularly funny and even--bizarrely--deploys two bland jokes from the "Weeds" premiere at 10 (did the writers trade notes?). But Falco is good, proving that she can transcend Carmela Soprano.

Dutiful, reverent, energetic, expertly crafted and yet utterly incapable of escaping the long shadow of its exotic midnight forbear. The capacity to entertain is still here. The capacity to shock is not. Even as good as she is, Cox’s immaculate-- and historic--performance feels tame compared with Curry’s subversive screen one.

Tatum seems genuine and almost desperate to forget the past; Ryan affects the pose that he couldn't care less. Over this is draped a weird "only-in-Hollywood" vibe--and a particularly sad one, too.

It's all vaguely familiar and spirited enough to look like shiny summer fare. Just don't scratch the surface.

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

You can see Halt reach for that something. You can't quite shake the sense that Halt doesn't know what that "something" is.

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.)

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

Get past the languor and absence of urgency of any kind and you quickly realize what Royal Pains is all about--TV's version of a nice easy beach read. The fifth season promises more of the same.

As a team, they [Billy Crystal and Josh Gad] are better than the shows--both the real one and the fake one--they're in.

Expanse is so expansive, it’s hard to pin down--well, anything.

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.

The Last Tycoon is so sumptuous that it’s easy to overlook how pedestrian the story often is. That’s not immediately apparent because what’s onscreen is stunning.

This three-parter often lacks finesse and sophistication. The story is rushed or clumsily told, and the tone discordant....Watch for Atkins only. She's brilliant.

"Potential," in fact, is the key word. It's definitely here, but "2" may also need all eight episodes to realize it.

A lethargic procedural is brightened by a good cast.

Powerful story. A shame Bessie rarely conveys the story's emotional wallop.

It is merely OK--not quite tricky enough to satisfy the hard-core geeks, not quite mindless enough to satisfy someone who just wants to watch the tube and forget a long day. But it is tricky, with at least one interesting twist.

What ABC has tried to do is make something that will appeal to the sword-and-sandal crowd and the faith-based one. Predictably, neither will be pleased.... Prophets manages a few things well--notably the production values--and gives American TV audiences their first good, long look at the fine veteran British actor Ray Winstone. Newcomer Rix is promising, too.

In England, critics have called Cohen the new Peter Sellers. If that's the case, it's not Sellers at his "Dr. Strangelove"-"Being There" shrewdest but, rather, at his do-it-for-the-money "Pink Panther"-sequel broadest. [21 Feb 2003]

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.

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.

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.

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

A series that can still be occasionally talky and turgid.... Hardwick's the better and smoother actor, and certainly the more appealing one. But it's Jackson who gives this show bite and--to a considerable degree--life, too.

Above-average newcomer with a great actor in the leading role and frosty grace notes throughout.