I lost interest in tonight's pilot when attention turned to a card-counter with an outside confederate. OK, they're cheating. [22 Sept 2003, p.D-5]

The situation seems hackneyed from the start, and so do the characters. [23 March 2000, p.E-5]

Simply sweet, silly and innocuous. And where Hanks is one of the more talented comic actors around, Waring seems to be no more than one more journeyman performer...Macy is a capable comedian, but only Jackie Gleason is Jackie Gleason. [2 Apr 1987, p.C-11]

"American Idol" boasts two new wrinkles. First, the performances are so tightly edited that each singer gets barely a minute onstage. ... The second innovation: The contest is rigged. [21 Jun 2002]

It is based on the assumption, so common among show-biz people who meet each other for lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel, that they are not only the cultural center of the Western world, but the envy of everybody who is not part of their glittery ZIP code. The whole production just reeks of L.A. smugness. [4 Oct 1990, p.C-11]

Tonight's new NBC sitcom from the producers of HBO's "Dream On" hands us still one more batch of self-consciously quirky, single, more-or-less charming twentysomething characters and lets them hang for a half-hour reading faux Woody Allen lines. [22 Sept 1994, p.36]

So how come he knows absolutely everything, but some things he doesn't? You're not supposed to ask.

A fluffy, lighthearted little romp that brings to mind "Moonlighting" in its early days. [12 Sept 1993, p.TV Week-17]

When the hour is over, one is left with the distinct impression that the story could have been told just as well, if not better, on the original "Law & Order." And one is reminded yet again that network TV seems to be recycling old ideas just when it desperately needs new ones. [20 Sept 1999, p.E1]

The premise of "Numb3rs" is as gimmicky as its typographically tricky title. [23 Jan 2005]

Previously icy, menacing, aloof and fascinating, [Hawk] is now mostly noise and bluster, a swaggering, gun-toting pontificator, as ready with an aphorism as with a bullet, a "Shaft" rehash. ... Within the context of "Spenser," there was already a cartoonish aspect to the figure of Hawk. Now all restraint has been dropped, and Hawk has become a parody of himself. Brooks has done better work. [27 Jan 1989]

As TV shows go, it may have the most convoluted, tortured premise on record. A new title could resolve its identity crisis: "The Fugitive From Outer Space." It is not so much based on the 1984 film which starred Jeff Bridges as a sequel to it...Even if you saw the movie, you may find the TV show confusing...If you didn't, you may be utterly bewildered.[19 Sept 1986, p.E-1]

Hewett projects the right blend of acid wit and sympathy, but he gets little help from the rest of the project. [15 Mar 1985]

Too gimmicky for my taste. [22 Sept 1986, p.D-1]

In its premiere, Joan of Arcadia comes off fragmented and aimless. [26 Sept 2003, p.E-11]

The cliches just keep on coming, from crooked cops to a mobster's innocent daughter in law school (at UCLA, no less) to those great, great lines: "Come on, Sonny, let's go. [16 Sept 1987, p.F-9]

So far there's little else to recommend Wings. [15 Apr 1990, p.TV-8]

The usually reliable producer Gary David Goldberg ("Spin City," "Brooklyn Bridge," "Family Ties") has imitated the props, plot devices and characters from the original ("Barney Miller"), but duplicating wit, mood and casting chemistry have proven more elusive.[23 March 2000, p.E-5]

"Dad" is even spottier than "Family Guy," a nearly random collection of blackouts in search of a story. [29 Apr 2005]

As for story, Tarzan will remain trapped in monotony unless the writers can get him out of the city sometime (at least to the Catskills or Poconos), or bring in wild and bizarre comic book characters like the Batman series did. [5 Oct 2003, p.TV6]

TV comedy at its most conventional and least interesting. [17 Sep 1991]

Criminal Intent should make the bird's tail-feathers droop with embarrassment. [29 Sept 2001, p.E-6]

A very conventional, old-fashioned cop-private eye caper, the only difference being the gender of the officer in question. [1 Oct 2003, p.F-7]

Ominously dark, loaded with splashy visual special effects and soundtrack whooshes and vrooms, with costumes by the Frederick's of Hollywood Martial Arts Division, Birds of Prey bogs down early in lengthy and tedious exposition, the sort of back-story explanation that scriptwriters call "laying pipe." [8 Oct 2002, p.E-6]

Lame. [2 Oct 2000, p.E-7]

Maybe it'll improve as the weeks go by, but based on tonight's premiere, "NewsRadio" doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as "WKRP." [21 Mar 1995]

Clueless is meant to be a spoof of spoiled and petulant teen-age girls. But even at that, Clueless comes up, like, seriously shallow. [20 Sept 1996, p.E-6]

Often violent and brutal (Sydney packs one mean karate kick and knows how to use a dentist's pliers effectively), Alias is a jumbled, cliche-ladened offering. Not only is it laced with hip, mellow, contemporary songs a la "Felicity," it also has guitar chords reminiscent of the James Bond 007 theme, and a musical segment inspired by the theme to "Shaft." [30 Sept 2001, p.TV-6]