24 strains credulity here and there... and some of the season premiere's doomsday dialogue smacks of parody. But the real-time format builds tension week-to-week as well as scene-to-scene, and Sutherland keeps adding depth to his portrayal of a man staggering slightly with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Dramatic comedy or comedic drama? This new half-hour series is hard to label but easy to get hooked on.

The show is a train crash of sight gags, puns, spoofs and mock-existential ponderings. Inventive and daft, this cartoon is just plain ducky.

Funny, but showing its age.

Are they lovable? No. Are they watchable? Compulsively so.

This is hysterical entertainment for grown-ups.

If only the show had a more energetic atmosphere, its characters wouldn't seem so lost in space.

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.

Once and Again can be self-conscious in its sensitivity, especially when characters confide their innermost thoughts to the audience. ... But I'm still impressed by the drama's respect for the complexity of life.

Imagine Twin Peaks for preteens.

The episodes have grown slower and schmaltzier since the gripping pilot, but this series is still as sweet as an egg cream made with Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup.

Slightly ghoulish but engrossing.

This four-part series adapted from Stephen King short stories starts off with a must-see performance by Oscar-winner William Hurt—the same kind of funny, ferocious, uninhibited turn that gave such a live-wire jolt to A History of Violence.

The series nails everything that NBC's Smash failed to do with the world of Broadway theater last year, providing a rollicking backstage look at the crazy, temperamental people engaged in artistic expression.

Trading on a paranoid, conspiratorial tone that recalls The Prisoner and MTV's Dead at 21, the show is jumbled but jazzy.

The show's dependable high point finds him banishing everyone from the cooking area and screaming so many bleeped words that it;s hard to track a whole sentence. [27 Sep 2012, p.43]

On Masterchef, he's more considerate.... The true terror is fellow judge Joe Bastianich. [27 Aug 2012, p.43]

The high school stories are tighter-focused, and the Manhattan ones breathe with Broadway romanticism. [5 Nov 2012, p.42]

As lead detective, Mireille Enos is terrific and makes up for the sense that we're revisiting terrain already covered--and reduced to parody--by Twin Peaks. [11 Apr 2011, p.46]

Boardwalk is still solid, but it's sacrificed some of its nervy power. [10 Oct 2011, p.40]

It's the usual stupid fun. [11 Apr 2011, p.47]

In the show's best moments, this moral pickle (being a mole vs. being a cop) leaves Ryan scrambling to improvise ways to prevent gang crimes without really catching anyone. [26 May 2014, p.40]

Kane's visions aren't done with originality, but Grammer's performance is still powerful. [27 Aug 2012, p.48]

Petals doesn't have the same smothering intensity but it's compellingly crazy, the TV equivalent of outsider art. [26 May 2014, p.42]

His delivery, which falls between Monty Python and Austin Powers, explodes with enjoyable little pips of indignation. [26 May 2014, p.42]

Intelligence is nicely done. [20 Jan 2014]

The show is a birdhouse full of woodpeckers. [24 Sep 2012, p.54]