There is no fear in this show or any of the doom, shame, ignominy or flat-out reprobation that comes with getting one's head handed to one by the Donald.... Without fear, there is no danger and without danger, no drama.

[A] treacly piece of tripe.

With Tools, there is no discernible style, or point of view, or voice, or humor that ever rises to the level of originality.

Like any competent Bruckheimer, "Miami Medical" speaks TV very well. It spins the A, B and C story lines like plates in a circus act. It has reduced the medical jargon to the requisite bewildering-cum-authentic prattle.

The thing looks stylish, has a nice cast, is well written, and Bratt--scruffy, unkempt, a little more than off-center here--has the requisite intensity for the role. But it also is jarringly slick and borderline seamy; maybe that's just part of the fast world Banks and his cohorts find themselves in, but the tone ultimately robs the show--or at least the pilot--of heart and passion.

"What About Brian"... wants to be "thirtysomething" for twentysomethings, but it is clichesomething.

Any smart girl would also wish for humor at a higher level than slapstick broccoli on the eyeball or a 12-year- old boy drooling, "You're kinda easy on the peepers." [20 Sept 2002]

Maybe there's a funny idea here, but without edge, bite or (yup) claws, we'll never know. Good heart, no claws (or laughs).

Determinedly irreverent and politically incorrect, but so obvious in its targets and so unoriginal in its barbs that it ends up being mostly an ode to its own crudity. [29 Apr 2005]

There's no "here" here.

Sit Down is raw, vulgar and blithely offensive, with so many triple and quadruple entendres for so many sexual acts, I lost count.

[Robinson] is funny, and there are fleeting reminders of that.... Then it all goes sour, and flat.

Malibu Country is nothing great. But its studio-shot sitcom style sure suits Reba.

The dynamics of the show seem different enough that "Housewives" fans will want to give Miami a try. But we'll have to see if the plot lines will sustain interest.

Because so many viewers will have seen this kind of reality show before, their minds may start to wander by the second commercial break.

It's pretty stock stuff. [23 March 2000]

We haven't had a good dishy time-waster in awhile. Maybe this is it.

There's no reason to pile on here, but this show needed many more months of gestation before getting thrown to the wolves.

Dreadful.

[A] shamelessly derivative cop show set in the shamelessly overexposed city by the bay, with high-school-play-level acting performances which help make the overall effect cornier than a cornfield in Kansas. And yet ... and yet, there's something appealing about ABC's new cop drama.

NBC's superficial knockoff is just Lipstick on a pig.

Fans of quality action and thriller storytelling will have a good time with "The Terminal List," even if they'll probably be able to predict exactly where it's going.

There's perverse fun to be had in watching "3 lbs." Count the groans as you spot yet another trite piece of formula.

Bull is sleek in look, pace and technique--and crafty enough to indulge CBS’ trademark dollop of human feeling amid the flash. But it’s essentially breezy TV junk food, leaving behind a prefab aftertaste.

This all felt too commercial, too slick, too “American Idol”-ized. The Passion is Christianity’s foundational story. This usually--also awkwardly and regrettably--felt like just another TV one.

Make a list of sitcom cliche shtick, and you'd find it all here. The eye-bulging hard-trying line sell. The ba-dum-bum punch line rhythm. The motormouth babbling to signify "wackiness." The louder- the-better sense of comedy. Even the family visit where members enter a room precisely a peculiar eight paces apart so each has time for an entrance "joke." [27 Feb 2003, p.B31]

So pleased with itself, it doesn't seem concerned about pleasing us.

A harmless and mostly fun little sitcom.