It’s unclear who “Not Too Late” is aimed at — certainly not kids, who aren’t known for their love of celebrity interviews. Maybe it’s meant for die-hard Muppets fans?

It’s a cute premise. But the pilot is not believable or funny, which isn’t to say it couldn’t have been either of those things, but the details don’t ring true and the humor is sort of amusing but rarely elicits a laugh.

With the Chicago setting and local politics at play, “Pearson” sometimes resembles a watered-down version of “The Good Wife”/”The Good Fight.” Fans of “Suits” and Ms. Torres may still want to give “Pearson” a try but no one can blame them if they choose not to stick with this series.

It’s all a little too on-the-nose and predictable. Falco is fantastic as always, but the writing in early episodes lacks anything approaching the nuance and sophistication of Falco’s past series, “The Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie.”

Too much in the pilot gets short shrift at the expense of the show’s love affair with mood. Snow covers streets and then disappears in a scene set moments later; foreboding dialogue comes off as too on the nose. ... Episode two shakes off the unsavory visuals and moves the story and character relationships forward with less emphasis on the heaviness that hangs over the first hour, but by then, some viewers will have moved on.

In episode two the tone lightens up a good bit – you can see network notes at work – and more typical CW storylines set in, including a romance with a bearded hunk (Casey Deidrick). This makes “In the Dark” more bearable but less unique.

When the show focuses on Beecham and his staff, it’s not terrible. But when it ventures off the grounds of Beecham’s ornate estate, things go sideways.

Though I find it boring as can be, my kids enjoy watching YouTube videos of other people playing video games. I suppose “Dead Pixels” might be for those entertainment consumers – and those alone.

Bellevue plays like a watered-down version of “The Killing.”

It’s a dark, sometimes dreary Lost in Space with great special effects and some interesting character relationships that sit awkwardly alongside predictable plots.

It’s a pretty pedestrian procedural.

“The Village” is certainly better and more ambitious than “Rise,” but it’s no “This Is Us.” Often, “This Is Us” comes by its emotional moments believably and naturally. For its lack of subtlety, “The Village” would be more aptly titled “All! The! Feels!”

Seems like it should be a movie instead of a serialized weekly series.

Black and white pedestrian characters and plots may satisfy traditional CBS viewers, but it won’t win over many new recruits.

It’s a fine if unremarkable broadcast network-style series.

Jokes about farts, falling down, hypersexualized kids and grabbing the wrong person’s rear end ensue--but they’re obvious, predictable and not funny.

The age jokes are in the CBS wheelhouse, and some of the gags are occasionally funny, but the whole endeavor seems predictably rote, from the cold, aloof chief resident to the uber-confident intern (Jean-Luc Bilodeau, “Kyle XY”).

A conspiracy thriller, this 2019 British import offers a whiplash-inducing premiere that goes from, “This is a ridiculous investigation that appears to lack a crime” to “How is that possible?”

More of an amusing diversion than a laugh riot.

Through the show's first four episodes, an unexpected love triangle develops among three of Carroll's devotees that's tinged with unexpected sexual politics and questions about sexual identity. It's the only aspect of 'The Following' that feels fresh. Too bad this plot only serves as a side dish; the main course is the same old reheated serial killer/crime solver hash.

Speechless has its funny moments, but they are interspersed with So. Much. Yelling.

Fans of these true crime shows may be intrigued by My Life Is a Lifetime Movie but viewers hoping for a series as irreverent as this title suggests may be disappointed.

"Rose Red delivers a better story than his last opus (1999's "Storm of the Century") with better developed characters, but at the end I still felt like I'd wasted a lot of time. What's the point in setting up an intriguing, intricate backstory without offering some answers?

With Roadies, Showtime debuts a series focused on a fresh subculture (the behind-the-scenes crew responsible for staging a rock band’s tour) with a lighter, if overly earnest, tone. Only one member of the band is shown in the pilot in a brief scene. This tactic might be an overly calculated conceit if the roadies were a less interesting bunch.

The dreary, often predictable family story begins to suffocate the show as it gains ground over the first four episodes.... Ray Donovan benefits from strategic use of character actors in supporting roles.

For some viewers this sameness will be like slipping on a comfy pair of slippers; for others NCIS: New Orleans might be too much the same.

It’s frustrating when a series hitches its drama to a lack of communication as its primary conceit because the solution seems so simple: Just ’fess up! The addition of new sources of dramatic conflict in episode two helps explain Eddie’s choice but doesn’t completely eliminate the show’s weak dramatic raison d’etre.

It’s a marginally adequate, unremarkable series that follows fictional members of Navy SEAL Team Six on fictional missions inspired by actual missions.

Each episode tells a different story but in the first two, it's clear the stories won't be all that different from those we've seen a million times before.

Legend of the Seeker may thrill some "LOTR" fans, but the content of the pilot is nothing original.

In execution, Mr. Selfridge is a bit of a slog.

"Deal or No Deal" may be the dumbest TV game show ever, or, quite possibly, it is brilliant in its simplicity. But it's certainly not a quiz show.

