I like Archer because it succeeds where so many of the snarky animated series tend to fail. Reed and his writers and voice actors balance all the pop satire and raunch with a strong sense of the characters.

Olyphant creates a sense of suspended time whenever Raylan comes into contact with thugs--as if a gun standoff isn't so far from standing at a bar with a drink in hand. His Raylan is the kind of guy who doesn't say much, but gives us plenty to talk about.

If you enjoy slowly piecing together a puzzle without having first seen the final image, Rubicon is right up your alley; if not, the brainteasing will likely unnerve you.

The plots are really secondary to the show's winning, easy-going style and its bittersweet tone. This isn't John Cassavetes, but there's something of the director's spaciously paced, slightly improvised technique about the way the men on the show interact as they take their regular hikes and breakfast at the diner.

Every so often, a show arrives and instantly feels lived-in, like a comfortable old couch with slight depressions in all the right places. FX's Terriers is one of those shows, beautifully torn and frayed from the get-go.

What I like about Lone Star, what could make it the strongest TV newcomer of the season, is the ways in which it differs from classic nighttime melodramas. The show is as much a bittersweet character study of con man Bob Allen as it is a new spin on the Ewings.

The Walking Dead may depend more on suspense, desolate atmosphere, and creative storytelling than fine acting. The show takes a nightmare generally told in movies and opens it up for the medium of TV. I'm optimistic that Darabont & Co. will continue to find ways to make the characters interestingly human as they dodge death's slow, ruthless pursuit.

Linney and this role were made for each other. There are a few problems with The Big C. Occasionally, the tone veers off course into forced comic absurdity. But my cavils are irrelevant in the face of Linney's extraordinary work.

The series is animated mostly by the perfectly legitimate reason of invoking sheer wonder, but the scientific episode gives a fascinating glimpse of what scientists still have to learn from these creatures.

While it's not the triumph that "Downton" was, it's a special, lovely miniseries that lingers in your imagination like a richly drawn memoir.

The show is an intelligent addition to the Fox lineup, with both the broad canvas of "The Wire" and the street procedural of "NYPD Blue" in its DNA.

The story of Patrick "Lights" Leary is engrossing from the first bell, with nicely developed plots and psychological twists that transcend the genre cliches of the boxing drama. And the acting is strong where it matters.

Too often, TV's sci-fi creators fail to give us characters to identify with, focusing instead on special effects and plot manipulations. But the father-son-bond material in Falling Skies brings humanity to the story and grounds it in emotion rather than spectacle.

With this bracing and comic new set of 12 episodes, Nurse Jackie has evolved into a rigorous, fascinating portrait of denial, of how it works when someone deceives herself and everyone around her

It's witty, irreverent, and joyously juvenile.

There are a few revelations in this rich adaptation, concisely written for the screen by Lucinda Coxon.

A finely constructed docu-dramatic piece, Cinema Verite folds together the stories of the Louds of Santa Barbara and the PBS filmmakers who took over their home, and it adds in both real and expertly re-created footage from the 12 episodes of "An American Family."

It's both dramatic and unique, from the sometimes graphic material about his double mastectomy to his self-revelation in the media limelight.

I promise you will roll your eyes at least once. And yet, each hour is so spellbinding, you may not realize you're leaving grip marks on your couch.

The story line is expertly structured, especially after the first hour's exposition, as potential explanations emerge and the pieces begin to fit together. And the writers maintain an all-important sense of humor, not just with the one-liners among the team members but with shrewd social satire.

Still, even if Curb has lost some of its original wallop, it remains a great comedy of manners.

It offers amusement and a tad of suspense, but little to ponder over the long run.

There's no false modesty here, just a level-headed look back as Belafonte recalls decades of music, family, and activism, but mostly activism.

Despite the blood and the labor, Call the Midwife is filled with heart.

Nashville falls somewhere in between the two extremes, a story that thrives on heightened melodrama and big twists but gives its characters more depth than you generally find in network lather-fests.

For a new series, Sports Night already has a nicely developed sense of ensemble and texture. Charles and Krause show a natural chemistry as anchors and friends, and Robert Guillaume has strong presence as the imposing executive producer. The most appealing actor, though, is Huffman, who is dynamic as the committed producer who lives only for airtime. She's got caffeine running through her veins. [22 Sept 1998, p.C1]

It's a nicely assembled, topical film that gives us both a sweeping view of gay rights across almost 30 years, as well as an intimate look at an extraordinary person swept up in those times.

In the first four new episodes, her characters remain in their self-contained cultural warp, still only just beginning to mingle with hipsters and hard drugs and cold, careering artists, and, yes, black people.