Animal Practice might devolve into a lot of jokes about mammalian reproduction and/or defecation, or it might evolve into a goofy workplace drama with reasonably sparky leads and occasionally frisky pythons. Given the quality of the core cast and the mildly pleasing (if broad) nature of the pilot, I've got my paws crossed and I'm hoping for the latter.

Well, this is a pile of nonsense, but at least it's more or less inoffensive nonsense.

Happily, in spite of the plot labyrinth that any conspiracy theory naturally creates, Salvation keeps its story understandable and makes us keep wanting to know what happens next.

I can't see this comedy having long-term appeal, given the thinness of the premise and the boring character at its center.

ABC is advertising that the show's creators wrote "The Hangover," but imagine that movie with the heart and charm removed, and you're left with these skeevy remains.

It doesn't seem to know who it wants to focus on or what it wants to do (the security missions, such as they are, are unexceptional afterthoughts).

Unfortunately, heaping helpings of atmosphere do not make up for the lack of a strong narrative thread or the fact that the characters are so thinly drawn that it's hard to care about anything they do.

Though Between doesn’t belong among the most ambitious shows on that roster, it knows what it wants to do and sets about doing it efficiently, effectively and with a minimum of fuss.

The bigger problem is, this show clearly has designs on being the next "Modern Family" and yet it isn't charming in the slightest. To hook viewers, the pilot needs to make them care about at least one person in this ensemble, and it can't manage that.

It's be one thing if the show employed thinly drawn, cliched characters in service of solid comedy, but very little of Glory Daze is actually funny.

Super Fun Night isn't just bad, it's infuriatingly bad, given Wilson's likability, game energy and overall potential as a TV personality.

The show treats this central culture clash with a great deal of tentativeness, a quality that never makes for good comedy, yet despite its scaredy-cat caution, Outsourced still manages to be vaguely insulting and condescending.

This middling-to-mediocre Reelz production is at least a few notches above a Syfy Saturday night movie. The special effects in "Ring" are sometimes passable and sometimes fairly terrible, but there is an actual story on display and manages to be somewhat timely.

Despite the careful attention to image enhancement possibilities, the core ugliness and toxic narcissism of Anger Management are impossible to ignore.

Perfect Couples is so screechy, predictable and lame that I kind of despised these characters within minutes of being introduced to them.

I might have tried harder to get past the bad taste that situation left in my mouth, had the rest of the show not been fairly paint-by-numbers and generic, but as escapist hours go, there's not a lot of meat on the bone here.

The series doesn’t go too deeply into several issues raised about Playboy over the years, like exploitation, objectification, and elitism. Instead, when it comes to controversy, American Playboy seems to focus primarily on the accusation that because it flaunted naked women, Playboy was obscene.

State of Affairs is not quite a pulpy thrill ride, not quite an addictive melodrama and not quite a serious, searching drama.

The show has some ponderous moments and its characters are sometimes guilty of not asking and answering direct questions that would give them valuable information. But eight episodes isn't too much of a commitment, and Outcasts at least has thematic and character-driven ambitions, as well as a gorgeously weird setting.

The rhythms, the "jokes" and the pace are all stiff and overwrought, and priority seems to be giving Sean Hayes a huge number of opportunities to mug for the camera.

For all its predictable moments, however, Made in Jersey is still more or less watchable, thanks to Montgomery, who is an effortlessly appealing actress.

[Whitaker's] charisma gives Suspect a strong center and his line delivery is consistently interesting. If the original 'Minds' is one of your favorite shows, there's no reason not to give this drama a shot.

Feisty is one thing, rude is another. But all of that is of a piece with the show's generally lazy approach to storytelling: A couple of supporting characters are cardboard villains, and a subplot about a minor's surgical procedure doesn't make a ton of sense if you know the first thing about medical privacy laws.

This annoying show is not quite as drenched in dumb and/or sexist assumptions as "Mixology," but that is the lowest possible bar to clear.

Perhaps Allen Gregory's arrogance is meant to be entertaining, but I just found it mostly insufferable, despite his occasional flashes of self-awareness.

CBS programs generally display a level of basic competence that this "comedy" falls woefully short of.

Despite solid work from the show's supporting cast, none of the elements of this show really work. So far, the only thing it has going for it is that it kicked "Perfect Couples" off the air.

This contrived, airless comedy is not a good vehicle for him, nor is there much enjoyment to be found in the show's musty supporting characters.