This brand of humor can be an acquired taste, but fans with a tolerance for out-there buffoonery will want to make the trip to "Reno." [20 Jul 2003]

All 10 episodes of the first season are directed by Mr. Soderbergh, who brings grittiness and the occasional odd camera angle but not much light to the proceedings (this is a seriously dark show with limited use of lighting). Writers/series creators Jack Amiel and Michael Begler introduce plenty of characters with interwoven, serialized storylines but there’s not much new under the dim sun in The Knick.

It doesn't make for an original TV show, of course, but Young Americans still manages to be guilty summer fun. Mindless and cliche, to be sure, but escapist entertainment nonetheless.

Benders feels similar in its comedy style to all the Leary shows that have come before.

The painfully blank Blanchard may look like Silverstone, but she has none of her flair or personality. It's like watching a copy of a copy of a copy. All she does is make you appreciate how good Silverstone was in the original. [20 Sept 1996, p.28]

The first episode is fairly entertaining in an absurdist way.

Occasionally funny.

Like too many reality shows, The Fairy Jobmother offers easy, incomplete answers and sometimes doesn't ask the right questions.

Their scrapes and misadventures in the pilot are quite reminiscent of "The Hangover" and the show got funnier as it went along. But as is often the case, personal taste will dictate whether one feels the need for a lesson from this Guide on a weekly basis.

When Hatfields & McCoys slows down enough to develop its characters -- and it's fairly rudimentary character development -- the miniseries comes to life.

It's entertaining enough if real-life make-it-or-break-it tension is what you're looking for in TV. That's also a bit of better-them-than-me satisfaction that comes in watching this and all the Tough Guy TV shows. Gold Rush has the added element of will-they-or-won't-they make it rich.

The Lying Game is not great television by any means but it's an adequate teen soap filled with attractive performers playing characters much younger than their actual ages, something the target audience for this type of series has come to expect.

The show may not be comedy gold, but it generates enough laughs to make it worth checking out before hitting the sack Sunday night. But is it a keeper in the long run? We'll see.

Sullivan & Son is no instant TV classic, but its reinterpretation of a place where everyone knows your name is outrageous enough to bear watching.

Too often the series fixates on Madeline’s entertaining but ultimately predictable passive-aggressive battles with another mom, Renata (Laura Dern). These mommy rivalries play like something out of a high-end prime-time soap.

Cute and occasionally touching, About a Boy gets no points in its early episodes for originality or expanding the single-camera comedy form but it's a decent little show about flawed but essentially decent characters.

There are enough flourishes surrounding Pernell’s visions to maintain viewer interest, but after a while the pilot feels like a slog.

The 90-minute Fairly Legal pilot, written by series creator Michael Sardo, moves at breakneck speed and fairly effortlessly welcomes viewers into spastic Kate's world. It's not a bad place to visit--but I probably won't be checking in on her on a regular basis.

Because it’s set in such an alien world and jumps around a lot introducing its myriad characters of assorted social classes while also setting in motion multiple plots, The Bastard Executioner gets off to a messy start. (When press notes offer more details on the many bearded and long-haired look-alike characters than the show itself, you know there’s too much going on in a series, and clarity has been sacrificed.) But Bastard Executioner improves as it goes. The question is whether viewers will stick with it.

Mom is a bit all over the place in its pilot.... The show is at its best when the focus is on Christy and her relationship with her own mother, Bonnie.

Detroit 1-8-7 is disappointingly generic. It's not a show that compels viewers to tune in on a weekly basis, but die-hard cop show fans may be satisfied.

HBO's Recount is an entertaining political drama, one in which both Democrats and Republicans get dinged, but the film is clearly sympathetic toward the underdog Democrats.

There's nothing in ABC's Castle viewers haven't seen a million times before, but the cast elevates the pedestrian material.

It rarely feels improvised except maybe in Q&A interviews with celebs and in “Pepe’s Unbelievable Game Show.” After four episodes, it’s safe to say “Muppets Now” is only occasionally funny, and the recurring segments grow repetitive.

The pilot episode for "life" is really interesting; unfortunately two subsequent episodes are not as commendable. ... The direct address to the camera begins to grate, and the whole show is not different enough from teen shows of the past. [3 Oct 2004]

There are some truly funny moments in Fox's manic, animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, a series that requires almost rapt attention to pick up all the jokes and amusing dialogue that's hurled at viewers. If a TV series ever suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, this is it.

Charmed has none of the wit or intelligence that characterizes The WB's superior supernatural series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but "Charmed" is an OK drama for the post-"Sabrina" crowd. [7 Oct 1998, p.E-4]

"The Lost Room" is certainly a more creative exercise than past Sci Fi miniseries (including "The Triangle"), but it sometimes feels rushed.