It’s exhausting to watch Ally put through the wringer and yet also predictable about how she will emerge from the trial.

"Invasion" offers a few scares, but it's more a sense of dread and something subtly awry that gives this drama its creepy vibe.

The Kennedys has the look and feel of a 1980s miniseries, and it's not trying to be anything more exalted. Unlike "The Borgias" and "Camelot," its reach does not exceed its grasp.

Goode really does feel too much like the flip side of "King of the Hill." The humor comes from the opposite point of view but it's still a too-similar-to-stand-on-its-own comedy.

Margulies is an ideal actress to carry off this icy role. Perhaps in the hands of a more deft writer, Canterbury's Law could be the edgy show it aspires to be instead of the common courtroom drama it is.

Running Wilde at times recalls the comedic brilliance of "Arrested Development," but unlike that show, there's no relatable central character to ground Running Wilde.

Somewhere within this bloated six-hour miniseries there's a lean, mean four-hour miniseries trying to escape.

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.

What the pilot lacks in smooth-flow niceties it makes up for in silly fun.

The show is gently entertaining in a way reminiscent of variety shows of old.

Town of the Living Dead, though entertaining, does not feel at all real.

After watching the first two episodes it's a little difficult to say what the show will be on a weekly basis because each of the first two episodes plays like the pilot for two different TV series.

The show is subtitled, which helps viewers understand the thick accents and British slang, but the whole thing is a bit nihilistic and the characters come across as somewhat debased.

The Strain isn’t great TV but it offers enough unexpected gross-out moments that it’s OK summer popcorn fare.

The humor quotient in the pilot proves to be a mixed bag. The laugh lines come, but they're fairly inconsistent. Still, when they do hit--particularly during a canvassing door-knock scene that includes a Fred Armisen cameo--it's easy to see Brooklyn Nine-Nine's potential to develop into a good, maybe even great, prime-time comedy.

The new season of "Carnivale" continues to showcase the series' potential, but it still doesn't live up to the show's enormous promise. It's a cryptic series full of mysteries and that should suck viewers in. But I've yet to feel the full effects of its gravitational pull, which is disappointing because, as they said so often on "The X-Files," I want to believe. [7 Jan 2005]

While there may still be doubts about the sustainability of The Leftovers, it clearly seems to be moving in a positive direction creatively even as the show’s overall tone grows more pessimistic.

Seed isn’t great TV, but it’s a funny enough diversion in the context of generally disappointing summer comedy.

It’s the conversation about race and African-American culture in the pilot that gives Black-ish a little bit of edge. Whether that will be maintained in future episodes or dulled into familiar family sitcom pabulum remains to be seen.

In its pilot, Once Upon a Time succeeds on charm but comes up short on logic.

Jousting on ATVs aside, there’s not a lot of exciting, forward plot momentum in the first few episodes, but later episodes spend more time with characters in town, and episode four includes a plot twist that will either make viewers sit up and take notice or prompt them to turn off the TV.

There's nothing egregiously wrong with Aquarius--it's sometimes dull but also at turns surprising--but with so many options for entertainment content today, this NBC procedural-serial hybrid doesn't do much to stand out.

It's too soon to say if the show will again employ a bounty of red herrings, but the show's penchant for plot holes persists.

HBO made the first five episodes available for review, and in the early going “Avenue 5” doesn’t entirely work but neither is it the disaster that befalls the show’s ship and passengers.

The first two Sharp Objects episodes take a slow-burn approach--too slow--but the pace picks up in episode three as Sharp Objects delves deeper into Camille’s back story and as Camille begins to connect with suspects in the case. That’s probably OK for fans of the novel, but for the rest of us, it’s a tough early slog in an era of myriad TV series choices.

Occasionally funny but mostly sort of dull, “The Moodys” seems unlikely to become a Christmas classic.

On paper, this show sounds dreadful, but it rises above its premise largely thanks to Goggins.

“Servant” is a tough show to embrace. Dorothy is an insufferable, emasculating, high-strung local TV news reporter. Sean is a grumpy, unsupportive husband and snooty chef who thinks lobster ice cream is a good idea. They’re both miserable people, not characters a viewer would want to spend time with.