MOONLIGHTING IS a quirky comedy, offbeat and free-floating and rather beguiling and very, very talky, which by the way I find refreshing. [26 Mar 1985, p.E9]

Shot in an impressively glossy style, and in wide-screen, Wolf Lake at least looks good, in spite of a lack of the visual effects one might expect in a series like this one. [09 Sep 2001]

Cybill crackles with that kind of wry, brittle, unexpected wit and it could well rejuvenate the sagging CBS Monday night schedule. [01 Jan 1995]

It's creepy, gory, and chilling. [14 Feb 1999, p.TV6]

"The Shining" (King wrote the teleplay) can be ghoulishly, gruesomely delightful. But the final hour disintegrates into a mess of violence that'll repulse most viewers. A warning: A 7-year-old may be a central character in "The Shining," but this is not -- repeat NOT -- for young children.

Offers some deliciously shocking moments, several sequences when you may want to remind yourself: "This is not real. [17 Nov 1990, p.C-9]

ABC really has done a fabulous job in the special effects department, though, particularly as the story reaches its messy, apocalyptic climax, complete with decapitations, oozing blood, stranglings and exploding monsters. Oh. Did I mention that there's quite a bit of violence? But the whole project, photographed in New Zealand (apparently the real Maine doesn't look enough like Maine), is gorgeous to look at and offers some excellent performances, particularly by Marg Helgenberger as Bobbi, the writer who uncovers the strange force, and Jimmy Smits as Gard, a poet and her live-in companion. [9 May 1993]

"Ghost Train" was an auspicious start...Spielberg has been working with movies of two or three hours length for a long time, but he can still tell a powerful story in the 25-or-less minutes allowed in a half-hour of commercial television. [30 Sept 1985, p.C-7]

Viewers are not accustomed to finding programs of this caliber on Fox, and they certainly will not expect it right after the tawdry "Melrose Place." But make the effort. You'll be glad you did. [11 Sept 1994, p.TV-17]

viewers need to breathe now and then, they need to smile, they need to break the tension. Wonderland, however, drags the audience into the maelstrom of Bedlam and never lets go. [28 March 2000, p.E-7]

Titus deftly carries off the delicate trick of creating comedy out of a background of tragedy and chaos, and for that it deserves a look. [20 March 2000, p.E-7]

Son of the Beach is sophomoric, off-color, tasteless, obvious, sexist and offensive to several races. It's also fairly funny, a cheeky, sunny, goofy, low-budget "Police Squad!" version of "Baywatch" produced by that nasty-talking proponent and arbiter of everything tacky in American mass media, Howard Stern. [14 March 2000, p.E8]

It worked for the Monkees. Maybe it'll work for O-Town. The concept is almost the same. [24 March 2000, p.E-11]

Slickly produced, compellingly written and expertly directed. [19 March 2000, p.TV-6]

It will take more than good intentions and warm feelings to make City of Angels a success. [14 Jan 2000, p.E-1]

A very, very long, sometimes absorbing, often boringly detailed and overly technical docudrama. [5 Apr 1998]

A likable, even enjoyable, but hazily defined series with no clear sense of where it wants to go. [28 Sept 2001, p.E-12]

Not that That Was Then is poorly done. The production is polished, and performances are excellent throughout, particularly those of Jeffrey Tambor as the self-absorbed father and Tyler Labine as Pinkus, Travis' manic pal...But the atmosphere is awfully heavy, self-consciously sober. [27 Sept 2002, p.E-7]

Suffers from excessive ambition, but only through the best of intentions. [10 Sept 1993, p.E-1]

Think "Bewitched" for the '90s and Sabrina can be pleasant enough...But only if you buy the concept. [27 Sept 1996, p.E9]

The drama itself will look and sound familiar to anyone who remembers "Twin Peaks," ABC's short-lived freakazoid hit of the early 1990s. Weird music, weirder lighting, menacing characters, dark forebodings. Perhaps the biggest mystery is the producers' choice of a hero, an IRS agent, not a figure most dramatists would pick for his sympathetic qualities. [17 Sept 2002, p.E-6]

One of the most compelling and elegantly produced new series of the season. [10 Oct 2000, p.E-7]

Cheeky but likable. [7 Oct 2004]

The opener is a dandy little puzzler, opening with what appears to be a certain suicide in view of a crowd. [30 Nov 1987, p.D-9]

