Sweetbitter certainly presents recognizable characters, situations and reactions that may have an appeal to young people who are living on their own for the first time in a big city, but it has precious little new to add to that familiar experience.

A serviceable if predictable single-camera comedy.

In between firefights and car crashes, the clichés pile up quicker than dead bodies.

It turns out Erica’s betrayal was not diabolical, but the excuse she offers is weak and only proves the whole series is based on a preposterous contrivance.

Bloated and still inconclusive, the new “Unsolved Mysteries” benefits from Netflix’s usual high production values for nonfiction programming, but there’s no reason for these episodes to drone on as they do; there’s not enough story to support their running time.

Alas, imagining the concept is funnier than anything in the show’s early episodes, which mine stale humor from the pitfalls of military bureaucracy. ... Perhaps with time to grow the characters in “Space Force” will develop into something worthwhile.

There’s nothing epic about Nightflyers. It’s basically a haunted spaceship story--filled with what has to be a record number of uses of the F-word on basic cable--that does a poor job in its first hour giving viewers reasons to care about the characters before putting them in jeopardy.

Some of the supporting characters, including Victoria Hughes (Barrett Doss) and Dean Miller (Okieriete Onaodowan), make decent first impressions. But the whole enterprise feels so similar to “Grey’s”--co-workers as family, love triangle, heroics on the job--as to be unessential, which programming in the Peak TV era cannot afford to be.

Mr. Quinto is creepy from the get-go. As Manx ages backward, he remains disturbing even as he comes to resemble a contemporary Quinto. ... But all that effort does little to make “NOS4A2” compelling television. The stories are disconnected at the outset and Vic’s home life is one-note rote.

American Princess” feels like it wants to be a “My Name is Earl”-style coterie of oddball characters but once it introduces the main cast over the first two episodes it does little with them that’s funny.

In its early going, Strange Angel just isn’t strange enough to warrant sustained viewer interest.

"The Good Guys" isn't really good but it is OK if all you seek from TV is bland, comfortable entertainment--the same type of program you were watching 30 years ago.

This comedy is full of stock jokes, stock characters and even a stock premise.

As soaps go, The O.C. has its positive attributes, but the show is at its most enjoyable when it's focused on the family at the core. Anytime it strays into the world of the wealthy kids of Newport Beach in Orange County, Calif., it's almost painful because the characters are so detestable and yet bland. [3 Aug 2003, p.TV-5]

If a show could get by on atmosphere alone, ABC's stylishy shot "Night Stalker" would be an outright success. It is creepy, spooky and scary.... But all this isn't enough to overcome what will likely prove to be an insurmountable problem: casting.

Canadian actor Craig Olejnik sports choppy black hair and piercing blue eyes--the only standout attribute in NBC's The Listener, an otherwise generic procedural drama.

Imagine any "M• A• S• H"-style cliche and odds are good it will turn up in Combat Hospital whose predictability makes it a dull summer entry that may encourage viewers of this week's premiere to become deserters before next week's episode.

Producers of The CW's new series have taken the bones of the Nikita story and grafted on a new recruits sub-plot, sort of ideal for young CW audience, but it also makes for a convoluted series pilot that bounces around from one hollow story line to another.

Ben and Kate has its moments of inspired, gonzo idiocy but mostly it's like spending a half-hour with someone you can't stand.

Tawdry but lacking a spirit of fun, Mistresses strives to be a guilty pleasure, but it's more likely to induce guilt than pleasure.

"Eureka" just doesn't rise to a "Northern Exposure" level of quality.

Ultimately, the real question is not "Who Do You Think You Are?" but Why Should Viewers Care? This series does not offer a persuasive response.

Great as it is to see Ms. Badler again, her appearance can't save a show that's so poorly acted and written that the characters spout exposition but rarely say anything that sounds like something a real person would say. V looks and sounds like a cheap cable series rather than the big-budget network show it should be.

Hell on Wheels is not a bad show, but it's also not engrossing.

The show isn't helped by a two-hour premiere that states and re-states its premise too many times.

As serialized mysteries go, Game isn't terrible but some of it is preposterous enough that viewers may not want to play it again.

The dull Descendants.... just seems like a widget--albeit an occasionally cute, harmless widget--churned out by the Disney machine.

To call "Dad" derivative of "Family Guy" would be an understatement. [28 Apr 2005]

Cane is probably the most traditional of these soaps. Unfortunately, it's also hampered by a muddled pilot episode with ham-fisted character introductions and an ending that's likely to put off some viewers.

The new cast is certainly game, expecially Cox, who has some terrific moves in her dance routines. And Adam Lambert crashes through a window on a motorcycle to perform a rollicking number. But what plot there is goes sideways in the last half-hour, just as in the movie. At that point, I just wanted it to be over.

