The acting remains impeccable, and the writing adds depth to characters that seemed one-dimensional the first season.

The short, 41-minute opener (I'd DVR it and fast-forward through the commercials) is slickly filmed, generally well acted and ends with an intriguing revelation. But so little feels new and fresh.

Stuffed with absurd situations and piles of bad taste, Wilfred is the strangest new show on TV. And the funniest.

While well acted and artfully shot, it suffers from message movie traps.

Hints of a deeper mythology are revealed, too, suggesting that Helix will move beyond its stop-the-virus story into something even more intriguing. In the meantime, it's a suspenseful, scary thriller.

This is history lite, to be sure, but it's probably a lot livelier than your sixth-grade history class was.

Ben & Kate is at its best when the siblings lovingly spar--usually about one of Ben's hair-brained schemes.

Copper doesn't open as confidently as I had hoped (or as its pedigree might lead one to expect), but given the classic themes, rich time period and great acting, I trust it will keep my interest.

They say Revenge is a dish best served cold, and here it's downright delicious.

Like "Psycho," it offers a deliciously scary stew of unexpected twists, murder and mind games.

Horowitz and Kitsis are clever and playful in how they insert the fairytale characters into the present day, which kept my interest even when, as I said earlier, I was chuckling.

An exciting and scary trip.

Thanks to the rock solid performances of Bello, O'Byrne and co-stars that include Kirk Acevedo, Kenny Johnson and Chicago homeboys Tim Griffin and Aidan Quinn, Prime Suspect rises above the formula network procedurals that focus more on forensics than good, old-fashioned grunt detective work.

Though the gorgeous production starts out slowly and has its pompous moments, it's ultimately worth your time.

It's truly troubling to watch as helpless, restrained patients are treated against their wills. Yet despite mumbling over and over during the first episode, "I'm done with this already," I had to see the second.

Despite its historic gravitas and scrupulous attention to period detail, Spies of Warsaw never really ignites.

Gervais has written, produced and directed a thoughtful and thought-provoking dramedy that celebrates everyday heroes and the power of kindness while attacking materialism and the way society often forgets people "just because they're old and poor and weak."

If they keep the cute at bay for more dinosaurs and dirty dealings, this should be a great ride.

Spivey gives her stars so much better material stemming from the parents' self-doubt about everything from doing right by their daughter to still rocking a tight skirt (Reagan) to buying the right cheese at the overwhelmingly huge supermarket (Chris).

There isn't anything too deeply intellectual here because the action moves the plot. And "Strike Back" has action to spare.

A tantalizingly juicy soap opera.

Like Spader, Collette is fascinating to watch; there's always so much happening just under the surface.... Show creators Alon Aranya, Omri Givon, Rotem Shamir and Jeffrey Nachmanoff pack the Hostages pilot with a ton of side plots.

It's all very new-agey and a bit pretentious.

While Prosecuting Casey Anthony does a decent job of re-creating the trial and media frenzy surrounding it, it fails to offer theories as to why the jury didn't convict her of murder.

Most of these characters are by-the-numbers denizens of any Western. Thankfully most of the actors make them more interesting than the sometimes atrocious dialogue should allow.

As an exercise in recreating a noir drama, Mob City has all the trappings we've seen better in "L.A. Confidential" and other projects, but little of the thrill.

The addition of Chicago native Hudson is a masterstroke, but with all that other melodrama, Smash remains a hit-or-miss proposition for me.

Some of the dialogue is groan-worthy, some plot turns totally predictable and some of the soapy silliness is just, well, silly. But J.R.'s Dallas is still a hoot.