Although affecting at times, Parade's End tends to congeal rather than gel.

The cast is engaging, the premise is intriguing and the genre long has been CBS' ratings-rich specialty.

It somehow manages to be more inviting than ABC's new and thoroughly preposterous Zero Hour, although both series could be the stuff of sadistic semester-ending writing essays.

It's much more a bare-bones recitation, with some interesting sidelights in the telling.

Life Is But A Dream in reality doesn't give all that much. Still, it's a watchable film for those who just can't get enough of a pop music jewel to behold who's still just 31 and likely not even in her prime yet.

Preposterous, ridiculously earnest, poorly scripted and laughably acted, this is the series that Anthony Edwards chose to re-enter prime-time after a long tenure as one of ER's main men. He should've stayed in bed.

Watch at whatever pace you'd like--immediately. Given its quality, I think you'll be drinking it all in sooner rather than later.

It's the strongest medical series since House arrived on Fox for an eight-season run that ended last spring. The genre badly needs a transfusion. And at last, here's a strong one.

It's simply not coherent enough to sustain weekly interest.

The Americans enthralls with its complexities, simplicities and overall derring-do.

The first season of TNT's Dallas reboot was far better than many had anticipated. These early stages of Season 2 likewise keep the faith.

War of the Damned doesn't spare any of it en route to its no doubt hellish conclusion. But the characters aren't as compelling as they once were, rendering the fight scenes even more voyeuristic.

Wild Things is very nicely shot and buoyed throughout by its star's upbeat persona.

Ripper Street is pretty ripping good for the most part.

This is a genuinely scary and unsettling series.

This energetically produced, brightly colored concoction hits the guilty pleasure spot more often than not.

It's coarse and sometimes dirty to the touch, but pretty damned hilarious at crunch times. FX just might have the standout new comedy series of this season.

Kroll Show works often enough to make a name for itself among young males in particular. Men of a certain age might be more resistant, but still susceptible.

AnnaSophia Robb is appealing enough in the title role, but Monday's first episode starts to sag from all the CW-ian title character narration and overall pop tune heaviness.

Hits & Mrs. has the usual redundant reality filler and various contrivances.

Girls above all is about uncomfortable creatures. That can be a helluva thing to watch at times. But still very see-worthy.

Its overall implausibility and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plotting work against what little promise Banshee has.

Cougar Town remains amusing in fits and spurts.

It keeps going about its business, getting better than ever each season with a restrained but gripping approach that's also sure to wear well decades from now.

Through it all, though, Downton Abbey is still superior entertainment on a grand scale.

Some of this is diverting or at least laughable enough to play along.

There's nothing to get outraged about, unless you want to rail against substandard comedy.

Those looking for depth will find none. Liz & Dick triumphs, however, as an amusement park for fans of the deeply dreadful.

The drought-stricken, spirit-sapping Great Plains of the 1930s get the lyrical and learned Burns treatment.

No cameras were allowed for this [interviews with the band], making it sometimes difficult to decipher just who's talking during the otherwise brilliantly edited archival footage assembled by filmmaker Brett Morgen

Stuck on hyper-drive and stuffed with hyperbole, Mankind: The Story of All of Us is history a-go-go from a programmer that used to obey a few speed limits.

It's a decently made but hardly exceptional movie without any high wattage star power but with a few familiar faces.

The music has its moments and the comedy occasionally rattles home. Not nearly often enough to make it "Very Funny." But worth a few grins and maybe even a shimmy shake.

Outlandish and thoroughly TV Land-ish, Malibu Country belongs on the network of Hot In Cleveland, Happily Divorced and other broad, blast-from-the-past sitcoms.

Real truths invariably come out, and this is a film that convincingly rings with them.

The fight scenes are easily digested but those down times can really make your head hurt.

Even with its air-brushing and reticent title subject, Ethel is a watchable, oft-affecting film.

Some of its imagery is arresting. But this is mostly a sorry, unfortunate and even contemptuous enterprise.

Gummer's a gamer, investing her lead character with smarts, compassion and no small amount of discombobulation. She injects the ordinary with her own unique prescription brand pick-me-ups, making Emily Owens bearable when it's not fully embraceable.

This is way too well-made a series to be dubbed a "guilty pleasure," even if a sizable percentage of the audience may watch purely for the visceral thrills of all that weekly bloodletting.

Beauty and the Beast won't hurt all that much to watch, but the dialogue and plot stretches can add up to a lot of little ows.

This seems like a serviceable drama that merits a bit better ladder grade (heh-heh) for an improved second hour.

It has Emmy caliber performances from its two leads and an authenticity that won't quit.

Arrow may not be a-point-ment television. But for starters at least, it's a sharper little tale than expected.

References to Beyonce and Michelle Obama are worked in without reaching too hard. And the "black experience," although hardly monolithic, resonates in ways that make this version quite special and different.

666 Park Avenue doesn't entirely lack a pulse, but doesn't get the blood rushing either.

It's a thoroughly ordinary series on what's increasingly an inconsequential night in the not-so-grand broadcast network scheme of things.

The first two hours of Last Resort are bracingly strong on pulling power.

Thursday's series premiere ends up being watchable but not really something to phone your friends about.

This latest aliens-meet-earthlings sitcom is just too dopily executed for any long-term stay on this planet.

