Common Law
USA | Release Date: May 11, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
NewsdayDiane WertsMay 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: One thing you can say for USA: It knows what it's doing. It's got its shtick, and it's sticking to it. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: It never takes itself very seriously, yet there is serious chemistry between these guys. Read full review
67
Uncle BarkyEd BarkMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: In the grand USA scheme of things, it's pretty much same old, same old. But that's still a workable recipe. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonAug 27, 2012
Season 1 Review: Nobody will watch Common Law to watch crimes being solved. But viewers may be engaged by the characters and their chemistry, and that's what USA is counting on. Read full review
63
New York PostLinda StasiMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: This isn't ground-breaking TV, but if you're looking for a few good laughs and a lot of action without the commitment of marriage, Common Law the way to go. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraMay 10, 2012
Season 1 Review: It is nowhere near as smart as "White Collar" or as strangely touching as "Necessary Roughness" and seems content to hit well-worn marks, though more than occasionally with welcome style. Read full review
60
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandMay 10, 2012
Season 1 Review: The result is distinctly forced, but a standout cast manages to put a breezy top spin on some leaden material. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: The bromance is over before it starts. Read full review
50
SlateTroy PattersonMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: Common Law, with its storylines moving forward in broad strokes and an airiness in its exposition, does not demand too much of you or of anyone, beyond its own efficient technicians and unshowily inventive actors. Read full review
50
The New York TimesMike HaleMay 10, 2012
Season 1 Review: The show around them [the actors], at this point, looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we've come to expect from USA. Read full review
50
RedEyeCurt WagnerMay 10, 2012
Season 1 Review: A show about a hot gay couple who are both cops would have been a lot more interesting than the umpteenth light police procedural USA has delivered. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandMay 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: The writing is light and somewhat predictable, without quite hitting the level of sassy repartee of the "grand old men" of the USA stable, Dulé Hill and James Rodale of the deservedly long-running "Psych." Read full review
50
People WeeklyTom GliattoMay 7, 2012
Season 1 Review: The framework [couples counseling] is cute but irrelevant: You don't need an analyst piecing together the relationship when that's the audience's job. [14 May 2012, p.44]
50
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerMay 4, 2012
Season 1 Review: The USA "Characters Welcome" machine strains mightily with this one. [11 May 2012, p.65]
42
HitfixAlan SepinwallMay 10, 2012
Season 1 Review: Even with the couples counseling gimmick, Common Law is ultimately too much like every other traditional cop show you've ever seen, even as it's also too much like every other USA show you've ever seen. Read full review
40
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: Common Law, like "Fairly Legal" before it, isn't just formulaic--it's lazy. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: On its first pass, Common Law feels awkward. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowryMay 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: The problem is by thrusting the duo almost immediately into what amounts to a highly straightforward procedural, the dynamic meant to distinguish Common Law from every other copshow--including several existing ones in the basic-cable universe--feels flimsy at best. Read full review
37
USA TodayRobert BiancoMay 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: This isn't escapist TV; it's TV you need to escape. Read full review
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