From the music to the dialogue, Houdini & Doyle seems laughably flashy given the characters involved and time period (London, 1901). But the plot is fairly standard in its procedural trappings.

It's marginally more engrossing/less ridiculous in its pilot than CBS's fall flop, "Hostages."

It's not clear to me that viewers who come to Syfy for actual science fiction will appreciate this series--"Face Off" was more on point and a better show, too--but for fans of reality TV cooking shows, MQK does add a new flavor to the prime-time cooking show palette.

Valley has long displayed a flinty appeal and here he adds a knowing sense of humor. But it will take more than that to get viewers interested enough to take aim at Human Target on a weekly basis.

Football fanatics may appreciate 4th and Forever but to me it seemed more scripted than "FNL."

It's not great, it's not awful. It's an adequate, conventional CBS-y medical drama about transplant surgeons set at Pittsburgh's fictional Three Rivers Regional Medical Center.

"Lovespring" could benefit from stronger plots with less ludicrous conclusions.

It's not as funny as either of those hits ["The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men"]--and certainly not as good a show as the superior "Bang"--but it is more enjoyable than "Rules of Engagement," which returns at mid-season (unfortunately).

Defiance is less gritty than Syfy's best series, "Battlestar Galactica," and the characters aren't as well drawn as on the superior "Farscape." "Defiance" lands at a slightly higher end of the murky middle ground of quality.

They're a bland bunch of characters who say mildly amusing things--there's a pretty good riff on Mary Poppins--in occasionally funny situations, but in the end, "100 Questions" does not cry out to be added to any DVR lineup.

Rogue starts to become a little more intriguing [by the second episode], but the show only gets to that point after the clichéd set-up and almost two hours spent with a self-destructive lead character.

There is some decent dialogue but it gets lost in the scenery chewing maw of the show's star.

Once viewers accept it for the mediocre melodrama it is, they'll be more satisfied, tuning in for the strong performances and high production values while rolling their eyes at the umpteenth red herring and illogical plot turn.

Perfectly adequate.

The mysteries of Haven do offer some intrigue but coupled with fairly unextraordinary situations and plots, the show may have a tough time convincing viewers to become weekly visitors.

There's nothing wrong with any of this except that it doesn't feel fresh or new; there's no added, bewitching spark to a familiar concept.

A multi-character drama, Containment is fine but unexceptional.

The Whispers had the potential to be an intriguing, supernatural soap, but by episode two, it proves itself to be one of those series where the audience is, frustratingly, frequently one step ahead of the characters. That's not fun; it's boring, which is the last thing a supernatural thriller should be.

It's a small character study about a large man who comes off as a terrorizing buffoon.

Fans of old-time network soaps may find something to enjoy here, but despite the promise that “dark secrets simmer behind every door and threaten to tarnish the genteel façade of seductive Charleston,” Reckless is decidedly bland and evinces almost none of the sense of place CBS proclaims.

Unlike some seasons of “AHS,” Hotel lacks dark humor, at least in tonight’s initial outing.... Visually, the premiere episode is a stunner, from the hotel set to the use of a fish-eye lens on the camera that squeezes so much into the frame.... Heavy on atmosphere in its early going and light on plot, a storyline starts to kick in around the premiere’s halfway point.

Future episodes elevate the Belle and Ben relationship to a more complicated place, which bears some promise and may give Secret Diary the distinction it lacks in early episodes.

“Lower Decks” has its occasional chuckle-worthy moments, but too often the show opts for wild chaos as a substitute for actual comedy.

Robertson is a find. She capably plays both Lux's world-weary, snarky attitude and her vulnerability. She's a large part of what makes Life Unexpected a minor delight, even if its charms are entirely expected.

Under the Dome won’t be confused with good TV--and often last season it was borderline bad TV--but depending on where the writers take it this year, it might be empty-headed, summer fun.

With its emphasis on dysfunction, Titus allows for dramatic moments that actually ring true. But they're few and far between in this show punctuated by flashbacks that interrupt the narrative flow. Titus suffers from a TV version of Attention Deficit Disorder, similar to the tangents on Fox's "Family Guy" but a lot less funny. [20 March 2000]

There are some intentionally light-hearted, even funny moments squeezed in here and there. The show's concept offers nothing really new for TV but it executes the wealthy, murderous family drama well enough for low-stakes summer programming.

It would be a lot easier to like the kids from Dawson's Creek if they'd just put a sock in it now and then. [20 Jan 1998, p.C8]

Life Is Wild is a decent but not exceptional family drama set in South Africa.

As TV shows go, Toy Hunter is a bit dull.

Make no mistake, "3 Lbs." is a show that will better appeal to the CBS audience than "Smith" did, but it's a pretty generic show.

The concept of Nikki sounds trite, but the execution is at least amusing in two out of the first three episodes. [8 Oct 2000, p.G-7]

There are scenes in the first five episodes of the new season that are as compelling as anything television has to offer. But the viewer has to wade through material that fails more often than not to deliver on its promise.

Press notes indicate these five folks impacted by the shockwave are “angels of the apocalypse,” but Messengers never comes out and says this. A general rule of thumb in TV reviewing: When press notes do a better job of explaining a show's intent than the show itself, viewers beware.

