The gutted-out city is perhaps the show's most compelling character. [26 Aug 2013, p.38]

At this point the show may lack in si-prises, but like one of Miss Kay's lovingly prepared brisket dinners, there's pleasing comfort in its familiarity. [26 Aug 2013, p.37]

It's Jersey Shore toned up as an Abercrombie & Fitch campaign. [12 Aug 2013]

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]

Cove is exactly What it aspires to be--uncynical, lulling and sweet. [12 Aug 2013]

Queen delivers the basic goods (intrigue, sex) , but the only vivid character is Margaret Beaufort, mom of the future Henry VII. She's played by Amanda Hale with startling neuritic fervor. [12 Aug 2013]

It's beautifully constructed, cleverly fitted with red herrings and capacious enough to house a community of suspects. The emotional payoff is sensational, and so is the acting. [12 Aug 2013]

The history behind the story is tremendous--you feel its pulse. [5 Aug 2013, p.48]

[The Newsroom] is much stronger and more solidly entertaining. [29 Jul 2013, p.37]

It's trite and obvious, and meant to be, with songs that are shallow, sunny and snappy.... Just Go with it. [22 Jul 2013, p.48]

Honey Boo Boo is just a little girl doing [her] best to be a beauty queen, TV star and dutiful daughter to the surprisingly levelheaded June. [22 Jul 2013]

Two tense, tricky, fine performances [22 Jul 2013]

An irritating comedy-drama. [15 Jul 2013]

This new hour-long comedy is a bustling, rather scattered affair. [15 Jul 2013]

An intricate mystery confidently spun out with dark, unsettling shocks. [15 Jul 2013]

This could all pay off spectacularly. [8 Jul 2013, p.36]

It's more like Seinfeld reconceived for the slacker sensibility of a director like Kevin Smith or Richard Linklater. And that's what's wrong with the show: It's hard to shake the feeling that it's just someone's project.

This is less interesting than I'd hoped. [8 Jul 2013, p.36]

It's a much more impressive spectacle than ABC's mindlessly entertaining Empire.

[A] superbly tawdry new crime series. [8 Jul 2013, p.35]

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.

It's always good to see dancing that's dancing and not a montage of repositioned limbs.

Thanks to the nimble Leary, ever riveting as TV's most nuanced antihero (sorry, Tony Soprano), Tommy's tenuous struggle for sobriety is even more rewarding than last season's harrowing downfall.

[A] smartly crafted show.

It's all so much fun, in fact, that I propose Dancing viewing parties: Break out the wine and crackers and let ABC provide the delicious, calorie-free cheese.

Sedgwick embraces the character's quirks, including a weakness for sugary snacks, while conveying her keen intelligence.

The Comeback is funny, especially when it skewers the tasteless and false in reality TV.

Though [Ramsay's] bleep-filled rants are supposed to bring out the best in his staff, they seem like blatant workplace harassment. When he turns his ire on the customers, it's even harder to stomach.