The show is not so much awful as it is a colorless copy of better shows that have come before.

There's little in Donny! that's surprising or unpredictable but as "soft-scripted" comedies go, it has the occasional funny moment. But mostly it's just another comedy with a cringeworthy Dumb Daddy (Donny Deutsch) lead character that's easily skippable.

Sometimes the year’s warmest months remain a dumping ground for warmed-over series. Night Shift has all the earmarks of a show being dumped.

All the cliches of unscripted cable drama (like "The Real Housewives..." shows) are present, including in-fighting by a few members of the clique and ridiculous displays of opulence.

There's too much emphasis on fictional scientific theories and not enough character development to make the few scares in "Threshold" worth a two-hour commitment.

Unlike The WB's funny, wistful, pop culture-filled "Do Over," the one-hour That Was Then goes for pathos instead of laughs and it mostly misses.

The jokes, while occasionally funny, almost all feel reheated.

Whisker Wars gives a few glimpses into the care regimen of these mens' beards but fails to ask or answer an essential question: Why do they bother?

It moves fast and doesn't wait for viewers to catch all the jokes that are made. Some of the dialogue is clever but it's more savvy than it is hilarious and viewers come to broadcast network comedies for the funny stuff. Making matters worse, the two leads are humorless sad sacks.

Despite being underwhelmed by the premiere, I'm not ready to write "Tarzan" off just yet.

It's impossible not to compare the two casts or to find the new version a pale imitation whose characters don't feel fresh in the slightest, because, well, they're not.

A series that doesn't give viewers enough reason to care in its premiere episode.

Viewers who come to TV for smart, serious, sophisticated fare will likely hate this show while viewers just looking for something innocuous and entertaining will be more forgiving.

The show's premise has enormous potential--it's essentially a live-action version of "The Incredibles," about a family that gains superpowers--but Tuesday's premiere disappoints with its slow-moving plot and whiny characters.

Everything in Neverland is a quest as characters run from one large set piece to another without much character development except in minor strokes that are predictable and rudimentary.

All of the beats are overly familiar and the jokes are just as tired.

The first episode does a nice enough job juxtaposing scenes from the original with parallel scenes in the present, but enjoying Fuller House will require a high tolerance for laugh tracks and corny sitcom humor.

"24" still maintains some of its trademark intensity, but too often in these first four hours, the show is smack-your-forehead laughable.

Aggressively unpleasant and unrepentantly nihilistic, Syfy’s Deadly Classis likely to have limited appeal.

Written by I. Marlene King ("Just My Luck"), Tuesday's premiere is a generally predictable introduction that too often plays like a bad "Saturday Night Live" parody of a teen soap.

There's no sophisticated humor in FX's Unsupervised, which plays like a less witty "Beavis and Butt-head."

Sex Box is not dull despite being a talky show, but it's also unclear how many times viewers can watch this before the relationship issues gets repetitive. As for the "therapy," it's pretty shallow and fleeting.

The whole affair seems like a major miscalculation: Of Kings and Prophets seemingly features too much sex and violence for some churchgoers and not enough clarity for anyone else.

The pilot offers a deft introduction to the characters and their situations. It's just unfortunate that more care wasn't taken to create a show that feels fresh--The Deep End is rather moldy.

While it's hard to imagine that the show won't continue if it's a hit, Sunday's premiere marks an inauspicious debut that ignores the sound advice given to all writers: show, don't tell.

The galling part is how Cohen betrays satire by making it hollow and toothless. "Da Ali G Show" is a sheep in wolf's clothing. [21 Feb 2003]

Bill Nye Saves the World is just not that entertaining a show all-around. While the format is geared to adults, the content is too simple to be of interest to them. For kids who might try to watch, all the talking heads will be a bore.

Whodunnit? asks its contestants to become actors when they are chosen to be killed off, which gives this show a cheesy vibe that's accentuated by contestants screaming at the top of their lungs when they find a body that they obviously know is just someone playing dead. Add in pacing problems and reality show cliches and Whodunnit? may prompt a big "Who cares?" from discerning viewers.

"Day Break" is both dark and frustrating.

Bad Teacher relies on a one-joke premise that's funny enough in the premiere but seems like it will wear poorly over time.

Viewers who value character development, logic and plot consistency will be disappointed by this series that's sloppy when it comes to all three. It's often more concerned with looking cool and fun than making sense.

But like so many other shows in recent years, this concept would work better as a one-shot movie than as a weekly series.

The relationship between Ironside and his ex-partner, Gary (Brent Sexton), is somewhat interesting but everything else in Ironside is a well-worn cop show cliché, from Ironside’s tough guy routine to the dialogue.

