There are random fast forwards to jump to the parts of Aaliyah's story Lifetime was able to secure the rights to tell rather than trying to portray an accurate timeline of her career. For fans of the late singer it feels egregious and for casual watchers it's disorienting and uncomfortable.

Because there's no direction to the story just yet, the show balances on Heigl's appeal. Although she is styled well and written to be likable, she's not going to win you over with her charm.

At the end of the day, The McCarthys feels like an incredibly dated concept done incorrectly. If it's not the worst new comedy of the fall, it's certainly giving the others a run for their money.

There is a lot to like and there is great potential, so give it a chance and see if you want to engage with Marry Me every week.

There are moments where The Flash feels tied down in flashbacks. There are pockets over-acting and cheesy dialogue, but those are easily overlooked for the sake of establishing necessary emotional connections in 45 minutes of show time.

Witty dialogue combined with the likability of the squeaky-clean Feldman and Milioti will bring you in for the first few letters, but the supporting players will keep you in through the letter Z.

This new CBS drama proved to be as trite and cliched as was expected, with the extra added bonus of gratuitous violence perpetrated against women that did nothing but produce a disgusted eyeroll.

While a nice romantic comedy is a good escape, this one uses too many romantic cliches a little too late.

Happyland is definitely a fun show with a lot of original potential. It just needs to trust itself and the ingredients it has already in the stew before going for outlandish soap opera stories over grounded character-based work.

A touching, intimate, humor-laced family drama that is easily the best new show debuting this fall, and the way you'll be able to watch it holds a not-small part of its power.

It's hard not to compare the comedy to past shows such as "The Bernie Mac Show" and "The Cosby Show" and rightfully so. Black-ish continues the momentum these shows started and brings in issues of this generation.

There's enough detail in the setting and characterization to keep it distinct from the mothership, but also more than enough of the template (down to the freeze-frame tic at the open and close of each act) to make it go down like a comforting plate of crawfish etouffee.

Gruffudd carries the series well and brings a trustworthy and genuine presence to the role of Henry Morgan. However, after viewing two episodes, it is unclear where the series is going in the long haul.

All in all--the action will draw viewers in and the loveable characters will keep them for the long haul.

The actors bring an appropriate amount of camp to their performances, spitting out slick comic-book-speak with just the right cadence.

Red Band is one of the brightest shining new shows of the fall TV season, thanks to solid writing and great, endearing cast performances.

The Season 4 struggle starts somewhat intriguing, but gets repetitive quick.

We have no idea what the future holds, but if the series holds up to the pilot, Satisfaction is an exciting and way more than satisfying journey worth taking.

Rush is a pretty good pilot that could turn into an excellent addition to USA's lineup of complicated character dramas.

There are some predictable relationship issues that are introduced between a few characters that are more than a little groan-worthy in how cliche they are. Those few issues aside, Finding Carter hits the ground running with an extremely compelling pilot.

The new FX drama from "Homeland" and "24" executive producer Howard Gordon balances family with politics in a show that constantly questions what the right choice is when torn between the two, but oftentimes finds itself bogged down in soap opera-style drama that distracts from the greater, more ambitious story that it's trying to tell.

All in all the things we love about OITNB are still there--the dark humor, the camaraderie, the misery and the mystery.

Labyrinth takes way too long to hit the ground running and introduce the actual story, so part 1 is confusing and fails to get viewers to care about both the past and present storylines.

Silicon Valley has its share of pause-the-DVR laugh lines, but it's not as relentlessly funny as, say, Judge's "Office Space." It does, however, get better as it goes along.

There's a lot happening all at once and not all of it even makes that much sense. It may never help you pass a history test or win accolades for Starz, but Da Vinci's Demons is still a whole heck of a lot of fun.

With so much serial killer programming on TV, like "Hannibal" and "The Following," Those Who Kill could carve out its own little place. But it's going to take some work. On the bright side, the show has Sevigny, who is the clear standout on the series.

The Red Road drops viewers into a complicated situation that only gets more complicated by the end of its first episode.

Billy and Steve, and even Rodney (Nick Daley) and Walter (John Ratzenberger), get entire story arcs and episodes dedicated to their lives and troubles, and that's part of what is helping the series find its footing.

The disconnect between what Mind Games wants to be and the show bubbling just under the surface makes it a bit of a puzzling viewing experience.

Sometimes it's nice to have a fun, well-acted, pleasant sitcom both about and for the family.

Teen romance does play a major role in [Star-Crossed]... but there's a serious story of prejudice hiding underneath. That serious side--a look into the good and bad of humanity when faced with the "other"--is as compelling as it gets.

Four episodes in, Black Sails is actually spinning a cleverly-crafted tale of intrigue, secrets and deceit surrounding a race for an enormous cache of gold in a Spanish galleon.