A mature, beautifully realized piece of drama, it shows little evidence of the neutering, sanitizing process that usually compromises television storytelling. ... "China Beach" is "M*A*S*H" seen through a darker, bloodier lens. [26 Apr 1988]

Very early on, "Christy" runs into problems of simple logic. [3 Apr 1994]

"House of Cards" is a bit of a rough go at first -- the characters, their roles and the British political culture aren't all that clear to Americans. They sort themselves out soon enough, though, and the reward for the persistent is one whopping tale of intrigue. [30 Mar 1991]

"Platinum" may be just the black drama that TV has been waiting for. ... It's considerably more fun, irreverent, ironic and energetic than its predecessors. [14 Apr 2003]

A pleasant, inoffensive, forgettable way to spend a half-hour. Did I say it's mediocre? Well, maybe so. [20 Sept 1993, p.E-8]

It looks as if "Soul Food" could, after a pallid beginning, develop into a more substantial offering. [27 Jun 2000]

Dozens of off-the-shelf cowboy cliches ... make this brand-new film seem so, so old. [3 Jan 1998]

The latest incarnation is, if anything, more complex and interesting than the first two. [25 Jan 2004]

The Net provides a whole lot more fun, thanks to the sprightly Brooke Langton, cast in Bullock's role as Angela Bennett, a free-lance computer fixer who one day receives a mystifying bit of electronic mail. [17 July 1998, p.E-12]

There are delicious slices of French Quarter partyin' and plot twists that don't seem too contrived. [9 Aug 1996, p.E-8]

Dangerous Minds is the most appealing and meaningful new drama of the season. And, to borrow a word from the title, it's also the most dangerous. [30 Sept 1996, p.E-1]

A good-humored, good-natured adventure in monsteriana. [28 Mar 2003, p.E-5]

Begley is, as always, an agile, skilled comic actor. But William Windom steals the show any time he's near the screen, no small feat for an overweight old man surrounded by small children. [20 Aug 1990, p.E-1]

There is much good to be found in "The Outsiders," which marks still another example of the Fox network's willingness to take chances on unconventional stories told in unconventional ways. The actors' performances are unfailingly excellent, the production polished and stylish. More than that, despite the surplus of violence in the pilot film, it is refreshing to see a television drama about young people in which the protagonists are doing something besides drugs, in which their concerns run deeper than clothes and dates...It could get terrific. [24 Mar 1990, p.D-9]

Unlike most series based on movies, this one has a great advantage. It's written and produced by the people who made the original, the husband-wife team of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers...So the writing and the pacing are crisp and quick, reflecting the confidence and experience of the creators. [10 Sept 1998, p.D-1]

The question that needs to be asked of The L Word is this: Absent the novelty of seeing a cast of lesbian characters on TV, would the lives of these people make for fascinating drama?...The answer, I'm afraid, is -- probably not. [18 Jan 2004, p.TV-6]

Sharply funny without being painful to watch. [3 June 2005, p.E-1]

It will inevitably be compared with "The Golden Girls," NBC's hit from last year about four older women sharing a house in Miami...But this entry from CBS is considerably different and, for my money, funnier and better...It is the best new show CBS is offering this season. [28 Sept 1986, p.TV-6]

TV's most magnetic, compelling new leading actor in years, Benzali is unusual in the medium because he knows that understatement can carry more impact than shouting and scenery chewing. [19 Sept 1995, p.E-1]

The finished product is passably entertaining, intermittently involving, tolerably well acted by an all-English cast, and offers enough kinky sex and graphic violence to satisfy all but the most depraved tastes. [22 Aug 2005, p.D-1]

Huff occasionally descends into mere bitchiness but more often offers keen insights into the psyche of its main character. And it's frequently funny and thought-provoking. [5 Nov 2004, p.E-11]

Most of Rescue Me rings true. One would hope, though, that after an interval of nearly three years, real New York firefighters focus a little less on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, than is depicted here. [21 July 2004, p.F-6]

One of TV's most adult, provocative, outrageous and thought-provoking dramas -- and the bloodiest and most sex-drenched -- Nip/Tuck doesn't just push the envelope, it heaves it clear over the cliff. In an age when the FCC's rabbit-ears are more attuned than ever to what it considers issues of "decency," creator-producer Ryan Murphy and the FX channel are either incredibly brave or impossibly foolhardy. [22 June 2004, p.E-1]