Director Kirk Thatcher is saddled with a fairly dated concept--family in crisis finds salvation off the grid with magical woodland monsters--that might have worked as a one-hour special but feels stretched to fill the film’s two-hour running time.

Thoroughly average and unfailingly adequate, NBC's Lipstick Jungle is easier to like than ABC's cold, cynical "Cashmere Mafia," but that's like putting lipstick on a pig, albeit a pig dressed in couture.

This sitcom may elicit a few laughs, but the premiere episode is pretty lackluster overall, with obvious punchlines and predictable characterizations.

Tonight's premiere goes from spooky to goofy to intriguing to incomprehensible -- in that order. [6 Oct 2000, p.44]

The plot of the $#*! premiere episode marks an improvement on the first pilot as it scraps an uncomfortable real estate scheme story in favor of better establishing the relationship between Henry and Ed, but the show's humor is still too often as crude as its title.

Star feels kind of junky, an everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink concoction made worse by bad dialogue too often delivered poorly.

The cutesy new-sisters vibe sits awkwardly next to the dad’s-accused-of-sexual-assault plot.

Dull and sometimes confusing--why are those British soldiers loyal to the Red Coats not wearing red?--the 90-minute premiere too often encourages viewers to turn away in boredom or frustration.

Fans of zombies and the absurd may want to tune in but there's nothing funny or interesting enough in Ugly Americans to keep me coming back.

Well, you won't find a much funnier lead than Pinchot, but even a comic genius needs something and someone with which to work. With the supporting cast offering no support at all, Pinchot pushes egregiously, until even this funny man isn't funny anymore. [25 Aug 1993, p.

Perhaps with more attention to concrete character details and less reliance on silly stereotypes, Hart of Dixie will manage to grow into a show that does not provoke multiple fits of eye rolling.

Backstage antics are what's supposed to make "Kitchen Confidential" hilarious, but instead the characters just come off as juvenile.

It's a strange little show: A light-hearted half-hour caper that purports to be a comedy but isn't really that funny.

The Unusuals offers an odd combo platter of tones that don't allow the show to jell in its premiere episode.

Preachers' Daughters is pretty much the show you expect/fear it will be but with just one girl who's really gone down a bad path.

If you watched Leno on "The Tonight Show," you'll probably watch him in prime time. If you didn't, I can't imagine why you would now, especially once original programming returns to ABC and CBS next week.

The premise, though bold, isn't as revolutionary as the "24" format, and the pilot is seriously lacking in thrills for an alleged thriller.

Ultimately, the story doesn’t really matter because the characters are paper thin and efforts to make Alice more than a damsel in distress--she’s a skull-crushing, tree climber--don’t really add much depth.

Significant Mother benefits from amusing bits of dialogue here and there, but it’s largely predictable and fails to bring anything new to the sex comedy subgenre.

It’s more pathetic than funny.

If not for the polarizing nature of its star--people who love her and hate her will tune in to revel in her Palin-ness or mock her for it--no one would be talking about this dull, derivative TV show.

The big problem with Wrecked is that the pilot episode is just not that funny. A second episode was slightly funnier but not entertaining enough to warrant watching a third half-hour.

Mulaney feels dated, a throwback to '90s sitcoms that's out of place in Fox prime time in 2014. Maybe it would feel more at home on TV Land.

If Powerless had been funny, the lack of big-name heroes would be excusable, but with not much to laugh at a viewer is bored enough to consider all the things this show could be, but is not.

Potentially intriguing moments feel entirely manufactured, and the plots in between are paint-by-number plain with sometimes painfully bad dialogue.

I don't care about the characters, their treasure hunts or how much they make or lose when they gamble that they'll find something of value in a locked storage unit [on "Storage Wars"]. And that's pretty much my reaction to Baggage Battles, too.

Some of it is funny, some is boring, and some is bound to offend the easily offended.

It feels like a retread--and a toothless one at that.

Same Name is a show made for people who live and breathe E! and TMZ.com. Cynics need not tune in.

Maybe as an animated sketch on "Saturday Night Live," Allen Gregory would leave viewers eager for more. But in half-hour form, it's too much of the same.

Bland and toothless, this drama, about a woman who ends up working in organized crime, attempts to meld suburban mommy drama with a mob story but fails to come up with anything that’s remotely interesting to watch.

Viewers who like to snicker at cheesy TV movies will get a kick out of Shepherd's imperious and demanding take on Stewart.

A few lines generate a mild chuckle, but Living Biblically mostly feels stale and unfunny--the kind of show that gives broadcast network comedies a bad name.