The Mysteries of Laura

This little dramedy, an adaptation of a Spanish series, has that USA “Monk” comedy-lite vibe going for it.

It’s pretty awful. Debra Messing deserves better than this trench coat cloaked detective who, in the premiere, solves what might be The Most Inane Murder Mystery in the History of Television.

The adaptation fails spectacularly.

In a fall season with a lot of mediocre shows ... here's one of the few truly awful ones.

Unfortunately, Messing, though talented in many ways, is absolutely and completely unbelievable as a homicide detective. Even this stretched-to-ditziness-but-still-tough-enough-to-get-the-job-done version.

Messing is most agreeable, hitting her comedy marks and credible as supercop.

The mystery is bad, the police work is bad, the home-life stories are bad, everything is bad. This is a bad, bad show.

It's a bizarro comedy-cop procedural-mommy drama that does nothing well, and the murder mystery exceptionally badly.

Messy, discordant opener with potential.

The real mystery of Laura is why Debra Messing ("Will & Grace") would have chosen this particular adventure after the crash and slow burn of NBC's "Smash."... Because it can't be that what she thought was missing from television were depictions of successful women whose personal lives are a hot mess.

[Debra Messing is] utterly unconvincing in both modes of Laura's character: the cop with a mean left hook and the frazzled mom.... On the plus side, The Mysteries of Laura has really snappy writing.

Viewers who come to TV for smart, serious, sophisticated fare will likely hate this show while viewers just looking for something innocuous and entertaining will be more forgiving.

Trapped in the hour-long drama structure, the half-hour sitcom that The Mysteries of Laura might long to be never finds its footing.

This is a pleasant and generally enjoyable show that doesn’t overtax the brain. In other words, standard fare for broadcast television.

Mysteries of Laura has pretty successfully convinced us that Laura’s not a mystery. She’s just unbearable.

NBC is always in search of a dependable hit, and the evidence shows that The Mysteries Of Laura is exactly the right kind of bland whose dependable ratings could help it fly under the radar for years.

It would be a maddening exercise to list all the elements in The Mysteries of Laura that are, at their core, asinine. Suffice it to say, avoid this at all costs. In a fall filled with bad new shows, it's one of the worst.

What a big mess, and what a disappointing waste of Debra Messing.

The ingredients here need time to jell, and the writing needs to move beyond generic glop and take advantage of Ms. Messing’s full range of talents.

Alas, some of the dialogue is extremely problematic, and the jokes tired.... but the action keeps moving, and there are enough glimmers of freshness to keep the show entertaining and warrant another viewing.

To be generous, the pilot of Mysteries is bad in ordinary ways that might eventually be fixed by better scripts. The inaugural mystery is forgettable. There are stereotypes galore.

It's two bad shows in one and feels like a USA Network castoff.

Messing seems to be trying hard, but in a role and a show that just don’t suit her talents.

The problem isn't that Laura wants to show us that raising children and holding down a job is hard; it is. Unfortunately, what the show suggests is that it's impossible, and it seriously misjudges the humor quotient in that suggestion while miscalculating the effect it has on its main characters.

Whatever good will the series musters with its easy-going tone--which, the grimmer cop stuff notwithstanding, comes through in the family scenes and Laura’s banter with her partner (Laz Alonzo)--is squandered not only by the familiarity of its story beats but the haphazard way they’re thrown together, courtesy of writer-showrunner Jeff Rake, who adapted a Spanish series; and director McG, whose fast-paced style seems wasted on this material.

Nothing much new here, although there's always another case for the audience to watch Laura solve.