The premiere hour includes heavy lay-of-the-land narration by Magnum, perhaps in part because the character dialogue can be pretty clunky at times. ... The Hawaiian scenery remains gorgeous and crossover episodes with the Hawaii Five-0 guys are inevitable. This time around, the new Magnum also will have romantic possibilities with Higgins, who’s already sending some signals.

The initial two hours move along at a fairly crisp pace, complete with skulking and several close calls but next to nothing spent on special effects.

After a crackling good start, Prison Break begins to wobble but doesn’t quite topple in succeeding hours.

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

An improbably entertaining outing that initially finds Kathy Bates' character reclining at her office desk while smoking pot and bemoaning her fate.

It has its moments and is well-appointed with seasoned actors who know how to hit their marks. So if you like Hot In Cleveland, then by all means stick around.

It's a genuinely chilling four-hour adaptation of the tireless horror-meister's 1998 bestseller.

The producers of this series, who include Ryan Seacrest, nonetheless are asking viewers to patiently sort through a lot of characters.

How to Live is decently performed in light of the oft over-reaching material at hand.

There are signs of improvement, though, even if Mullally tends to over-do it in the "brash and bold" department while holdover Christian Slater remains in place as the downgraded former head dude known only as Oz.

This is an amiable enough little comedy series that doesn’t use religion as a punching bag.

The key will be whether Second Chance can keep from lapsing into a stale weekly catch-a-crook caper or have enough layers of unique duplicity and humanity to resonate as considerably more than that. It so far still deserves the benefit of the doubt, with a compelling opening episode that should leave many viewers in the mood for more.

Dominion perhaps has the makings of a passable post-apocalyptic tale. But it can also be over-wrought and half-baked, with a premise that never really delivers any of the implied biblical goods.

It’s all cut and spliced to the point where any real “jeopardy” involved is anyone’s guess. The weekly competitions on Survivor are far more convincingly presented.

On paper this seemed as though it could be a bit of fun. In execution, it’s labored and way over-cooked.

None of this really clicks.

The game itself gets bogged down with a succession of gratingly easy questions that turn Round 1 into a rather boring marathon.

Being neck-deep in a muddy, murky eerie canal gets tiresome in due time. And the performances aren’t all that hot either in this adaptation of Michael Marshall Smith’s 2007 novel.

It starts to get better in Episode 2, courtesy of a killer raw rehearsal by the real-life band Reignwolf, which has been hastily signed to be the opening act in Memphis. The power of their music has some of the roadies believably transfixed. And for this short burst at least, the occasional magic of their profession is self-evident without any clunky pronouncements from Wilson’s Hanson.

A disappointing film that can’t seem to rise above room temperature.

New Amsterdam tends to rather tidily resolve all of its patient crises in these first two episodes. It also can get treacly at times, particularly when Coldplay’s “Fix You” hovers over the closing minutes of the premiere hour. The long-term diagnosis is iffy at best, with the main characters and their cases coming off as not that special or interesting.

Drescher still looks good a dozen years removed from the last season of The Nanny. But the lines coming from her mouth are too obvious for words.

The story dawdles at times, despite efforts to spice things up with some of that good ol’ Old Testament iniquity.

You'll likely guess every development at least a minute or two beforehand. But Peterman's enthusiasm for her role is tangibly contagious, making it possible that a decent percentage of opening night viewers might RSVP in the affirmative to this show's overall "Ya'll come back, ya hear" motif.

Emerald City has its moment as a vicarious, danger-packed thrill ride replete with jolts, wonders and ample shivers amid its shimmers.

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.

Kartheiser, who’s taking what he can get these days, has grown a beard for the role of the rather zany Bodie. The role is somewhat fleshed out in Episode 4, but it’s still not much to speak of. Lefevre, who co-starred in CBS’ summertime Under the Dome series, has some crackle as the head protagonist in Presumed Innocent. ... Presumed Innocent also can be transparently heavy-handed in its political leanings.

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