Mars feels somewhat familiar, but combining the fiction and nonfiction elements is an interesting attempt. Give NatGeo credit for trying something different. Whether this hybrid satisfies fans of either genre remains to be seen.

A decent if not extraordinary action hour.

When the show is focused on Mr. Ritter and Ms. Metcalf, The McCarthys rises above the usual sitcom slop that it feels like whenever the other characters get screen time.

Much of the comedy comes out of that type of awkwardness but Doll & Em is less a comedy-of-the-uncomfortable series (a la a female "Curb Your Enthusiasm") and more just kind of slow and boring.

You can't shake the feeling that "Watching Ellie" is the most vain vanity project to hit TV in recent years.

If only what's new about Scandal was supported by something better than blah writing, ludicrous situations and cardboard characters.

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

Sure, there are moments of winning courtroom drama — mostly of sub-“The Good Wife” variety — but the show packs in a lot more. Early in Friday’s pilot, that pace works, but, eventually, it bogs down after the show piles one too many bits of ridiculousness on top of the last.

The musical numbers are terrific, and the film has its strong moments.... But these individual, scattered scenes don’t add up to a cohesive story, which marks Bessie as a disappointing missed opportunity.

The single-camera comedy is not particularly memorable, but it could have been much worse.

A rote sitcom and an embarrassment for all concerned.

There are two shows struggling to exist in one in the ABC comedy Back in the Game. One is about former all-star softball player Terry Gannon Jr. (Maggie Lawson) and her relationship with her hard-charging, estranged, ex-athlete father, Terry Sr. (James Caan), who goes by “The Cannon.” This show is pretty terrible.... The second show is not at all novel but it’s at least easier to take: Back in the Game is essentially a “Bad News Bears” reboot.

If anything, The Arrangement plays it a little too straight and sedate. An injection of just a little crazy would make the whole enterprise more fun.

Hour fits comfortably, if unimaginatively, among CBS's other crime procedurals, but with only two regular cast members, it seems like it will have less character development than any of the "CSI" series.

Nine Lives may satisfy undemanding teens in the ABC Family target audience but it'll feel like a retread to others.

It's not terrible, not great, just sort of so-so.

The problem with toning her down is that it means diluting the only thing that distinguishes Body of Proof from all the other crime procedurals, and what's left is a generic show with an above-average star.

"Weeds" tries unsuccessfully to balance a lot of stories that are too disparate in tone. [7 Aug 2005]

This needs to evolve into a smarter, less formulaic show before it's worth watching.

The humor in Other Space is largely of the absurd, what-would-happen-if-we-put-idiots-in-a-serious-space-setting variety. Sometimes the jokes hit, other times it feels like the kind of space opera I filmed with friends while in high school in the late 1980s.

[The Get Down] has its excellent musical moments and winning performances from a young cast of newcomers but too often it’s an indulgent, rambling bore, particularly in its overlong, almost 90-minute pilot.

It's just kind of meh and a TV show with a devil at the center should be more fun than that.

While there are some things to recommend about Lucky 7--the fresh faces in a cast of mostly unknown, diverse actors--the show is also one of those frustrating series where every character is desperate and too many of them make bad choices.

It's uplifting, but not hugely entertaining. After a while, I sort of think the show will feel tired; once you've seen one good deed done, you've seen them all.

Harmon brings a light touch to this schizophrenic show. He's a sensitive cowboy who does his job and then goes home to work on a boat he's building. [23 Sept 2003, p.B1]

She's maybe-sorta a prostitute but the show's tone is light, frothy and downright sentimental when Riley gives emotional support to her male clients.

Shepherd plays good-naturedly off her narcissistic image and the writers get off a few good lines. But this is just the kind of show that has to score with the quick zinger because it has nothing more solid to stand on. [01 Jan 1995]

The Brink is just silliness. It takes a while to get used to that, but this broad humor may win over some viewers.