There are some very funny lines and moments... Unfortunately, the good stuff isn't worth slogging through the rest of this sitcom.

A mishmash that wastes an interesting cast... and the few intriguing ideas it has.

Though tonight's two-hour premiere episode is fat with special effects and looks far richer than most TV shows, the concept is already red with rust. ... [The] sense of humor is about as subtle as a whoopee cushion. [18 Mar 1994]

We're left with a shrill sitcom that's hard not to hate.

The opener is riddled with juvenile humor consisting of jokes pegged to corpses, crotches and child molestation. It's almost enough to trigger a case of mad cow disease.

While it's always good to see Burnett, something has gone seriously awry with this new version.

A joyless and certainly unromantic mess.

The series doesn't come close to capturing the edgy tone and visual style of the print original.

Somewhere, things went very wrong, and the comedy turns out to be a flat, unappealing mess.

All this talent can't make the premise - a police detective talks to murder victims - work.

It tries to be edgy but misses by a mile.

There isn't a single new comedy idea in any of the upcoming episodes, and in some scenes, you practically can yell out the punch line before the characters get to it.

The series' first episode was lifeless, with perhaps three good lines in the entire half hour. Almost all of the film's charm seems to have drained away during the transition to TV. Perhaps later episodes will be better, but I wouldn't hold out much hope. [26 Feb 2003]

While it's not totally painful, it's so hopelessly incoherent that you'll probably get a headache or two if you actually stick with it for the full three days and six hours.

[It] comes up more than a bit short.

Both tonight's opening episode and next week's installment are predictable, loaded with cliched dialogue and lacking in the tension you want in this kind of show.

An incoherent, almost unwatchable mess.

I guess this is supposed to be another "feel-good" reality show, but it comes off more like an exercise in wretched excess.

What's particularly appalling is the way Lithgow is allowed to go way, way over the top in his performance.

A lame, tawdry sitcom with unfunny sex jokes.

Dead on arrival in the laughs department.

The show is overly ripe in its writing and spends far too much time exploring the whiny angst of the teens.

The situations are predictable, the writing is unfunny and the cast is forced to overplay every scene in hopes of generating something resembling a chuckle.

As bad as the original was, the sequel is even worse.

This is David E. Kelley on his worst days with wildly improbable plot developments and much forced humor.