Weeds feels like a stoned Desperate Housewives: The pupils are dilated wide, as if able to pick out in sharp relief every detail of this suburban America, yet nothing really seems in focus at all.

This septet just has more highly evolved communication skills. They have a problem? They sit down and talk about it. BOR-ING!!! Or maybe the novelty has just worn off this experiment.

The show is a quietly intriguing, informative study of assimilation, identity and community. [21 Nov 2011, p.40]

The opener mostly succeeds in maintaining a tone that's more racy-adult than naughty-juvenile. The only element that doesn't mesh is the character of Alley's father.

This TLC series has hit a cultural nerve, partly because it offers practical, price-cutting tips in an era in which people are jittery about inflation. Also because it's bonkers. [26 May 2011, p.46]

What hasn't changed and what matters, is Mireille Enos's sodden, unshakable integrity as a detective who could outlast a pack of bloodhounds. [10 Jun 2013, p.48]

The drawback to Catch Fire is that we aren't yet interested enough in the backup characters. For now Pace is reason enough to watch this on whatever TV, laptop or mobile screen you prefer in the digital age. [9 Jun 2014, p.33]

The show may never again attain the sustained comic brilliance of last week's pilot. But this is a rarity for Fox: a sophisticated and clever sitcom.

A revenge farce that takes such perplexingly arbitrary turns that it finally sits down like a confused Labrador and refuses to budge. [12 Aug 2013]

Challenging but engrossing.

This parody of bad vintage miniseries is asinine--it's supposed to be--and from time to time hilarious. [13 Jan 2014, p.49]

The show, despite good stunt work, is clunkily overfamiliar. [1 Feb 2010, p.37]

An odd but involving concept--Raging Birds. [14 Mar 2011, p.42]

A sitcom that veers uncomfortably between charmingly cute and cloyingly sarcastic. [1 Oct 2012, p.38]

This is an epic portrait of a woman who's monumentally single-minded yet uncomprehending, and watching her rise and fall inspires a sick awe. [4 Apr 2011, p.50]

This new Fugitive has a very good Kimble in Tim Daly.

Somehow the premiere hour fills in all this background without getting lost and--more importantly--with sincerity and sensitivity. [10 Jun 2013, p.50]

Shatner has a ball playing a paragon of inappropriate behavior and lends the egocentric character a surprising touch of poignancy in his rare moments of introspection. But it's going to be tricky finding the right balance between Shore and Crane while allowing each to stay in touch with his inner devil.

Shepherd handles the romantic banter quite well. ... But so far, Shepherd isn't particularly adept at the other comic demands of her role: the double takes, the slowly dawning reactions, the ironic deliveries and other tricks of the trade.

[Driver's] tone gets under the skin. As does the show. [19 Mar 2007, p.39]

The tenuousness of the situation, and the underlying hope for emotional growth by all, makes for a touching hour. [25 Jan 2010, p.43]

Soul Food is inconsistent, but it whets the appetite.

If anything, it moves so tentatively through the baffling investigation and trial that Hayden Panettiere seems to play a dozen Amandas: cheerful, furtive, erratic--and at times literally clueless. [28 Feb 2011, p.40]

Taut and stylish.

It's very well-done, but the opener doesn't resolve a viewer's doubts. [9 Apr 2012, p.42]

Peta Wilson, an Australian actress with the harsh blonde hair, snub nose and oversize, depthless blue eyes of your average mass-produced doll, makes a sexy, amusing Nikita.

There's nothing subtle about the physical comedy in the pilot, as Bette visits a cosmetic surgeon and takes a stab at strenuous exercise. But "broad" is a term Midler has always been comfortable with.

If you automatically expect a new HBO series to be edgy or innovative, you'll be disappointed in this one. It's basically just a sitcom—but it has the advantage of being funny.