While it's certainly not the most innovative new show this season, it knows exactly what it wants to be, which isn't a full-on copy of "CSI" but close enough to seem familiar. And it delivers the same slick, well-produced, well-acted sort of analytical whodunit as the original. [23 Sep 2002]

What The Newsroom lacks in vampires, serial killers and terrorist love affairs, it makes up for with topicality, intelligence and messy romances.

Smarter and more creative than ABC's "Desperate Housewives," that other show about superficial suburbia, "Weeds" has edgier and wittier writing. [6 Aug 2005]

Yes, there are a few stereotypes--a guard nicknamed Pornstache is exactly the sleazeball you expect in a women’s prison series. But, for the most part, the show strikes a fresh tone, allowing for real tenderness, social commentary and lots of anxiety in a classic fish-out-of-water scenario.

The first four episodes contain more solid laughs than most sitcoms manage in a year. [13 Oct 2000]

The potential for cop burnout exists with all the new crime shows this season, but "Trace" is among the most promising entries. [26 Sep 2002]

It’s hard to say where The Bridge is going, but so far it looks like a trip worth taking.

There’s just enough crazy in Ray Donovan to keep things interesting.

Showtime’s favorite psychopath is watching his life unravel. Again. Which is tough for Dexter but probably good for the audience.... Last year, the ship was righted as Deb disintegrated and Dexter found true love. Will this season bring justice, cheap thrills or a violent conclusion? Hopefully, all of the above.

The series looks promising, if puzzling.

It's clear that this program is a compendium of every irritating cliche ever to assault a defenseless TV viewer. [7 Jul 2000]

As well-engineered, demographically balanced and ethnically diverse as this show is, it’s still pretty daffy how it cuts back and forth between sun and fun and drug wastoids and gangstas.

None of which is new, all of which is interesting. But looking at any one aspect of his life--his marriages, a single concert, his childhood, one incident--in depth might have provided more insight than this typical overview.

Behind the Candelabra doesn't really get behind anything; it just rolls around in tacky history.

Family Tree is addictively silly stuff.

The suits are louder, the sideburns are longer; aside from that, the season-six premiere proves to be classic Mad Men with plenty of vice (maybe more than before, at least more pot), long hours at work and lots of questions.

The show isn't perfect--the female characters are weak, Graham can get a bit wild-eyed and the killings get progressively more bizarre. But creator Bryan Fuller has a good grip on the material and Mikkelsen sets a tone that's both chilling and intriguing.

Massive, cruelly dense, absurdly complicated and absolutely thrilling.

Mamet is known for tight, pointed dramas, and he holds true to his rep here, creating a mystery, procedural and character study all in one.

Things go bad quickly, which is to be expected. The challenge with this show will be to keep it appropriately Crazy Town without letting it get Loony Bin bad.

The disconnect between propriety and reality keeps the miniseries on constant edge. The entire cast is fine, but Hall steals the show.

You get the feeling creator Rockne S. O'Bannon is building a puzzle box to nowhere here, but Knepper's malevolent glare sets a nice, unhinged tone, and there's certainly plenty of room to move forward.

Essentially, Shameless is still Shameless: A raucous, shocking, moral battleground, a family comedy taken to twisted extremes, boosted by a uniformly fine cast, and consistently entertaining.

Maybe this will all become coherent. But then maybe it shouldn't. Sometimes messy is better.

Fincher's unemotional style comes through in the first two episodes, and the show could use more heat. But Spacey makes it worth watching.

This show is so far-fetched it makes "24" look like political reporting and "Lost" seem like a nature documentary.

The Americans has potential. The way it uses recent history as a reflector of modern deceits while bouncing the concept of patriotism around mixes nicely with the hang-by-your-fingertips story turns.

[A] somewhat overheated but still fairly effective new thriller.