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

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 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]

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

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

Young fans of, say, the "American Pie" movies may enjoy it. Parents may get a little queasy at the sight of so much beer being guzzled at the freshman dorm party. [25 Sept 2001, p.E-6]

Beavis and Butt-head are dumb, crude, thoughtless, ugly, sexist, self-destructive fools...But for some reason, the little wienerheads make us laugh." Huh, huh, huh. [27 May 1993, p.ND6]

Ferris Bueller, at least, confronts its source up close and personal in the opening scene and gets it out of the way. [22 Aug 1990, p.D-9]

Graham and Pierpoint do a nice job of playing off each other, and Michele Scarabelli and Lauren Woodland as Pierpoint's wife and daughter work well, too. Still, the premise is limiting and the guess is this show is much more likely to become a curiosity than a hit. [18 Sept 1989, p.D-6]

It is beguiling and original, yet awkwardly executed. [28 Jan 1988, p.D-6]

If "Spenser" has a problem, it is that the detective's sensitivity is not treated very sensitively. As in most TV series, "subtlety" seems to be a foreign word. ... But the car chases and gunfights are staged pretty well, and some good stories and continued strong characterizations could help the show's appeal. [20 Sep 1985]

No doubt about it -- "I'll Fly Away" has much to recommend it ... But something is missing, or maybe it's a case of too much being added. "I'll Fly Away" seems to be so concerned with appealing to an audience on many levels, to mix heartwarming moments with social messages, that it bogs down far too often. [7 Oct 1991]

Certain scenes are powerful, even exhilarating. Others don't work at all. [23 Sep 1990]

"Sleepwalkers," a short-lived NBC series from two seasons back, also asked viewers to care about characters who only dreamed that they were in peril. The sleepwalkers only drew a yawn from viewers, and it turned out that NBC programmers who thought the audience might actually care about such a situation were the ones who believed in fantasy. Fox may be repeating the delusion. [8 Oct 1999, p.E-10]

The only thing for sure about Quantum Leap is that it's a difficult show to explain to anybody, and that the more difficult it is to explain a show, the less likely it is to succeed. [25 Mar 1989, p.C-7]

As time-travel stories go, Timecop is strictly by-the-numbers. [22 Sept 1997, p.E1]

So many scenes work so wonderfully well in the first episode of Picket Fences. Trouble is, the show has nearly as many sappy, melodramatic scenes, the kind of cloddy clunkers that ultimately weigh down the entire affair. [13 Sept 1992, p.TV-16]

If you are over 12, you can look at it one of two ways: You can regard it as hopelessly silly or, if you're in a silly mood, just go along and enjoy it. [29 Sep 1985]

The Office has its moments, but it's just too loud and too clumsy...Like the original, the American The Office tries to pull off the most difficult comedy stunt of them all: getting laughs at the expense of a fellow who thinks he's funny but is pathetically, awkwardly, embarrassingly unfunny...The execution is less confident and less successful, more Spike Jones than Mozart. [21 Mar 2005]

The most dominating cast member of this attractive show is Corbin -- the delightfully rigid Maurice Minnifield on "Northern Exposure." But coming down court fast for a slam-dunk is Sheffer, who makes an outstanding impression as the only male role model who gives Lucas the love and support he needs in the tough game of life. Daddy Dan is an expletive deleted. [23 Sept 2003, p.E-6]

Like TV teachers back to the time of "Room 222" and beyond, Mr. Rhodes is depicted as the one teacher in the school who really knows what kids need and want, who will constantly have to buck an unfeeling, insensitive bureaucracy and a staff of stodgy, disapproving older teachers. [23 Sep 1996, p.E1]

Leaving aside the question of whether Burnett, Trump and NBC are just oblivious to the growing gap between the rich and the not-so-rich in America, or whether they're intentionally rubbing it in, "The Apprentice" brings up another issue. With all his billions, why can't Donald Trump find a decent barber? [6 Jan 2004]

In tonight's first episode of the new season, the head lawyer and star of the show is AWOL, so his employes simply invite in a substitute to take the boss' place. The plan defies all logic, but it's blithely and blatantly executed in one of the most clumsily conceived and poorly executed attempts ever made at saving a troubled TV show. [10 Oct 1996, p.E-1]

The script often just doesn't make sense. [3 Jan 2005]

O'Brien and second-half director Carl Schultz both bring some visual dazzle to the episode, but they cannot bring wooden actors to life. And although Flanery does bear some resemblance to how Harrison Ford may have looked as a youth, he is plainly well beyond 16. So far, George Lucas' great idea for a TV series built on Indiana Jones remains just that -- an idea. [3 Mar 1992, p.C-1]

And the evidence is plain: Millions of Americans sense that terrorism is in their midst, and CBS doesn't mind kicking up that fear a notch for the sake of gaining a rating point or two. [23 Sept 2003, p.E-6]

If you watched "The Larry Sanders Show," you'll find that Beggars and Choosers is weak tea. [18 June 1999, p.E-10]