Much edgier in confronting issues of class and ethnicity. But it never loses its sense of humor. [19 Sept 2002]

In The Flesh at first seems to be offering itself as a fractured metaphor, with zombies standing in for blacks, gays, Muslims or the social victim of your choice. But the show quickly veers into something sweeter, sadder and more thoughtful--a meditation on forgiveness, redemption and second chances.

Cutler’s documentary The World According to Dick Cheney is a rousing piece of work.

Durst’s books all offer the same engaging elements that the BBC makes such excellent use of in this two-part miniseries: The claustrophobic lifeboat atmosphere of a society teetering toward its doom.

The answers unfold with a delicious tension that makes Graceland an unexpected pleasure.

It's a provocative mishmash of future shock and peculiar anachronisms. [19 Sept 2002, p.E1]

With a gorgeous cast (even -- especially? -- the dead ones), plenty of cool slow-mo martial arts action, a glorious collection of lethal hardware and an intriguing plot, Blade's got something for the whole family, provided they rank somewhere between the Munsters and the Mansons in sensibility.

The scenes of the guys driving golf balls onto the roofs of Hollywood mansions or scamming stereo dealers are funny and even sweet in a post-adolescent Porky's sort of way. [18 July 2004, p.5M]

Highly entertaining.

Lowlife though it may be, Twins is just plain funny.

The cynical and cerebral Threshold is the darkest of the three new space-alien shows, so much so that the producers seem to be wondering if the human race is even worth saving.

Elfman establishes herself as one of the major female comic presences on television.

This sitcom is a loving embrace of convulsive domestic eccentricity.

Where The Sopranos slices and dices American culture from a thousand different angles and The Brotherhood explores the shadowy nexus between crime and politics, The Black Donnellys sticks mainly to the vices, virtues and vicissitudes of family.

Just think of all the stolen ideas as a public works program for Hollywood lawyers and stick to the action on-screen, which is quite entertaining.

As a reality show, Miracle Workers is unique: It is neither Machiavellian like Survivor, nor messianic, like Three Wishes, nor grotesque, like Fear Factor. It's as serious as life and death.

Poignantly funny.

At times Smith seems less like a crime drama than a character study of a collection of seriously damaged people. But the show's metabolism is enjoyably unpredictable.

You've seen it all before, but Berg's sharp powers of observation and a talented and very pretty young cast... keep it fresh.

With enough intrigue for a spy thriller and enough careening car chases to satisfy the most deranged Fast and Furious cultists, it's an action series that engages your brain as well as your clutch foot.

This is an intriguing blend of The Fugitive and The O.C.: half suspense and half intergenerational melodrama.

A soapy delight of hard bodies and dirty doings.

Surreal and then some.

It's different, it's droll, it's quirky, it's funny.

Six Degrees starts off almost as an anthology series, with six stories set in six different worlds, each one quite interesting. But as their orbits draw closer, interest rapidly morphs into fascination.

Its raffish ethnic and class humor takes no prisoners.

If you're willing to invest some time and brain cells, The Nine is an absorbing experience.

Delirious, dizzy, decadent and altogether delicious.