Well, you won't find a much funnier lead than Pinchot, but even a comic genius needs something and someone with which to work. With the supporting cast offering no support at all, Pinchot pushes egregiously, until even this funny man isn't funny anymore. [25 Aug 1993, p.

"Rose Red delivers a better story than his last opus (1999's "Storm of the Century") with better developed characters, but at the end I still felt like I'd wasted a lot of time. What's the point in setting up an intriguing, intricate backstory without offering some answers?

“Swords” is occasionally funny but more often settles for outrageous — a Little People figure swearing and showing off his private parts! — which may work to a degree the first time, but grows tiresome and dull in repetition.

Seven features an entertaining ensemble, a tongue-in-check approach and an attractive visual style that alternates between sweeping vistas and ultra-tight closeups. The sap and the male-bonding is sometimes a bit thick, but overall Seven is a clever update of an old TV genre - and a welcome break from TV's current glut of cops and docs. [2 Jan 1998]

Dominion will never be confused with sophisticated TV but in its pilot episode, the only episode made available for review, it’s surprisingly more entertaining and a better yarn than plenty of other Syfy efforts.

The Hero is not all that exciting but the production values are top-notch and the location (Panama) somewhat unique.... Rather than three shows, one show would be best: Make The Rock the host, use the settings of "72 Hours" and the casting of "Race to the Scene" and viewers would be much better off than watching any of these individual new programs.

“The Village” is certainly better and more ambitious than “Rise,” but it’s no “This Is Us.” Often, “This Is Us” comes by its emotional moments believably and naturally. For its lack of subtlety, “The Village” would be more aptly titled “All! The! Feels!”

Mr. Quinto is creepy from the get-go. As Manx ages backward, he remains disturbing even as he comes to resemble a contemporary Quinto. ... But all that effort does little to make “NOS4A2” compelling television. The stories are disconnected at the outset and Vic’s home life is one-note rote.

Unlike The WB's funny, wistful, pop culture-filled "Do Over," the one-hour That Was Then goes for pathos instead of laughs and it mostly misses.

Rogue starts to become a little more intriguing [by the second episode], but the show only gets to that point after the clichéd set-up and almost two hours spent with a self-destructive lead character.

The show does begin to fill in a few blanks, particularly the immortality angle, in its second episode, but it’s still a slow, sometimes tedious process.

With Roadies, Showtime debuts a series focused on a fresh subculture (the behind-the-scenes crew responsible for staging a rock band’s tour) with a lighter, if overly earnest, tone. Only one member of the band is shown in the pilot in a brief scene. This tactic might be an overly calculated conceit if the roadies were a less interesting bunch.

This sitcom may elicit a few laughs, but the premiere episode is pretty lackluster overall, with obvious punchlines and predictable characterizations.

There’s nothing epic about Nightflyers. It’s basically a haunted spaceship story--filled with what has to be a record number of uses of the F-word on basic cable--that does a poor job in its first hour giving viewers reasons to care about the characters before putting them in jeopardy.

It’s a fine if unremarkable broadcast network-style series.

The whole affair seems like a major miscalculation: Of Kings and Prophets seemingly features too much sex and violence for some churchgoers and not enough clarity for anyone else.

All the trappings of “The Wizard of Oz” without any of the charms.

History’s Knightfall is pretty much just a “Vikings” knockoff set in a different, but still bloody, historical period. ... The show’s limited character development is entirely predictable.

If this all seems too precious, well, it is. But the show is saved by Ms. Gummer and a relentless pace.

Valentine, created by Kevin Murphy ("Desperate Housewives," "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical"), is fine but nothing special.

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.

A paint-by-numbers action-comedy.

Not great, not terrible, Welcome to the Family is another occasionally amusing but not really funny family comedy.

It's not funny enough, the characters don't make much of an impression and the "Porky's"-style humor is too tame to have the requisite impact.

I suppose sadomasochists or anyone craving abuse will enjoy "Hell's Kitchen," but I won't be tuning in again. [29 May 2005]

Feed the Beast feels like a broadcast network crime underworld show circa 2002--it feels like same old, same old TV.

Predictable/preposterous plot elements co-mingle with some terrible dialogue, silly situations (characters enter a room full of dead bodies on hooks but don’t cover their noses in disgust until they see the bodies; wouldn’t the smell be enough for them?) and occasionally poor acting.