Some won't find it gay enough, others will likely wrinkle their nose at the word "gay" and avoid it like the plague. That's a shame, because with this quiet, sincere little show is quite revolutionary on its own. And that's something worth looking at.

It helps that so much of 'Klondike' was shot on location and without CGI. That makes the series feel especially real and lived, which is key in making a project like this one work.

The British detective series remains one of the best shows on television. Cumberbatch and co-star Martin Freeman have only grown more comfortable in their respective roles of Holmes and Watson. The scripts, meanwhile, understand these men, what makes them tick and why they gravitate toward each other.

True Detective proves to be everything the HBO marketing has promised it to be: a gorgeous, stylized and dark exploration into the worst parts of the human psyche.

The new comedy delivers on its crazy promise.

The new season returns to the show's more familiar structure. But the character beats that played out last season--and in previous seasons, for that matter -- linger. The result is that the Harlan, Ky., and environs of Justified feels like a very familiar, lived-in place--in the best possible sense.

Fun jokes, strange setups and surprisingly touching moments are all present as Community dances its fine edge between silliness and the abyss of the insane.

Mob City presents a sumptuous-looking period piece with remarkable attention to detail. But beyond that, it all feels a little bit overblown.

Between the funny characters and the endless possibilities of worlds the two can visit, Rick and Morty has plenty of places to go.

Dracula is meant to be powerful and alluring, but this version of him feels stilted and withdrawn.

Carter and West turn in winning performances, however little they resemble the icons they've been tasked to portray.

This joyful look into the past makes the dullest of facts come alive.

Lowe's job of selling Alice's yearning for Wonderland is all the more remarkable for the fact that her world-spanning love with Cyrus comes off a little bit limp in the premiere.

This won't be a show focusing on teenage angst, which is a healthy breath of fresh air from a network that capitalizes on brooding male protagonists.... One major aspect the pilot lacks is character development, as the fast-paced action and plot dominate the first hour to set up the series.

A boring non-event.

The premiere episode of the new series, "Always and Forever," tells pretty much the same story as the backdoor pilot, only from the point of view of Elijah (not Klaus, as before). This works on some levels but stumbles on others.

Super Fun Night isn't the world's greatest show, but it has some serious potential.

It's Detective Ironside who carries this entire show. No other character is especially memorable in the pilot, with the two characters who stick out the most being Ironside's jerk former partner (Brent Sexton as Gary Stanton) and blonde fellow detective (Spencer Grammer as Holly). Fortunately Underwood lives up to the hype and delivers a flawed, wounded man who is simultaneously a fantastic cop while also being very troubled.

Merchant uses his gangly physicality (at 6-foot-7, he towers over everyone else on the show) to good effect in scenes when Stuart is on the make. Despite that, though, and despite the fact that Merchant is willing to make himself the butt of the joke, Hello Ladies doesn't quite pull off the trick of making Stuart someone you want to spend week after week seeing.

You might feel bad for the wine, and maybe for the hour you could have spent doing other things. You probably won't feel bad for Sara or Jack.

All together Masters of Sex makes an engaging pilot, but it is as yet untested as a premise for a series.

Though the choice to have the characters speak to the camera feels a little tired (and the plotting to have it continue past the premiere is quite contrived), the show is quite possibly one of the funniest new comedies of the season, full of small moments that lead to big laughs.

Williams signature brand of comedy and big personality dominate the show, but with an ensemble of Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Wolk and Hamish Linklater, it's less one-note than expected.

It's hardly the worst show of the fall, but it never really lands.

The show is likely to score big ratings for its premiere, and early evidence indicates there's enough to keep people coming back.

It's trying too hard to be a "sitcom" that looks and feels straight out of 1992. The bones are there, but the execution is lacking.

The criminal-teams-with-agent dynamic is nothing new, but it's taking the journey of The Blacklist with Spader and Boone that makes this show so engaging. It only helps that they have a strong supporting cast featuring the likes of Ryan Eggold, Diego Klattenhoff and Harry Lennix.

It's the kind of sitcom writing that gives sitcoms a bad name.

Add in openly gay Captain Holt and the excellent supporting cast of Chelsea Peretti, Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio and Stephanie Beatriz and you've got a good formula for a fun half-hour comedy.

Sleepy Hollow is quite fun, if you're willing to suspend all disbelief and go for the ride.

The four guys at the center of the show, in addition to actually being friends before the cameras came around, are portrayed as caring, involved dads, albeit with a few sitcommy quirks.... But thinking the dads on Modern Dads are somehow unique is really not capturing the whole picture.

Broadchurch doesn't come with many stylistic flourishes--it's a pretty straightforward crime story. But the care given to its characters and the damage the crime inflicts on the town make it one of the best scripted series of the summer.

It's a goofy idea but not entirely lacking in a curious appeal.

