But no one from this new group makes the kind of nails-on-blackboard impression that Omarosa or know-it-all Sam immediately did last year. Initially, they don't seem as interesting as the originals. [9 Sep 2004]

As derivative as it is in many respects, "The Apprentice" could turn out to be one of the more interesting variations on the format. [4 Jan 2004]

The show feels lived-in, making it all the more inviting to dwell there ourselves. [23 Sept 2003, p.B23]

In the end, don't much like Ray Donovan.... [But] Donovan ultimately succeeds on the little things--some very good performances by some very good actors and sharp dialogue by Biderman, who knows how to write Tough Guy talk with the best of them.

Sit back, don't think, and expect some good performances--especially by Jennifer Carpenter.

This playful hour gets under your skin with its quirky personality humor, at the same time it's spinning a pretty fair murder yarn. [12 July 2002, p.B51]

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have assembled an attractive cast and found a tone -colloquial, humorous, slyly sexy -that probably will make questions about the science in this fiction moot. [26 Sep 2001]

It's not as good as "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The premiere strikes me as a "Star Trek: The De-generation." It doesn't seem to go beyond where no "Star Trek" has gone before, or even where the other one had been creatively. [7 Jan 1993]

The important thing about "South Park" is not what it looks like or the way the characters talk, but what they say. It's a writer-driven vehicle, like most of the better twisted adult cartoons. [13 Aug 1997]

Looks like a summer winner.

The show is well-conceived, well-written and very funny. [16 Sep 1991]

A sentimental new series whose flaws are fairly easy to forgive. [26 Sept 2003, p.B03]

But what makes this show different is Jerry Stiller. George Costanza's father is now Doug Heffernan's father-in-law. And what a riot he is. [21 Sept 1998, p.B23]

While we've got to be grateful that last season's tone-deaf Applewhite saga has seen its end, this year's "DH" still is sounding the occasional flat note, sometimes by repeating its past and other times by ignoring it altogether. [22 Sep 2006]

Airing five nights a week and featuring 10 strangers - not to mention insufferable hosts Julie Chen and Ian O'Malley - this will fill our screens for the next three months. Unless we happen to leave the set turned off. Which, judging from last night, might be advisable. [6 Jul 2000]

Yikes, this is calculating. Ouch, is it way too self-aware (even for teens). There's a caste system in high school? Are you shocked to learn this? [29 Sept 1999, p.B03]

I'm ashamed to admit it in front of my more serious colleagues, but I think the show can be very funny. Of course, like everything else on TV, some of it hits, a lot of it misses. But in the midst of the pain, cruelty, ridicule and abuse, not to mention boredom, somebody falls into a manhole and I find myself bursting out laughing. [29 Mar 1990]

The Latina female leads are--to put this in a way that's both politically correct and blandly inoffensive--vivacious.... That trademark Cherry wit, written in acid, is evident here. too.... But the biggest problem here is the sprawl--lots of stories, lots of characters, lots of colors--and not one them going anywhere in a hurry.

For every instance of contestants behaving in a transcendent manner, there are half a dozen demonstrations of pettiness, impatience, anger and jealousy. [5 Sep 2001]

While not the most stupid thing on the air, it borders on stupidity. [8 Jan 1996]

So far no amnesia bouts or cougar attacks. And no Kim! [9 Jan 2005]

Intriguing cop show in Civil War New York--though neither the cop part nor Civil War part are entirely convincing.

This is just an action fairy tale, a modern Saturday afternoon serial or contemporary penny dreadful, designed to keep us hanging on its every outlandish turn by exasperating us, if necessary, with characters we love to hate and contrivances we delight in dissing. ... It's insulting to our intelligence. And we can't stop watching. [28 Oct 2003]

The producers' storytelling bravura grabs your guts from the first tense second and doesn't let go. [29 Oct 2002]

The writing is crisp, the performances nuanced and believable, the gradually quickening pace addictive. It's hard to imagine anyone who watches tonight's first episode not wanting to to see the second installment next week. [6 Nov 2001]

Shannen Doherty as a witch. Perfect. [6 Oct 1998, p.03]

Arli$$ is character comedy. The humor comes out of the characters, the relationships and their work. It rings true all the time. [7 Aug 1996, p.B65]

The Divine One's "Bette" is still good enough to win a Marvy for the best TV comedy of the year. [11 Oct 2000, p.B35]