Breaking In

The show runs rampant with rapid-fire dialogue and sly pop-culture references. The cast is strong.

The pace is so fast that, like a good party, you might forget everything that's happened even before it's over. That's the sign of top-notch disposable entertainment.

While there are somewhat foreseeable plot developments (Cameron's falling for Melanie, but she's hooked on Dutch), the series does have an agreeable cast and clever writing, and perhaps enough of both qualities to go the distance.

It's a happy mix, a breezy, playful half-hour that has the potential to open up into something special. Only time will tell if Breaking In can break out.

The pilot works a little hard--not one but two characters get catchphrases, which happily evaporate by the second episode--but plenty of good things come out in the effort, and better things seem likely to come.

Breaking In isn't memorable in any way, but it's fast-paced and easy to watch, with some amusing secondary characters.

Sad thing is, I'm a geek girl myself, who'd be happy to love this mad mix of technology, action and "humor" if it were, you know, actually funny more often than just cheaply offensive. Less pander, more wit, please.

This sitcom has the high-tech antics of Chuck and the misfit camaraderie of Community-not bad, but no breakthrough. [2 May 2011, p.38]

The show's attempt to turn Oz's "I'll allow it" into a catchphrase is a bit tiresome, but otherwise, the characters and the plot twists combine to make the time pass painlessly.

More work needs to be done on all the characters; so far they're just types, and the first episode, perhaps because of its manic tone, didn't make me laugh much. But I can see Breaking In growing into a pleasant, mildly goofy comedy that offers the light-adventure qualities of a USA or TNT show and the silly diversions of a half-decent 'Chuck' episode.

Although Harrison's baffled newcomer, Slater's mysterious honcho and the elaborate CalTech-style pranks have potential, there's cause to fear the gizmo-driven plots will become repetitive quickly. And while the pilot is fast-paced--with rapid-fire flashes to visual gags, almost like one of Seth MacFarlane's animated Fox comedies--it's not like the nerd-spy-girl template has enabled "Chuck" to hack its way into the hearts of Nielsen viewers (or at least, their peoplemeters).

It's not painful--there are likable actors and the office setting is loose and fun--but none of the jokes land, at all.

This isn't a terrible show, because that might make it memorable. Instead, it falls into that category of being fairly clever without really being funny or all that amusing.

It's like the producers have set up Breaking In to be an action-comedy but nobody involved really cares about the action portion. But if the show is starting as a mild disappointment, it's far from terrible.

It's a strange little show: A light-hearted half-hour caper that purports to be a comedy but isn't really that funny.

[A] mediocre, plastic, utterly false new comedy premiering on Fox tonight--a series that just happens to be built around an all-powerful alpha male jerkwad-type of character.

Well, the plot doesn't offer a lot of possibilities. The jokes are predictable even when the delivery is hip, and none of the characters is especially likable, nor do we care that much which of them mix-and-match with which others.