Feed the Beast feels like a broadcast network crime underworld show circa 2002--it feels like same old, same old TV.

There's still some fun to be had watching True Blood but it offers more soap than satire or social commentary these days.

Bar still feels like an attempt at a '90s-era edgy prime-time drama whose time has past.

Snowfall benefits from strong performances from a cast made up of largely unknown actors, but the show is dark with none of the humor that helped leaven “Breaking Bad.”

"The Riches" certainly has some rich elements -- there's even a little dark humor, just not enough of it -- but in early episodes, the show remains wobbly as it tries to find its footing.

There's nothing revolutionary about this story of four friends.

It’s a role that could fall into caricature, but Ms. Winfrey brings vulnerability and believability to the part. Henrietta Lacks also benefits from a strong supporting cast. ... The film, directed by George C. Wolfe (“Lackawanna Blues”), stumbles most profoundly in the way it wraps up. The conclusion to the 90-minute film comes too quickly with an abrupt shift in tone.

A lethal robot (Zoie Palmer), who tries to kill one of the six before they wipe her memory. She then sets about reconstructing the ship’s data, eventually learning the ship’s destination and their possible purpose that throws everything the audience has learned in the show’s first hour into question. It’s a good twist. What Dark Matter makes of it in future episodes remains to be seen.

It's an OK CBS procedural where Weatherly's character, Dr. Jason Bull, always seems like the smartest guy in the room when he's running mock trials using a mock jury.

Gratuitous elements aside, Strike Back is a decent enough cops 'n' terrorists drama.

Truly funny interactions between Triumph and celebrities in the field get dropped into the studio-based inanity. The studio stuff is often dull, less funny and pathetically produced; it looks like some of the movies I made in high school.

While The Comedians is OK, the overall effort feels a little too familiar.

It's not a bad show, just nothing special or innovative. It's another plot-driven, bland character drama from executive producer Dick Wolf. [29 Sept 2001, p.C-6]

Powers doesn't get off to the the best start but the concept is strong and the world so detailed and cleverly built out that it's probably a series that bears some monitoring to see if it will improve.

Family Tools is an occasionally funny (but mostly not) show about a son who takes over his father's handyman business.

Actually, the casting is pretty great and works well. Everything else about the show is pretty much what you'd expect. There are some fun action scenes and attempts at pathos, especially around Riggs and the death of his pregnant wife that's turned him into such a loose cannon. But Lethal Weapon also feels extremely familiar.

A not-awful but not-great drama.

Often funny when it tackles taboo topics head on, the show walks a fine line between honesty and unnecessary crudeness, and it often goes a step too far.

The pilot is relatively inert for a thriller as it pretty much tacks in all the expected directions.

Without some Cliff’s Notes handy, the first half of Monday’s pilot is a muddle as to who’s a Montague and who’s a Capulet. Once Romeo and Juliet die (about halfway through the pilot), Still Star-Crossed improves as the focus shifts to the politics of their deaths and those left behind.

The Odd Couple is genial--but not hilarious--multi-cam sitcom business as usual.

Viewers who crave a nostalgic kick for single-case crime dramas of the late 1990s might find something to like here but for viewers seeking a more contemporary style of storytelling, there are no TV firsts in Murder in the First.

Not wild enough, not funny enough, Wedding Band comes off as merely OK entertainment.

Te pilot episode was written by Michaela Watkins ("Trophy Wife") and Damon Jones ("Peep Show"), who write to Ms. Coupe's comedic strengths while also peppering the background with amusing comic gags (viewers who pay closer attention will reap the most laughs from "Benched"). A second episode sent for review was less funny than the pilot and the plot was also a head-scratcher.

It's a cute, generally uplifting concept but I'm not sure it will work.

Some of his jokes--about the pope’s privates, AIDS and Whitney Houston’s relationship with crack--probably gave an equal number of viewers reason for concern about taste, or elation that Mr. Noah will not pull punches. Senior Mars correspondent Roy Wood Jr. (“Sullivan & Son”) made a strong first impression joking about which black celebrities might get a chance to visit Mars.... Mr. Noah’s least interesting segment was an interview with comic actor Kevin Hart.

Bunga stops a gazelle stampede with a big old passing of gas heard and shown in all its green-hued glory. Kids will love it, of course, and it's certainly better than fighting turtles but between tarnishing memories of the original film and that shouting honey badger, Return of the Road won't encourage co-viewing among children and their parents.

They’re remaking The Tomorrow People and the results are just kind of “meh.”

Rise is likable enough, but through its first five episodes the show doesn’t rise above a pale analogue to shows in the family drama/football/drama club genres that came before.

Swissvale native Billy Gardell returns in this new Chuck Lorre sitcom that has a slight premise and few laughs, but newcomer Folake Olowofoyeku as Abishola gives an effortless performance that’s equal parts sweet and tart.

There’s not much to cracking “The Code,” which is a paint-by-numbers show if ever there was one.

Tries too hard to be tough, but fans of crime dramas might get hooked anyway. [12 Jun 2005]