The obvious, soapy stories plod along at a too-languid pace, leaving talented actors in their wake.

It's more an intellectual, in your head, "hey, that's clever," than a laugh-out-loud funny.

With the exception of some added F-bombs, Goliath plays like a reasonably decent prime-time legal mystery circa 1998, not a modern drama revelation.

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.

For fans of "Mad Men," Trust Me offers a modern, more recognizable ad agency world but the tone of TNT's series is completely different. It is not "Mad Men: The Next Generation," not by a long shot. And the show's quality lags leaps and bounds behind.

In its first two episodes, AHS returns as a creepy, spooky jolt of unpredictable storytelling.

The pilot episode of FX’s new dark comedy “Breeders” will be instantly relatable to anyone who’s ever parented young children. ... Subsequent episodes draw focus away from Paul and Allie and their children and expand to include more attention on Paul’s elderly parents and the addition of actor Michael McKean as Allie’s unambitious American father. None of this is bad per se, just not as funny as what’s established in the premiere.

In its first two episodes, Playing House does a nice job slowly building out its world and introducing an assortment of amusing, oddball characters.

There's nothing wrong with TV Land trying to revive the old-school, multi-camera sitcom but the pilot for this show wouldn't have cut it in the 1980s.

Producers Barney Rosenzweig and Ken Wales have graced their show with beautiful locations, poetic scripts and very good actors, particularly among the women. [3 Apr 1994]

“For All Mankind” continues to improve in subsequent episodes, propelled in part by an inspiring theme score by Jeff Russo (“Fargo”).

By no means a great show, The Bridge is at least a little bit different from most police procedurals.

Roth's Lightman is not nearly the curmudgeon Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) is, nor is he as entertaining, but Lie to Me has the makings of a fine procedural for viewers who can't seem to get enough of this type of series.

There's an appeal to the gentle spirit of Derek but it would have a stronger pull if the plotting was less dull.

As long as CBS's Dave's World' tonight's TV transcription of columnist's Dave Barry's life, sticks with Dave's family, it pretty much hits on all cylinders...Unfortunately, Dave's world extends beyond his family unit, and that's when things get tricky. [20 Sept 1993, p.C7]

Three episodes in, this season three reboot offers some hope but. ... The problem: when nothing in “Westworld” is reliably real, there’s little for viewers to cling to, which makes the entire enterprise more exasperating than cleverly twisty drama.

It's a cute show, but the premise is so paper-thin you have to wonder how the writers will sustain "Knights" for a full season, let alone many years, if successful.

Tonight's extended episode--it runs until 11:15 p.m.--comes off as the trashier, less sophisticated cousin to "Project Runway." If that's the appeal of "Runway," then have at it. But if you're a design fan, The Fashion Show may prove to be an unfashionable disappointment.

Ridiculous, and somewhat predictable. [4 Aug 2005]

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.

Terra Nova walks a fine line and how well it manages to stay on that path will likely determine its ultimate success or failure.

Warm, welcoming and occasionally tear-jerking, this three-hour production goes down like a warm glass of milk at bedtime.

Sunday's premiere is a little dull, but future episodes have more entertainment value. Still, you have to be a fan of neuroses humor for Bored to have much comedic impact.

There’s a lot to like about TNT’s dark comedy/​crime drama Claws, including a terrific cast of women playing some unusual-for-TV characters. But the show would be stronger if it had a more unique story engine to drive its plots.

The new season, written by series creator Neil Cross, has multiple callbacks to season one (the denouement brings things full circle) and fills in the blanks on where Alice has been and on her relationship with Luther, perhaps with too much information at times (allusion and mystery works better for their relationship than flat-out explanation).

The show is unlikely to win Emmys but it is worth a few chuckles, spurred on by actresses in an age bracket not generally associated with leading roles on network sitcoms.

most importantly, The Office is generally funnier than it was last season.

Now Apocalypse is bizarre and will certainly be off-putting to many. For others, surely a smaller audience, there’s some titillating fun to be had in this guilty pleasure’s kinky weirdness.