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

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

Treacly, by-the-numbers prime-time tear-jerker that even Brooklyn and a good cast can't elevate. And viewers won't mind in the least.

The characters are too unformed, the story too careless, the payoff (a word loosely applied here) too abrupt, although the end is obviously a setup for a second season. .... Ruth has some funny moments, at first anyway. If only there were more.

Dull and talky, with flashes of promise.

Not unwatchable, but not particularly satisfying either.

"Suburgatory" falls flat--a flatness that will be accentuated by the smart suburban comedies that bookend it.

First-rate actress, compelling idea but neither can escape the clutches of a shopworn formula.

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.

Cho has long been an acquired taste, and - while her fans will luxuriate in these 22 minutes--few newbies will acquire that tonight.

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

Lots of cartoon violence mixed with--irony alert--not enough intelligence.

With only the first two episodes as guide — admittedly not much, or nearly enough — Odenkirk's post-"Saul '' second act is a perfectly pleasant letdown.

Producers play this for laughs, though just slightly. (These are high school kids, after all.) Even so, the show's flat and almost stunningly uninformative.

Three Rivers is a masterful send-up of old medical TV show conventions, dating back to the '50s, with a parade of cliches so obviously and hilariously inane that you will laugh until your side aches.

Conviction is so into overkill, it’s hard to tell what to take seriously.

Here's a fundamental truth: Family genealogies are fascinating--to the family in question.

The trash meter soars when [Elizabeth Hurley's] on-screen, then sags when she's off. And there's just too much sag here.

Even actors with the amplitude of Watts and Crudup can’t pull Gypsy out of this induced coma. One reason is a hook--a genuinely interesting one--that refuses to come to life.

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.

Content is the much bigger issue here. In the pilot, Tyrant at times comes perilously close to embracing derogatory media stereotypes of Arabs.

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.

Good idea and better cast squandered on a slapdash premise, weak writing and South Florida cliches.

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

The plot is slight, the resolution a laugher and the characters basically stick figures. Scorpion has its fun moments, but not enough of them.

The first episode is fairly execrable, but High Society settles down by the second, and we get a clearer--or at least less-boozy--view of Mortimer and her world.

King didn't actually write Haven but "developed" it for the small screen, which is a form of plausible deniability if things go wrong. With Haven--as somnolent as a summer afternoon--they most likely will.

You’ve seen it before, read it before. Too bad Dying passed up an opportunity to tell it in an exciting, engaging new way.