For the second straight time, the cable channel has rejuvenated a stale, weary TV format, taking a genre that appeared to be staggering under the debilitating effects of old age and overuse and giving it new life. [20 July 2003, p.TV-6]

Technically, Deadwood is marred occasionally by sloppy continuity. One gaffe occurs after Bullock and Hickok discover the slain pioneer family at night. As they ride back to town with the sole survivor of the crime, darkness suddenly gives way to bright daylight as the rescue party makes a turn in a road. In another scene, Bullock is shown shaving his neck and the sides of his baby face, only to be seen with stubble five minutes later. [21 Mar 2004, p.TV-6]

George Lopez is refreshing, especially when you consider that Latinos make up almost 13 percent of the U.S. population. And besides all that, Lopez himself is muy simpatico. [24 Mar 2002, p.TV-6]

If The Guardian becomes a hit, credit [Baker's] cool smugness. [25 Sept 2001, p.E-3]

Some of their humor is bizarre, and some is even more bizarre. [21 July 1989, p.E-3]

The guess is that it will have staying power, primarily because of the presence of Will Smith, a rapper who does, indeed, go by the name of "Fresh Prince." Smith, half of the rap duo of D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, is a natural, so likable and charismatic that he already has drawn parallels to Eddie Murphy from NBC's Brandon Tartikoff. [10 Sept 1990, p.C-1]

The results of this ploy are predictable. But the end of the episode delivers a satisfying double kick that neatly caps off Woodward's generally understated performance. It needs better scripts, but Woodward makes The Equalizer worth watching. [18 Sept 1985, p.C7]

Band of Brothers could use a little more humor, a bit more of the irreverence and profanity that frequently arises in groups of men alone, to break up its almost unrelievedly somber atmosphere. If Spielberg and Hanks have erred, it is not in taking the men of Easy Company seriously, but in taking themselves and their film too seriously. [7 Sept 2001, p.E-1]

The Brits just love Ali G, but they have a considerable appetite for rude, politically incorrect satire...Americans may just find him rather peculiar. [21 Feb 2003, p.E-5]

The series, a marvelous blending of comedy and drama, has been almost too good to be true for both the network and viewers. [23 Sept 1991]

As it was before, it's a wonderfully quirky show, funny and warm and all that good stuff. [8 Apr 1991, p.C-7]

No, Dharma & Greg does not live up to the screwball comedies of the 1930s. But this new sitcom about a bright, young, slightly mismatched couple has enough of the same charm and daffiness to make it fairly appealing in its own right. [24 Sept 1997, p.E-7]

Not to quibble about issues of plausibility in a story about a boy with superhuman powers who arrives on Earth on a spaceship from an alien planet, but the star of Smallville is just too beautiful to be believed. As a geek, that is. [16 Oct 2001, p.E-3]

I'm still not sure what's going on. It may be more or less than meets the eye, but I'm sure I want to see more. [14 Sep 2003]

Boy Meets World starts out surprisingly fresh and funny...And surprise -- it pretty much stays that way. [19 Sept 1993, p.TV-8]

Dark, sly, ironic, subtle, brilliant. ... A taste for British humor comes in handy in watching "The Office," though. If you're bothered by deliberate (but tongue-in-cheek) bad taste, raging political incorrectness, sexual innuendo or comedy involving large sexual toys, or if you just don't get satire, "The Office" may not be right for you. [24 Oct 2003]

One of TV's funniest and most offbeat series. [5 Apr 1996]

Whether in visions of falling steel balls or in plot twists that capture the imagination without unduly stressing credulity, it's those fanciful, Kelleyish touches that make "Ally McBeal" so watchable. [8 Sep 1997]

It's drastically different from anything I've ever seen on TV: wildly funny, scathingly sardonic and brilliantly executed. [25 Sep 1992]

It's all great fun, and the idea of putting a hard-nosed, highly competent journalist into situations where she must deal with neophytes and no-talents is rife with possibilities, especially since Bergen plays Murphy Brown as a complex, intriguing neurotic. Not everything works in the debut episode, but enough to mark this as a sitcom with possibilities. [14 Nov 1988]

A promising, solidly crafted comedy series. [3 Mar 1997]

Promising ... Obsessive and more lonely than he can admit, Bobby's character is finely crafted by McDermott, an actor who meshes well with a strong ensemble cast. [2 Mar 1997]

