When Skip is used more as a garnish and not the focus, his character is less annoying and more amusing.

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.

A pretty family entertainment, lit by Ullman's energy and just small flashes of the Burnett we love.

An OK (but visually unexceptional) pilot that does little to set viewers up for what the show will be on a week-to-week basis.

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

Once again, a reality show that could have been an entertaining diversion is ruined by an over-long running time.

The pilot offers fine post-teen drama, but it lacks the nod and wink of lead-in “Riverdale” and so far is more grounded and less insane, a positive or negative depending on one’s love of the crazy.

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.

What “Snowpiercer” does best in early episodes is world-building. But it’s problematic for the show’s long-term prospects that the various train cars — cattle car, aquarium car, classroom car, night club car (with multiple levels and a surprising number of staircases for a train) — stir up more initial excitement than the characters or story.

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.

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

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

Like "Family Guy," The Cleveland Show jumps from the main plot to tangential asides often built around pop culture. But the show's tone is different because Cleveland is such a well-meaning, likable character.

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

That producers opt to tell a different Titanic story is admirable in light of so many filmed versions of the story that already exist, including a four-hour miniseries that aired on ABC earlier this year. But the decision not to reveal the fates of the miniseries' fictional characters may feel like a cheat to anyone who invests 12 hours in this program.

It's all cheesy and silly with minimally adequate performances but, eh, what do you expect from a show in this genre.

The show’s staging in the Hall of the Universe at New York’s American Museum of Natural History in front of an audience is a little low-concept, but the enthusiasm of Mr. Liu and Ms. Lord in Monday’s premiere keeps Star Talk from getting too dry.

A lackluster entry that's unessential viewing in this age of #PeakTV.

Nothing in Dracula is as unique or as wonderfully weird as "Twin Peaks," and Dracula plows through plot more quickly, introducing and then writing off several intriguing plots and characters within its first three episodes. It's too soon to say whether that will turn out to be wise or foolhardy, but Dracula at least gets off to a mildly promising start.

Executive producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer ("Smallville") tie the show's tangle of plots and relationships together with an agile skill that makes this new Melrose Place more appealing than the show's concept suggests should be possible.

Mr. Garcia’s style of humor tends to be sophomoric--sex jokes, overweight stripper sight gags and broad comedy predominates--but this style manages to blend well with the show’s unique format.

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.

An easy, breezy binge, “Corona” puts a welcome, mostly upbeat spin on trying times.

It's an (occasionally) frothy mix -- comedic moments tumble into serious scenes of forensic examination -- that's not altogether terrible, but neither does it beg to be watched on a regular basis.

The “Charmed” redo is stronger when it goes for a laugh--at moments the style of humor brings to mind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”--than when it goes all-in on supernatural theatrics involving its three sister lead characters.

Compared to so many other crime procedurals, Grimm offers a twist on the usual. It remains to be seen whether that twist will be superficial or substantive.

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

The Guardian is a show with promise, and it may well develop into a high-quality program in the coming weeks. But it's not a warm, fuzzy, easy-to-love show like, say, "Judging Amy." It's rough and tumble, a challenge to watch. [25 Sept 2001, p.C-1]