Wedged between the superior company of The Middle and Modern Family is the bumbling blandness of the slapsticky Family Tools.

The "games" in the pilot include a specially designed version of Trivial Pursuit where all the questions reveal aspects of this unhappy clan's back story. That's as clever as Goodwin gets, and except for Newton's daffy sparkle, there's no real incentive to play along.

While the purpose of all of this is to urge you to skip this version and try to get your hands on the saucy British original, it's only fair to report that one of the four--Jes Macallan as Milano's unrepentantly slutty sis, a real-estate broker having it off with her boss--captures the Mistresses spirit of naughty fun (never without consequences).

The game's the only thing in companion piece 72 Hours, which feels like an amped-up leg of The Amazing Race or a condensed version of Survivor if not its Eco-Challenge predecessor.

Bores by being relentlessly glum.

Heist is a tiresome mess.

[A] colorless angstfest.

Like a sunnier version of thirtysomething, lacking only the inspired casting, the insightful writing and the wrenching realism.

[A] generic dud.

It's partially improvised, which comes off looking like they're having more fun than we are.

Downbeat and earnestly preachy about community and survival, this weird show is further hampered by glum Skeet Ulrich’s miscasting as the all-purpose prodigal hero.

Rules would be more engaging if it weren't so familiar, but there is at least one consistently hilarious performance: Patrick Warburton.

Overwritten and underacted (by the kids anyway), it strings out its weekly climactic shockers — some of them truly unnerving — with artery-hardening blobs of moldy adolescent whining.

Silverman reminds us how quickly the novelty can wear off while watching a pixie with a potty mouth.

All together now: "I don't!"

I find The Riches emotionally flat, borderline pretentious and (metaphor acknowledged) dramatically phony.

Welcome to the Captain, a tepid comedy about would-be wackos in a Hollywood apartment building, is such a dud that it's likely to only make some of us miss the funnier "Big Bang Theory" (which it temporarily replaces) even more.

Even without a death slot on Fridays, this strained story would be a tough sell.

More attention [is] paid to recreating the glam disco milieu than to developing character.

This shockingly ordinary new legal drama from Steven Bochco should seem right at home amid TNT’s ubiquitous Law & Order reruns. It feels like something you’ve seen before, maybe from way back when L&O was new.

It’s not that The Vampire Diaries is a truly terrible show. It’s just so insipid and uninspired.

This lightweight medical drama still needs serious script surgery.

It's not only the trash that's stinking on Melissa & Joey.