Quirky, strange, dark — and engaging.

Insanely great start.

It doesn't always want viewers to like what they're seeing and doesn't seem to care whether they do or not. But it does want them to at least think about what they're seeing. ... Hard to watch, but well-worth watching.

The Japanese cast is excellent, especially Adelstein's newsroom boss Eimi (Rinko Kikuchi), but Elgort's Adelstein never quite comes into focus himself. There's a lot of energy in the performance but almost no substance. As a result, his Adelstein recedes while the foreground is commanded by the true star here. That's almost — just not quite — enough.

The hokum factor is pretty high, but Hennessy is a nice combination of pert and sour, her primary co-stars are solid and the premise is functional. [24 Sep 2001]

The new series' production values are impeccable, its cast is solid, and there are occasional moments of fresh, specific detail that suggest the show could transcend the overstuffed pilot episode. [27 Sep 2002]

Not quite on the level of last season's best, like "Woods," "FUBU" or "Teddy Perkins," these openers are nonetheless pure, unfiltered "Atlanta." Take that as the praise intended.

Still beautiful, still fun and still excellent.

While the middle episodes slump, "Life & Beth" starts strong, ends strong, and features a lead with genuine dramatic chops.

The oldest version — that rag-and-bone-shop-of-the-heart Ptolemy — could turn out to be Jackson's masterpiece, or one of them anyway. ... First-rate Jackson, entertaining series.

Great cast, fine performances, consistently entertaining.

The first "Super Pumped" installment approaches its ripped-from-the-headlines story correctly, and Gordon-Levitt is great.

"L&O" is back, but it doesn't make a strong case for why it should be.

It's intriguing, and worthwhile for audiences in search of something genuinely different. Whether that can be sustained over the course of an entire series of television remains an open question.

Douglass comes to life, or those words vividly do.

With her lovely, mobile face and gift for comedy, Lansbury would be an asset to any drama. But this preposterous mystery tale defeats her. [28 Sep 1984, p.52]

James is good in this; otherwise dumb … and dumber.

Indeed, with his mugging and childlike innocence, Pinchot is sort of cute, especially if your age hasn't yet reached double digits. [25 Aug 1993, p.90]

Love Boat strives for "Love American Style"-- and misses. [29 Sep 1977, p.47A]

Come for that view, and this cast, and Fellowes' peerless talent for world-building — or at least a to-the-manor-born world. Don't come for any fresh insights into the American character. This is mostly fantasy, not a history lesson.

They're real people with real problems in an all-too-real world. "As We See It," in other words, is the perfect Katims show. Best TV newcomer of the new year so far.

It's a familiar sitcom with familiar beats, and stars a particularly familiar lead who brings a nostalgic vibe to an essentially wistful enterprise. "How I Met Your Father" is for anyone who grew up on Duff's "Lizzie McGuire" or "Drake and Josh" (Josh Peck joins in a later episode) and may be wondering right now why romance is so tragically out of reach circa 2022.

Good cast but fake LI setting for a bland sitcom stew.

So yes, "Abbott" is familiar but the early episodes also have charm, potentially meme-able moments and what ultimately may matter most — heart. The year is new but we may have an early winner.

The series has to update to 2021, or try to anyway. To that end, there are prominent Black characters here for pretty much the first time in series history — better late than never but about as awkward an attempt to redress its unbearable whiteness of being as you might imagine.

As a live-action adaptation of a hugely popular series, it's often jauntier and funnier than the root stock, the violence even more outlandish and cartoonish. Hardcore fans of the animé series may be disappointed by the liberties taken but a much wider audience — the one that never __watched animé — probably won't be. Flat-out entertaining.

Faithful, intelligent adaptation, and an overstuffed one too.

Because Rudd's Herschkopf is so reliably repugnant and Ferrell's Marty so utterly hopeless, as a viewer you eventually feel trapped as well. There's no way out, no exit, just eight long hours spent with two famous actors who seem to know nothing of the people they're supposed to be.