As hard as Tucci tries -- and he tries very hard -- he can't make Dr. Doug Hanson into Dr. Gregory House. It's not his fault; the writers simply don't give him the dialogue and depth that Hugh Laurie gets to play with on "House.''

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

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]

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.

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.

It's all shamelessly manipulative, but the show has real heart.

There's nothing particularly awful... But there's nothing particularly right about it either, and laughs are spotty at best.

The problem is there's nothing here that hasn't been done before, and often done better. Even more disheartening: The cast, which includes Matt Long and Billy Zane, is stocked with forgettable and/or boorish characters.

The show could grow on you quickly because those involved are actually talented and engaging on- and offstage. One upside to Nashville is that it doesn't feel as staged as "Laguna Beach" or, in particular, "The Hills," a spinoff of "Beach."

It's just sort of an underwritten mess.

The romantic comedy comes off as a rather charming, likable hour, thanks in large measure to a cast that gives it more than a bit of zip.

It could develop (its creator is Bruce McCulloch from "Kids in the Hall"), but right now, it's only so-so.

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

Unfortunately, what hasn't changed is that this comedy about the life of a neurotic nightclub singer simply isn't very funny. [14 Apr 2004]

Anything remotely resembling complexity and nuance has been sacrificed to cramming six decades of history into two hours of airtime, minus commercials.

A joyless and certainly unromantic mess.

Very little of it feels fresh or funny. Nor does Allen's character strike me as someone viewers would want to spend a great deal of time with.

Jillian... was so obnoxious and smugly hostile in the opener that I found myself practically rooting for one of the big-bellied contestants to squash her like a common household bug. [26 Oct 2004]

Dead on arrival in the laughs department.

Shots has some potential. The leads - Michael Vartan ("Alias"), Dylan McDermott ("The Practice"), Joshua Malina ("The West Wing"), Christopher Titus ("Titus")--have chemistry, and there are some funny lines and situations.

Strangely engrossing.

A lame, tawdry sitcom with unfunny sex jokes.

Unfortunately, no one pops off the screen the way Farrah once did.

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

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

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

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.

$#*! My Dad Says feels hopelessly old school. It relies on a stock sitcom character--the crabby dad--that we've seen over and over. It mainly anchors itself to a claustrophobic sitcom-y living room, and it relies too heavily on a tired, rat-a-tat setup/punchline delivery.