As was "Ally," "Legal" is rated "Q" for quirky. Wacky characters abound, clients look askance at the goings-on, usually with good reason. One lawyer appears in coat, tie, shirt, and nothing else. [2 Oct 2004]

It's apparent that "The Sopranos" is back in top form. [2 Mar 2001]

Befitting its title, "The Sopranos" plays out like an opera; sweeping, subtle currents change directions gradually but powerfully. [16 Jan 2000]

Has Goldberg found anything new to add to the territory? Not really, but he's fashioned a cozy, enjoyable television show of his own, with a script that sounds like the truth, only more so. [20 Sep 1991]

Stylishly produced, with haunting music, darkly diffused lighting and some surprising violence and raw street language, "EZ Streets" has loads of bite and texture. Based on Sunday night's two-hour preview episode, it has the potential to be one of the new season's best dramas. [27 Oct 1996]

Based on this season's first two episodes, "The Larry Sanders Show" maintains its killer aim: It's never been more deliciously caustic or more viciously on-target about Hollywood insiders' egos and insecurities -- or more outright hilarious. [12 Nov 1996]

The writing is bitingly crisp, profane and bull's-eye funny. [18 Jul 1995]

At its best, "Sanders" takes the late-night smorgasbord and wickedly stirs it to a froth. [1 Jun 1993]

In the air, it's a case of "Top Gun" meets "Star Wars," with all the cool, high-tech trappings. Aboard ship, however, it's a low-brow melodrama. [23 Sep 1995]

By delving into a principal character so deeply from the get-go, the newest "CSI" brilliantly one-ups its predecessors. [21 Sep 2004]

Despite its good cast, "CSI: Miami" is just too familiar and cookie cutter. [22 Sep 2002]

It's not your father's "Cheers." [3 Aug 2005]

Oddly disappointing. ... Too much of "Futurama" seems soft, flat, somehow less than expected. [26 Mar 1999]

Promising. [10 Jan 1997]

Loaded with big laughs. [20 Sep 1992]

Comparisons will be made to ABC's "Desperate Housewives," but "Weeds" is meaner and sharper, eschewing the chirpy attitude that blunts the sting of most plot turns in "Housewives." [5 Aug 2005]

"Roseanne" is without a doubt one of the brightest new entries of the season, one of the most unusual of any season, and one of the most welcome. [18 Oct 1988]

The new "Family Guy" is much like the first, an animated family sitcom that tries too hard to be quirky and is only sporadically funny. [29 Apr 2005]

By telling one or two stories well, from beginning to end, "Chicago Hope" gets a tighter grip on the viewer's emotions [than "ER"]. [22 Sep 1994]

"ER" achieves speed and grit but at the expense of depth. [22 Sep 1994]

You get the absorbing pleasure of watching celebrities try a demanding art form that could leave their toes blistered and their egos bruised. It also has the potential to make them look like dorks. [9 Jun 2005]

The clipped dialogue, the scientific detecting, the camera tricks, the computer gamesmanship, the back-and-forth progression of the stories -- the bricks that really matter in the construction of a TV show -- are all quite the same [as CSI]. [26 Sep 2002]

Witty and interesting. ... If comedy dialogue, slapstick and emotional moments continue to be handled with the skill displayed in the pilot, "Will & Grace" could emerge as one of the season's survivors. [21 Sep 1998]

It makes for irresistible, cooler-than-cool TV. [9 Jul 1996]

A voyeur's delight. [30 Jun 1995]

It's all a lot of fun, if not terribly consequential, but if you've ever moved into a college dorm with a bunch of strangers, you've been there. [21 May 1992]

Fresh, sharp and witty...It certainly offers a brisk antidote to the syrupy sentimentality that has lately taken over "The Cosby Show." It's "The Honeymooners" with an '80s spin, a sardonic look at a couple who love each other -- except for when they don't. [5 Apr 1987, p.TV-6]

The rest of the cast lends excellent support, particularly Bitty Schram as Sharona, Ted Levine as the admiring police Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer and Gail O'Grady ("NYPD Blue") as the politician's wife, who sizes up Monk's more obvious hang-ups. [7 July 2002, p.TV-6]

If there's a weakness to "Deep Space Nine," it lies in the too-cutesy, superherolike abilities of some of the crew. ... But like "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" is light-years ahead of the original "Star Trek" series. [3 Jan 1993]