The badinage with his wife plays nice and easy, like Home Improvement, while that with his parents and brother across the street has more of a Seinfeldian silliness.

The color, pace and performance are vibrant, often crazily so. [10 Sep 2012, p.39]

Director John Power establishes good pacing, as the mounting suspense alternates with scenes of banal normalcy and campy humor. The action is spread around on a solid supporting cast that includes Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall, Allyce Beasley, John Ashton, Cliff DeYoung, Robert Carradine and Traci Lords...The thriller is like an attenuated, more pastoral version of the original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But once it gets its hooks in you, you’ll be back for the conclusion the following night.

I hope the guy finds forgiveness and love. Until then, the squirm-factor is fun. [10 Jan 2011, p.39]

An attractive, multi-accented cast and far-flung locales make it worth the trip. [1 Jul 2013, p.36]

Branagh is very fine as Wallander. [10 Sep 2012, p.40]

Even if his acting feels like a sentimental stunt, Gervais wrote and directed the series with gentle skill. [16 Sep 2013, p.41]

In the golden age of narrative TV, cartoons offer countervailing subversive pleasures: They're juvenile, satiric, surreal. Those words all apply to the wild spree Rick and Morty. [23 Dec 2013]

The show works on its own undemanding terms. [6 Jun 2011, p.45]

Crass Peter's couch-potato tendencies give MacFarlane the pretext for one quick TV spoof after another, and some of them are hilarious. I find these satirical flights far funnier than the frustrated schemes of Stewie Griffin, a sinister baby bent on world domination.

The overall mythology is sprouting nicely thorny tendrils. [10 Sep 2012, p.42]

[Bello's] sour, tough intelligence is right on the money. [3 Oct 2011, p.45]

In season 2 this fluffy spy caper about gorgeous CIA operative Annie Walker is starting to deliver on the seductive fun promised by Piper Perabo's sly, flirtatious smile in the opening credits. [25 Jul 2011, p.40]

Up All Night is adorable without being cute. [3 Oct 2011, p.41]

I'll take Hour's rather sour worldview--deadlines in deadly times--over the grand uplift of HBO's The Newsroom. In a nanosecond. [3 Dec 2012, p.44]

The characters are too uneven a group: Some of them you instantly overlook, like the olive in a cocktail. Even so, thus has potential. [3 Mar 2014, p.41]

This is probably not a clinically accurate portrayal of an OCD sufferer, but Shalhoub's gentle earnestness keeps it from being gimmicky.

This is a happy carnival of singers, Magicians, dancers and --this season-0- what appear to be gnomes. On the judges' panel, Howie Mandel has turned out to be a improvement over the thumpingly earnest David Hasselhoff. [25 Jul 2011, p.39]

Ghost Whisperer can be surprisingly moving. [24 Oct 2005, p.41]

Unlike Daily anchorman Jon Stewart, he's not only ridiculing the headlines but mocking himself. This is closer to acting than comedy, and it may be tougher. But Stephen Colbert is a great American and deserves our support. And suppore. [7 Nov 2005, p.41]

Their interaction is friendly, if mildly teasing, professional and catfight-free. This allows the show to have the relaxing, unchallenging pleasures of good fluff even when the premiere is actually going a bit heavy on the gore.

Sex and the City is definitely striking me as funnier this time around.

The series is unmatched as a portrait of the entertainment industry. [8 Aug 2011, p.39]

This show has a light, charming sense of the ridiculous. [19 Mar 2007, p.39]

The poisoned relationship of attorneys Ellen Parsons and Patty Hewes has gone slack. But The supporting cast is superb. [8 Aug 2011, p.40]

Party's fresh-faced young stars are still worth watching, but the show's focus on the family's closeness has inevitably weakened as the kids fall in love or move away.

The opener sets this all up smoothly, and Collette, combining a mother's protective instinct with type A pride, is great to watch. [23 Sep 2013]

[Larry Hagman's last days on the show don't] keep Dallas from being robust fun. [4 Feb 2013, p.42]