Though the cast members are photogenic, as is the city, one tires of watching them play at self-discovery.

Is this show in danger of being too nice? Somebody must have thought so, because George has been given a harridan for a mother.

The singles scene must be pretty bleak if women would rather mass for a prime-time cattle call than go out on a blind date.

Neither [Underwood nor Moyer were] helped by the fact that the production stuck to the original Broadway show, which premiered more than half a century ago. It was full of business that might be delightful or even exciting on a stage--nuns gliding about while singing their alleluias, characters racing up and down grand, sweeping staircases--but on a wide-screen television it tended to look like just that, lots and lots of stage business.

Meyers is talented and interesting enough that I shouldn't be watching his premiere and wishing that Stefon had shown up instead of Joe Biden.... The monologue was nothing much. Meyers at least seemed instantly comfortable, at home, once he finished a string of so-so punchlines and sat down behind the desk.

Popular makes valid points about the unfairness of social stratification. But with its gimmicky camera work (whoa, we're on fast-forward) and flights of surrealism (talking frog in bio lab), it tries too hard to be hip.

If all this sounds more painful than funny, you've hit on the show's main problem.

How much hipness can be injected into any program that relies on endless footage of folks falling on their faces, losing their pants and getting knocked silly?

Parker is appealing as always, but watching the show is an empty diversion—like scanning a gossip column about people who don't exist.

There is a tiresome similarity to the plots: In almost every episode our plucky heroes are captured by the reigning totalitarian regime only to be rescued by the local resistance group.

Once hot show sliding toward X-tinction.

This once-steady sitcom may now be stuck in neutral.

In contrast, the British original, while just as explicit, is also funny and warm, with a Trainspotting zip. You'll be happier renting videotapes of that.

Dreyfus... seems to be laboring to turn a so-so show into the I Love Lucy of the 21st century.

Too bad there isn't more onstage action, which is when these folks are at their funniest. Instead, we get to see them being insecure, neurotic and nasty.

Unfortunately, the hour-long show's formula grows old after a few viewings, and the Fab Five's frequent product plugs start to seem like a worse crime than household clutter.

Without Becker and his weekly rants (mildly amusing, though hardly of Dennis Miller caliber), this third-year sitcom would have nothing going for it.

The only thing more uneven than the quality of the videos is host Bob Saget's comic commentary.

Ragsdale has vigor, and the office scenes, featuring Jason Bernard, Yeardley Smith, Jane Sibbett and Hank Azaria, work moderately well without the intrusion of the barbershop quartet in his cerebellum. That gimmick, however, makes the show unbearably contrived.

For a scary movie, this is incredibly banal. In fact, the events surrounding fateful Flight 29 are a crashing bore.

The hot-potato miniseries dares to be unflattering. [11 Apr 2011, p.45]

[Laura Prepon] doesn't have any of the original's bone-tired, hard-earned scorn. [19 Jan 2012, p.42]

There's no real awe or fear-just a relatively safe Haven. So, no go.

Wonderland grabs elements from the Lewis Carroll classic, throwing them down a rabbit hole and lets them land willy-nilly. [28 Oct 2013, p.42]

Cosmetically frozen and emotionally infantile. [17 Sep 2012, p.40]

The coach-team setup give the show a slight Voice vibe, but the whole thing feels flat. [10 Feb 2014, p.50]

Unless several characters get more interesting in a hurry, hungry tyrannosaurs will have to provide all the excitement.

The pilot aspires to outrageousness, but the humor needs to get a whole lot smarter.