It has the makings of a damned fine weekly hour of good vs. evil, with Quaid against Chiklis as the crowd-pleasing main event.

The Mindy Project is a minor disappointment in light of all the accomplished guest stars populating its opening half-hour.

Urie's mostly a hoot, with his inflections infectious and his comedy timing a thing of beauty. Krumholtz offers sturdy enough support, but his co-star does most of the heavy lifting.

Ben and Kate can be a bit grating and certainly isn't all together great. But its small ensemble--which also includes Ben's pal, Tommy (Echo Kellum)--is clicking pretty well for starters.

Although Buscemi remains firmly in charge of this lead role, he's not the most interesting principal anymore. That pendulum swings to his wife of convenience, Margaret Schoeder (Kelly Macdonald).

Mob Doctor is one of those classically bad concepts that somehow got green-lighted as a series.

Unfortunately, Bomb Girls is affixed with an oft-overwrought and at times just plain clunky script.

Revolution, which has the overall look and feel of a big budget feature, delivers some consistently terrific action scenes.

Guys with Kids is over-populated, under-funny and no match for the simple charms of Three Men and a Baby, the surprise mega-hit of 1987.

For now, it's a disappointing polemic that mainly offends by being lazily or awkwardly executed more often than not.

Plodding and stupefying when it's not being laughable and poorly acted, this is entertainment fit for an alternative to water-boarding.

In the end, it's all very disposable.

Whatever your religious beliefs--or lack thereof--The American Bible Challenge is good for the soul. It's also the best new game show in years.

The Inbetweeners seems to be experiencing the growing pains of its principal characters. A better start would have been preferable, but at least the show's weekly slings and arrows are pointing upward.

It's both a promising and foreboding series, with class warfare an ever-present force that wants no part of any idealized forms of truth, justice and the American way.

His [Kelsey Grammer's] center-ring performance pulls Boss along even when it gets bogged down. The supporting actors likewise are all capable, although Grammer's glower clearly is the series' tower of power.

Viewers get to see what they've all got and what some of it is worth. Which continues to be addictive viewing in itself as the hoarder, pawn shop and abandoned storage unit shows just keep piling up.

Although its title is needlessly sub-juvenile, Oh Sit! does manage to be stupidly entertaining during its small handful of best moments.

[The show] results in a picturesque endeavor that otherwise suffers from a lot of padded redundancy.

Hotel Hell is every bit as watchable--in a morbidly fascinating way--as his other Fox crock pots.

Major Crimes has the makings of a very sturdy reboot outfitted with a built-in philosophical debate over how justice is served. Supporting characters are newly invigorated, particularly Bailey's Provenza.

Kirk just doesn't click in the lead role. Nor do most of the words he's given.

Go On obviously won't be off the charts ratings-wise, as Friends was for most of its run. It might settle in, though, with Perry still a solidly capable comedic actor looking to nest a while.

Filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (The Black List, The Latino List) might have done well to just keep the camera on [Carmen Dell'Orefice] and let everyone else hit the cutting room floor. But other former supermodels are quite interesting as well, among them Isabella Rossellini, Jerry Hall, Paulina Porizkova, Carol Alt, China Machado, Marisa Berenson and Lisa Taylor.

3 rises above the genre's usually tawdry trappings, even if the opening episode is more than a bit static.

Sullivan & Son is utterly artless in its efforts to be an equal opportunity offender.

Gilligan and company keep on pushing Breaking Bad to new highs.

Sunday's 90-minute premiere makes for an unintended hoot, both ridiculous and often ridiculously watchable.

McCormack, in designer stubble, is no better than ordinary in the lead role. Nor are the cases at hand all that compelling.

It's a thoroughly entertaining romp, with the television industry as a combination Tilt-A-Whirl/merry-go-round.

Final Witness has more texture and bite than most of TV's myriad explorations of the true crime realm.

The star of this ill-conceived show, which also features former congressional policy advisor Matt Stoller as a very uncomfy foil, completely fails to get untracked from halting start to grinding finish.

FX sent the first five half-hours for review, and they're all gems.

They're [the initial episodes of Anger Management are] somewhat more amusing than expected.

Nothing really jells here.

Through the first four episodes, Sorkin teeters between abject fantasy and believable fiction. Strong performances by Daniels, Waterston and Mortimer serve to offset some of Newsroom's excesses and missteps.

Cedric the Entertainer, Nash and Beasley go with this flow--and flow pretty well.

Life's A Tripp in reality is nothing more than another Lifetime stumble.

Falling Skies holds few if any surprises, although its action scenes and impressively designed creatures still have pulling power.

So hard-hitting it's not.

TNT's brighter, shinier Dallas makes an impressively staged re-entrance Wednesday night.

Its characters are comparatively compelling even when they're falling a little short.

The Choice already is bad enough but has a few amusing moments to help keep it afloat.

Longmire, with spacious New Mexico standing in for Wyoming as the series' production base, makes a solid overall first impression without rising to the level of critical huzzahs.

It shows only scant signs of life while also failing to be all that revealing about the unique profession it depicts.

Despite some shortcomings, Hemingway & Gellhorn rates as time and money well-spent.

Authentically grimy, solidly built and well-paced, Hatfields & McCoys is violent without being gratuitous.

You might not want to have a TV relationship with these guys either. They're just not much fun on any level.