Outlaw
NBC | Release Date: September 15, 2010
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
11
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
58
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Season 1 Review: This series will require better scripts than the death-penalty pilot one, and those kids will have to establish personalities vivid enough to hold the screen with Smits' powerful one. Read full review
50
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: Outlaw isn't bad as much as bogus. The whole faulty premise creaks and groans under the weight of a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't shell game, as key plot points zip by, then are quickly tucked back under their shell in the vain hope you won't remember them, or maybe take them at face value. Read full review
50
People WeeklyTom Gliatto
Season 1 Review: Smits is breezily bold, but the show feels fussy--flushed out with "interesting" details and characters. [20 Sep 2010l p.54]
50
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Season 1 Review: Prepare yourself for preachiness in the third degree. Mr. Smits went to Washington, and now is sharing his moral righteousness with the rest of us. Read full review
50
PopMattersCynthia Fuchs
Season 1 Review: Like so many plot turns in Outlaw, this one is too convenient, too silly, and not a little audacious. It helps that the show knows it. Read full review
42
Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard
Season 1 Review: This show violates so many tenets of storytelling, it deserves to be tossed in the clink. Outlaw is about as entertaining as a legal brief on the case of Wall v. Paint Drying. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: An impatience with subtlety is one of the problems with the first episode of Outlaw--the plot points and the performances are overblown, too obvious and too cute. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 1 Review: From "thinking aloud" scenes in which the team tosses around a Nerf football to a most unfortunate series of conversations between Garza and his law clerk, the only thing that makes Outlaw unique in a swollen genre is its ability to trip over its own feet so early on. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Despite a first-rate performance from Smits and a smart, sharp cast, the show stumbles over a clumsy setup from which, alas, it may be difficult to recover. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: If you're able to get past the ridiculous premise--and, admittedly, I was not --Outlaw still suffers from other problems, including two-dimensional supporting characters. Read full review
40
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: It could work with better writing and a more grounded characterization, but instead the show just lurches between tones, and the lead performance, between Smits having a lark as a rascally rebel and Smits in high-dudgeon mode Read full review
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