It's not only the charm of the characters that raises "Please Like Me" above the lazy comparison. The series is also funny.

Each episode is essentially a glorified DVD box set extra, but fun and informative enough to appeal to anyone interested in the increasingly respected field of TV writing.

After about 10 minutes of "Jersey Shore," I needed to pick my slack jaw up off the coffee table, so stunning was the display of mookitude.

Always a 30-minute show with a rich vein of drama, Weeds feels darker than ever this season.

Broad, cheap and tedious, it wouldn't have the slightest chance of cracking a major network's schedule during the regular season.

The Bridge sets the bar high with its early episodes--it's easily the best new show of the summer so far. Here's hoping the rest of the season follows suit.

There's something both frustrating and fascinating about the way Showtime's classy but surprisingly dull new drama Ray Donovan aspires to greatness.

Lifetime chose to tell a by-the-numbers tale of passion gone wrong rather than the potentially compelling (if lurid) courtroom story that played out on news channels for weeks earlier this year.

As long as that emotional content isn't overpowered by the central mystery, Twisted could prove to be another worthy summer sudser for ABC Family.

Yet as inspired as the performances are and as fully realized as the world is, traces of Soderbergh's recent weaknesses remain. For all the insight into Liberace's private life, there's very little insight into the man himself.

The good news is that this contemplative, utterly engrossing and frequently gorgeous character study achieves and then surpasses both of those goals [justify the network's foray into the field while living up to the Sundance brand] over the course of its initial six episode season.

While the first two episodes of "Da Vinci" are overly convoluted, the action moves at such a rapid pace and unfolds with such giddy enthusiasm that it's easy to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

But when a show reaches the level that Nurse Jackie did in Season 4, reverting to cruise control isn't enough--and Jackie is just coasting through its new run.

It's anchored by several great performances, and it's among the more distinctive and gorgeously filmed shows on the air right now.... What did turn me off a bit in the first couple episodes of Hannibal was the victims were all young women.

It feels like a happy medium between "The New Normal" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," but it manages to feel comfortably familiar as opposed to stale and overdone, largely due to the extremely talented, relatable cast.

The beginnings of answers do appear by the end of the episode, and they are definitely compelling enough to encourage continued viewing.

While we don't have the same rush of affection as we did when we first discovered "Downton," we found Mr. Selfridge entertaining.

While it's never as silly or artless as HBO's overpraised "Game Change," Spector is low-stakes, procedure-oriented and deliberately claustrophobic, lacking in the sort of sharply pointed dialogue one may expect from Mamet

Visnjic's smooth and mysterious turn in just a handful of scenes instantly emerges as the best thing Red Widow has going for it. That's either the sign of a series with fundamental flaws, or the roots of a show that will only get better as it goes.

It takes awhile to get into the investigation launched by Jeff and Skye. At the same time, the fictional "Cult" TV show seems more compelling than the real Cult TV show we're watching.

Just know going in that you'll be far better served by acknowledging the towering silliness of the plot, because it's just about impossible to take it seriously.

The writers of Community have done a good job with what they were given. The problem is, they needed Dan Harmon.

Not all the cases turn out badly, but enough do that the show takes on a rather grim formula.... That's a lot of talent to work with and the good news is that Monday Mornings shows signs of finding its voice by episode three.

Spacey clearly loves portraying the wonderfully manipulative Frank Underwood, while Wright does a very convincing take on Lady Macbeth.

The Cole/Price problem just continues to come across as ridiculous, rather than serious. It doesn't keep the viewer invested in the character at all.

For all the excitement of the missions and the tension with the FBI neighbor, what really carries the show is the relationship between Philip and Elizabeth.

Anyone looking for soapy twists and turns, shocking violence and a fast-paced ride will get what they want from creator Kevin Williamson and crew, just don't expect the show to dig deep into its characters or give you much to think about in the process.

It all works. Although Ripper Street does move at the slow pace characteristic of most British dramas, every scene and every line has meaning.

Through its first three episodes, The Carrie Diaries works quite well as a coming-of-age story, thanks in no small part to Robb's winning performance and a pretty solid cast of young actors around her.

The cast is good enough and the premise strong enough to carry it. Right now, though, Deception is a show that doesn't know what it is.

Liz & Dick, Lindsay Lohan's corny "comeback vehicle," is so awful it makes the entire slate of Lifetime guilty-pleasure TV movies look like Masterpiece Theatre.

The multicamera, laughtrack sitcom is completely unoriginal, the jokes are recycled and many of the characters--especially Reba's obnoxious teenage son and daughter--are underdeveloped stereotype. Still, the charismatic country star and Tomlin's droll Lillie Mae, who successfully balances her sharp tongue with surprising softness, are entertaining.

If you're hoping for a slow-building romance, a relatable lead character, and a sweet follow-up to lighthearted lead-in "Hart of Dixie," you're in the right place.