Chalk up Lights Out as another creative success for FX, the basic cable network that specializes in series with male-skewing milieus.

It’s a strange, sometimes confusing and always visually arresting program.

Having watched the first two episodes, I'm pleasantly surprised to say: It worked.

Fans of The Riches can expect even more double-crossing, shady business deals, intimidation and moral compromise in the gated community of Eden Falls. It's the same game, only more of it.

Glee does the teen years with some edge, but we've seen that before on Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy's previous series, The WB's "Popular." Still, Glee is delightful enough to qualify as a fall favorite.

Light with no pretensions of loftiness, White Collar offers pleasant enough entertainment.

FX's Sons of Anarchy returns to form in its fourth season premiere this week with the action set squarely back in the motorcycle club's hometown of Charming, Calif. Even better, the show's wannabe hero, Jax (Charlie Hunnam), is fighting again, putting forth a plan to get out of his current situation.

The character-based stories grow more effective over time as viewers come to care about the characters’ love lives and hardships.

It's an intriguing drama with an enjoyably creepy vibe. [2 Jan 2005]

The L Word is a better written series than "Queer as Folk" and seems less exploitative. Sex is a predominant theme, but relationships are presented as more important. Where the "Queer" boys often couple only for pleasure, most of the L Word characters are equally, if not more, interested in love. [16 Jan 2004, p.W-37]

[A] fascinating, challenging series.

It's a little aloof, a spy show without the usual espionage theatrics. That may take some getting accustomed to, but in these early episodes, Rubicon makes a strong case that it's a series that's worth the effort.

GLOW is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it is often funny, from its pitch-perfect opening scene to the potential for back stories on all the women who make the cut for GLOW and the relationships among them that are sure to develop.

Gritty and occasionally violent, Sons was created by Kurt Sutter, an executive producer on "The Shield." As "The Shield" prepares to bow out, Sons should capably fill the smart, testosterone-fueled void.

No one will confuse The L.A. Complex with "Mad Men" or "The Good Wife," but for the type of show it sets out to be, this Complex is surprisingly, well, complex.

These are fantastic characters with socio-economic backgrounds we rarely see in TV dramas, and that's one of the many things that makes FNL unique. Whether you can watch the show now or won't have access to it until 2010, FNL continues to be TV worth watching.

"Housewives" appears to have gotten its humorous groove back. [22 Sep 2006]

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a delightful, well cast hourlong comedic drama that occasionally detours into darkness but then quickly bobs back into the light.

What sets Party Girl apart is the "girl" who hosts the party: Christine Taylor, a delightful young actress best known for playing Marcia in "The Brady Bunch" movies. Her character here, Mary, is what Marcia might have become had she been orphaned, or "Clueless'" Cher might be if she were older, wiser and poorer. [9 Sept 1996, p.C-6]

It's a well-observed comedy that succeeds because it's so rooted in specificity.

The season premiere is a little clunky as it cleans up the mess left after the show's first-season finale--the sooner the show moves beyond that, the better.

The 100 offers up a well-conceived society on the Ark that brims with conflict and moral dilemmas that’s paired with the unexpected discoveries of frontier exploration on Earth.

No Tomorrow is original, quirky and fun, not another remixed superhero story or movie remake.

With its depiction of a warped, absurd family, Arrested Development is worth watching for fans of out-there comedy. [2 Nov 2003, p.TV-5]

Parker, so unlikably strident on "The West Wing," is a revelation in "Weeds," making Nancy sympathetic even when she's making terrible decisions.

A terrifically entertaining action-adventure hour that pays dividends for 'Avengers' fanboys/girls but isn't so insular that the uninitiated will be baffled.

The sexy, sudsy historical drama returns without missing a beat.

"Black. White." makes you think, makes you want to have a conversation about racial issues and makes you examine your own beliefs and biases. How often does a TV show do that?